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Here’s a simple recipe that I have been pleasantly surprised with.

While at first I missed the crunch of my beloved tortilla chips, the fact that I can enjoy nachos without being weighed down makes it worth it.  Not to mention… these babies are tasty!

• red peppers (one for each person)
• cheese (I used a combo of sharp cheddar and mozzarella)
• boneless chicken breast
• ground beef
• taco seasoning
• black beans
• red onion, finely diced
• cilantro, finely chopped

What to do:

• For the chicken, dice in small pieces and cook with a little olive oil in a pan.  Add taco seasoning.
• For the ground beef, brown in a pan and add taco seasoning.
• Slice red peppers in 6 or 8 pieces.  The bigger the slices, the easier to assemble.
• Shred cheese (a food processor makes this super easy)
• To assemble: Lay peppers on baking sheet and top with chicken, beef, black beans, onions and cheese.
• Cook on 350 until cheese is nice and melted – about 10 minutes.
• Top with fresh cilantro before serving.

Abby here.

Can I be honest about something?

This whole internet thing can stress me out.

In the age of instagram, pretty blogs, facebook and twitter… it’s easy to feel like everyone else’s life is so perfect.  The perfect meals with the perfect house and the perfect vacations and the perfect kids who always eat what you give them for dinner.

So in effort to make us all feel more human, I’m asking you to air your dirty laundry.

As for me, the whole house requires constant picking up, but our closet seems to be a catch all.  In fact, until this morning, it had a train table in there, too.

All that piled at the back of the closet?  Well, it’s the too small home for unused an infant car seat, outgrown baby clothes and our way too big stash of shoes we don’t wear. And if I were being completely honest i’d tell you there are times when the closet looks much worse.

So now it’s your turn.  What’s the messiest room in your house?

Abby here.

Nothing says summer like a big dish of caprese (ka-pre-zee) at the dinner table.  Well that and sunshine, kids running through the sprinklers and sunshine well past 9PM.

With a family full of opinionated eaters, this dish is something we all agree on. John is anti raw tomatoes, but he’s a good sport and picks around them.

While my plants are definitely growing, we have a few months before we have our own big ripe red tomatoes.  Happy to say though, that this basil is the first thing we’ve eaten from the greenhouse this year!
It’s a simple recipe, that I paired with a ridiculously crusty (in the best way!) baguette from a local organic bakery, Wild Crumb.

Here’s what you need:

• 2 red ripe tomatoes
• 2 avocados
• 1/2 ball fresh mozzarella
• handful of fresh basil
• balsamic vinaigrette
• salt and pepper

What to do:

• Slice the tomatoes, avocados, mozzarella and basil to desired sizes and place on plate.  You can be fancy and arrange them pretty or just throw them all on the plate… tastes the same either way. Top with salt and pepper.
• For the viniagrete, I mix 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar and 1/2 cup olive oil with a teaspoon of mustard in a mason jar with lid, and shake to combine.
• Drizzle the vinaigrette over the fresh vegetable and serve with a sliced baguette.

I’ve brought this as an appetizer to supper club or as a main dish for the family.  Enjoy!

We’re linked up:
Kelly the Kitchen Kop
This Chick Cooks
The Nourishing Gourmet
Domestic Superhero

We’re linked up:
Kelly the Kitchen Kop
This Chick Cooks
The Nourishing Gourmet

Abby here.

I’ve written before how sister-in-law is the queen of healthy cookies, and she definitely hit the jack-pot again. She has been tweaking and tweaking (and tweaking) this recipe for the past 5 years, and I’ve never had a bad batch. Though they are always healthy, I can guarantee she has baked more cookies the past few years than all of us combined.

And just like yesterday’s lime-cilanto quinoa salad, Jeanne and I have been throwing around the idea of “taste testing” other people’s recipe and then giving you our honest opinions.  So I’ve declared today “taste test Tuesday”, and hope we can make this a tradition.

So here’s where we are today:  my sister-in-law’s gluten-free soaked oat and coconut chocolate chip cookies (that taste fantastic!).

