I’ve decided to have “fruit for dessert” at least once a week around here. Last night was “fruit night.” When I was cutting the cantaloupe and pineapple, Leah had a few pieces, and then I told her not to ask for any more until it was served at the table. Ever observant, she asked with […]
You know that meme about how parents’ treatment of pacifiers changes as they have more kids, from sterilizing the thing every time it touches anything but baby lips to grabbing it from under a church pew and poking it back into baby’s mouth? That’s totally me, minus the pacifier. With my first child, I read
Eat Well, Spend Less: What Goes on this Real Food Baby’s High Chair Tray? Read More »
“Looks like food coloring isn’t the cause of the fits,” I told Jen of The Unprocessed Kitchen just a few days into our experiment to cut food dyes out of our kids’ diets. “She’s just a 3-year-old girl…I had hoped we’d find a magic solution, but oh, well.” I learned a lot reading Jen’s wonderful
Just cornmeal! That’s all you need for perfectly moist gluten-free cornbread – no additional flours to juggle! It is so easy my kids can make it. Don’t forget to top it with lots of real fat, like butter (read more about the margarine vs butter debate here). Trying an elimination diet meal planner can be
Recipe Connection: Gluten-Free Cornbread (with no fancy flours) Read More »
Part of weaning ourselves down on sugar and training our sweet tooth to expect (and enjoy!) less sweetness includes appreciating the natural sweetness of things like fruit. Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to serve a dessert without a sweetener this week. So offer a bowl of sliced pineapple as a dessert, or
See? Procrastination has its upsides: I’ve stretched the Sweet, Sweet Summer series it hit another season that allows for alliteration. Now I sound cute again. Lots of people have asked about the merits and flexibility of coconut sugar and palm sugar, and although I’m still figuring them out myself, I’ll shed some light on the issue
A Sweet, Sweet…Spring? Coconut Sugar and Palm Sugar Step up to the Plate Read More »
If you use natural soap nuts for washing your laundry, you’ll quickly find that there’s a bit of a learning curve. Compared to pouring in a measured amount of liquid, dried fruit in a bag is a different system entirely! Already lost? Check out my soap nut reviews to learn more about my experiences with
How to Tell if Laundry Soap Nuts Still Have Cleaning Power Read More »
In the back of my mind, I hoped that perhaps laying Jonathan down on an organic mattress with organic sheets that wouldn’t be offgassing in his face might…you know…get him to…(*whisper*) sleep through the night. It would have made for a great product review post. Too bad it didn’t work out that way. On the
How often do we hear that kids don’t eat their vegetables? It’s been a classic American icon since the advent of television, I’m guessing: the child sitting at the table, staring down the pile of spinach mush or Brussels sprouts on their plate, refusing to eat their vegetables and yet not allowed to leave the
Food coloring is a fun way to color homemade frosting on cakes and decorate cookies, but it’s not healthy. That doesn’t mean your food can’t be fun! I’ve got some simple ways to create natural food coloring. Let’s Talk About Food Coloring Artificial colors are one topic I have just never gotten into deeply, although
Food Coloring is added to our food and beverages to give it a more vibrant color and make it more visually appealing. In the U.S. nine artificial colors in food are generally permitted with a few others being approved for limited use. Stricter guidelines exist in some European countries and Canada, which begs the question
Monday Mission: Avoid Artificial Food Dyes and Colorings Read More »
Juice is fruit, so it’s healthy, right? Not really. First, let me make clear that I’m talking about the juice you find in bottles or juice boxes in the beverages aisle at a grocery store, not the stuff people make at home with a juicer or the purchased equivalents that have to be kept cold.
Juice makes you pee your pants (and other reasons not to drink it) Read More »
In food, marketers would like you to believe it’s the same system. Chemists create a new “food” in a lab, advertisers promote it, and once it’s in every box in the supermarket, we all eat it. As food fads change, so must one’s pantry. Something about that strikes me as odd. I strongly feel there’s
The Dangers of Artificial Sweeteners — Are They Safe for Kids? Read More »
They told me to bring it again. When my husband’s extended family gets together for holidays, everyone brings food and we eat until we can’t fit through the doorway. The Thanksgiving and Christmas menus are generally different, but this year, I was ordered to do a repeat. You know you’ve got a good recipe when
What’s the best natural carpet cleaner? Learn from my mistakes with homemade carpet cleaner when you clean your carpets naturally. I have a few things to say about this photo of dirty water from cleaning my carpet: First of all, isn’t it lovely? The image of a job well done. Second, my apologies. Normal food
Homemade Natural Carpet Cleaner for Steam Vacuums Read More »
Wondering how well a Berkey water filter works? Our family reviewed a new Berkey filter starting in 2011, and we still love it in ! We can tell when we’re drinking unfiltered water by taste and smell, and it’s easy to test. There is some work involved refilling it, so we may add an under-counter
Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to start a new fermented food this week. Fermented foods add probiotics to your diet, assist digestion of the other foods you’re eating, and usually unlock vitamins or nutrients within the fermented foods that would be otherwise unavailable to you. Many say we should start each meal with
Have you been convinced yet that what you feed your child has a significant impact on their health? My notes from a talk by Kelly Dorfman, author of What’s Eating Your Child?, (Cure Your Child with Food) seemed to resonate with many people. It’s always so clear to me that what we eat affects our
How Diet Affects Kids’ Behavior: An Interview with Kelly Dorfman Read More »
It seems crazy to me that so many people, medical professionals and normal folks alike, still believe that what we eat has little to do with behavior, mood, and physical health (like how food dyes impact behavior and how sugar is as harmful as cigarettes!). Turning a blind eye to that simple relationship prevents so
Could Food be the Root Cause of Your Child’s Illness? Read More »
And my problem? I can’t decide which one to eat first. The mud room organization? Unpacking the boxes in the corner of the living room? The basic laundry pile? Where to begin? What in the World is Eating Your Frog? When I began the day yesterday by saying to my kids, “Well, I’m off to
