MM - Baby Days! Snackage.....

Happy Monday everyone!!!

I don't know about all of you, but snacks make the world go 'round in our household. Once Noah could eat solids, snacks were gold, in fact, this is still the case! My little guy is a super eater and loves meal time. Most of the time we are super busy and snacks fill the gaps for us. So today I thought that I would give you some "food for thought"!

Has anyone tried those yogurt bites that they have in the baby isle? Either the gerber brand or the store brand, to me they taste so weird. Now, have you tried the THRIVE yogurt bites? AMAZING!!!! In my humble opinion, the THRIVE yogurt bites melt easier in the little ones mouth, taste WAY better, and kiddos love them!! Not to mention that they are a ton cheaper! Noah's fav is Strawberry!

The thing I love most about THRIVE foods is that they make the perfect snack right out of the can! The fruits and veggies are awesome for when your little one starts to feed themselves! Try the peas, corn, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, mangos, and pears! They are great starter foods and they love the crunch! Noah absolutlely loves the fruits and veggies especially while he is teethin!! The applesauce is also amazing!



What about when they get a little older and goldfish are the bomb.com? Well, I was perusing the THRIVE cookbook the other day and I found this little gem! AMAZING!!! We made a batch this weekend and they were devoured!!!

***I have to add a disclaimer. I don't have an actual picture of the ones that we made this weekend. They were gobbled up rather quickly and I forgot to take a picture in the craziness that happened this weekend. Me and Noah got some burns on saturday as i was cooking. Some hot oil splashed on the both of us. Things have been just a little out of whack ever since then. ***


Photo courtesy of THRIVE Cookbook

Here is what you will need:
1 1/4 Cups TRIVE Flour (Whole wheat or white)
1/2 Cup THRIVE Cheese Blend
1/8 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon THRIVE Salt
3 Tablespoons Oil (I use coconut oil)
1/2 Cup Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all your dry ingredients. Slowly add oil until the mixture is crumbly. SLOWLY add water until you form a tight dough.
Roll out you dough very thin (they will puff up when they bake) about 1/8 of an inch. Cut into squares or your favorite shape. Poke a hole in the top of them and transfer onto a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Cool completely before removing them from the pan.
Happy Snackin!

Noodles and Veggies

My toddler is a picky eater. When he was on baby food he ate like a champ and I often joked that he didn't discriminate when it came to food. Fast forward a year and some months later and I have a hard time getting him to eat a lot of things. One thing that he loves is spaghetti like noodles. He'll gobble up spaghetti, chow mein, and ramen. Now I'm not necessarily proud that little man eats ramen, but hey I'm human!

I had made myself some ramen one day when I was craving some comfort food, and he wanted some. I started to think about how I could make the ramen better. And I remembered one of my professors in college. He started talking one day about all of the different ways you could amp up your ramen, and the one I remembered most was adding frozen peas. So I pulled out some THRIVE and a package of ramen and in just a few minutes I had a happy customer.

You Will Need:
1 package of ramen (any flavor)
2 Tbs THRIVE peas
2 Tbs THRIVE corn
1 Tbs THRIVE carrots

Directions:
Boil 2 cups of water. Add your ramen noodles and then just toss in the veggies. Boil for 3 minutes. Periodically mix up veggies and noodles (you might want to break up the noodles before you boil them if your making it for a little one). I like to drain some of the liquid before adding my seasoning, but that's just me. If you are concerned about the sodium content (holy cow!) you can skip the packet and flavor it anyway you like, salt and pepper, a dash of low sodium soy sauce, I'm sure there are lots of options! Serve to your eagerly awaiting toddler and watch them ask for more!

Mama Mondays - Healthy Mama Series

Good Morning Mamas!

I am so glad that you are joining us again this Monday! Today is an exciting one because I will be introducing another series as a part of Mama Mondays! This is something that I am really passionate about and something I have personally struggled with. Being a Healthy Mama!!!

I will be adding great tips, tricks, and recipes to help you throughout your pregnancy and again while breastfeeding! Tune in every 2nd Monday of the month!

Perhaps a little back story would help you understand why I care so much about healthy mamas!!!

When I was pregnant with Noah (He was a pleasant surprise FYI), I was waist deep in a very intensive Diagnostic Medical Sonography Degree. It required that I work 40 hr week at my clinical internship site (which was 45 minutes from home), and put in about 30 more hours of study, assignment time, just to stay afloat!! I was not an overachiever my any means! I was highly stressed and worn out! This did not make ideal conditions for a pregnancy. Once I started thinking about it, most moms now have to deal with less than ideal conditions while pregnant these days. So what can we do to make sure that we stay as healthy as possible? Let me tell you what I did.....

#1 Drink TONS of water!!!

While pregnant or nursing water is vital! You need plenty of water to keep you babies amniotic fluid at a good level as well as to clean the fluid. It is also very important for your own body. You are giving up so much to help that little one grow, your body needs the water to maintain its cells and critical functions, like the kidneys.

