I can’t tell you how excited I was to find a recipe for soaked banana bread!

My children really like to eat bananas for snack time, but sometimes we have a few left over.

Banana bread is great for using up really ripe bananas, so it’s very frugal.

The only problem is that banana bread usually has a lot of sugar and white flour.

It was a happy day when I found this recipe that has no refined sugar, whole grain flour and is also soaked to neutralize the phytic acid in the flour.  Whoo Hoo!

Here is the link for the recipe so you can make your very own tasty banana bread!

For more healthy living info, go to Food Renegade for Fight Back Fridays.

Are you looking for a healthy, quick snack for your kids?  I have a great suggestion…Dino Eggs!  They are easy to make, look really cool and taste great.  These eggs use natural food coloring…purple cabbage juice!  (The juice will only add color, not flavor.)

Here’s how to make them:

1. Boil a purple cabbage in a few inches of water. Drain off the juice and cool.  Be sure to eat the cabbage, it’s very tasty!

2. Make hard boiled eggs by putting eggs into cold water. Bring the water to a rolling boil and then remove the pan from the heat.  Let the eggs sit, covered, for 10 minutes.  Drain and then add cold water and ice to cool the eggs. (This will prevent them from continuing to cook.)

3.  Crack the eggs, by tapping them on the counter.  Put the eggs into the cabbage juice and leave them overnight in the fridge.

4.   Peel your eggs and they will have a cracked surface like dino eggs!  Enjoy!

For more ideas from awesome women, visit We Are That Family for Works For Me Wednesday.

Be sure to come back tomorrow! Nester and I have new art prints coming out…you can see them here and at Nesting Place.

I’m so excited about the Nourishing Frugal Recipes Carnival hosted by Kimi at The Nourishing Gourmet!

As I’m learning to feed my family healthy food, I’m always looking for ways to do it for less.

I thought I’d share two recipes that I’ve made in the last few weeks. These recipes passed the kid and husband test, so they must be good!

Mexican Sprouted Rice and  Crock-pot Roast Beef

All I do is sprout some brown rice and cook it normally.  Then to 4 cups of rice I’ll add in about 1/2 cup of salsa, 1 cup of canned crushed tomatoes, about 2 Tablespoons of cumin and salt to taste.

I cook my roast in the crock-pot on low all day.  When it’s done I shred it and add in salsa, cumin and salt to taste.

I serve the meat over the rice with natural sour cream and salsa.  I serve a salad on the side.

The second recipe is for raw hummus. I found this on All Recipes.com.   You can see the recipe here.

This hummus isn’t as creamy as it would be with cooked chickpeas, but I found it to be easier to digest than  regular hummus.

I also take the time to sprout my chickpeas. It makes them more nutritious and easier to digest. It’s very easy to do. Sprouting seems like a lot of extra work, but when I do it while I’m cooking our regular meals it’s really easy.

Sprouted Chickpeas

1. Sort, rinse and soak dried chickpeas overnight or for 8 hours. Be sure to cover the chickpeas with at least 3″ of water; they will absorb lots of water while they are soaking.

2. Drain and rinse. Rinse the chickpeas three times a day. I do it at breakfast, lunch and dinner to make it easy to remember.

3. They are ready to use when the spouts are 3/4″ long. If you can’t use them right away put them in the fridge for a few days.

Simple, fugal and nourishing!

Be sure to come back on Monday for part 1 of Healthy Food On A Budget!

Well, here’s what you’ve been waiting for: Sugar-Free, Healthy Birthday Cake!

When I say sugar-free, I’m not talking about using some nasty artificial sweetener. I’m talking about using natural sweeteners and ditching the white sugar.

I found a wonderful place for desert recipes at Elana’s Pantry where I got the recipe for this carrot cake. I just used what I had (wheat flour instead of almond flour) and adjusted the sweeteners to taste.

Here’s how I made the cream cheese icing: 2 sticks of butter, 3 packages of cream cheese, 2 tablespoons of  natural vanilla extract  &  1/4 cup of pure maple syrup. Soften the butter and cream cheese using the whisk attachment on your mixer, whipping them together. Add in the rest of the ingredients. If it’s too thick, you can add some organic half and half or milk. Spread it on the cake after it’s cooled off. It tastes great!

To make our birthday cake as healthy as possible, I didn’t want to use food coloring. We tried to use natural food coloring last year, but the cake looked awful! So…this year we tried something new. I baked and iced the cake like usual then put a layer of plastic wrap over the top.

Next I put down a layer of blue icing (I saved some of the icing and colored it with food coloring) and then put the Legos on top. When it was time to serve the cake, I just peeled off the plastic and put the Legos in a mesh strainer to wash them off.

So we enjoyed a decorated cake and stayed healthy, too!

I have been learning as much as possible about natural living and cooking. My family feels better, the children act better and we keep from getting sick if we eat natural, healthy foods. It is so worth it!

My son was so excited to have this cake. He said ” Now my stomach won’t hurt after my party!”.  Isn’t that pitiful?! I feel so bad for being ignorant of what was healthy for us to eat for so long. I’m glad to be changing!

Matthew

Hannah

Saturday we celebrated Matthew’s birthday. He was born on Valentine’s Day 9 years ago. Wow, the time sure does go by quickly! Seeing how quickly he is growing up makes me try to enjoy every moment that I have with my children.

Matthew decided he wanted an undersea theme party. So we went to work and gathered up anything ocean related from the house: wooden ship models, fish glasses, a treasure chest, starfish, coral candle, blue and green streamers and blue and green balloons.

