Cookbook Giveaway!

I'm so glad I get to meet all you nice people who check in with me about my little life. I'm convinced that we're pretty dull to read about, but I'm honored that you keep coming back to see what we're up to. I can hardly convince my blood relatives to check in on my blog. Anyway, to say thanks, I'm going to have a random giveaway right here. Just leave me a comment, and I'll select at random & mail it right out to you. How easy is that?

If you've been hanging around here for a while, you've seen the Climb Nashville cookbook that we put together last January. We shelved the few remaining to pull out to sell this Christmas season. So here we are, pulling them back out. And I decided that it would make a stellar giveaway. I've made 68 of the recipes in the cookbook, and only disliked two!

It's vegetarian & vegan recipes. And for those of you who think this cookbook is not for you....it is. Unless all you eat are meat patties.

Let the games begin. (If you bought one already, you can still enter & maybe get yourself a free little Christmas gift to pass along!)

Grieving

A good article today on DesignMom.com, on how to show support to parents grieving the loss of a baby. Definitely worth reading. Unfortunately, I've known people who have gone through similar experiences & you might as well. We might become better friends to those parents by reading this article.

Zane & Jodi

More friends leave for Texas! We'll miss you, Zane & Jodi!!

Trunk or Treat

Last night's Trunk or Treat was bunches of fun, although E spent most of the night avoiding the camera, as seen below. I was so excited to see lots of non-food options while trunk or treating! I'm so thankful for friends & family who are so good to us! A special "thank you" if you had a food option we could take last night!

Kid Meal Ideas

I'm no expert about feeding a toddler. Practically all my ideas come from somewhere else. So here are a few of the websites I like to look at for inspiration. Keep in mind that these websites are not geared towards the healthy!
Kaboose
Family Fun
Blissfully Domestic
Wholesome Toddler Food
Martha Stewart Living
Vegan Lunchbox
Little Nummies for Little Tummies

And here are some good-looking Menu Ideas for a Toddler!
Home Packed Lunches your Kids will Eat
Lunch Ideas for a Toddler from ChefMom.com
6 Easy Healthy Toddler Meals

I also employ sneaky/deceptive tactics, like that of Jessica Seinfeld & Missy Chase Lapine!

I'm always looking for new lunchbox recipes that are good for a toddler! Here's my favorite. Do you have any good ones? Share, share share!

Food Allergies on the Rise

Last year, one in 29 children had food allergies, up 18% over the previous 10 years. Read about the new study here.

Super Baby Food

Do you have "Super Baby Food"? If you are a parent, you've got to pick it up. It has SO much information, that it can be a bit overwhelming. But it’s nice to have it all the info you might ever need about feeding your child, all in one place.

Here are just some of the topics included in this book:
Baby-Feeding Info
Super healthy recipes for babies – toddlers.
Extensive information on diet and nutrition
Money & Timesaving Tips
Childcare & Prenting tips.
Food decorating, cake patterns, and toddler party ideas
Craft Ideas
Recipes for household products, such as baby-safe drain cleaners, furniture polish, window cleaners, baby wipes & more.

Here is just a few of the countless headings:
How to Buy & Store Legumes
The Super Baby Food Diet
How to make Homemade Oil Spray
Freezing Eggs
Toddler Take-Along Lunches
How to make a Homemade Sticker Book
How to remove Urine Stains & Odors
Growing Herbs in your Window Sill
How to get more Vitamin D in your Diet

I look at this book pretty regularly to get ideas on lunches, crafts, nutrition, etc! Today's Tip from "Super Baby Food": Sandwiches made with these fillings can be frozen for up to 2 months: peanut butter, jelly, cream cheese, hummus, prune butter, tuna salad, mashed banaba & yogurt cheese.

Feeding Kids

I think about food all the time. And not about eating it - About cooking it. Despite my current sugar problem (I’m working on it!) I’ve always been interested in eating healthy. I wasn’t great at it, but I have always been interested in trying new things & making good choices. My mom (who is currently going all RAW) is a very good nutrition role model for me.

Then I found out our son had some food allergies. This presented a whole new set of challenges when preparing food. And a whole new set of challenges to get him the nutrients he needs, since there are tons of proteins/calcium lacking in his diet. So now I work extra hard to think about what he needs to eat.

I have several personal philosophies about feeding my children, although not uniquely my ideas. Here they are:
1) Try Something New – We try new foods & recipes all the time.
2) Keep Trying - It takes 10 exposures before a new food is accepted, right? Ethan is rarely a plate cleaner, but I keep trying. Surely one day he’ll pick up that carrot and actually eat it!
3) Offer about 5 things on their plate at mealtime (at least 2 of which you know they’ll eat). – This way he probably won’t go to bed hungry, but I’m not afraid to put food on a plate that he likely won’t eat. You just never know when a toddler might change his mind.
4) Don’t let your personal opinions affect your child – Never in a million years did I think Ethan would eat a straight up tomato. I never even thought about offering it. But one day, he grabbed a cherry tomato, bit into it & never looked back. Also, my son loves tofu. Go figure.
5) Don't Force It - I try not to make a bit deal forcing Ethan to eat his food. But I always encourage just a bite of a new food. If he chooses not to eat dinner at all, he knows that’s it until breakfast.

Over the next few days, I'm going to post a few of my favorite food resources. How do you make sure your kids eat wholesome meals? Feel free to chime in if you have other thoughts on feeding kids!

Campin' In The City

Last night was a great night for camping in the city. We had a little campfire, cooked hot dogs, smores, soup, & campfire apple pie. The kids had a blast, conversation with friends was tons of fun, and the weather was great. The best part of camping out in your yard? It's cheap, you can coffee right away in the morning, and you don't have to potty in the woods. In this economy, I think this is my new favorite vacation.