#2 Take some time for exercise!

I really loved to stretch while I was pregnant. You can find prenatal yoga and mediation videos everywhere!! This really helps to relieve some stress and help many fluids in your body to circulate much better!! Deep breaths and pamper those muscles!!! This can also help blood circulation and prevent varicose veins if done regularly.

#3 Plan to succeed!!! Plan Snacks & Meals!!!!

Make sure that you have a great eating plan. If you have a plan and take time to prepare your meals and snacks, you are giving yourself a head start. You are less likely to choose something that will will set you back. Healthy snacks and meals are essential to give your body the right fuel to keep you energized and grow that cute little baby! Here is some of my best advice....

Eat a really good breakfast! Make sure that you have a great protein source and that you add in some veggies!!! This gives you the best head start! MY favorite is to make an egg, veggie, and cheese omelet! Take your THRIVE Scrambled egg mix and create a "bed" for your favorite veggies and cheese. My favorite veggies are THRIVE Green Chile, THRIVE Asparagus, THRIVE Spinach, THRIVE Onions, and THRIVE Red and Green Bell peppers! I usually top it with just a little THRIVE Cheddar Cheese. Add some THRIVE Instant Milk and some THRIVE Quick Oatmeal to boost breast milk production!

Make sure that you plan some healthy snacks! One of my favorite snacks in the morning is an assortment of Yogurt bites and fruit and nuts! This ensures that you get a little protein! Add in any of your favorite THRIVE yogurt bites and favorite THRIVE fruits to some almonds and you are good to go! For a snack towards the afternoon (this is usually when most people begin to crave the sweets!) I love to add in something with a crunch! I LOVE the THRIVE Corn! It is almost like eating popcorn, but a little sweeter to satisfy my sweet tooth!

Make sure that your lunch is packed with good stuff! I love a great chicken salad with some fruit! Combine some of our THRIVE Superstars for a great lunch! Chicken, Onion, Celery, Apples or grapes, and some red or green bell peppers make an amazing chicken salad!

 

At dinner time it is important to pay attention to your balance between the carbs and proteins! You growing baby needs good proteins and veggies to carry you through the night. One of my favorite go to dinners is a stir fry! You get tons of protein and veggies in! Check back next Monday for my THRIVE Sizzle! Stir Fry recipe!!!

Last but not least, make sure that you are treating yourself! One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to be healthy is that they feel like you have to completely cut out all the "Bad" things! NOT!!! If you love ice cream....eat a little ice cream!! The trick is, only eat a true serving size!!

#4 Perhaps the most important, Get good Sleep!

Getting enough sleep is so important when pregnant or nursing and probably the hardest to come by! Try and help yourself by winding down about 30 minutes before bed by doing some stretches and rubbing your feet. Use some lotion and really try to calm yourself down.

 

Try to remember that in order to take care of your growing little ones, you have to take care of yourself! Once you start you will love it!!  

Creamy Corn and Green Chile

I don't know about you, but it seems like I always have a hard time thinking of an easy side dish to add to dinner. For probably the first 3 years we were married a side dish at our dinner table consisted of a canned vegetable and a canned fruit. I still resort to the canned version of a side dish when in a pinch. But then I had a light bulb moment when using my THRIVE Life corn for another dish.

My mother in law makes this delicious corn dish. I always have seconds. I decided to try it with my food storage products. Note this was my first time EVER making it, so while I haven't necessarily perfected it, I don't see any harm in sharing it with you anyway.

You Will Need:
2 c rehydrated corn
1/2 c rehydrated green chile (feel free to use more, but I felt like this was a good ratio)
2 Tbs butter
8 oz cream cheese (I think I might add a bit more next time, because I'm a cream cheese glutton)

Directions:
Melt the butter in  sauce pan with the cream cheese.
Stir in the corn and green chile.

That's it! Easy peasy and it tastes delicious!

I apologize. Last week when I posted this recipe I accidentally said 4 oz of cream cheese instead of 8. My apologies!

Meals in Minutes: Taco Soup

Ever gone camping and wished that you had something light weight, quick and easy for dinner that was filling, not greasy and inexpensive....hey me too!  Are you a mom or dad without a whole lot of time to throw dinner together and wish that you could have something healthy and tasty that could be waiting for you in your pantry when dinner time approaches?  I have been reading Dinner is in the Jar by Kathy Clark and making changes to these recipes that make it a little more user friendly for my family.  For example, if I was supposed to be soaking beans overnight and then start simmering them for 2 hours before dinner, it wouldn't have helped me as much as if I had beans that were ready to go.  That is why I LOVE Shelf Reliance Instant Beans.  This first recipe I am posting for you is one that taste's absolutely fabulous and can actually be done in about 20 minutes.  Because you don't have to pre-soak the beans, everything can go in the same bag.  This makes it all the more tempting to rig up 10 bags at once (ok, maybe more like 4) so you have future dinners set and ready to go. Thank you to Kathy Clark who got the seasonings perfect on this one.  Hope you like the Shelf Reliance doctored soup. My husband said I, "have full permission to make this soup again and again."  Basically his way of saying he loves it!  Also, since Taco TVP is the Qpon item of the month, I thought it convenient to include a recipe which would taste great with Taco TVP.

