My toddler made me pretty proud. His teacher told me that they colored ice-cream for a lesson at school and when she asked if his was green for mint chocolate chip he said "No, it's green tea". I am so happy that he's learning to associate healthy items with food and he knows what natural colors are.
Of course I wanted to reinforce this lesson so I decided to make some green tea ice-cream. I have only recently tried matcha when our local tea shop started offering it 'bullet proof' style. It is so delicious and creamy, I like regular brewed green tea, but I love matcha! I made this recipe extra healthy by sweetening it with fruit. Matcha has some caffeine in it so we've been enjoying this treat earlier in the day. It is very rich and creamy so a small serving goes a long way. Enjoy!
As Fall approaches my inner teenage girl starts salivating with the possibility of pumpkin-spiced-everything. It's cliche and I don't care because it is also delicious. The apple, another fall favorite I'm uber excited for, does not fall far from the tree; our toddler is obsessed.
I'm happy to oblige this fall favorite but I wanted him to have some healthy options. I've made a couple versions of this but finally settled on a simple, fruit sweetened, and vegan delight. If you want some instant gratification try the Paleo Mama's pumpkin banana ice-cream. I totally made some while I waited for ours to freeze. When I shared the sneak peek on Instagram @mommyandherlatte I think I said it has 4 ingredients, I guess it's technically 5, but either way its really easy to make and some clean ingredients. Enjoy!
Hi! I'm still here. I've taken a long break from posting because, well, life has been happening. A lot of good but also a lot of scary change. I am finally ready and able to get back to posting; I've missed this creative outlet. I will be sharing the full story in the future but for now I will just say it has been a stressful couple of months. I am completely the type of person that will stress eat. So I've been trying to make comfort food that is still healthy, but also easy to throw together. Not only does this dish have corn, which I have admitted my relentless love for, but it is also inspired by a dish my husband's Mema makes. Nothing is more comforting than Mema's food. This side dish was enough for two adults and a toddler so double for a larger family. It is very adaptable and comes together in about 15 minutes. It is the perfect end of summer dish. Enjoy!
Today I have a super decadent treat for you. I don't buy peanut butter very often because I really can't control myself around the stuff, but after getting into a passionate conversation with a friend about our mutual peanut butter love; the itch had to be scratched. Lately I've been working on making deserts that are only sweetened with fruit; bananas or dates usually work well. So, I had the peanut butter and I had the banana, but where was the pizzazz? Leave it to my husband to challenge me. He informed me that Elvis Presley was famous for making fried PB&B sandwiches so 'why don't you make it taste fried without frying it'. Mmmkay... well after a little "research" I found out he fried them in bacon fat. This was right up my alley because if you are a female on the mom's side of my family then you have a jar of bacon fat for making fried rice, its just a fact. If you think I'm totally bonkers for adding bacon fat to this then try butter, if you want them vegan then try palm shortening. These cookies have a delicious sweet and savory thing going on. I had to make 2 batches because my toddler and I ate them all before I could snap photos. Enjoy!
We've been staying pretty busy around here with our new addition. I've been tearing through my freezer stash of pre-prepped meals, but this week I felt like getting back in the kitchen and doing some cooking. There is something very grounding to me about standing in front of my cutting board chopping away. I'm also realistic that with a toddler and newborn my kitchen time is going to be limited so I thought a nice way to ease back in would be a soup. I love soups; I don't care if it's 100oF outside, there is something so comforting about a big bowl of soup. My husband and I went back and forth about what to call this because while it certainly isn't chili, it really has the flavor of chili. You could add some black beans to this and I think it would pass. This recipe was born out of the random items we had in our fridge and pantry so feel free to play around with the ingredients. Enjoy!
When we had our son two years ago I did a lot of planning. I researched low toxicity baby gear, compiled lists of baby items parents said they used most, and made sure we had every possible thing we needed for when baby got here; down to nail clippers, emergency infant Advil, and this little thing that vibrated on his chest and made him chill out when he got his diaper changed. The one thing I didn't do was plan for my post partum time. I think the sum of my food prep was making banana bread, which we devoured at the hospital, and some mothers milk tea. Even though in all my research I read that you should freeze or arrange some meals, I somehow, either in ignorance or denial, just ignored the advice. We didn't starve but we ate pretty terrible for the first month. I had some family come by and make a few meals but it was mostly ordering out or me eating protein thin mints all day until my husband came home and cooked. Well lesson learned! This time around I have a full freezer and a plan. To get everything made in about a week I simply made the meal for dinner and doubled the recipe to freeze some. It was especially great with the deserts because we got a little desert every night!
I was cleaning out my pantry yesterday (read: nesting) and I found a can of organic pumpkin puree. Even though the high season of pumpkin recipes is gone we are having some winter weather around here so I though it was fitting. I'm working on stocking our freezer with meals, snacks and treats for when our new addition arrives *hopefully any day now* so I thought pumpkin brownies would be perfect. I made these super allergy friendly since we are still working on figuring out our sons allergies. These are dense fudge style brownies, my husbands favorite. Enjoy!
I am long overdue for a a blog post. We have been busy around here getting ready for our new family member and doing the GAPS diet. You can read more about it here, but it is a gut healing diet that we are trying out for our son's eczema and my husband autoimmune diseases. It seems to be helping so far but it is a lot of work. I was used to preparing most of our meals but it requires that I prepare all of them plus extra things like bone broth and fermented vegetables. So how am I keeping up with everything while nearing the end of my pregnancy? I treat myself to one of these delicious lattes quite often. There is some debate about caffeine and pregnancy, I'm in the 'a little bit is okay' club but this latte works great with decaf or dandelion coffee too. Enjoy!
I love the new year and everyones sense of determination and new beginning (however short lived they may be). Though I try not to make any grand unrealistic resolutions, I do use the motivation this time of year to better myself and our family in practical ways. One simple way that our family has made healthy changes in the past is to start making 'processed' food items at home. Not only does this save money, but it is a lot healthier than most things I can buy in the store. I've talked before about how we make all of our own salad dressings, and I realized we've been making our own mayo for a few years now. I was never satisfied with the ingredients in store-bought mayo, most have a lot of unhealthy oils, preservatives, or unnecessary sugar or stabilizers. I was intimidated to try and make it myself though, and I admit there have been some flops, but after some tweaking and practice the results now are consistently great. It doesn't take much time to whip up your own mayo so why not give it a try? Don't worry if it's not perfect the first time, it may take a few times to get the technique right; the biggest issue I have had is not getting it to emulsify and thicken properly, you can still use it as a salad dressing when this happens. Enjoy!
Of course I wanted to reinforce this lesson so I decided to make some green tea ice-cream. I have only recently tried matcha when our local tea shop started offering it 'bullet proof' style. It is so delicious and creamy, I like regular brewed green tea, but I love matcha! I made this recipe extra healthy by sweetening it with fruit. Matcha has some caffeine in it so we've been enjoying this treat earlier in the day. It is very rich and creamy so a small serving goes a long way. Enjoy!
