Thanksgiving Delights

                                         A few of our Thanksgiving week reads


We are having a blast celebrating Thanksgiving, this week. Thanksgiving is definitely one of my favorite holidays, as I love the simplicity and joy it brings. One of my goals is to cultivate (through God's grace) in myself and my little ones, a spirit of great thankfulness. Having a spirit of thankfulness is greatly interconnected with contentment. It is very challenging to be thankful, if I have a discontent spirit. I marvel at all of the blessings that God bestows on me. I am so grateful for this precious time, when we can focus on thanking our Creator for His manifold blessings!

One of my little blessings!

There are so many fun and creative ways to celebrate Thanksgiving. We are going to choose from a few of these ideas, to enrich our Thanksgiving holiday.


The Homespun Heart has a variety of fun ideas for making Thanksgiving a joy-filled day! Her ideas include: play dough pumpkins, a Home-spun Thanksgiving for Children, and these Thanksgiving table decorations.

Scripture Adventures is giving away their free e-book about Giving Thanks: A Study in Gratitude and Thankfulness. Thank you to Money Saving Mom for the link. I have printed out some of the printables from this unit study, and I am so excited to utilize this with my little ones. There is copywork, paper dolls, and a lot of fun projects within this free resource!

I would love to make this Raw Harvest Pumpkin Soup . I love most pumpkin soups, but I have never had raw pumpkin soup. It sounds like a delicious dish, with tons of enzymes for healthy living.


Toasted pumpkin seeds are always a yummy treat!

This Thanksgiving Snack Mix like so much fun to enjoy with little ones!

I hope you have a very blessed and joyful Thanksgiving!

Winner of What's in the Bible

The Winner of What's in the Bible dvd giveaway is Delilah. Delilah, please e-mail me your address at aprongirl (at) gmail.com . Congratulations!

Healthy Baby Food On the Go

Homemade baby food is easy to make, but some hesitate to make their own baby food while traveling. There are a variety of tools that make this much easier!

I believe that the most convenient baby food, ever, is a banana. It is easy to tote, comes in it's own wrapper, and is a nice consistency for babies six months and up.

Another terrific, portable baby food, is an avocado. These are definitely messier than bananas, so these work best if you can stop at a restaurant. Peel and remove pit. Infantino's Mash and Serve bowls are a great tool to use to mash up soft fruits and veggies, like an avocado, on the go. Avocados can be served very smooth for solid food newbies, and more textured for advanced eaters.

One of my favorite products for toting baby's lunch along are Infantino's Double Decker Meal Boxes . They include a double layer storage box, to separate purees from finger foods. The meal boxes come with a knife and fork, which attach to the top of the case.

What first foods do your babies enjoy? I would love to hear your tips on serving your little one healthy meals on the go!

I am a participant in a Mom Central Consulting campaign for Infantino and have received various Infantino products as part of my participation.

Homemade Baby Food

I enjoy making homemade baby food for my little ones. My youngest, Olivia, is now 7 1/2 months old and has been enjoying homemade baby food for about a month and a half, now. I try to solely breastfeed for at least the first six months because of the many health benefits. I started making homemade baby food when my second child, Stephen, was an infant.

Reasons to make your own baby food:

Cost

Jars of baby food can be very expensive. Most store-bought baby food contains a lot of water. Buying some produce and pureeing it is very affordable in comparison. With just one pureed avocado (which cost about .55) I can make 9 servings of avocado puree. Each serving came out to about .06 cents! Many jars of commercially produced baby food are .50 cents to $1.00 each!

Freshness

Sometimes I make baby food for my daughter just a few minutes before serving it to her. Other times, I prepare enough for the week, and freeze the food into individual cubes. It can be challenging to find out when a commercially bought baby food was prepared!

Healthier

Preparing homemade baby food ensures that there are no artificial ingredients, preservatives, etc.. You are in control of shaping your little one's taste buds with healthy flavors. Your baby will become accustomed to eating whole foods rather than processed foods.