Sea food

We had natural hot dogs cut into octopus shapes with shell mac and cheese and goldfish crackers.

He spends most of his free time and money on Legos, so we had to include those too! I made the cake and we put the Legos on top. I don’t like us to eat food coloring, so after icing the cake I put plastic wrap on top of the regular icing and then put the blue icing on top. Fun, but healthy!

I was able to make this delicious cake without sugar. I sure do wish I knew how to do this a few years ago!

Want to find out how? Come back on Wednesday and I’ll have the recipe and all the info you need to make one too!

Here is a quick and easy way to take strawberries from regular to romantic!

Wash and dry the strawberries. For the fan shape you’ll want to leave the cap (the green leaves) on, for the heart shape you’ll need to take the cap off.

To make the fan all you do is make thin cuts from the bottom of the berry to the top, but don’t go all the way through the cap.

Gently fan out the slices and you have a beautiful garnish.

Here’s how you make the strawberry hearts: Take a clean berry and remove the cap by cutting a v shape on the narrow side of the berry.

Slice the narrow side top to bottom and you’ll  have strawberry hearts!

These fancy strawberries are fun to give to your kids and to your spouse. It’s just another way to show your family that you love them!

Be sure to visit Rocks In My Dryer…I got to meet Shannon at BlissDom and she’s very sweet!

Be sure to go to Nesting Place on Friday! Nester and I have a special surprise for you all!

Chocolate…give me a bar of dark, dark chocolate and I’m very happy! Yum!

So…I’m very excited about the carnival that Kimi from Nourishing Traditions is having.

The Nourishing Chocolate Carnival begins today!

I’m new to making healthy deserts, so I’m looking forward to trying out the great recipes that are sure to be there. Woo Hoo!

As women the task of grocery shopping is usually ours.  Whether you love to get out and shop or just don’t like the thought of starving, we have to buy food! With all the effort that goes into getting meals onto your family’s table, let’s make your hard work count.
No matter how often you shop there are a few things you can do to make shopping easier and more pleasant.

Here are my top 8 tips:

• Have a list!  If you don’t you will probably be wandering about the store buying everything BUT what you need.
• Use coupons. It may seem like a small amount, but over time it will add up. Just don’t succumb to manufactures ads and buy things you won’t use.
• For the healthiest shopping stick to the outside edges of the store, venturing into the interior aisles for pantry staples.
  Cook from scratch as much as possible.  If you use prepared meals you’ll trade the time saved for your hard earned money, in addition to not giving your family the best nutrition possible.
• If having a daily menu plan seems too confining, at least write down about a weeks worth of dinner plans.  Buy the things needed to make the meals and then look at your list and see what sounds good to fix that day.
• Try to eat before you shop and if you have children feed them too.  There are few things as tiring as a whining child. And if you’re not hungry you’ll be less tempted to buy junk food and it will be easier to stick to your list.
• Don’t be brand loyal.  The store brands are usually just as good as the national brands and cost a lot less.
• Are you concerned about the pesticides on fruit and veggies? But, buying organic isn’t in your budget?  Try a fruit and veggie wash product to make your produce healthier.
• When you see hamburger or chicken on sale try to buy extra and freeze it to use later.

Above all pray and ask the Lord to show you the best deals to bless your precious family.

I’m sure you have been seeing the same flabby to fit belly ads that I have. In moments of weakness and desperation I’m sure we all give those ads a second look. But, honestly, do you want to be locked into buying expensive “miracle fat burners” all your life? Not me! I’ve got to use my grocery money to buy food for my family, not “quick fixes”.

So, am I doomed to be fluffy forever? Nope. Welcome to weight loss in real life!

One of the best blogs I’ve found on loosing weight while still eating nourishing food is Kelly The Kitchen Kop. Here are a few of my favorite articles:

• Dieting With No Carb or Low Carb Foods

• Healthy Low Carb Meals

• All About Loosing Weight

I’ve also been reading quite a few blogs about nutrition and I’ve been learning so much. I thought I’d tell you about some of the gals that have been a real encouragement to me as I’m working hard to nourish my family.

• Stephanie at Keeper Of The Home
• Kimi at The Nourishing Gourmet
• Carrie at The Thrifty Oreganic

Are you like me and pinching those pennies till they squeal?

What do you do when you need to stretch your food budget, but don’t want to eat rice and beans for every meal?

Pot Roast!

No this is not the dry, tough meat you may remember eating once. This is tender, juicy, frugal meat and is super easy as well.

I put a $7 pot roast in my crock pot on Saturday night and let it cook on low until suppertime on Sunday night.  (When I put the roast in the crock pot I added three onions and a little salt. I filled it up about half way with water as well.)

We had the roast with some gravy I made over toast, with some applesauce and mixed veggies on the side. Very tasty! Even my guys, who don’t usually like roast, liked this!

We had it again Monday for lunch as beef burritos. I took some chopped onions, bell pepper, salt and cumin and mixed some of the roast with it.  I put it into whole wheat tortilla wraps with sour cream, cheese, and salsa.  We also had Spanish style millet (made just like Spanish rice, but with more nourishing millet instead) and a small salad.

I’ll be able to make one more meal from this same roast. Probably a beef stew. Have you been keeping count? This will be three meals for 4 people from one small roast! Talk about stretching!

So when your family asks what’s for dinner just tell them rubber roast!

What are some of your favorite frugal meals?