What you need:

• 1 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 cup almond flour (or more coconut flour)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup chia seeds
• 1/2 cup flax meal
• 2 cups soaked oatmeal (I soak 2 cups rolled oats in 2 cups warm water and 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar overnight.  No need to drain before baking.)
• 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
• 1/2 cup honey (I sub with grade B maple syrup)
• 1/2 can coconut milk
• 4-5 eggs at room temp
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup (more or less) dark chocolate chips

What to do:

• Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl.
• Mix all the wet ingredients in another large bowl (including the soaked oats).
• Pour the dry ingredients into the large bowl and mix thoroughly.
• Once everything is mixed well, fold the chocolate chips into the batter.
• Chill in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (or as long as overnight).
• Use a spoon to form cookies onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 25- 30 minutes.

In case I haven’t made it clear… we really, really like these cookies!  The best part about these cookies is they are actually good for you.  They make great snacks, but I can’t say we’ve never had them for dinner along side a smoothie!

We’re linked up:
Kelly the Kitchen Kop
This Chick Cooks
The Nourishing Gourmet

Abby and I decided that we needed to branch out from our personal cooking ruts.

I mean … as good as Abby’s taquitos are … and they are THAT good … how many times a week can you eat them?.

And  we’ve been excited to realize how many real food bloggers there are (like The Nourishing Gourmet, Kelly the Kitchen Kop, This Chick Cooks, 100 Days of Real Food, to name just a few).

So we’ve decided to challenge ourselves … and the real food recipes we’ve been adding to our personal interest pages.

We’ll be calling it “taste test”, and here’s how it works … we find a real food recipe that looks promising.  Make it (with or without modification … we’ll tell you if we make changes).  Feed our family.  Take a poll (or just see if the littles will eat it and/or want seconds) and tell you how it goes.

And for our first adventure … Lime-Cilantro Quinoa Salad from 100 Days of Real Food

I had a family dinner on Friday that required me to bring a vegetarian salad … one that could be substantial enough for the veggies in attendance to feel like they had a real meal, and light enough for the omnivores who wanted a tasty side dish for their burgers and steak.

The basic ingredients for the salad:

• Quinoa – superfood, high protein, totally substantial and nutritious.  (I used organic tricolor quinoa instead of the white that Lisa used.)
• Dried fruit (I used un-sulfered apricots and dried cranberries)
• Pine nuts – for an added crunch
• Cilantro
• Bell Pepper (I used a red one and a yellow one because I find the green ones a little over-powering … also I doubled the bell pepper because I doubled the recipe, since I was feeding 14 people)

For the dressing Lisa used a combination of:

• lime juice
• olive oil
• Dijon mustard
• garlic
• salt

I cut back on the amount of dressing because, well, it just seemed a little excessive for my taste.  But I gotta tell you … SUCCESS!!!  It was a HUGE hit!

The vegetarians LOVED that it was substantial and tasty.  The omnivores went back for seconds.  And the kiddos were excited to find little bits of dried fruit … it was like a treasure hunt for them.  I will definitely make this again and again.

We’re linked up:
Kelly the Kitchen Kop
This Chick Cooks
The Nourishing Gourmet

Abby here.

With the greenhouse in full swing, I thought it’d be fun to share what’s growing. It’s a lot of green right now, but it means food is coming!

First up, a chinese green that I don’t know the technical name for.  I bought the starts from a local organic farm and have no idea how they taste.  I’m assuming they will be delicious, but if not I can always throw them in a smoothie!Tomatoes.  These flourish in the greenhouse, and we plant several. They might not look like much now, but in a few months they should be 6 feet tall producing more tomatoes than we know what to do with.  There is a ton of caprese, tomato sauce and fresh salsa in our future.

Cabbage.  After getting into fermenting more this year, all I can say is those aphids better steer clear. They were pretty fond of our cabbage in the past, but I’m releasing a few thousand lady bugs next week to try and prevent that!

Peppers. These and cucumbers are the main veggies my kids will always snack on, so we like to grow tons! 

Kale.  This plant is so easy to grow and is perfect for smoothies, kale ships, with a roasted beet salad or this spicy sesame salad.

Lettuce.  To me, these are as pretty as most flowers, and with my family’s recent discovery of Jeanne’s ranch dressing, we will go through this lettuce quickly!

Snap peas.  These plants will also grow several feet, and are the perfect snack while outside.  We pull them straight off the vine and they are sweet and crunchy.

Strawberries.  These come back every year, but have been a disappointment the last few summers.  Like I’ve said… I am not expert gardener and not quite sure what we’re doing wrong.  They look great as of right now, and I’m hoping for a big bounty this year.

Basil.  My boys love basil, and we use it a lot in the summer.  It’s another one of those things that we end up having more than we know what to do with… needless to say, there will be lots of fresh pesto soon.

