Feeding Kids Farm Fresh to Table

“I received this product as part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Weave Made Media® and Farm Fresh To You, but all my opinions are my own. #weavemade  #farmfreshtotable http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV”

Eating healthy. We all know it is what's best for us but it is not an easy task. Eating healthy often takes work and discipline. Why then do we expect our kids, who don't care about healthy, to do it without complaint? I know I get frustrated when my kids won't eat the greens I put on their plates but when I really think about it, I can't blame them for not wanting to eat something that they think is "yucky".

Instead of forcing them to eat food they don't like and in turn dealing with fights, I have decided to help them understand what is good for their bodies and get them excited about doing so. I was going to break this up into numerous posts and give different tips and tricks but the first recipe I thought about sharing pretty much covers all of my tips. So I'm just gonna lay it all out there in one post. Ha!

1. First of all, get them excited about the ingredients. There are a lot of ways to do this. Have a family garden where they can grow their own food, take them to the store with you and let them see all of the options (and maybe let them pick a few)...OR my personal favorite is to have fresh fruits and veggies delivered to your home.

We recently tried this out for the first time and it was seriously like the happiest of happy mail. This mom The kids were so excited to find the boxes on our doorstep and dig in.

We use Farm Fresh to You and L-O-V-E them. We are able to customize our box delivery to fit the size (and picky eating habits) of our family. They offer really flexible delivery...and even let us change or suspend the account to fit our always changing chaotic schedule. Plus, I love that they allow for us to eat local by partnering with farms in our area. I would highly recommend them. Click here to see if they deliver to your area. If they do, you can save $15 off your first box with the promo code WEAVE15. Say what? I love me a good deal!

2. Make the meal look fun. You can go all out with Bento boxes and food scenes on your plates or you can just use a whole lot of bright and fun colors like we did in the recipe that I am sharing today. The more colors on the plate, the more fun it looks. It makes for a more exciting meal time. Tip: if you have a kid that won't eat certain colors, avoid the color. I know, rocket science. You can usually dye the food with other natural ingredients, like beet juice for example.

3. Get them involved in the kitchen. Give the kids jobs when you are cooking a meal. When they are proud of their dish, I have noticed they are more likely to try it. In our house, the kids are usually worried about hurting the other ones feelings and will try anything they make...I wish they would have that kind of courtesy with me too. Ha ha.

With those three things, I am noticing the kids are trying a lot more healthy items that they usually wouldn't touch. They may not always clear the plate but getting them to try the food is the first step, right? 

We used all three of those suggestions the other day while making this yummy frittata. All four kids tried it. Two of the four cleared their plates.

Potato Crusted Frittata Casserole

2 TBSP Coconut oil

2 Medium sized Yellow Finn Potatoes

3 cups Kale

8 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 cup Mixed Medley Cherry Tomatoes (cut in half)

1 Medium Pimiento Pepper (diced)

2 Leaves Fresh Basil

3/4 cups Feta Cheese

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375.

 

Start by dicing your potatoes into small cubes. Heat the coconut oil and add the potatoes. Cook these until they are lightly browned. Add the Kale and cover. Once Kale has started to wilt you can move the mixture into a 9"x 13" casserole dish.

Side note: I like to cut my Kale down into smaller pieces so that there aren't big chunks. It helps distribute it more evenly in a dish. Instead of cutting it myself, I will have the kids tear it into strips.

Whisk together the eggs and milk (or pass the job on to a cute helper).

Have your little ones tear up some basil and take all the stems off of your tomatoes and hand them over for you to cut...or if they are old enough, have them do that as well.

Pour egg mixture over the potatoes and kale. Sprinkle with your salt and pepper. Let the kid throw the tomatoes, peppers, basil and feta all over it. The more the better. 

Pop it in the oven for about 30 minutes and serve with some fresh fruit. This is one of those meals that is really simple but loaded with yummy flavor.

Holiday Season Me Time

“This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Weave Made Media®, PEOPLE® Magazine, and The Hershey Company®, but all my opinions are my own. #weavemade #HolidayMeTimeMags http://my-disclosur.es/RgFrEH”

Be honest. Is it just me or did this holiday season sneak up even faster than usual? I feel like out of no where, Thanksgiving is here and sorry to break it to you but Christmas, it's just around the corner!

This season has been extra busy for our family. We have one thing after another piling up. The piled up therapies and classes have meant good things for our family but it can be exhausting.

With holidays near, we have been adding extra therapy days and times to make up for the sessions we will be missing. Add in rehearsals for holiday shows, the prep for Thanksgiving and Christmas...oh man. This mama has been going non-stop.

