Summertime in the kitchen.

With seven mouths to feed and sometimes one more, when Chip is home from work, I find myself in or around the kitchen most of my waking hours. At least it seems like that in the summer. I am lucky that most of my kids wake up and are pretty mellow about easing into the day as far as breakfast is concerned. They love a hearty breakfast and Brock especially enjoys his morning coffee. But nobody really wakes up demanding food. Some of them even go to the pantry and pick a box of cereal or make themselves a piece of toast without any help from me. So that is a nice perk to having night owl kids. =)
I still have a hard time making meals that all the kids like, and I still feel like our repetoire of foods get boring very quickly. I would love for my kids to like more varieties of foods, but it just turns out to be more trouble than it's worth when I make new recipes these days. We eat as many fruits and lots of fresh vegetables this time of year. We cannot keep enough fresh berries or watermelon or corn on the cob around here. I think my kids could live on blueberries, raspberries and peaches if I let them for three months.
I thought I would share a couple of pictures and recipes of two of the things we had to eat this week. Both these recipes are easy, semi-healthy as far as muffins and pie go, and they were gobbled up by every one of my kids.
The first is recipe is for Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins. I modified the recipe when I doubled it and used half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat flour. I added fresh blueberries and fresh peaches diced up too. They were very good, especially piping hot out of the oven. I am going to make them with raspberries and peaches next time, just because I love that combination too.
The second recipe is one that has been a favorite of mine since I was a little girl. I never liked chocolate as a kid; I have since grown to appreciate and even love rich, bittersweet, delicate chocolate in many forms. But my first love is still toward the vanilla, custard-type and anything coconut desserts. This pie is so easy to make that it has earned the name Impossibly Easy Coconut Pie. Or Impossible Pie for short. The ingredients are placed in a blender and it makes its own crust. It is virtually fail-proof. Which is a wonderful thing for beginning pie makers. I know there are a couple of variations to this pie- one even calls for Bisquick, but I have always stuck to this recipe my mom made. There is something to be said about tried and true.
The recipe is as follows:
Ingredients:
4 eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar (I use less becase I usually have sweetened coconut)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup coconut
2 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup of melted butter or margarine
Directions: Place all ingredients into a blender and mix until combined. Pour into a lightly greased 9" pie plate and place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees. Bake for about one hour.
I always keep an eye on it those last 10 minutes or so just to make sure it doesn't get too golden brown on top. We ate ours with fresh whipped cream and peaches and we polished off the last piece between 4 of us for breakfast the next morning. I figured it had enough eggs and fruit in it to count as a jumpstart to breakfast. My kids didn't argue with me about that.
If you have any favorite summer recipes you make over and over, I would love you to tell me so in the comments. Especially if you think kids would love them. I am at that point in the summer where I am ready to try anything new in the kitchen. I hope my kids might be ready for something new too!

{Healthy} Cinnamon-Swirl Brioche ala Pinterest =)

We are well into the month of May already and here I am, finally bopping in to my own blog to catch up for a minute. Life has been every bit as crazy and busy as you might imagine it to be with spring in full bloom, the golf course open and bustling with business, the kids passing along colds and coughs and fevers- as though they are toally into sharing so why not share germs, and a few other things like our former nanny and great friend, Rachael staying for a long weekend visit. It really has been a busy and full few weeks around here. I don't see a whole lot of slowing down as school come to a close and summer kicks up its heels either!
If you wonder where I find the time to hang out on Pinterest, I'll tell you. From 10:30-11:15pm. =) Or any time I can grab a minute here or there in the middle of the craziness too. I happened to log in at just the precise moment yesterday when one of the pinners I follow posted this cinnamon swirl brioche. I clicked over to the recipe first and then realized it was "a must-make recipe" especially in light of my wanting to cut out processed food and eat healthier overall. So I went ahead and pinned it and then facebooked a link noting that I wanted to make it. I figured that would 'force' me to try it and not just dream about it. Well, whatever I did worked, because in a matter of minutes I had the dough proofing on my counter and was very happy with how easily it had come together to that point. Even though I was short one egg and I was using all whole-grain wheat flour in place of white. I was determined to make it work.
So this morning I found myself awake at 5:15am...thanks to Teague, who promptly went back to sleep. I however was awake for the day and headed out for a few groceries. Including a couple of dozen eggs. =) After getting the kids up and out the door for school I pulled out the dough that was ready and waiting and rolled it out using a can of bakng spray, as we haven't unpacked the box with our rolling pin in it yet. Somehow, this bread dough still rolled out nearly perfectly and then with the help of Crew, we added the cinnamon filling, sliced the dough, braided it, and put 3 loaf pans carefully in the hot oven.
Crew, and Teague by this point, could hardly wait to taste it. They looked through the oven window with the light on several times during the baking process. It turned out better than I imagined it would, and it was even easier than I had expected it to be as well. A total win-win as far as I was concerned. The fact that it is very healthy, with minimal sugar and whole grain too...bonus.
So here you go...the original recipe that I found and pinned. Just 24 hours ago. If you pin this and start the recipe you can be slicing and eating this or bringing it to your favorite teacher or neighbor or garbage man by this time tomorrow too! Good luck and happy baking!

She's happiest when...

Guess who spends most of her time sitting in a wheelchair, but got outside to go sledding for a few minutes today? Yep, that's Wyndham! We've been getting lots of white, fluffy snow the past few days and Wyndham was watching Chip pulling Crew in the sled and he was all smiles. I asked her if that looked like fun and if she wanted a turn too. She got a huge grin on her face. She didn't even have to say "yes". I just knew we had to make it happen for her.

