Cranberry Mango Millet Salad {via Healthful Pursuit}

It's spring, well at least it's technically spring...we are currently in a winter weather advisory, so yay! {enter sarcasm} I am ready for warmer weather! I'm ready to be outside, take a hike, go camping, and just BBQ'ing with friends. I'm ready for the brown to change to green and the flowers, I'm ready to start my garden and eat fresh foods...yeah, I definitely ready for the warmer days.

Yesterday I attended my first Goddess Gathering, I met new women, ate good food and came home with a few "new" clothes. A couple baby girls were blessed and it was just a very positive and fun day in the Hollow. It was a potluck so I wanted to make something that I new I could eat as well as something good. I figured there would be a few vegetarians and others with food restrictions...plus when ever I go to anything like this I make some thing new that other people may like and I may like but knowing that my household probably won't eat it. (That way I know it won't be wasted.)  I wish I took some pictures...not only was it a potluck we also did a clothing swap...there were SO many clothes!

I have had millet in my pantry for a while and have been trying to find different ways of using it. I came across a salad recipe from Leanne Vogel, from Healthful Pursuit, it is a Cranberry Mango Millet Salad. It was really good...the salad was a combination of millet and quinoa mixed with mango, dried cranberries, almonds, onions and spinach all tossed in a lemon poppy seed honey Dijon dressing. Delish!

To see the recipe click here.

Moms Meet: Zevia Natural Soda Review & GF Mountain Zevia Cupcakes

First off this has been a busy weekend, we have been ripping up the flooring out of the basement and keeping up with our other normal weekend activities.  Two of our neighbors came over to help my husband and they really knocked it out, while I was upstairs with four boys.  Early in the day I decided to test myself with some gluten-free baking (don't get too excited I used mixes.)  I made a Banana Apple Bread (which I will post later) and Mountain Zevia Cupcakes. I knew the cupcakes were a hit when I needed to keep all the boys (big boys included) away from them. They also had a chance to try the Zevia soda, they had mixed feelings about the sodas flavor and tried adding some mix-ins  to help. But that review will come in a minute...

Zevia sodas are a natural, zero calorie soda that is naturally sweetened by stevia.  You can find them at most grocery stores that have a selection of natural foods. When I receive the package from Zevia, it contained 24 soda; 12 different flavors, an apron and a spatula  So with that I felt I needed to bake.  The cake recipe that they sent with everything called for cake mix and a soda, those were the only two ingredients. Since I am gluten-free I was weary about just using the GF cake mix and soda so I did a little research and settled for this: 

Cake

1 box cake mix (I used King Arthur's GF yellow cake)

4 eggs

1/2 cup vanilla pudding (GF of course)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

8 oz. Mountain Zevia

Glaze

4 oz. Mountain Zevia (the remaining from a 12 oz. can)

3-4 tbsp. powdered sugar

Mix all the cake ingredients together, and pour into greased muffin pan. (This made 12 regular size cupcakes and 36 mini cupcakes.) Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 min for the mini and 20-25 for the regular.

While the cakes are cooking, make the glaze.  Heat the soda in a small sauce pan over medium heat until simmering.  Whisk in the powdered sugar.  Spoon over the hot cakes.

Now for the review...the overall review was that some flavors were okay some were a fail, and they were not worth the cost (about $6+ for a six pack).  The sodas all had an after taste that we just didn't seem to care for, I don't know if it was the stevia or what.  I feel like if you are a true soda drinker, you will not like these. If you don't ever drink sodas then you may enjoy them, they are sweet, wet and carbonated.  All have natural caffeine (except the caffeine free ones).  Now if you are like me, I don't drink a lot of sodas but occasionally I do crave a dark soda.  My usual go to's are Dr. Pepper, Birch Beer, or just a diet Coke.  These sodas aren't able to fulfill those cravings. 

Here is a quick run down on each flavor we tried...