Blueberries!  My kids inhale these… like nothing I’ve ever seen.

Bok choy.  John makes a mean stir fry, and these will come in handy!

Carrots.  Another thing we love to munch on while working outside.  I add the carrot tops to smoothies, too.Rasberries… AKA my worst nightmare.  Although they grow so easy and produce a tasty berry, they are very weed-like and spread like crazy.  Which might sound good if they weren’t trying to take over the greenhouse.  We’ve transplanted them outside now, but they are still relentless!Asparagus.  I’m as confused as you are.  Looks like a bad hair day to me.We also have a cucumbers, sweet potatoes, corn, beets and more herbs growing so far but I forgot to snap pics.What about you?  Growing any food this summer?

Jeanne here.

About three years ago, our friends Claire and Danny brought a version of this salad to a pot-luck at our house in Pasadena and I can’t count the times I’ve made it since… especially since kale is one of the hardiest plants that grown in our little raised beds … it’s a superfood … and I’m always looking for ways to use it that don’t involve blending it into a smoothie (which we also do all the time

It’s so simple, it’s kind of embarrassing.  But maybe that’s what makes it so great.

INGREDIENTS:

• A big bunch of kale (enough for 6-8 servings), washed and shredded … sturdy ribs removed.
• Juice from 2 Lemons
• 1 Tablespoon Raw Honey
• 2 Teaspoons Hot Chili Sesame Oil
• Sea Salt & Pepper (to taste)
• 2 Tablespoons Sesame Seeds
• 1 Apple (cut into one-inch bits)
• 1/2 cup Crumbled Feta Cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Combine the lemon juice, honey, sesame oil and salt and pepper in a small mason jar.  Seal it up and “shake it real good,” until the honey is dissolved in the liquid and the oil and lemon juice are blended.  Pour the contents over the kale and toss to coat.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and toss to disperse.

And then set it aside for about an hour.  This gives the acidic lemon juice time to break down the raw kale just a little bit … to take away some of the “bitter” and to raw-cook it so it’s more digestible.

Just before serving, toss with the apple and feta cheese.

A NOTE:  the hot chili sesame oil has some real heat … and it’s sort of nutty … and it’s a great compliment to the bitter dark green kale.  It gives the whole salad a slightly more complex flavor than just a straight up vinaigrette.  And we sort of just love it.  Also, we started adding the honey and apple when the kiddos started eating more salads.  The honey mellows the heat of the chili and tang of the lemon a bit.  And the apples are just a good sweet crunch.  And our littles love this salad almost as much as we do!

We’re linked up:
Kelly the Kitchen Kop
This Chick Cooks
The Nourishing Gourmet

Who would have thought dressing two little messy people would be so fun?  As it turns out, it’s something I really enjoy.  Seeing I have to look at them all day, every day… I guess it makes sense I want them to look cute!

I’d call my “baby style” comfy cute, and would much rather go shopping for my two boys than myself.

The clothes I pick for them are nothing special (except to me!), just little soft pieces (often second hand) that catch my eyes.  

BUT…. (why does there always have to be a but?)

With my oldest recently turning four, I’m starting to realize how quickly they are becoming their own little people… with their own styles.

And against every bone in my body, it is all about superheroes right now.

Without ever seeing a Spiderman, Superman or Batman TV show or movie, my kid is OBSESSED with these action heroes.

Friends and family have spoiled him these last few weeks for his birthday with all things superheroes, and I’m happy it’s helping me embrace him becoming his own person.

Today he went to lunch in oversized red shorts and a batman t-shirt, and he couldn’t have been more proud of his clothes.

So while it might not be my idea of kid fashion, he’s becoming his own four year old self.  

And that’s a good thing.

-Abby

Sunrise this morning was 5:53 am.  Sunset tonight is at 8:49 pm.

That’s nearly 15 hours of sun … it’s a long day.  And as we head into summer the days are going to get even longer.

And as of this moment, there’s nary a cloud in the sky.

It’s supposed to be 75 degrees today.

And considering half of our year involves freezing temperatures, we are all itching to be outside!

It makes us feel so lucky to live in the Big Sky State…. if only it didn’t get us obsessing about finding a perfect balance between enjoying the abundant vitamin D without getting a sunburn!

And if you’re anything like us …. you think about sunscreen.  You want it to be easy (that multi-pack of Coppertone Water Babies at Costco looks so convenient, right?).