Something else I should mention is that I typically don't put my food in Jars.  I prefer to use those for when I can beans, chicken, meat or veggies so I use mylar bags for my "Meals in Minutes".  To learn more about mylar and oxygen absorbers, this is where I bought mine. These are also very convenient for when you are camping.  Mylar bags are also reusable so you can just trim the top off to open then save them for the next time you fill bags.  I put an oxygen absorber in my bags to keep the product fresh and crisp.  If you are making a meal that you are going to be eating soon  (like in a couple of days) you can use a freezer bag with a good zip lock and it should work just fine.



Taco Soup
Bag Ingredients:
1 c THRIVE Instant Red Beans
1 c THRIVE Instant Pinto Beans
1 1/2 c  THRIVE Freeze Dried Ground Beef THRIVE Beef TVP, or 3/4 c THRIVE Taco TVP (you can substitute 1 lb ground beef instead of THRIVE meat)
1 c THRIVE Freeze Dried corn
2 T THRIVE Mixed Bell Peppers
2 T THRIVE Chopped Onions
1/4 c ranch dressing mix (about 1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Powder)
2 T chili powder
1 t garlic powder
1/4 t THRIVE oregano
1/2 t paprika
2 t cumin
1 t seasoning salt
1/8 t ground black pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper

Additional Ingredients:
9 c water
2 cans of diced tomatoes (2 1/2 c THRIVE Tomato Dices w/1 c water)

Optional toppings: (I've used THRIVE cheese & sour cream or just regular stuff from the grocery market.  Depends on if you are in a situation with refrigeration or not!)
cheese
sour cream
tortilla chips


Directions:
Bring water to a boil then turn off the heat and immediately add all of the other ingredients from the bag and cover the pot.  Let all of the ingredients sit for 5 minutes to begin rehydrating.  Add tomatoes, recover, then bring to a simmer allowing it to simmer for another 10-15 minutes.   Top individual bowls with shredded cheese, sour cream and crushed tortilla chips.


If you live in the Denver area or somewhere close by and would like to attend one of my Meals-in-Minutes group nights and store up a bunch of dinners for your family, contact me at Tiffany@HelpingFamiliesThrive.com. If you'd like to search the Shelf Reliance website and get the guaranteed best pricing available without having to use a coupon, you can visit www.helpingfamilies.thrivelife.com/home.

Dinner in 20 minutes- Easy Chicken and Rice in a Pot

This recipe is one that I use at parties (usually with the cornbread) because it is so simple.  I know that it will turn out perfect even if I am not giving it much attention since I am focusing on the party guests rather than cooking.  It is actually a go-to recipe for me on crazy nights when I don't feel like cooking, but I want to have a home-cooked meal.


Please note that this recipe makes A BUNCH since I use it at parties.  I love having left overs.  Feel free to cut it in half if you are not the type to eat meals 2 nights in a row :)  Since all of THRIVE foods are washed, chopped up and ready to go its easy to create Thrive recipes in a snap!


Easy Chicken and Rice in a Pot
2 c rice
8 c water
1 T THRIVE Butter Powder
4 T THRIVE Chicken Bouillon 
1/3 c THRIVE Carrots
1/3 c THRIVE FD Corn
1/3 c THRIVE FD Onions
1/3 c THRIVE FD Peas
1/8 c THRIVE FD Celery
2 cooked chicken breasts or FD Chicken


Throw all of the ingredients into a large pot and bring to a rolling boil.  Turn the heat down and allow to simmer with the lid on for about 20-25 minutes or until rice is cooked.  Use a fork to shred the chicken that is on top of the rice and serve.

              

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Another Time Saving  Tip

While I am on the subject of quick and easy meals, I thought I'd let everyone in on a little secret of mine that makes for quick dinners especially on nights that I don' t feel like cooking.  When I buy a large package of raw chicken breasts from the store, I put them all into a crockpot right when I get home.  I put a little seasoning on them: McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning, Chicken Bouillon, or just good old fashioned salt and pepper will do the trick. I allow these babies to cook on low for a few hours until fully cooked.  I put the chicken breast in a variety of freezer bags depending on the amounts I need for different recipes, then pop them in the freezer.  They are wonderully flavored and moist since they cook in their own broth and save tons of oven time, heat (my house gets REALLY hot in the summer so this is a HUGE bonus for me), and money since I don't have to pay to heat up my oven each time I need cooked chicken.  Don't forget to save that leftover broth.  You can either put it into a Rubbermaid container if you know that you are going to be using it within a few days, or freeze it into little ice cubes that you can just throw into soups or rice later to replace the water and add alot more flavor to the dish without the added sodium.