Tag Archives: recipes

by | January 22, 2011

It’s a Pleasure to Meet You…

Wow! The Blogtastic Extravaganza event has been a HUGE hit, and I’ve picked up several hundred new subscribers in the past 4 days! :D Don’t forget – you can still enter until midnight tonight, 1/22. The winner will be announced on Monday, 1/24.

To all of my readers who have been with me for the past year, I just want to say thanks so much for hanging with me! (You know I love ya, right?)

And to all my new subscribers, I’d like to introduce myself!

I’m Wendy, and this is my little man.

I know you probably get a million emails a day, and I am SO grateful that you’ve allowed me to occupy some of that precious space in your inbox!

But I have to admit, I’m a little intimidated. I mean, now I guess I have to come up with something interesting to say, huh? 8O
Haha. I’ll do my best to keep things interesting…discussion is welcome here, so please chime in with your thoughts and suggestions often!

Here’s a quick idea of what you can expect from ABCGP:

I’ve always been a little bit crunchy, a little bit foodie. It’s a combination that makes life a constant learning process, especially with a baby in the mix! Once I found out I was expecting back in 2009, my desire to surround my baby with all things clean, pure and natural kicked into high  gear. I quickly realized that you really can’t “green” your baby’s environment without doing the same for yourself, so we’ve challenged ourselves to examine all aspects of our life as a family, learn as much as we can, and make the changes it takes to make ourselves healthier, day by day…and that’s what this blog is about. (With a healthy dose of toddler mayhem thrown in, of course.)

You won’t get an email from me every day, but I try to update a few times a week. Things you can expect to see include:

  • Journal-type entries about our day-to-day life
  • Attachment Parenting topics
  • Garden updates
  • Eco-friendly lifestyle tips
  • My favorite recipes (mostly healthy, whole foods)
  • Product reviews and giveaways – several coming up SOON! Always easy entries.

I just made some new buttons, so please feel free to grab one from my sidebar!

Again, thanks for stopping by…I look forward to getting to know you all.

(…and feel free to leave me a link if you’d like me to visit your blog!)

8 Comments

Filed under The Everyday

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

by | December 15, 2010

Sweet Potato Casserole, with a Sunny Twist!

Shhhh...don’t tell the Santa. I’ve been a very naughty blogger.

I’ve been just terrible about taking photos lately, and it’s been an eternity since I’ve passed along a good recipe.

But I’d like to make it up to you with my favorite sweet potato casserole recipe!

As a kid, I love the toasted marshmallow casserole that came loaded with brown sugar. But now, I’m kind of over it. I’ve replaced the candy-fest with a casserole that’s just different enough to pique everyone’s interest at the holiday dinner table, and just traditional enough that everyone will welcome it as a familiar favorite. It has the warmth of autumn’s sweet potato harvest and the bright, sunny taste of orange, nestled under a sweet, tangy topping with just a little crunch.

Yom. :D

I wish I could take credit for this recipe, but it actually comes from Eating Well Magazine. (Brilliant folks, they are. Eating Well never lets me down!) To find the original recipe, click here.

Those familiar with my blog will know that I couldn’t just leave the recipe as is, untinkered with, so I made a few small changes to suit my tastes. (I cut the salt in half, substituted agave nectar for the honey, left out the eggs and butter, and used coconut oil rather than canola. I also added some dried cranberries for texture and a tangy kick of flavor.)

But I did leave ALL of the freshly grated orange zest. In fact, I may have gone a bit heavy on it. It’s my favorite part of this recipe, and one of my favorite ingredients in general because it adds SO much fresh flavor, eliminating (or cutting down) the need for less healthy ingredients like fat, sugar and salt.

And although I don’t have a recipe photo for you, I do have a photo of the very beginning of the taters we used to make this casserole for Thanksgiving. (A small reminder that colder weather will NOT last forever…the green will come back someday!)

Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe, with a Sunny Twist!

adapted from Eating Well Magazine

Sweet Potato Casserole:

  • 2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2″ chunks
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 2 tablespoons agave nectar
  • 1/2 cup low-fat milk (may substitute coconut milk for a vegan recipe)
  • 2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries

Topping

  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 4 teaspoons frozen orange juice concentrate (frozen)
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preparation:

  1. Place sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook over medium heat until tender, 10–15 minutes. Drain well and return to the pan. Mash with a potato masher. Measure out 3 cups. (Reserve any extra for another use.)
  2. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Coat an 8″ square (or similar 2-qt) baking dish with cooking spray.
  3. Whisk oil and agave nectar in a medium bowl. Add mashed sweet potato and mix well. Stir in milk, orange zest, vanilla and salt. Add cranberries and stir to distribute evenly throughout mixture. Spread the mixture into the prepared baking dish.*
  4. To prepare topping: Mix flour, brown sugar, orange juice concentrate and oil in a small bowl. Blend with a fork or your fingertips until crumbly. Stir in pecans. Sprinkle over the casserole.
  5. Bake casserole until heated through and the top is lightly browned, 35–45 minutes.

*A note to those with toddlers: I think this is a great toddler recipe, but there are many differing opinions on when to introduce nuts and/or tree nuts to your child. If you are concerned about reactions with the pecans in this recipe, reserve a small amount of sweet potato mixture for baby before adding the cranberries and pecan topping.