But then you learn that Water Babies SPF 50 is actually really bad for little babies.  It’s filled with chemicals (like oxybenzone, avobenzone, triethanolamine, benzyl alcohol, parabans and fragrance … to name just a few!) that are linked to reproductive toxicity, cancer, allergies, endocrine disruption, neurotoxicity, immunotoxicity and can cause biochemical or cellular level changes.  And to top it off, there are chemicals in it that cause enhanced skin absorption and are known for their bioaccumulation tendencies.

And then maybe you read that any sunscreen blocks absorption of Vitamin D.  And isn’t that one of the benefits we’re looking for when we’re outside playing?

So what do you do?

What’s important in a sunscreen?

Is it UVB protection?
UVA protection?
What’s the best SPF?
What chemicals should you avoid?
Do you make you own sunscreen?
What about not wearing sunscreen?

AAAAAAaaaaaahhhh!  (Sometimes it feels like my brain might explode).

We’re not here to tell you what choices you should make for you and your loved ones.  But we’ll tell you what informs our decisions, and how we ended up where we are.

Firstly, we don’t wear sunscreen all the time (even though we’re pretty fair-skinned).  We tend to avoid the midday sun, wear hats and play in areas with a good amount of shade, and (knock on wood) we’ve been pretty lucky these past four years.  That is NOT to say that we never wear sunscreen.  Jeanne’s mom lives in the desert.  Abby’s parents are in Texas.  When we visit our parents, the kiddos are loaded up with sunscreen because … well … it’s a different level of sun exposure.  There’s very little shade.  A lot of pool time.  And no one thinks a sunburn in a good idea (sunburn in childhood doubles your chances of getting melanoma as an adult).

But there are nearly 2,000 kinds of sunscreen on the market these days!!!

All we really want is to find one that actually works and isn’t going to threaten the well-being of our littles.  So we look for sunscreens with an SPF of 30 (anything more isn’t really much more effective), sunscreens with a good UVB/UVA balance, sunscreens that are made with as many natural ingredients as possible (like coconut oil, olive oil, chamomile oil, cacao, shea butter, etc).  And we look for a low rating on EWG’s sunscreen consumer guide.  We also look for sunscreen that’s readily available at a local store.

So we’ve ended up with two commercial sunscreens that we recommend:

Badger Baby Sunscreen, Chamomile 7 Calendula, SPF 30 (available at our local Food Coop or HERE in our Amazon store)

and

California Baby Super Sensitive No Fragrance Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 30+ (available at our local Target or HERE in our Amazon store.).

And yes… these options are double, sometimes triple, the cost of “regular” sunscreen, but we see it as an investment in their long term health!

And we’ve been lucky that we haven’t had any real sunburn experiences because our kiddos like wearing hats and don’t mind that we don’t spend a lot of time outside in the midday sun.

And of course… a heathy diet.  I (Abby) remember hearing the phrase “eat your sunscreen” years ago, and have been intrigued ever sense.  The point is that sunburn is actually inflammation of the skin, and eating a proper diet can help avoid that inflammation.  Eating leafy greens, upping our intake of FCLO (found HERE) and continue taking Astaxanthin (found HERE) help the body better process the sun.

And if you can handle the oily feel, coconut oil also has a natural SPF of about 4 so using that as a lotion in the summer time is another great precaution!

Abby here.

For me, lunch is the hardest meal of the day.

Generally we are on the run or trying to squeeze in a quick meal before nap time, and the last thing I feel like doing is cooking.  After all, I just did that a few hours earlier, and I’ll most likely be doing it again tonight!

Sometimes a girl just needs a break.

So here’s where we land quite a bit.
It might look like 2 pieces of bread squished together, but it’s actually full of tasty, healthy things.

I start with Ezekiel sprouted wheat bread, and for the fillings I use coconut oil, almond butter and raw local honey.

As with all healthy alternatives, this sandwich will take a second to get used to if you (or your kids) are accustomed to Jiffy peanut butter and Smucker’s jelly on white bread.

In college, a roommate (hi Jena!) and I would veg on the couch some nights with a large jar of Peter Pan peanut butter and a big bag Flaming Hot Cheetos.  It was awesome and disgusting.  Those were the good ole days of guiltless junk food eating!

Anyways, this packs well in a lunch box, perfect for picnics at the park…. something we’re about to be doing a lot more of!

Linked up here:
The Nourishing Gourmet