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:

A Healthier Halloween

I've had some inquiries about what has been happening in my kitchen this apple season. . . I promise, I will get to that. . . but this is not that post.  Since Halloween is right around the corner it is only right to discuss all that candy!  

I will start with a few questions I've gotten about our own family's Halloween traditions:

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:

Start Eating Healthy: Top Ten Tips

The most common question that gets messaged to me is:  What is the easiest thing I can do to start eating better?

Eating healthy can be hard and time consuming.  There are so many labels to read and so much contradictory information out there.   Sometimes you just need to get dinner on the table and don't have time to "research" what you are eating.

My family and I came up with our top ten tips to help you get started.  Pick one or all ten, either way it's a great start!