Healthy Family Hangout

Good Monday morning!  The sun is shining in through the windows on this beautiful start to the first full week of fall.... a great morning for a waffle breakfast!   My kids love waffles!  They also love raisin bread!  Last week while recipe hunting I stumbled upon this neat twist on a waffle breakfast that incorporates both... "Raisin Waffle Toast".  It was a very simple fix that took just minutes to prepare and put on the table.  Raisin Waffle Toast 3 eggs 3 tbsp milk 2 tbsp packed brown sugar 1/4 tsp vanilla extract 6-8 slices raisin bread Heat waffle iron.  Whisk together eggs, milk, brown sugar and vanilla in a shallow dish.  Dip raisin bread into egg mix.  Place in waffle iron, close and grill until golden and baked through. I served the waffle toast with an easy raspberry smoothie.  Christian has a smoothie every morning for breakfast.  It's a great way to get his servings of fruit and diary in one glass.   ...

Today I went to the Torbay Farmers Market with my family to buy vegetables.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  When we got there I saw a farmer with vegetables that were in baskets and plastic bins.  Before we bought the veggies we had some fun. We went inside and looked around.  Mom and dad sampled the sweet and sour turnip & carrot relish.  They liked it and bought a jar.  I waited until we got home to taste it.  It smelled sour.  I tasted it and it was too, too sour!  I think they put too much vinegar and not enough sugar.  Look at my face it looks sour just like the relish.  I look funny. While we were still at the market we went and had some lunch.  We ate healthy all week and today I had a treat.  The men had a little food trailer with pizza cones, chips, and candy bars.  It had a microwave and speakers too.  I had a BBQ chicken pizza cone.  It was cool!  The pizza dough was shaped as an ice ...

This morning for breakfast we decided to try a new smoothie recipe.  We were skeptical because it called for equal parts of milk and water, but we gave it a try anyway. The actual recipe called for 1/3 cup of strawberries and 1/3 cup of raspberries, but Christian had already decided that he wanted to use the frozen mixed berries that were in the freezer.  It was the perfect opportunity to throw in a quick summertime math lesson with fractions.  So he learned that 1/3 + 1/3 = 2/3.  I'm happy anytime we can sneak in math and make it practical and fun.  Cooking is obviously something that Christian is very interested in so I will be sure to start to try to incorporate more math learning into his cooking experiments.  This could be a fun learning and not boring and forced.  Wish me luck!! The kids liked the smoothie and drank it all gone, but Christian said that he liked smoothies better with all milk instead.  He thought that the smoothie was too...

I am absolutely positively in L-O-V-E with Millard's homemade BBQ sauces.  He is not ready to share his recipe just yet, but it has become a staple in our house.  We no longer buy bottle sauces at the grocery store and who knows... maybe one day you'll see Millard's sauces bottled and on the shelf of your favorite store!  :) Earlier in July we had bbq chicken with the Jack bbq sauce slathered all over it.  The chicken was grilled off first and then the sauce was added during the last few minutes.  It was served with some greens and corn on the cob.   Again the greens were seasoned with crushed red peppers and the corn on the cob was boiled first and then placed on the grill to char a little.   Mmm... Mmm... it was a delicious meal!  All it was missing was a slice of corn bread.

Christian was watching a competition cooking show on Food Network with us one night and one of the contestants made a smashed meatball sandwich.  And that was it... Christian had to make one too!  Millard made some homemade rolls.    Christian washed and dried the lettuce.   Here's Alexander showing the pre-made homemade meatballs that we had sitting in the freezer We cooked the meatballs and cut them in half, assembled the sandwich and then placed it all on our Wolfgang Puck Panini Press and smashed it down.  The sandwiches turned out bigger than we planned so we ended up just eating half a sandwich eat with a side salad and putting the rest in the fridge for leftovers. 

Earlier this summer Christian saw the Food Network magazine at the grocery store and just had to buy it.  The front cover showed picture of gourmet hotdogs that looked absolutely delicious.   We know that hotdogs are not the healthiest of things to eat, but we opt for chicken, low sodium dogs and limit to one dog only.  Moderation is the key.  Plus it's tough when trying to keep your child on a healthy diet.  You have to bend a little so that he doesn't feel too restricted.  The recipe called for "cojita cheese".  We searched and searched but could not find any so we substituted with "feta".  We shot a youtube video when Christian was making this hotdog and you will probably notice that the avocado was diced and sitting in a bowl of water.  I had read that doing this allows you to cut the avocado in advance, preventing it from turning that yucky brown.  You will also notice in the video a little slip up of one of the ingredients bei...

