The Chariot.

The kids in our new bike trailer after a morning at the park.

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Freezer French Toast Sticks

So I am always looking for New Easy Healthy breakfast, lunch and snack ideas for the kids.  Also we are trying to use all the food in our fridge and not throw anything away.  Well I found a few bags of bread that was no longer great for sandwiches but was still totally edible.  So I searched around and found ideas for day old bread online.  I decided to make French Toast Sticks which the kids devoured, however I still made way to many so I found you could freeze them.

Recipe:

3 eggs

1/2 milk

1/4 Orange Juice

1 tbsp vanilla

Several Pieces of Day old bread cut into 1” strips

Mix eggs, milk, OJ and vanilla.  Pore over day old bread.  Heat skillet to Med High with a bit of oil or butter.  Brown on both sides.

Serve with dippers: We used apple sauce and maple syrup today.  I think yogurt would have been a good dipper as well. 

Freezer: So my kids loved them but I made way to many.  I froze them (just throw them in a freezable container) and reheat in the microwave or toaster oven (great for a quick before school breakfast).  That reminds me I have to go retrieve the one I attempted to reheat in the regular toaster and it got stuck! 

Reusable Snack Bags

In an effort to reduce waste and plastic of course our family has started to use reusable bags.  They are great for lunches, sandwiches, crackers, fruit and other snacks.  Anytime you would use a Ziploc you can use a reusable bag instead.   Be sure to add these to your back to school shopping list!

Check them out here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/reusezone

Would you like to try them for free? 

Yes its finally giveaway time! 

The winner will get to pick a reusable bag set from reusezone!  That is one sandwich and one snack bag in the pattern of your choice! 

A big thanks to Jess at reusezone for sponsoring this contest!

See my FB page for giveaway directions! 

Blackberry Picking and Jam!

On Sunday we went see Grandma and Grandpa who live on a farm outside of Placerville CA. The kids love going to see their grandparents and they have so much fun there. This weekend we spent about three hours picking blackberries. They have tons of wild blackberry bushes growing on their property and Grandma Eileen used the neighbor's tractor to clear paths so we could pick berries. After three hours we had two large buckets of very ripe blackberries.

What's a person to do with all those blackberries? Make Jam of course. (on a side note Sean and I had never canned anything before). So we drove home put the kids to bed, I ran to the store for canning supplies and we made Jam until midnight! We were tired but it was lots of fun and so nice to eat your creation the next day for breakfast.

We finished with 8 pint sized Jars!

Sustainable Notes: The whole process of picking, making it into Jam and canning was fun. It was great to do it together as a family. The cost of the Jam was minimal for Sugar, pectin and jars (which we will reuse). We will now be able to enjoy blackberries out of season and I may be able to talk Sean into giving some as gifts. Canning our own Jam also had minimal energy, packaging and pollution!

Fun Fruity Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Rorie helped me mix up some chicken salad today. It was a great recipe for her to help with because she could add all the ingredients to the bowl and do the mixing. I thought she would be more willing to eat it after helping but she only had one bite and could not decide if she liked it or not.

Basic Recipe:

Equal amounts: About 1/4-1/2 cup.

Raisins, Cooked shredded chicken, Diced apples, Diced celery, Walnuts, Grapes (I was out of grapes today so I skipped them)

1 small container plain whole milk yogurt

Curry (to taste)

Mix in a bowl and serve on lettuce, bread, crackers, tortillas or in a pita. Keeps for a few days.

I like this because I don’t like mayonnaise and it is a great way to use cooked chicken without having the day old poultry taste. Also you can vary the ingredients to what you have on hand. Orange Juice, Pineapple and/or mango’s (although not local) are also great additions.

Eating Local: Chicken, apples and yogurt were all local and bought at the food co op. The celery came in my CSA box (local). The walnuts and raisins were not local however I can purchase them local in the future.

Planting Carrots

Today we are starting our fall garden. Maybe a little behind schedule but we just started our summer garden a few weeks ago so better late than never (we were out of the country until the middle of July).

We used egg cartons to plant 36 carrot seeds. Hopefully a lot of them take. Our summer garden is having its ups and downs. We planted it at the end of July with maturing plants from the local nursery. We have had some trouble with aphids and spider mites on our tomatoes but our latest pest is the biggest of all Leo! I found 4 green tomatoes that he pulled off today alone! ahhhh So if anyone has any ideas for easy organic toddler pest control let me know.

Currently we are container gardening (do to time constraints for our summer garden). However we plan on putting a raised bed in for our fall/winter garden.

Library Time

Today we took a trip the library to participate in Story Time and of course get more books. After a trip gone bad with two cranky kids to the bookstore a few months ago (think screaming child and baby eating books), I decided the library was the place for us. Where else can a kid go and pick out whatever they want to bring home with almost no limitations. Then if we bring home a few books that aren’t very good, its okay because we’re not stuck with them. I also like the lesson the kids are learning, that we can borrow books and we don’t have to buy everything and still get to enjoy it.

Don’t forget you can use the library websites just like ordering from a bookstore, except you have to go pick it up.

Now if only I had a bike seat for Leo we could ride there too!