Toddler Lunches

Do you have a picky toddler or just running out of ideas of what to feed your toddler?  This post is for you!! 

Ham and Cheese roll up, homemade larabar, whole grain gold fish,
and grapes

Feeding a toddler can make you want to scream, especially if it is a picky toddler!  Here are some ideas that might help you with your next lunch time.

* Make it visually appealing.  Lots of colors and shapes will usually catch their attention

* Bento Box style.  This gives them many options in small portion sizes!

* Introduce 1 new thing at a time.  I usually will have many of my daughters favorites and then 1 new item that she has not had before or maybe she acted like she didn't like it before.

* Dips!  Kids love to dip and a lot of times this will help them to eat their veggies and fruits

PB & J Smoothie Popsicle!

In my daughters lunch box I like to try and include one of each of the following to make it a well rounded meal: 

* Fruit
    ~ try a variety, don't get stuck on one fruit
    ~ Use this area to try out a new fruit with your child!

* Veggie
    ~ Use vegetable cutters to make cute shapes and don't forget the dip! :)
    ~ Carrots, cucumbers, celery, or bell peppers are great starters

* Protein
   ~ This can come in array of foods; yogurt, cottage cheese, hardboiled eggs, meat, hummus, or cheese

* Carb
   ~ Homemade muffins, bread on sandwiches, whole wheat waffles, or crackers

Mandarin oranges with blueberries, ham and cheese roll ups,  carrots and
cucumbers with onion and chive greek yogurt dip

Here are some of my daughters favorite combos! 

* Celery with peanut butter and raisins (ants on a log)

* Waffle sandwiches with cream cheese and all fruit spread 

*  Ham and cheese roll ups 

* Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches 

* yogurt or cottage cheese with granola, raisins, and a little maple syrup 

* homemade lunchable: cheese, crackers, and ham  

* homemade lunchable: whole wheat pita with pizza sauce and cheese 

* Yogurt popsicles 

Peaches, Coconut Rough, and whole wheat pizza

Recipes my daughter loves! 

Coconut Rough ~ So Good!!

Onion and Chive Seasoning for Greek Yogurt Dip

Smoothie Pop molds and recipes

Homemade Larabars

Crockpot Freezer Meals

Everyone has time for Freezer Meals!!! 

This week I knocked out some freezer meals to have ready for when my son decides to make an appearance!! Nothing like having meals ready to go when the last thing you want to think about is cooking, especially with having a newborn and a toddler! 

It really takes no time at all, especially when you're doing them clean!  Meat, veggies, spices, sauces.. and viola its ready to go!  I chose to do crockpot variations this time because lets face it… there is nothing easier than waking up, putting food in the crockpot, and 8 hours later dinner is done!  Not to mention the house smells amazing too!! 

Here are the meals I chose to do.  There are many MANY different freezer meals on the web, but these are the ones that looked yummy to me.  Feel free to search freezer meals on Pinterest you will find TONS of ideas! 

1. Chicken Cacciatore
2. Hearty Beef Stew 
3. Maple Dijon Chicken
4. Pineapple Glazed Ham
5. Salsa Chicken
6. Garlic Ginger Beef
7. Ginger Cranberry Pork Roast 

Ready for the freezer!!

I found these recipes from several sources that I will list.  There are a couple things to change to make them "cleaner".  For any of the "cream of" soups I used the brand Pacific Foods.  They make those soups without any preservatives or additives and really minimal ingredients!  For the brown sugar in the Pineapple Glazed Ham I substituted coconut sugar.  Other than that I pretty much followed the recipes given! Super Easy!! 

The recipes come from: 

Six Sisters-Less than 90 minutes

Six Sisters - 8 freezer meals

Crockpot Garlic Ginger Beef

Cranberry Ginger Pork Roast

Hope this helps you all!!! I know its going to be a lifesaver for me when this baby comes!! 

Happy Cooking! :) 
~Amanda

All About Me!

All About Me... 

I can't believe I am really starting my blog!  This has been a goal of mine this year and I am finally doing it!  I figure I will start out with a little bit about my background and what type of things I will be posting on the blog.  

My name is Amanda, I am 29, and I grew up an army brat in the town of Fayetteville, NC.  My dad did 24 years in the military, mostly in the Special Operations so we stayed at Fort Bragg, NC for his entire career.  Crazy right?  A military family that never PCSd.  I was an active teenager, playing competitive volleyball through out high school.  Went on to college at UNC at Wilmington, did some volleyball coaching at a middle school and still working out some.  College wasn't too kind on my waist though.  In true college style I gained the Freshman.. um, well.. 25!  Even though I was still working out my diet was lacking.  I consumed mostly anything that was convenient and fast.

It was the end of my college years that I started to make a real change.  First off, I met my husband and we all know how that makes any girl want to lose weight and look good.  I knew I loved this man very early on!  The second factor that led to my diet change was a health scare.  Three days before I graduated college (2006) I found out I had thyroid cancer.  Scary right?  I was scared but through lots of research I knew that it was easily curable and it was "the cancer you want to have if you're going to have cancer".  Within a month of finding out it was cancer, I was flown to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas and had a total thyroidectomy.  Recovery was easy and painless.. in fact I was back to working out 2 weeks later.  I had several radioactive iodine therapies and am happy to say its been 6 years now and I am still cancer free!

My fairy tale wedding :)  

 Surprisingly the cancer didn't scare me.  I felt God had his hands around me at the time and I knew everything was going to be alright.  What bothered me was that everyone told me I was going to have to watch my weight.  That people with thyroid issues gain weight really easily.  I was bound to prove them all wrong.  I came upon The Clean Eating Diet by Tosca Reno and started to follow those guidelines along with working out with people who wouldn't take "I don't feel like it" for an answer.
I had my ups and downs.. I have been all spectrums of the TSH range and my weight has maintained.  When I was crazy hypo I did not let me stop working out or chow down on trash.

I got pregnant in 2009 with my daughter several years after my surgery and was also able to maintain a good pregnancy gain.  Now pregnant again with my son, I am doing even better!

Pregnant with my daughter (38 weeks) on left, with my son (38 weeks) on right

If anything, I want this blog to show you that YOU CAN DO IT!  The biggest challenge we face is ourselves.  I could have a million excuses of why I cant do it.. but I don't!  There are no excuses for me! Thats the deciding factor!

So fun facts about me that I might not have included in this intro:

* I am an army wife, 6 years now! Its challenging at times but I wouldn't have it any other way.  I am so proud of my hubby and what he does.  The sacrifices are worth it.
* I have the American Flag tattooed on my back, yup, Im that proud :)
*  Only food I loathe... corn dogs.. that is just disgusting! blah!
*  My daughter, Anna, is 3 years old and I have a son that should be coming out today! lol
*  We are PCSing to Hawaii this January!  This will be the biggest change of my life!  I have never been more than 4 hours away from my family and I have only missed 2 Thanksgiving/Christmases my whole life!

Deployments are rough but there is nothing like that feeling at homecoming!   Wouldn't trade that feeling for the world

With this blog I hope to be posting lots of clean (and sometimes not so clean) recipes that I love!  I also want to share with you my crazy Army life!