In this Youtube cooking show Christian made a Raspberry Smoothie.  It gets a little hard to hear at one point when he turns on the blender and attempts to talk over the noise, but he did awesome!

This is Christian's Youtube premier video!  He decided  that he wanted to make Carmel S'mores on the B-B-Q.  I'm sure you'll like it.

Christian loves cooking!  A few weeks ago he decided that he wanted to start making cooking shows to post on Youtube.  So that's just what we are doing!  It is a great summer project!!  I will start posting his videos here on the blog soon. To the left is a picture of Christian and Alexander prior to one of his video shootings.  Alexander was obviously not camera ready.  :)

There is not much better than a backyard bbq on a sunny day!  We haven't had many hot, sunny days and warm evenings so far this summer so whenever the weather cooperates we try to set the outside table with our blue tablecloth and eat in the great outdoors.   I don't know if food really does taste better this way, but it sure seems like it! Last week we had one of Christian's absolute favorite foods... RIBS!  The greatest thing was  that they were on sale at No Frills which made for one happy mom.  :)  I usually try to plan our meals based on the weekly sales.  Since summer break Christian has made a habit of searching thru the weekly flyers as well to help pick out his favorite things. The ribs were grilled slow and low and went great with Millard's secret homemade Jack Daniels BBQ sauce.  The best thing about making sauces from scratch is that you can control the sodium, sugars and everything else that goes into it. We also picked up ...

I have made broccoli salad many times over the years, but it wasn't until recently that Christian has taken a liking to it.  Normally I simply mix in mayo and equal amounts of dried cranberries, cheddar cheese and bacon bites and sometimes diced onion or pine nuts with one bunch of broccoli cut into bite sized pieces.  But for our backyard BBQ last week I tried something new. Somewhere along my recipe research I read to try sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts because they are a cheaper, but still tasty alternative.  We already had some sitting in the pantry so I decided that it was a good time to test it out.  I also decided to try a new dressing recipe.  Usually I just scoop heaping spoonfuls of mayo into the salad without measuring.  This time I decided to try a yogurt-based dressing.   Zingy Dressing 1/2 cup Plain Yogurt 1/3 cup Mayo 2 tbsp Cider Vinegar 1/2 tbsp Sugar  The cider vinegar gave the dressing a nice zing which I liked b...

Last weekend we took a mini road trip to Carbonear, Newfoundland.  We packed the cooler full of food and drinks along with a small propane grill and off we went.  We had a great day and look forward to doing it again. First we stopped by Earles Horse Riding and Fun Park  where they have a mini train for the kids to ride. Alexander enjoyed playing on the play equipment   Christian played a game of mini golf with the final hole being the "Newfie Out House"   Millard went on a hay ride with the kids.  My back hurt too bad to climb aboard.  :( Afterwards we went down to the little walking trail and set up our camp stove. Here is Christian cleaning the grill.   While they waited the kids played around the old stationary CN train.   Here they are set up with Dad cooking hotdogs.   I know, I know...not exactly the healthiest choice, but they were  chicken hotdogs which were lower sodium and lower calorie. A good choi...

What says summer better than watermelon?!  And best of all - the kids love it!  We recently decided to try a water melon salad.  We had always simply sliced the perfect watermelon into wedges. Yes, the perfect watermelon.  According to Millard, "Choosing the proper watermelon involves thumbing the finger on the melon, listing for a thud and feeling for a vibration."  And believe me folks, this sometimes takes a little time.  Myself and Alexander sometimes wander off to continue grocery shopping while Millard and Christian dig through the bin of watermelons.  It can be quite the adventure. The watermelon salad peeked our curiosity.  The idea of pairing crumbled feta cheese, thinly sliced shallots and fresh mint with watermelon cubes sounded very refreshing.  We followed a recipe, but neither of us really liked it.  We felt that the mint was a little too overpowering.  We will definitely try to make it again, but will probably pass ...