Sometimes she thinks things look fun that the other kids around her are doing, but she herself is hesitant or not interested in actually doing it herself. So I asked her a few more times as she continued to watch Crew and she did nod her head as she kept grinning.

Bundling up a 10 year old girl who can't help all that much in getting her snow clothes on was a bit tricky. Getting her out the door and into the sled waiting for her outside was tricky too. But I was happy to help make it happen, and so was Chip. Our driveway is fairly steep and Chip said she laughed outloud everytime they made it to the bottom.

She even had hot chocolate when she came inside. =)

The other pictures here are of Wyndham on her cooking night with Daddy. They made some asian-style beef stirfry and she was able to stand next to the pot and stir the sauce for a minute- which she felt so grown up doing. You also see some homemade macaroni and cheese {which the kids all ate well} and a whole-grain chocolate banana cream pie too. We've been sticking to our non-processed food diet for the majority of our meals and as you can see we're eating well. Our house usually smells great and feels warm because of the extra heat coming from the oven these days. It's been fun to try lots of new recipes too!

While Wyndham is still almost full-time in her wheelchair since her surgery back in September, we're always so glad to see her wanting to jump in and do something that the other kids are doing. She is often so content to just sit back and watch or just find something else to do. But when her eyes light up and a grin spreads across her face, we can't help but sense her happiness and her desire to be as much like the rest of her siblings, even though she has limitations. Her little outing in the sled today reminded me that sometimes we need to just go for it. I hold back and don't jump into as much fun as I should sometimes because it's just so much easier to look on or make excuses of which I am queen.

Witnessing Wyndham's joy in the littlest things like cooking and sledding has inspired me all over again today. I hope you feel a bit inspired by her little {major!} triumphs too. I know I look forward to finding happiness in some unusual and unexpected ways this year!

Beyond cake and french fries...

We do our fair share of partying and eating cake and things with whipped cream on them around our house, but I wanted to share a few photos and thoughts about food and what's going on in our home right now.

Just before Christmas we got inpired by the movie "SuperSize Me" which I had heard about before but had never seen. After seeing only a part of it I was ready to make some changes with our diets- not that we eat that much fast food, but simply because it helped open my eyes to just how much preocessed foods we do consume around here. Especially when it comes to the kids' school lunches.

Jamie Oliver has been on his Food Revolution kick and we have found several recipes to try and are finding that our kids actually will eat certain healthy food options that we wouldn't have guessed they would eat. What's going on in our kitchen right now is that we're making a conscious effort to change the foods we eat on a daily basis and trying very hard to include foods that are fresh and homemade. It's not an easy task when you're used to opening spaghetti noodles and a jar of pasta and mixing them together and calling it 'dinner'.

Chip happens to be a very good cook. He could be a gourmet chef at a fine dining establishment. He has taken on the responsibility of not only making most of the meals, but also of having one of our kids join him in the kitchen as his sous chef each night too. The kids are absolutely loving their chance to help make food and also love being taught cooking techniques and given responsibilities for the entire meal. The person that helps Daddy each night also helps to set the table and clean up too.

What we are finding is that there is a lot of positive things going on simply by making this one lifestyle change. For starters, the food is healthier and therefore we should be feeling better. So far I can't say we see pounds melting off or muscles bulking up- but we do feel better about what we're putting into our bodies! The kids are also excited to eat, not only the meals they make, but they seem to enjoy trying what each other makes too. They sort of have a game going on about who has made the best thing so far and they challenge each other to try stuff- just because they are proud of what they create. Also, it gets them away from things like tv and computer screens and Wii games and instead they are really enjoying their time with Chip in the kitchen as well as learning about new foods and kitchen tools. It's a win-win so far!

Although we do have some challenges. One is we have very little access to "good, quality" food. There aren't any high-end grocery stores of big co-ops or chains like Whole Foods. So we are modifying some recipes and also when you eat non-processed foods you have to grocery shop more often for fresh ingredients. Which is spendier than stuff like boxed Mac & Cheese, but hopefully we will see benefits that far exceed the extra cash this kind of healthy living requires.

We are loving this recipe for No-Knead Bread. We've made several loaves in the past couple of weeks- both white and whole-grain wheat. It's very good- especially when it's fresh and hot! It's so simple too! Love that when it comes to eating better.

Also, as I noted, Jamie Oliver's website has lots of great recipes and we're also just trying to eat more fruits and veggies. We got an apple peeler and have used it more times than I can count already. My kids love to watch the apples spin as their peels come right off. We are easily amused, I guess. =) That photo of the eggs in the pan is Jamie Oliver's recipe called Bubble and Squeak. It is made with leftover roasted vegetables and potatoes. Delicious! The last photo is a picture of one of the kids' plates the night Ava helped Chip to make Shrimp Cakes with Papaya puree. The kids loved them and we will be making that recipe again.

I plan to share more recipes here that we find to be easy, healthy and kid-friendly. I'd love for any of you to leave links to recipes or share some of the healthy food options that your family enjoys too.

Isabella asked us "How long are we planning to do this healthy cooking thing?" and to that we answered, "Hopefully forever!". I know a lot of people get excited about healthy living this time of year, but we're hoping that these healthy options become a natural part of our routine around here. The best thing we can do is try, right?!