Recipes and more...

I made two really good recipes this week. Both involve chicken. We have a butcher/meat processing place here in our town and they sell the Miller's chicken that we usually buy through co-op. They have really good prices on chicken breasts, $2.99 per lb. This is free range, organic chicken. Their packages of breast are huge! I'm not even joking, its like the entire breast, so about 2lbs in each package. I actually got 2 meals out of one package.

First, I made this simple, one pan dish.


Place potatoes on one side, chicken down the center, and a veggie on the other side. We had fresh green beans, so that is what I used. You could also use broccoli or anything else your heart desires. You could also use sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes.

Then sprinkle on a packet of ranch dressing or italian dressing. I used italian because that is what I had. Then melt a stick of butter and pour all over the dish. I used about 1/4 cup of Earth balance spread because Avonlea was going to be eating it. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Now, I cut my breasts up because they were super thick and the kids were starving. So I baked mine at 375 for 35-40 minutes and it was perfect.

The second dish that I made was Sweet & Sour Chicken. I used a recipe off Pinterest.

Source: melskitchencafe.com via Courtney on Pinterest

I actually made the chicken the night before (the same night as the one pan dish) so that it would  be done and ready for dinner the next night. I doubled the sauce and saved half in the frig. So, for the night I made cilantro lime rice with jasmine rice and then sauteed chunks of green pepper, red onion, and pineapple in a saute pan. Once slightly tender, yet still crisp, I added in the chicken from the frig and the remaining sauce I had saved. I let it all bubble together and get hot. It was was super yummy!!

We also discovered this week that Avonlea can climb the stairs all the way to the top and also climb the wooden stair case of her brother's bunk beds. We have a gate at the top of the stairs and leading into the kitchen, but it looks like we now need one at the bottom of the stairs as well. My make shift gate obviously isn't working:


She's sneaky that little one!

Women of Faith

I had the  most amazing weekend! A good friend of mine (she was also my sponsor during my conversion) and I went to the Women of Faith conference in Indy. Let me just tell you about the atmosphere, picture thousands of women in one arena singing together and supporting each other in our journey's to Jesus. It was absolutely amazing! It was just so magical and inspiring to hear the stories and the faith. Needless to say, we've already bought our tickets for next year!

We had really good seats, not too close and not too far away. We could see really good.

Here is Mandisa singing her "Good Morning" song. If you've never heard it, you need to! It will definitely get you going in the morning. You might recognize her from American Idol from a few years ago.


Amy Grant also preformed, my personal favorite!! I've been listening to Amy Grant since I was little and to this day, I still listen to her Christmas cd from my childhood. Love her!


We also heard several people speak, Patsy Clearmont, Mark Lowry, Sandi Patty, Brenda Warner, and Marilyn Meberg to name a few. Such inspiring stories and people. Mark Lowry was hilarious!

We also got to witness the JesusPainter paint one of his paintings. If you've never heard of the JesusPainter, he tells the story of Jesus through this one painting. In the end, its Jesus' face. Here is the finished painting:


I got to meet Mike Lewis (JesusPainter) in person and he even signed my print and personalized it for me. I bought an 8x10 print of his painting to hang in our house. He does have a website where you can purchase prints or paintings.

Here is a video of him doing it in Times Square:


It was such a neat experience and I cannot wait to go back next year!


 During one of the songs, all that lit the arena was the lights of each individual. It was so cool!

Also, if you're looking for a new or different way to read the Bible, try The Voice Bible. You can find it on Amazon and there is even a Kindle version. It reads like a story and is very easy to understand and follow.  I got the Kindle version and I have loved reading it!

First week back..

The school year has begun and it went off without a hitch! Peytonn started kindergarten on Tuesday and he is loving it so far.


He is going to all day kindergarten. We figured after 2 years of preschool, he was ready for full day. Plus, he loves getting to eat his lunch at school and have recess.

*dropping Peytonn off on his first day*

According to Peytonn, what they do at school consists of playing, lunch and recess. I've tried to ask him what kind of work they do, like letters, numbers, etc. He says none of that. However, I know they are doing some work because his teacher sends those papers home. Ha!

Bennett starts 3 day preschool today. He will be going to the same class/teacher that Peytonn was in last year. This is a step up from last year when he went twice a week to the Montessori school. This school is more structured and I can't believe what they learn at such a young age. Peytonn was counting by 100's and into the thousands by the end of the year. Writing his name and recognizing all his letters, etc. Bennett is excited to start again!