10 Comments

Filed under Green Living, Recipes & Food, The Everyday

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | November 1, 2010

After the Holiday Feast: Turkey Pot Pie

In the spirit of holiday giving, I bring you my favorite Turkey Pot Pie recipe! It is in keeping with my mission to feed my family real food while sticking to a budget and stretching your holiday dollar…and now I’m happy to share it with YOU!

Origin of this recipe: While my husband is totally down with our mission to eradicate processed food from our household, there are a few things he missed from his bachelor days. Those nasty $.69 pot pies from the freezer aisle rank at the very top of the list. One look at the ingredients list on those things and you’ll understand why I love this recipe. During the holidays, there are two things you can count on: a craving for comfort food and lots of leftover turkey. This warm, hearty pie takes care of both, with real, natural ingredients you can feel good about.

This is my own recipe, based on one I found years ago. I will not cite that one, however, because it was terrible and didn’t work at all. I ended up tossing all of my ingredients, and starting over with my own very modified version.

(Note: this recipe makes enough filling for 2 pies. Bake one now, and freeze the rest to toss into a crust later!)

ABCGP Turkey Pot Pie

  • Your favorite crust recipe for a double-crusted 9″ pie
  • 2 T butter
  • 2/3 cup onion, diced
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 3/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 cans (14.25 oz each) chicken or vegetable broth
  • 2 cups diced leftover turkey (use more or less if desired)
  • 1 cup fresh peas, steamed
  • 1 cup fresh corn, steamed
  • 3 large carrots, steamed and diced
  • 1 1/2 cups milk

Saute onions and butter in deep skillet until onions are translucent and starting to brown.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine flour, salt, pepper and thyme. Whisk in one can of broth until there are no lumps. Pour mixture into pan, stirring to incorporate onions and butter. Add the other can of broth; blend.

Add all vegetables* and turkey to mixture in pan. Whisk in milk.

Allow mixture to bubble over low to medium heat until slightly thickened, approx 10 minutes.

Spray a 9″ pie pan lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Line with bottom pastry crust. Fill with 1/2 turkey mixture (place 1/2 of turkey mixture in freezer for future use, or make 2 pies.)

Place top crust on pie. Cut slits in top crust to vent steam. Trim and seal edges.

Bake at 425 degrees for 35–

40 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Let stand 15 minutes; serve.

* I use different vegetables each time I use this. It is especially good with fresh vegetables (including corn cut from the cob) but frozen work just fine, too. Try using leftover vegetables from your holiday meal! Or leave out the meat and double the veggies, vegetarian-style!

________________________________________________


 

 

12 Comments

Filed under Recipes & Food, The Everyday

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | August 16, 2010

Clean Apple Slaw

It may be late summer, but the potluck get-togethers are still going strong (my husband has a BIG family…)

So, again, I was stumped as to what to bring…but only until I picked up the Sept/Oct issue of  Clean Eating Magazine, my latest favorite reading material! Clean Eating is a wealth of simple, fresh recipes you can really feel good about because they all focus on the consumption of food in its most natural state. Perfect for foodies and greenies alike!

This recipe is for Clean Eating’s Apple Slaw, with a few modifications made by yours truly, noted in bold…

(Nursing mommies proceed with caution! Cabbage has been known to cause tummy distress in little nurslings. We’ve don’t seem to have any trouble, but it’s a good tidbit for mommies to keep in mind, just in case baby shows signs of sensitivity…)

Apple Slaw

Slaw mix:

  • 1 1/2 small cabbages (about 7 cups)
  • 3 large carrots (about 1 cup)
  • 1 Granny Smith apple
  • 1 Braeburn apple
  • 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
  • 2 T walnuts, chopped
  • My addition: 1 handful dried cranberries and some extra walnuts

For ease of preparation, I opted to shred all veggies in my food processor.

Dressing: 

  • 1/4 cup apple cider venegar
  • 1 T Dijon mustard
  • 1 T olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • My addition: approx. 1/8 cup honey, and a little extra vinegar, mustard and oil to increase yield of dressing 

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl; pour over slaw. Top with walnuts, cover and chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Delicious, with a nice bite… and really pretty, too! Everyone seemed to like it, especially me! (And it gave me an evil pleasure to serve something fresh and healthy alongside the fried chicken…. :twisted: ) I was wishing I had served it in the pretty pink casserole dish that didn’t sell at our yard sale yesterday, but I didn’t think of it in time. Would’ve made a pretty photo…

Oops…I almost forgot! Happy anniversary to me …and the hubs, of course! That’s right…it was exactly 2 years ago (yesterday) that I married the man I fell in love with nearly 20 years ago. Can you believe it? My first love. It’s weird how things have a way of just working out the way they’re supposed to, isn’t it?

Yup…we celebrated at the family reunion. It was not the most romantic day of my life, but there was some pretty cute entertainment! That’s my boy with his little cousin…

It was a low-key anniversary, but that’s OK, because we’ve booked our tickets to the first annual Mother Earth News Fair in September! Thanks to my father-in-law for the generous anniversary gift of a fun family weekend away! It will be our first since we’ve been married, and I can’t think of a better way to spend it attending sustainable living workshops, learning from true food artisans, and “participating in the revival of real food!” 

__________________________________________

There are so many kinds of “slaw” out there…what’s your favorite?

Have you ever attended an event that supports the idea of “Real Food”? Where was it? 

4 Comments

Filed under Recipes & Food, The Everyday

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,