Over the past months we've gotten away from our side salads.  This week however we are starting to incorporate them back into our meals.  Tonight was Christian's first soccer game of the 2011 season.   We knew that we'd be eating later than usual and wanted to keep it somewhat light so we had homemade sushi with an oriental side salad featuring a homemade salad dressing.  The dressing was extremely quick and easy, but I unfortunately don't have any pictures of it in the making.  I prepped the dressing prior to Christian's game and I was rushed to get out the door in time. The salad itself consisted of what we had on hand:  Romaine lettuce, chow mein noodles, green onion, avocado, and mandarin oranges.  The homemade dressing was the star of the dish.  It was a wet consistency, but it coated well.  I always coat the lettuce in a larger bowl first, using tongs to toss and cover evenly.  The flavor was nice and well balanced compared to a ...

On Saturday we made banana french toast and it was good.  Let me show you the pictures of how we made it. First we got the bread ready and the banana mixture Then we put the bread in the banana mxiture After it was cooked by my dad it looked really good with the strawberries. This is me.  I couldn't wait to eat it. My mom cut it in sticks to dip it in the syrup.   It tasted like banana bread in a fantastic way!   I will ask my mom to type the recipe.

Saturday was a late rise for us and the perfect morning for brunch.  We had some delicious savory waffles in the fridge left over from Friday & there is always boneless skinless chicken in the freezer. So Millard put together a Chicken Wafflewich.  It was delicious!  To keep the carbs in check he split the waffles down the center, just as you would a bagel.  He then did the same with the boneless skinless chicken breast to keep the calorie count down... added a little lettuce and cheese and it was ready to eat! 

I love artichokes!  And the kids love black olives!  So this one popped off the page while flipping through an old binder full of recipe clippings.  Typically, side salads tend to be a little difficult for us.  Potato and pasta salads are too high in carbs, but I think this is the perfect salad for my family. I loved that this salad was easily put together within minutes.  Buying the sliced olives and grape tomatoes were time-saving which made it even quicker. As I am typing this Christian wanted to add his comments: "This was really good!  My favorite was the black olives and tomatoes and I found out that I liked the artichokes too.  The cheese was really, really good, but a little bit spicy".  (The feta was flavored which may be why he found it a little spicy) Artichoke-Tomato Salad   1.  A can of artichoke quarters 2.  Tomatoes (I used grape tomatoes) 3.  A can of sliced black olives (I just used a  ...

This whole lifestyle change is pretty hard to stick with sometimes.  We've been doing pretty "okay", but I've found that my blog entries keep me honest so I'm back for more.  Daily blogging kept me on top of things and also helped me keep better track of what we ate.  Christian is interested in hopefully making some video entries of his cooking experiences.  That should be fun.  And now that Alexander is two, he is getting more involved with helping in the kitchen as well.  Christian helped get all the ingredients together, Daddy chopped & diced and Alexander put them all into the pot for a nice pot of soup.

While standing in the grocery store line last week I was flipping through a cooking magazine and came across this idea.  I thought it was the perfect after school surprise for Christian. First I spread the nutella on a tortilla. Then I put a peeled banana on it. Rolled it up... ...and it was ready to eat. Christian shared it with his little brother and they both gobbled it up.  A little messy... for Alexander especially, but worth it.

Despite the fact that it's late February Christian is still digging into his Christmas gifts.  As part of his gift, my cousin Ara gave him a chocolate chip cookie mix.  Of course he wanted to make the cookies first thing Christmas morning, but the oven was occupied with the Christmas turkey!  Anyway, we finally made the cookies this past weekend.  Christian did the pouring, mixing and scooping all by himself.  They turned out really good. 

Yup, that's right... another smoothie!  Christian has absolutely fallen in love with his daily smoothies.  It has been a great way for him to get his servings of fruits and dairy to start each day and has taken the place of cereal.  Today was a snow day and Christian slept in so he had his smoothie with his pizza burger for lunch.  Of course he made it himself. Earlier in the week we took a mini shopping trip to Walmart where Christian picked out some frozen mixed berries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries & blueberries) and picked out some Astro yogurt.  The 650g container was on sale for $1 so we bought up a few.      Mixed Berry Yogurt Smoothie   1/2 cup 1% milk 1/2 cup yogurt 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries 1 small banana Christian loved his smoothie and said that it was extra creamy.  There were seeds from the blackberries and raspberries, but that didn't seem to bother him any.  I love how quick and e...