Best Way to Store Fresh Produce

Store Fresh Produce to Last

Because of our son's food allergies his diet is based largely on fruits and vegetables.  Our family goes through a large amount of fresh produce every week.  Nothing bothers me more than finding a container of forgotten moldy blueberries tucked away in a drawer.  Or I would buy items like avocados on shopping day with the intention of using it later that week for dinner, only to find out it had become a big mushy mess.  The waste of food, money and lack of ingredients needed for a recipe frustrated me enough to do a little research. 

Our First Experience with Kale

Sweet and Savory Kale
Recipe from WPRawl

Kale, I can't tell you how many articles and books that I have read describing the benefits of kale.  I think I have purchased it at least four times and let it just sit in my fridge.  Forget 'third time is a charm', it took this girl five times before I actually took it out of the crisper drawer to eat and not to just get rid of whatever the heck was causing that smell! :)  The fact that it came all bagged up, triple washed, and cut could have something to do with the fact that it actually made it to my table.  But it got there! Right?

ALLERGIES: Preparing for a Weekend Getaway

Going away for a few days with a child with many allergies take a little more planning and preparation (or at least it does for us).  Because my allergy child is anaphylactic to milk and peanuts and also allergic to soy (which is in almost EVERYTHING), egg, peanut, coconut, legumes, green pea, hemp and garlic (which I think he has grown out of) I make the decision to not order him food at a restaurant when we go out.  I always bring his food with me.  This makes things just a bit more difficult when going away but ensures his safety and balances my stress level.

Sewn In Scarf

This particular post is a little off track for food allergies.  But I just felt like I had to share it. 

Last year I started my scarf obsession.  I couldn't get enough of them, different colors, different textures, different lengths...you name it!  I quickly realized just how much warmer I felt when I had a snugly scarf on.  So what did I do?  I sewed a scarf inside my kids coats.  Mwa ha ha ha haaaaaa!  I did it while they were sleeping so they couldn't protest...which made it even better!

Chocolate and Fruit, What is not to love?

I just downloaded the Blogger app and it allows me to post to my blog straight from my phone! So I thought I'd give it a try...

Today I had some fruit laying around and I had some Enjoy Life chocolate laying around so I figured I'd combine the two.  This is an allergy free dessert with no dairy, no soy, no egg, no nuts, no wheat, no gluten and can be made with no corn!

RECIPE: Chicken Tortilla Soup

I roasted a chicken for dinner the other night and figured I would make a big ol' pot of chicken tortilla soup with the leftovers.  That's one of the main reasons why I roast a chicken for dinner anyways.  I get to make sandwiches with the fresh meat, or top it on salads then make a super flavorful soup.  I will provide you two ways to make this soup, one from scratch and another faster soup from cans.

PRODUCT INFO: Delicious New Chocolate Treat

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a serious chocolate addiction.  Apparantly I have passed this down to my sons too.  I got a bag of Enjoy Life Double Chocolate Crunch Granola the other day.  It's a new flavor. I tried the Very Berry granola before and it was just okay.  But the chocolate...oh dear...is sooo yummy.  Today I threw it together with some Enjoy Life Not Nuts, raisins, mini marshmallows, and craisins.  My youngest son and I sat down and devoured the whole bag.  He prefers to pick out his favorites, while I prefer to take a handful and eat it all at once.  There is something about the chocolate, sweet, tart taste all together that I love.

The First Health Scare of 2012

If my walls could talk, they would tell you the past week has been a very difficult week.  They would tell a story of two very scared parents waiting for test results of their youngest son.  These walls would describe the looks on their faces when they received three results (ketones in urine, high specific gravity of urine, and elevated creatinine in blood) all pointing towards a problem with the kidneys.  They would tell of how the mother layed in bed holding her sleeping son while she cried and prayed for his health.  They would tell of a father that would hide his tear stained face with the visor of his hat so he wouldn't alarm his older son.  There was no New Year's celebration here.  There was no party, no booze, no fireworks.  There was only waiting.  Wating for the last test result to determine if a specialist would be needed. 

The Next Mission: Natural Cleaning

I was never one of those people that cared about what I ate.  I had no problems living off Ramen Noodles and Chinese take-out while in college.  It wasn't until our son was diagnosed with multiple allergies did I really start to read labels. 

I have to say that I was pretty surprised with the amount of long words I couldn't even pronounce that were listed as ingredients in food we were eating every day.  I was reminded of a Breyer's commercial from years ago of a little girl attempting to read the label of the competitors ice cream.  Now I get it.  This stuff isn't food, it's chemicals, additives, preservatives, salt, soy, and corn made to look like food.  I was eating it, and serving it to my family!  YUCK!