Before You Bake. . .

If you've ever read the ingredients list on your Baking Powder you would find the following:  Cornstarch, Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda), Sodium Aluminum Sulfate, and Monocalcium Phosphate.

Let's look at Sodium Aluminum Sulfate.  Here is an excerpt from livestrong.com about this food additive:

Freezer Smoothies

We just had the most productive 3 hours!  So productive that I am able to start this blog post before the kids go to bed!  We had a fun weekend, but the house suffered. . . and for three hours we suffered. BUT laundry is well in hand, rooms and floors are picked up, dishes are done, and Smoothies are made!

With Fall officially here and preschool already underway, I am especially looking for something to give my girls immune system a little boost.  (We have already been through a round of antibiotics this season).  Our girls love smoothies.  And it is super easy to hide some veggies in those!  

I wanted to be sure that my girls got a good dose of fruit/veggies in them at least once a day.  Sometimes we just run out of willpower. . . time to eat clean.  After talking to my friend about freezer meals and getting a few tips I decided I would get some canning jars and make smoothies once a week and stick them in the freezer so I could always have them on hand.

Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup (Slow Cooker or Stove-top)

I found this recipe at today's mama.  This recipe has become a staple in our menu planning.  I make it when we are sick, healthy, hot, cold.  Doesn't matter, it is always delicious.  Click the link to view the whole recipe or to get the stove-top version.  The way I make mine is even easier than the original recipe so follow along below. . .

Family Files #3

Squeezing in a quick Family Files post before our busy Sunday begins.  I've been hoarding so many pictures to share with you all!

The Princess said she was bored one morning (seriously only 10 minutes after she woke up, really??), but I humored her and made a quick batch of playdough.  It entertained them for hours.  My mom used this recipe when I was a kid.  It's super easy... I only had about half of the cream of tartar it called for and it still turned out great!  (recipe below)

Shake It Up: Homemade Ice Cream

 We have been having some fun with our girls making homemade ice cream. YUM.  I remember making ice cream in resealable bags a couple of times in school.  It was always fun.  I turned to Pinterest, of course, to try to remember what exactly to put in the bags.  Does everyone out there have an ice cream maker now??  So many of the homemade ice cream recipes told me to just add the ingredients to the ice cream maker. . . um. . . I am looking for something a little more old-fashioned than that!  (not that it wouldn't be fun to have an ice cream maker! But we would seriously be eating ice cream way too often then!)

I read a few recipes that said you could shake it up in a plastic bag and then did what I usually do with recipes. . . WING IT.  The pictures below are from two separate ice cream making occasions so don't be confused when we are making chocolate ice cream and then pictures show our girls eating vanilla chocolate chip!

 What you will need:

For the Starbucks Lovers

A quick recipe for the Starbucks tea lovers.  I'm not sure where I originally saw this recipe, but chances are it was Pinterest.  What recipe isn't from Pinterest anymore?

Here we go:  Passion Iced Tea Lemonade.

Tazo Passion Tea. . . I have used the "iced" passion teabags and the regular passion tea bags--
seems to work the same!

Make Your Own. . . Dishwasher Detergent

Dishes in our house goes something like this:  Fill the dishwasher with dirty dishes (but rinse them or they won't come clean), pour in A LOT of detergent (or they won't come clean), put it on Pots and Pans setting, high temp, and sanitize (or they won't come clean).  When they are done:  Sort through them, put the clean ones away and rewash (almost half) of the ones that didn't come clean.  Repeat  two to three times a day.  And that is with a newer dishwasher!  We have tried every brand of dishwasher detergent.  Pricey ones, cheap ones, chemical ones, Eco-friendly ones and the same with rinse agents.  They are all about the same to us.

Paleo Brownies! No Flour!

We've been researching wheat, whole wheat, and flours lately.  It's one of those "in moderation it's fine"  things. . . except it's in everything you eat!  Just like high fructose corn syrup!  

I am not interested in fad diets.  I do not believe I need to give up all gluten because we do not have an actual allergy to it.  However, I do believe in eating REAL food.  I believe in organic food.  I don't want to eat anything that has been processed or tampered with.  Labels can be so tricky.  So many people think because something is labeled ENRICHED that means it must be healthy since they are adding vitamins and minerals.  It is actually the opposite.  Enriched means that while it was being processed (heavily processed at that) nutrients were taken out and they are tampering with the product to attempt to add those nutrients back in.  But you only end up with a heavily processed product that is not good for you.  

Since this is meant to be a fun recipe post, if you are more interested in the topic here is a nice little site for you to check out. 

And now, the result of my late night flour research. . . flourless,  PALEO BROWNIES!! YUM!

Recipe Success! Almond Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

  These cookies were delicious!  The whole family loved them and there aren't many foods I can put organic flaxseed in that fools our girls! This first time around I used more unbleached all purpose flour in place of the whole-wheat flour and regular sugar in place of the raw sugar.  (Clean eating is a PROCESS!)  Next time I will follow the recipe completely because they are that delicious, I'm willing to try.