As for Avonlea, she is doing great on the soy milk. Her bottom is completely healed and no longer red and raw.  I'm so glad her tummy isn't hurting her anymore.

*enjoying her first raw smoothie!*

The kids loooooove pancakes but most recipes call for milk and/or butter. I found a recipe on Oh She Glows for some vegan whole wheat pancakes. I adapted my recipe from her Peanut Butter Swirl Pancakes.

What I changed: I left out the peanut butter swirl, used maple syrup for the sugar, and I used real eggs instead of egg substitute because that was what I had on had.  I also saw on Pinterest how people were making pancake "muffins" with a piece of sausage baked inside. I thought that would be perfect for us on a busy school morning.

So, I thawed out some Morning Star "sausage" links and cut them each in half. I placed a piece in a each muffin cup that was sprayed with some olive oil. I then filled each muffin cup to the top with the pancake batter. I baked at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. 

These were super good and easy! I wrapped each "muffin" individually in plastic wrap and placed it inside a freezer gallon size bag. I then placed them in the freezer. They are all ready to go for breakfast, just a few seconds in the microwave and no need for messy syrup! Oh, and by the way, my meat eating boys loved the sausage. They even fought over the last piece. Just try it, even if you think your kiddos won't like it. :)

Trying the vegan lifestyle

Well, the title says it all. I am attempting to try a vegan lifestyle for a period of time.  So, what sparked this?

Well, we've been battling a severe diaper rash on Avonlea for about 4-6 weeks now. It gets so bad sometimes, that her skin is raw and bleeds. It would get slightly better and then she would have a bowel movement and it would be raw again. Over time I started to realize that the redness was only where the poop touched her skin. Which then led me to believe that it was either 1.) her poop was acidic from teething or 2.) something she was eating was causing it.

I finally put the connection together and realized that this all started when we started to introduce cow's milk into her diet. And then the light bulb went off! I immediately called the doctor and told her my thoughts and that I wanted to try and take her off of cow's milk and see if it improves. She agreed with me. I told her I was thinking about doing regular soy milk and adding some soy formula to it to increase the fat content. (soy milk only has 4 grams of fat compared to 8 grams from whole milk) Doc agreed and said that was fine.

The results: after 24 hours of being completely dairy free, her butt was 90% better!!! She has now been dairy free for 4 days and her butt looks amazing. She has had bowel movements, but it hasn't irritated her skin at all.  She drinks the soy mik and soy formula just fine. I'm not even kidding when I say that I haven't found a food yet that this child will not scarf down! (well, except the cow's milk. She wasn't a huge fan of that)

I am trying to take out as much dairy from our house as we can so she doesn't accidentally get some. Which is going to be a challenge because the boys love cheese! I have an order of Daiya cheese from co-op, so I am hoping to replace regular cheese with that. I also bought her some Yo Baby Soy yogurt from the store. I'm also buying stock in soy milk because this little girl has drank a 1/2 gallon by herself in 3 days.

I did manage to make an all vegan dinner last night and so far today I have eaten all vegan. Maybe this will shed those unwanted pounds of mine in no time?! Ha!

So far this seems to be working for Avonlea. I'm not sure if she is absolutely allergic to dairy or if her body just isn't ready for it yet. It's something we'll need to discuss with the doctor. But for now, this is a major improvement!

Preserving the goodness

Today's post is all about preserving the goodness that nature provides us. This weekend I spent cooking, preserving, and freezing some fruit, herbs, etc.

I started off with the fresh apricots. I had about 2lbs left over from the 4lb bag that we got from co-op. These are fresh, organic apricots sliced in half with the pit removed.


I cooked them with a 1/2 cup of water until they were soft and tender. Then I added about 2 cups of sugar and let it reduce until thick. Take off the heat and add in some fresh lemon juice, I used about 1/2 of a lemon. I let it cool slightly on the stove top and then jarred in. I put most in a quart size canning jar and the remainder in freezer containers. The jar will keep in your refrigerator for months and I placed the rest in the freezer for later use.


I did the same with my peaches after that. Although, I skinned the peaches first. I also skinned and slice some peaches, placed them on a cookie sheet in 1 layer and froze them. Then I placed the frozen pieces into a ziploc freezer bag.