Cola - we all though it seem flat and watered down
Dr. Zevia - not anything like Dr. Pepper, so don't get confused. 
Mountain Zevia - to drink, Fail. To cook with great. 
Grape - that one was pretty good, but it did taste a little like medicine
Black Cherry - We liked this one, it still had the after taste but I would drink it if some one handed it to me.
Lemon-Lime - uh, could take it or leave it.
Grapefruit - personally this was my favorite, it was refreshing
Orange - we never actually opened it. Sorry.
Caffeine Free Cola - same as the cola
Ginger Root Beer - this one was disappointing, it smelled really good but the flavor was off.
Ginger Ale - this one was ok, but I was expecting the bite you get from a real ginger ale (like Reed's)
Cream Soda - same as the root beer, disappointing. Only my husband seemed to like this one.

So if I had a really good coupon, I may purchase one or two of the flavors but if I want a soda, I want a real one, one with all that syrupy goodness.  I know that is awful, but oh well.

Moms Meet: Stonyfield Organic Yogurt {recipes}

I can't believe it is already October, I need to start posting my wordless Wednesdays again, fall is such a great time of year for pictures.  Plus, my son has his camera so there are some great 2-year old pictures! It is already seems that it will be a busy month.  We are booked every weekend, between bocce and parties, plus I need to start thinking more about my son's 3rd birthday that will be here before I know it.  But the real reason for this post...

We ended the month with a Moms Meet, I say we because a fellow Mom Ambassador and I joined together this time.  We sampled Stonyfield Organic Yogurts, and my cohort handed out Ecover samples for everyone to take home and try. (Which so far, I really like! It left my clothes soft and for an unscented detergent, left my clothes smelling clean and fresh!) But I am here to talk about yogurt... 

A little about Stonyfield...Stonyfield is based in New Hampshire and started off making yogurt just to support their farming school. It has since expanded and now is sold in most large grocery chain stores. Stonyfield now also buys there milk from family farms, supporting the local farms. (How that came about is kind of interesting, I would suggest checking out their website.) The yogurts are all organic. Here is their mission statement: "We’re committed to healthy food, healthy people, a healthy planet and healthy business."

We sampled all the types of yogurt that our local grocery store carries, I am sure the check out girl thought I was crazy buying so much yogurt!  The ones we tried; YoBaby, YoToddler, YoKids, Greek, Smoothies, Squeezer, and just regular fruit on the bottom.  Everyone really enjoyed them, we were all really happy that they weren't as sweet as some of the other kids yogurts out there and they weren't full of artificial colors (no neon pinks and purples here!) It took everything I had to keep my son from drinking all the smoothies before the sampling.  He loves his yogurt!  I know I will buy these from now on for him.  You can tell they don't have crazy stuff added, and that makes them really good.  They do have a Kids Greek also, but of course our local store didn't carry that.  It also didn't carry as many flavors as there are actually available which is also a bummer. 

The YoBaby, YoToddler and YoKids are made with your child's needs in mind. The baby and toddler are made with whole milk while the kids is low-fat.  All three have less sugar than the other brands.  The toddler also has added DHA.  I have nothing bad to say about them.

And of course, you can cook with yogurt so I made two different things using the yogurt. 


Lasagna Primavera
(adapted from Stonyfields recipe Lasagna Primavera)

2 c carrots, shredded
1 c finely chopped kale
2 c chopped mushrooms
1 q Stonyfield Organic Low Fat Plain Yogurt (to make 1 cup yogurt cheese)
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 eggs
2 1/2 c mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 c Parmesan cheese, shredded
12 lasagna noodles (I used no boil noodles)*
32 oz pasta sauce


1. For Yogurt Cheese: Using layered cheese cloth, strain the whey from 1 quart of yogurt overnight in the refrigerator. This should yield 1 cup of yogurt cheese. (I used a pitcher and a chop stick, put the yogurt in the cheese cloth and tie, like a hobo sack. Stick a chop stick or pencil throw the gathered cloth, not the yogurt part. The stick will keep it from falling in the drained whey.)

2.Preheat oven to 375°.

3.Using a large mixing bowl, fold the vegetables, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, herbs, salt, pepper and eggs into the yogurt cheese. In a 9"x13" pan place a couple of tablespoons of sauce on bottom, spreading evenly.