All this to say, I needed a break. I needed me time to just enjoy some guilty pleasures. Luckily, I am married to a man who recognizes when I'm overwhelmed and is willing to get the kids out of my hair for a bit so I can do whole lot of zoning.



So I decided on my guilty pleasures of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (King Size baby!), a copy of People Magazine, my favorite soda and Grey's Anatomy. I mean I'm a multi-tasker. It's a talent really.

Don't laugh at me but after I finished getting the house together for visitors I totally made a special trip to Von's to prepare for my me time. I was that excited. Ha!

In all seriousness, it was really nice to just take a couple of hours to myself, by myself. People, maybe even myself at times, tend to glorify a busy life. It is not good. We need to take time to breathe. As moms, we need to take time to ourselves and not feel guilty about it. So step back for a minute and enjoy some quiet before the storm that holidays bring. I'm challenging you to do it.

If you want to copy my guilty pleasure - me time, head over to Von's and grab your supplies. Their magazine selection is fab, there were like 3 different issues of People Magazine in stock!

Oh, and if you head to their website they have a digital coupon for 1.00 with purchase of one PEOPLE® or Sunset® magazine and one REESE’S®, HERSHEY’S® or other selected King Size bar (2.1 to 5.0 oz.) The digital coupon is available through the Safeway Just4U online portal 11/21/14 - 12/19/14 (while supplies last) You have to register for Just4U to get access to the digital coupon.

Enjoy your me time and come back to tell me what you did! Oh, and let me know if you planned accordingly or if your kids showed up home before you were done and crashed the party. Not like I would know from experience...

Motherhood: A Rewarding Challenge

“This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Weave Made Media® and Lifeway Kefir, but all my opinions are my own. #weavemade # http://my-disclosur.es/RgFrEH”

With Mother's Day approaching, I have been thinking a lot about what it has meant to me to be a mom. Since, having my daughter my life has changed drastically and has altered more and more with each additional child. So what have all of these changes meant to me?

The first thing that usually comes to mind is that it is the hardest job that I have ever had but also the most rewarding. I wake up early(ish) and go to bed late. I don't get a lunch break, most days I don't even get a lunch. Unless you count the kids left over sandwich crust. The to do list never ends but only grows. The laundry and dishes resemble my to do list as they stack up higher and higher. While I face the chaos though, I get to watch them grow and learn. I get to witness and be a part of every little milestone and it is overwhelmingly beautiful and oh so worth it all.

My aunt told me the other day that "this season goes by so fast but you will feel every minute of it". Her words could not have been more true. We can already see it in the short years we have been through. I swear I just brought Rhiannon home from the hospital and she is 5 and we have three more. How has it sped by so much, yet felt like it would never end at times? The time is rushing by but we are feeling it. It is pretty amazing. Like I said, it is hard but so rewarding.

The feelings of being overwhelmed, in both the challenges and the joy of motherhood, are just the surface of how I feel about motherhood. Deep down, the true feeling that is stirring inside of me is honor. I am so honored to be their mama. I am so honored that God has entrusted ME with these kids. To raise them. To care for them. To keep them healthy and safe.

Raising kids today can be scary. Forget about the violence and just plain terrifying things that face us out there in this world. Simply what enters our home can be scary. There's so many diseases, chemicals in our food, things we just didn't have to worry about when we were growing up. Or maybe we just didn't know about them yet. Either way, this is a scary time to be raising kids. And to think, I am being trusted to care for 4 kids. Wow. It is such an honor to be a mom.

I am taking the privilege seriously and doing what I can to make sure I do the best I can to protect them. We try to eat as healthy as we can. As much organic, healthy food as possible. With the occasional junk because we are human. We filter what enters our home, on the TV and Radio, but also when it comes to healthy families (both physically and what kind of junk they bring with them). We need to be careful what we expose our kids to but also make sure they are exposed enough to shine their little lights. We use essential oils instead of the usual medications...and only feel a little bit like hippies because of it.

Recently we began purchasing LifeWay Kefir ProBugs. They are a great way to add probiotics into our little one's diets without them fighting us. The kids love them. They are delicious, the baby steals them and I had to go back to buy the Lowfat Kefir Probiotics. Beyond the taste and feeling like I should get an award based on the kids reactions when I give them to them, I feel like this is just one more step in making sure I am doing everything I can to take care of the little lives that I am responsible for.

I will never be the perfect mom. I fail daily and am teaching my kids to forgive with each mistake I make. I am learning along the way. With each day comes a new challenge and a new reward. I am so excited to see what the next stage brings. I know I will be tested and tried but this journey is one that I wouldn't give up for anything.

I would love to hear about your life as a mommy. So comment, tell me, what is your biggest trial or biggest reward as a mom?

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