Making Homemade Baby Food

1. Prepare and/or Steam Ingredients

I like to feed my children as fresh of foods as possible to help retain nutritious value. I like to make sure that my little one can eat plenty of raw foods such as bananas, apples, and avocados. Raw fruits and vegetables contain the most nutrients and active enzymes. Steaming vegetables retains more nutrition than boiling them. (Steaming is recommended for vegetables such as squash, peas, broccoli, etc.)

2. Puree

I usually blend ingredients in my Vita Mix, when preparing homemade baby food. A food mill can also be a terrific resource for making purees.

3. Divide into Individual Portions

For years, I have used ice cube trays for freezing individual portions of baby food. I have liked this method, but often wished that there was a lid for the trays. I really love these new freeze trays by Infantino. They are BPA free, dishwasher safe, and hold just the right amount of food for my baby! The freeze tray is flexible enough for easily getting the baby food out of the tray, and the lid keeps food fresher.

4. Defrost
I am trying to get away from using the microwave, so I try to defrost baby food in the refrigerator. I try to pop all of my daughter's baby food in the refrigerator, the night before. These stackable food cubes are terrific for defrosting baby food in. They are very portable, stackable, and freezable. There are six of them in a pack in three different sizes.

                               



Pureed avocado in stackable containers

5. Warm if desired

I prefer warming baby  food on the stovetop. I skip this step when serving fresh baby food such as homemade applesauce or avocados.

6. Happy Baby

Babies love homemade baby food!    Recommended Resources
Super Baby Food This is an amazing resource which gives complete food preparation details including how old a baby should be to eat different types of fruits and vegetables.

Infantino's Feeding Line

Making Your Own Baby Food Article by Dr. Sears

Wholesome Baby Food Informative website

Nutritional Quality of Baby Food

Annabel Karmel's resources Annabel Karmel is the author of many books about baby food preparation.


What are your favorite first foods for baby? I would love to hear your baby food making tips.


I am a participant in a Mom Central Consulting campaign for Infantino and have received various Infantino products as part of my participation.

Choosing Ingredients for Green Smoothies

I enjoy mixing and matching fruit and greens in our daily smoothies. I strive for at least 40% greens and 60% fruit.

Greens
So far, we have rotated the following greens in our green smoothies: kale, spinach, celery, Romaine, arugula, collards, and a variety of greens in a spring mix. I am glad to have a Harris Teeter nearby, which carries a variety of organic greens. I try to always make sure that my greens are organic, even if my fruit is not. I want to incorporate more herbs like organic parsley and dill into our smoothies, as well. Carrot tops and beet tops contain much more nutrition than the actual carrot or beet, so I would love to include them, also. Each green can  be high in different nutrients from the other. Therefore, it is a good idea to rotate your greens frequently.

I usually buy these two mixes, weekly, at my local Sam's Club. They are right around $4 a pack, and they last a long time.

Fruit
Our favorite fruits that we add to our green smoothies are:  bananas , peaches, blueberries, strawberries, cantaloupe, grapes,mangoes, pineapple, apples, and oranges. My next venture will be to incorporate the milk from a young coconut into our smoothies. I found a great deal on young coconuts at my local Asian market. It is fun to come up with different fruit and green blends. We try to use some fresh and frozen fruit in each smoothie. I recommend putting fresh fruit and greens into the blender, first, and  then adding the frozen fruit at the end. This makes the blending task much easier on your blender.

                                               These are two of our favorite frozen fruit blends.

 Since I have started drinking green smoothies, I have tried greens that I never  thought I would enjoy. The following ingredients are some of my favorites in a green smoothie....I am so happy that I finally like Kale!

I found this video to be very helpful in choosing which greens to include in my green smoothies.



I would love to hear what fruit and greens you enjoy in green smoothies. What are your favorite combinations?