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Friday, April 18, 2008

Mara's favorite Chicken Salad

I made this chicken salad for Mara a few weeks ago, and she now asks me for it ALL the time! She has definitely developed a love for salads-chicken, egg, her avocado salad....

This chicken salad couldn't get any easier, and its definitely a toddler-pleaser. Even Analese-who is a "peabutter and jelly kind-of-girl", loves to eat this for lunch. We serve it on the Chebe Flatbread-which is truly the best gluten-free, soy-free, and dairy-free bread for sandwiches and salads.

As for measurements, again we just kind of throw everything together, so feel free to add as much or as little of something, depending on what you like.

Ingredients

  • boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and chopped or shredded
  • apple, diced
  • celery, chopped
  • dried prunes, chopped thinly
  • canola mayonnaise (we use Spectrum's Canola Mayo, but safflower mayo would work, or any other acceptable choice that works for you)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Combine ingredients. Done! Serve on a bed of lettuce or spinach, or on warm flatbread....yum!
My husband has also added the following to his: curry powder, or old bay seasoning...both were very good!
(I do recommend making it a few hours beforehand so that the ingredients can combine together in the fridge for better taste, but this isn't absolutely necessary.)

Saturday, April 12, 2008

The Love of Smoothies



When I first found out I was pregnant, I eliminated my daily cup of coffee and instead, replaced it with a smoothie. I really wanted the girls to drink it as well, as Analese does not like most fruit and neither one drinks juice.

The girls were not impressed, and refused to drink more then a sip. So I let it go...sort of.

Every morning I offered them a sip of mine. Some mornings was a yes, some a no.

Then, I unknowingly bought the best "bribe" for getting both girls to want to drink a smoothie. A "Blend-n-Go Cup" that comes with a straw.

The straw is the best part. Funny how I had never thought of that before!

Now, the girls each drink an almost full glass of smoothie every morning. Mara, with her smaller glass, will drink 2-3 glassfuls! I am in heaven, it is so exciting to see them drink up , knowing how nutritious these things are.

Because of course, now that they love smoothies, I have begun adding more and more to it! Along with our fruit, yogurt, juice and milk, I also add some probiotics, hemp seed oil, flaxseed, my Juice Plus supplements-both fruits and veggies, and calcium powder.


Oh-and a handful of spinach.

I waited a bit before adding the spinach, hemp seed oil, and flaxseed. I started off with the basics, and each week we added a bit more. The girls "help" me make our smoothies every morning, and really enjoy it. They help me decide what fruits to put it, what new things to try, etc. Yesterday we used our simple orange squeezer to add some freshly squeezed clemantines to our smoothie. The girls loved taking turns squeezing the juice out, and I just enjoyed giving them the experience.

So here our basic smoothie recipe. I have to admit that I was shocked that both girls guzzled down their smoothie the first time I added hemp seed oil to it. I added 1 tablespoon, and could taste it right away (so you may want to start out with a smaller dose for those more finicky tastebuds!) With everything else, I have found that as long as they can taste what appeals to them, they are fine with anything else. In our case its bananas! Also, by letting them help you make it and giving them more control in what goes in it, has helped tremendously in this household!

I should also note that I don't really give "amounts" as it totally depends on what you like, don't like. This is just the basics of what we are drinking every morning. Hope it inspires you!

Basic Smoothie Recipe

  • Bananas
  • Blueberries (we use frozen)
  • raspberries
  • blackberries
  • mango
  • 1/2 cup Ricera rice yogurt (we use strawberry)
  • orange juice
  • vanilla hemp milk (or any other acceptable choice!)
  • handful of chopped spinach
  • 1 tablespoon hemp seed oil
  • 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
We have also added (and enjoyed):
  • kiwi
  • strawberries
  • cherries
  • avocado

Some Updates

I know, I know...it has been a looong time since I have posted! Not due to lack of recipes of course, but lack of time. This semester is proving to be very time-consuming as well, and I am so looking forward to May 4th-when I am officially done until the Fall!

So we are all surviving. We survived Easter, which brought on some added stress for me in finding ways for Mara to participate in Easter hunts without too much intervention from me. As she gets older, I have to admit that I struggle with this. I do not want my child to be singled out, or miss out on normal childhood fun. But ultimately this isn't possible, as everything seems to revolve around food. Sigh....

Our little Mara is doing well. We have had problems in the past month-she was suddenly waking up 6-10 times a night and we could not figure out why. Other changes we saw: diaper rash, eczema appearing once again on her lower back and around her mouth. We knew something was upsetting her, it was so frustrating not to know what! Finally, last week she had two mucous-filled diapers. And that was it. She began sleeping through the night once again, and things seem to be getting back to normal. At least my fingers are crossed that it is!

The pregnancy is going well...I am now almost 27 weeks! This may be the fastest pregnancy, and I hope once school is out Ill have a bit more time to just enjoy and reflect on it a bit.

So, just a quick update. I plan to do some changes to the site soon, making it a bit more functional. So stay tuned :)