12 Weeks

Good Clean Fun

We have like, a million nieces & nephews. My 16-yr-old nephew has a blog, which I'm very entertained by. This is what he & his brothers are up to - putting the leaf blower in each other's faces & taking pictures. Hilarious, right? And also...Disgusting?
It brings me back to the entertaining game of Shake Face, as demonstrated here by this guy. More shake faces can be found here.

Both repulsive & hilarious. Am I right?

Bento Boxes & Mabel's Labels

I've already blogged about these, but I'm loving my new Bento boxes! Perfect for packing healthy lunches. I was inspired by the pretty food at the Vegan Lunchbox. Also lovin' labels from Mabel's Labels. Customizable for every child, even those with food allergies!

Oh No...Halloween.

To be honest with you, I’m not exactly looking forward to Halloween. Sure, seeing my kids dressed up in adorable outfits will be awesome. But letting my boy get a bunch of candies that I have to take away from him b/c he's allergic is gonna be a total drag. I don't know if it's a good or bad decision to take him trick-or-treating. I am still undecided.

I really liked this list of 8 Halloween tips from AllergyMoms.com. I hope this will be helpful to everyone out there - with or without food allergies. Here are my favorites:

1. Keep a stash of “safe candy” or fun trinkets, like bubbles, Silly Putty, tattoos, stickers, spider rings and bracelets. Kids with food allergies or intolerances will be grateful to receive something they can enjoy
2. Be discreet. If you know a child has food allergies, don’t ask “Oh, you’re the one with the peanut allergy, right?” Kids want to fit in and don’t like to be singled out.
3. Everyone loves ingredient labels. Give out candy with clear ingredient labels so parents and children can decide which candies are safe.
4. Listen to the children. If a child says “No thank you,” it may be because they don’t see a safe option in what’s being offered. Don’t make a fuss by insisting they take candy that may not be safe for them.

Last year, I posted this list of candies that were dairy/egg/nut-free. Sure Foods Living has also posted a quick list of foods free of gluten & the top 8 allergens. You can also reference this post to check on the allergy info for your favorite junk.

Toddler Theology

This is what I overhear him saying to a big painting of Jesus. I love the heart of a child.

"Hi God. You're Mr. God. I like you the best."

Graham Crackers- Did you know?

I was looking online for Graham Cracker recipes, to see if I wanted to make some from scratch (and I think I do not). I did learn, however, how Graham Crackers got started. Weird. An excerpt...

"Convinced that eating meat and fat lead to sinful sexual excess, Reverend Sylvester Graham urged total vegetarianism. He also warned that mustard and ketchup cause insanity." If that's peaked your interest, read the rest here.

I'm so thankful that Al Gore created the internet. I never would have known this kind of stuff.

Chocolate Chip Granola Bars - Recipe

Remind me never to make these again. I think I ate half a pan in one day. Plus, these turn out to be about 20 cents each! Cheap!

4 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup softened Earth Balance (of course butter is fine)
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups or less, vegan chocolate chips (or regular chocolate, if you're into that sort of thing)

1. Combine the oats, flour, baking soda, vanilla, Earth Balance, honey and brown sugar. Stir in chocolate chips.
2. Lightly press mixture into lightly greased pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing or serving.

Fall Outings

We finally went to Gentry's Farm, which is the most amazing wonderland for a 2-yr old. It is a beautiful farm where you can pick your own pumpkin straight off the vine. There are tire swings, slides, a big play kitchen, troughs where you can play with corn, kid-sized mazes, a big corn maze, tons of animals, teepees, hiking trails, hayrides, little tractors, and probably more that I'm forgetting. We had a blast.
tractors!
corn troughs with tons of funnels, scoops, and windmills for pouring!
i love these boys.
3 feet tall!plenty of photo ops.
in the corn maze.

Wallpaper?

Our "While We're At It" List is growing by the day. Things that we wanted to do someday just make sense for us to do now, while we have moved out & we have contractors in our house. This is one of them. This is our second bathroom. It's a tiny bathroom, shared by the 2 kids and a guest bedroom. I've been wanting to change it since we moved in, so now may be the time. The floors are white with black check. I love this wallpaper. I love that wallpaper is back in. And completely ungranny. The bathroom is tiny, so it would be sparse. But Is it too bleak? I've found some pretty wallpaper sources here. And Target has some too (I'm feelin' this one)! Feel free to make recommendations, designers.

Tomatoes!

I came home last week to find this enormous bag of red tomatoes, and another of green at my parents' house. I guess these sorts of things happen here. So they became Green Tomato Relish and Homemade Tomato Sauce. I'm not a typically big on relish, but this stuff is pretty tasty!
scoring tomatoes before peeling for the sauce.
draining green tomato mixture in cheesecloth for the relish.
canned relish! My first canning experience was a success! (thanks mom.)

Happened Again

Another allergic reaction. I don't know what caused it, which is incredibly frustrating. This means 3 things. First of all, as careful as I am, it's still not enough. Secondly, it means that there's a possibility that he has additional allergies that I don't yet know about. Thirdly, it means that the allergies are still here. I'm frustrated, mad & sad all at once at these stupid food allergies. This time the reaction was a new one. His lip swelled up, and later vomited. It was scary, but he began to feel better after he threw up everything in his belly. I think it was something in some turkey sausage from Whole Foods, even though I had read all the ingredients. I'm praying for healing for my little boy! I'm so tired of this!