Boxed Cereals

A month ago Ryan and I decided to cut boxed cereals (highly processed) out of our diet. Ryan has suggested this for years but I had a hard time letting them go. This meant that I would have to get up every morning and make breakfast.  Even though it was hard at first I think I like it. My children have eaten lots of oatmeal, pancakes, eggs and toast but they seem to like it too.

Our reasonings for this change is...

#1. Cereals cost a lot. Our kids would eat 5 boxes of cereal in 3 days. It became a breakfast thing, after school snack, midnight snack. It was just too much to keep up.

#2. They're not healthy. Even the ones that say they are healthy.

#3. They aren't very filling. My kids were hungry an hour or so after (NOT cool).

Broccoli Soup

This is such a simple but yummy soup!! I made it a week ago and am wishing I had some to eat right now.  I got it off the Paleo mom blog.  This recipe makes 2 to 3 servings, so I of course tripled it. 

2 cup bone broth (I used chicken broth because I didn't have bone broth)
1-2 broccoli heads 
1 avocado 
½ tsp ground nutmeg


Throw broccoli (stems and all) and avocado into your pot of boiling broth. Let it sit on a medium high setting until the broccoli gets all dark and tender. 

Reduce heat and add nutmeg and then put in the blender. Blend until everything is nice and creamy.  Viola, you have something yummy to serve your family. Perfect for those soup and salad nights. 

Sweetish Meatballs

This is a paleo recipe that I got from The Paleo Mom.com. It was really yummy and easy to make. The hardest part of eating the pale diet is that you don't have a starch or carb with your meals. I always feel really good afterward though. 

Meatballs

1 pd ground beef

1 medium yellow onion

1 Tbsp coconut oil

2 eggs

⅛ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

½ tsp. nutmeg

¼ tsp. allspice 
Mix all ingredients (hands work best) and form into meatballs 

Bake meatballs in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. 

Sauce 

1 cup chicken broth

½ Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp arrow root 

Kind Plus Granola Bar

This is so tasty!!! My grandma Moutray (my dad's mom) is always looking for treats my dad can eat. This is one of my new favs. Ingredients are nuts, fruit and honey. So yummy. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

I was going to take a picture of the fudge all neatly cut and placed on this really pretty dish but this is what it really looked like after my family and I tried it. So yummy!

I have talked in the past about making my grandma's famous fudge and totally eating it even though it was FULL of sugar (a big no no for me and a couple others in my family). Well my sister Jesse found this recipe and it is really good. It seriously takes 5 minutes to make (unlike my grandma's recipe) which is an added bonus. The blog that we got this yummy recipe from is sweettreatsmore.com. Its not as sweet as my grandma's recipe but it hits the right spot. 

¾ cup coconut oil

⅔ cup honey 

¾ cup cocoa powder

½ cup all natural peanut butter (or chunky if you like nuts)

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Salt (optional) - I think I would have liked it better without the salt

Instructions 
1- I melted the coconut oil, agave, cocoa and peanut butter in a saucepan over medium high heat until completely melted. 

2- Remove form heat and whisk in vanilla. 

3- Pour into bread pan or pie dish and let it chill for 1-2 hours until completely set. 

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins

I was looking for a good apple muffin recipe and happened upon this one. I made a lot of modifications so I'm just going to claim this one as mine. I loved how I didn't need flour. I thought my family wouldn't like these because they are "too" healthy but they gobbled them up. I wish I doubled the recipe. :)

Makes 15 muffins

3 cups quick oats
1 cup milk (I used 2% but vanilla unsweetened almond milk would be yummy too)
2 eggs
1/2 cup agave
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 cup diced apples

Mix everything together.  Bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Spicy Sausage Pasta

I totally stole this recipe from another blog (Kevinandamanda.com). Go to that blog because her pictures rock and she shows every step. Usually I make lots of changes to recipes to fit our families taste but I didn't change a thing with this one. My family loved it just like Amanda's husband. I made rolls and added a veggie. Family dinner time was filled with lots of smiles and laughter.

Makes 4 servings

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb smoked sausage
1 ½ cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 (10 oz) can tomatoes and green chiles
½ cup heavy cream
8 oz noodles
½ tsp. salt and pepper
1 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded
⅓ cup thinly sliced scallions

Add olive oil to an oven-safe skillet over medium high heat until just smoking. Add sausage and onions and cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add broth, tomatoes, cream, pasta (uncooked), salt and pepper and stir. Bring to a boil, cover skillet, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes.

Remove skillet from heat and stir in ½ cup cheese. Top with remaining cheese and sprinkle with scallions. Broil until cheese is melted, spotty brown, and bubbly.