Category: Food

Breastfeeding your child is a big commitment, and in the earlier months it is a commitment that can require your attention every couple of hours, which doesn’t allow for a lot of time out of the house unless you are willing to nurse in public.

Some of them are referred to as “Hooter Hiders,” while others just plain nursing covers – but whatever they are called, they allow for you to have the freedom to move about town and nurse your baby as needed while accomplishing the day’s tasks – which wasn’t always the case. Read more…

With Earth Day having just passed us by and Spring in the air I’ve been on the lookout for great resources that provide information on the topic of sustainability, lessening my overall environmental “footprint” and ways to remove some of the toxic chemicals that come into our home through cleaning supplies.

Well, Eartheasy is a wonderful site, run by a family that provides all of that information and much, much more. Read more…

As many of you know, we are big budgeters. We used the Dave Ramsey plan to get out of debt, we like to eat relatively “clean,” and I’ve recently discovered that we need to trim our grocery budget. When we sat down recently, we realized that we’re spending nearly $200/week on food!

I nearly had a conniption! Especially because we really only “budget” for about $140–$150 … and that includes pet food and household products.
Read more…

I’m a big coffee drinker … and in the summer, that means iced coffee.

My husband is an iced mocha kind of guy.

And my daughters both love anything fruity and slushy.

Sound familiar? What if you could make iced summer drinks at home, for far less money? Hmmm???
Read more…

Aside from the fact that the name of these chips is awesome (!), they taste good, can be used as crackers, too, and are indeed healthy. Food Should Taste Good. I mean, what else do you need to know?

For one, they have sweet potato, salt and vinegar, olive, white cheddar, blue corn, lime, cantina…the list goes on. Read more…

I just entered the regular reusable bag user phase of my life. I’m sad to say that I still forget them in my trunk and, not to mention that they are so bulky that when placed in my cart, they take up loads of room. Add in my three kids and where do I have space in my trunk again?

Enter the Envirosax pouches….stylish, colorful and by having two of these, I cover the grocery load (two standard grocery bags per reusable bag) and I’m doing my part for the environment. Outstanding! Read more…

I’m the mother of preemies. I knew our twins were coming early because the circumstances of our pregnancy required that they be delivered via c-section at 32 weeks if they didn’t decide to come earlier…which they did. It was the nature of our situation and one that required we face a number of possible scenarios in the days that followed their 28 week delivery.

One of those decisions was to decide if we would feed our little ones breast milk donated from another mother if for some reason my milk did not come in. Being that I was going to deliver so early, and the fact that there was a lot of stress involved in my strict bedrest, highly medicated scenario, it was possible that we would experience complications. Read more…

I can remember when our oldest started elementary school … at a nut-free school. I thought I would die.

With a kid that only ate peanut butter and jelly, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do for lunches. But here’s what’s interesting … it made me so sensitive to potential food allergies that now I fret over buying the wrong kind of Halloween candy for fear that I’m going to put some poor unsuspecting kid into anaphylactic shock.

But then we found out she was allergic to gluten. And my world turned upside down again. This time, so did hers.

But believe it or not, there is a way to help your child understand food allergies without becoming allergy-obsessed (like me). Read more…

Recently, I wrote a post – The Quick and Dirty on Gluten Allergies and Celiac Disease. I wrote the post because recently several friends have adapted their diets to accommodate gluten-free for the sake of one of their children – each for their own personal reasons.

The difficult part about something that is relatively new like gluten-free diets and Celiac disease, or at least new to many, is finding a variety of foods to cook up for your family. So, I started looking around to find a site that would help those who were newly coping with this lifestyle (because I’m betting if you’ve been going down the gluten-free road a while now, you’ve found this gem of a site already). I had to share The Gluten-Free Girl with you. Read more…

Um, this is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.

And not “cold” cool … like, really fabulous.

We like wine … and though I consider myself a red kind of girl, a glass of crisp white is delicious on a hot summer evening. But what happens after you chill it? You take it out and the bottle sweats all over the counter … or you put it back in the refrigerator and have to lay it on its side so it will fit and then it leaks. Or maybe you’re fancy enough to have an ice bucket (we are SO not that classy!) and the ice melts and gets all watery, which in turn makes the label peel and get all gummy … eew. Read more…

Growing up in New Orleans, you’d think my mother would have made us a cold soup and salad for Easter, knowing how hot it usually is in April. But no, she slaved over a hot oven to make us roast lamb. Such a good woman! It was delicious, and to this day I haven’t been able to make a dinner that compares. One day, maybe I can live up to her kitchen prowess.

Now, this isn’t her recipe. If I were to print her recipe, it’d look something like this: rub lamb with some herbs, put it in the oven. Great cook, that woman; not a great recipe writer-downer. Read more…

Grilled cheese doesn’t have to be boring.

When we make them for our picky children who simply want that singular slice of cheese slapped in between two slices of bread, that’s what we do, but that doesn’t mean it’s what we have to eat. Why not pick up a few slices of Gruyere at the deli counter when we’re picking up the standard American cheese, or add in a few flavorful ingredients? Why not spruce up that boring ol’ cheese standby?

I give you…The ADULT Grilled Cheese Sandwich Read more…

It seems that more and more, I hear people saying they’re going gluten free.

Gluten’s getting the same rap as corn syrup it seems.

But it’s true that gluten can be problematic for some people … my daughter is one of them. Subsequently, we’ve had to do some gluten-free investigating around here. But to be honest, I didn’t know the first thing about gluten-free cooking or where to even find recipes. I mean, I love to cook … but it wasn’t even just about that.

Gluten is everywhere! Read more…