While I was spending my day cooking, I also roasted two whole chickens for dinner. My inlaws joined us for dinner and I also made these rolls from Pinterest:

Source: plainchicken.com via Courtney on Pinterest

They were super yummy and fast to put together. I used sparkling water and a little sugar instead of the 7-up the recipe calls for. After we finished eating, I shredded the remainder of the chicken and froze it for later use.

I also want to make Sunflower Seed Basil Pesto:

Source: feralkitchen.com via Courtney on Pinterest

My basil plants are out of control and I need to trim them back and freeze some basil for the winter. I love this idea of using the sunflower seeds instead of pin nuts. Pine nuts can be rather expensive and I already have sunflower seeds at home, ready to use.  I hope its yummy!

Tiny's

So, in preparation for Avonlea to start walking and this Fall/Winter, I thought it was about time that I got her some real shoes. I've had my eye on these pink herringbone Toms for a while for her.

Source: toms.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Well, what do you know, they no longer have them on the Toms website. Just my luck!!! I've even searched Ebay and Amazon but I can only find limited bigger sizes. Boo! I went back to the Toms website and started searching for a different pair for her. These were the options that I narrowed it down to:

I really like the patterned ones, but then I starting thinking about how much of her wardrobe they would really go with. I feel like when they are so small and outgrow sizes super fast, then they should have shoes that go with just about everything.

So, I picked the last pair, which I think are the most neutral and are most like the pink herringbone pair that I originally wanted.  I got a size 4 which I am hoping will last through the winter. I think they may be a tiny bit big right now, but with socks and as her feet grow, they should be fine. I have another pair of purple mary jane shoes in a size 3 that I found at Once Upon a Child for her. Those should work for the time being. I am super excited for her to wear the Toms though. I love how they look!

More recipes

I've been trying out a lot of new, healthier recipes lately and I am loving them! I'd thought I would share some of them with you.

First off is what's in the crockpot tonight for dinner: Turkey and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers from Ms Skinny

I followed the recipe exactly except that I used ground chicken instead of turkey and added some fresh basil chopped up instead of the parsley. I also used homemade spaghetti sauce instead of jarred or canned.

The next recipe I got from my friend Nikki's blog. Its Turkey Burgers stuffed with goat cheese. These were AMAZING! Seriously! Even my boys gobbled them up!

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1/2 onion, grated (it adds moisture to your burger so they're not all dried out and still have a nice flavor)
• 1 green onion, sliced (because I had it leftover)
• Pepper
• 4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 log of goat cheese
• Montreal steak seasoning

Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl. Divide mixture into 4 patties and divide the 1/2 log of goat cheese into 4 pieces. Place a piece of goat cheese in the center of the patty and then form the patty around the goat cheese so that it is completely covered by the turkey mixture.  I grilled my burgers on the grill for about 3-4 minutes per side. I used extra lean turkey so be careful not to overcook it if you use this.

I topped ours with avocado, ketchup, fresh spinach leaves, and I used whole wheat buns. I served them with zucchini fries. I also added some shredded zucchini to the turkey burger to help keep it moist and add in some extra veggies.



These burgers were super easy to make and fast to throw together. I'd also like to try this wheatberry salad from my friend Nikki as well. She makes some great stuff!!

A year old

My sweet and sassy little girl is a whole year old! I just can't believe how fast this year went by. I just can't even imagine our lives without her.

She had her 12 month check up last week. Here are her stats:

Height: 29.5 inches (50th%)
Weight: 20lbs 12.8 oz (50th%)


She is just perfect! Here is what she is up to these days:

--only waking once during the night, usually early morning, 4-5am
--on mostly whole milk. She's still finicky sometimes with it, so we are still using some of the toddler formula
--eats like a champ! This kid will eat anything!
--Wearing size 4 diapers and size medium cloth diapers
--Wearing size 18 month clothing
--Will take 1-2 steps on her own before sitting down
--loves to shriek and babble
--is cruising super fast around furniture
--loves to play with her brothers
--loves matchbox cars and even makes the "vroom" sound while playing with them
--her two top teeth just poked through, so she has 4 teeth now
--uses a cup during the day but still wants her bottle at nap and night time. We're working on it.




Avonlea is so fun to have around. Most of the time she is chill and go with the flow, but she also has a very sassy side to her. I can't wait to see her personality develop even more during her second year.