4.Place a layer of noodles in the pan, top with half of the vegetable filling, then half of the sauce, then some cheese. Repeat for the second layer. Finish with the remaining noodles and cheese. Bake covered with foil for 1 hour. Remove foil for the last 10 minutes for cheese to brown. Serve warm.

*For Gluten Free option: use gluten free lasagna noddles, or even zucchini thinly sliced long ways instead of noodles

Coffee Cake
(adapted from the Sour Cream Coffee Cake recipe from The Practical Encyclopedia of Baking by Martha Day)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour*
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
2/3 cups sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup Stonyfield Organic French Vanilla Yogurt (plain or Greek would work, I just happened to use French Vanilla)



crumb (if you like a lot of crumb topping, feel free to add!)
1 cup brown sugar (I used just a little more)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (you can use any nut combination, I just had these on hand)
1/2 cup almonds, chopped
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 375°, prepare a 9"x9" cake pan.

2. Make the crumb mixture, combine all ingredients until the butter is about the size of peas. Set aside.

3. Start the cake batter. Using a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth.  Slowly add one egg at a time until well combined.

4. In a medium size bowl, combine the dry ingredients.

5. Alternating between the dry ingredients and the yogurt, slowly add to the butter mixture. 

6. Pour half the batter into the prepared cake pan, followed by half the crumb mixture. Repeat. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

*Gluten Free Option: use an all-purpose Gluten Free flour blend and add 1 tsp. xanthan gum. 



Label It Now – What You Need to Know About Genetically Engineered Foods

Homemade Granola Bars (My first attempt)

With some of the ingredients that I bought over the weekend I decided that I was going to make my own granola bars.  I didn't do much in the way of research before hand, I mean how hard can it really be?  Well I felt as my first attempt they turned out pretty good.  I think that I baked them just a little too long, but when you aren't focused on the oven and instead on your boys outside that tends to happen. 

The options are really endless when it comes to what you can add, you could just use oats or use a combination of oats and cereal or pretzels.  Dried fruits, nuts, nut butters, sweeteners (I recommend natural), candy, really anything!

I used:

1 cup old fashioned oats

1 cup pretzels, crushed (helpers are great for this step!)

1 cup mixed nuts, roughly chopped

1/2 cup craisins

2/3 cup peanut butter

2/3 cup honey

(I was going to also use carob chips and coconut, but forgot the chips and the coconut was bad.)

Lightly toast the oats, pretzels and nuts. While that is toasting, heat the honey and peanut butter until the peanut butter is really runny (about 1 minute in the microwave).

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, press into a greased 9 x 13 pan.  Bake at 350 until just golden and set.  Probably only 20 minutes. I didn't wait until they were cooled to cut because I didn't want them just to crumble. (And even if they did you now have granola!) The flavor was there, I just would have liked the texture to be more chewy and less crunchy.  If I baked them for less time then I may have achieved that, but I have next time, and I will make another batch.

Store in a plastic or glass container with a tight lid, they should last for about a week or so.

Organic or Not?

I struggle over buying organic and natural over just whatever is available every time I'm at the grocery store. I do however try to buy from the local farmers market when ever I can, and what is in season. But sometimes I just need to settle with what ever is at the grocery store. And I have to be honest, I would buy natural, organic, free range all of that all the time if it wasn't for the price of it all. There are times where I am just not willing to pay two extra dollars a pound. So for food I make for myself or husband I am not usually as picky since frankly neither of us grew up eating organic and so far we are fine; but, for our son I try to pay better attention.

There are foods that are usually higher is pesticides that are better to buy organic and there are some that aren't. But my personal rule is if he will eat the skin, I buy organic. Right now he doesn't eat the skins of apples or peaches but they tend to be high with pesticides so those I buy organic (but he will eat the skins when he is older.)

Below is a list to use as a reference:

The "Dirty Dozen", these have the highest pesticide and insecticide contamination. (Listed from highest amounts to lesser amounts)

• Celery
• Peaches
• Strawberries
• Apples
• Blueberries
• Nectarines
• Bell Peppers
• Spinach
• Kale
• Cherries
• Potatoes
• Grapes - Imported

Source: Environmental Working Group. Go to foodnews.org for updates.

For more information visit www.EatingWell.com