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Low Sugar Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce (3 Ingredients!)

April 5, 2016 by Laura 6 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Dairy free chocolate sauce….the new way to top a waffle.

Dairy Free Chocolate SauceWe sure do eat a lot of cream cheese around our house.

This has nothing to do with the recipe I’m about to share with you – except that it is my way of saying, “We definitely aren’t a dairy-free family.”

Why a Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce then?

  • Because coconut milk is nourishing and I like to use it in addition to cow milk as a way to give my family a variety of nutrients.
  • Because I love having recipes on hand that I can use to bless our friends who can’t eat dairy.
  • Because this Chocolate Sauce is rockin’ and I can actually eat it because it is low in sugar.

You pretty much can’t mess up this recipe. Go ahead. Try. Not that you would. (I mean, I can sometimes mess up a recipe without even trying, say…when I’m trying to talk and cook at the same time??)

But this recipe is really fool-proof and adaptable. You can make it a little sweeter if you like. You can keep the sugar low and enjoy this as a “dark chocolate” sauce. You can add a splash of vanilla extract or mint extract.

Oh my goodness, you could stir in some peanut butter! I just thought of that, will try it, and get back to you. You’ve gotta love it when a delicious brainstorm comes in the middle of writing a sentence.

How to use your Low Sugar Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce

  • We love it on fresh strawberries, bananas, blueberries, or raspberries.
  • Often we use it as an apple dip.
  • Try stirring it into a cup of hot coffee. Yup.
  • Instead of maple syrup, spread this sauce over your pancakes or waffles.
  • Hello. Just eat it on a spoon.
  • You can drizzle this on ice cream, but if you do have to eat dairy free, you’d also have to make or find dairy free ice cream (this was obvious but still worth mentioning)

Low Sugar Dairy Free Chocolate SauceYum

Low Sugar Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Ingredients
  • 13.5 ounce can of full fat, unsweetened coconut milk
  • ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¼ - ½ cup sweetener (honey, sucanat, or brown sugar)
Instructions
  1. Mix ingredients in a small saucepan, cooking and stirring on medium heat until well combined.
  2. Serve warm or cold.
  3. Store this sauce in a covered container in the refrigerator, rewarming on the stove-top as needed. It will keep for up to a month in the fridge.
3.4.3177

Low Sugar Dairy Free Chocolate Sauce

This sauce just takes a few minutes to whip up and it seriously tastes like a gourmet treat.

Need Coconut Milk?

I typically purchase cans of coconut milk in bulk online. Some of my favorite resources are:

  • Vitacost
  • Amazon

Want the Dairy-Full version? You’ll find one here. Be warned: it’s super full of sugar. I should play with that and see how we can reduce it!

Can you think of other great ways to eat this sauce? 

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Low Sugar Chocolate Cheesecake Parfaits

March 9, 2016 by Laura 11 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

chocolate cheesecake parfait

There is a really weird thing about my dad.

No, no – hear me out. I don’t mean weird like weird. Actually though, if you think about it we all have our own variety of weirdness, do we not? Oh, we do. We are who we are and we think that anyone who isn’t like us is weird. News flash: We are all weird. Weirdo.

So about my dad. He’s super picky about all things fruits and vegetables. He only likes canned green beans, canned peaches in corn syrup, and iceberg lettuce. When he comes to visit and I offer beautiful trays of fresh fruit and steaming bowls of vegetables and he’s like, “What is this broccoli stuff? Hmm, peaches with fuzz. You mean people actually eat asparagus?”

And when it comes to strawberries? I can’t even believe I’m related to him because he will not touch a strawberry. He says it’s the seeds. Oh but he is missing out on one of the finest pleasures of this life on earth.

None of this in and of itself is weird. The weird part is that somehow in a conversation about what we do and not not like, when the subject of beets came up, my dad said, “Beets? Oh, I like beets.”

What?!? He won’t eat a fresh strawberry, a peach off a tree, or about fifty other fruit and vegetable options – but he’ll eat a beet? So weird.

I don’t even like beets. I think they taste like dirt. (Not that I’ve actually eaten dirt.) I’ve tried but I just can’t like them. See, and this makes me weird to those of you who do like beets. I told you we are all weird.

Since my dad won’t eat strawberries, I will continue to eat his share and my share plus all the other strawberries I can get my hands on. They are my favorite.

Our family recently combined two of our favorite recipe ideas: Low Sugar Strawberry Cheesecake Parfaits with Chocolate Whipped Cream. The result is a delicious Chocolate Cheesecake Parfait. Of course, I used strawberries with the chocolate cheesecake to make these. But you could use blueberries, bananas, and whatever other fruit you might like.

Low Sugar Chocolate Cheesecake Strawberry ParfaitsYum

5.0 from 2 reviews
Low Sugar Chocolate Cheesecake Strawberry Parfaits
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2½ cups heavy whipping cream
  • 8 ounces softened cream cheese
  • 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 Tablespoon real maple syrup
  • Liquid stevia to taste (I use about 20 drops) (Use a few Tablespoons of sugar if you prefer.)
  • 1 -2 pounds fresh, sliced strawberries
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients (minus the strawberries) into a blender.
  2. Whip until smooth and creamy.
  3. Spoon mixture into bowls or cups – layering them with sliced strawberries.
3.4.3177

Low Sugar Chocolate Cheesecake Parfait

If you have a tried and true you will like beets if you eat them this way recipe, please do let me know. Otherwise, I’ll stick with the other dozens of fruit and vegetable options I do like and I’ll eat strawberries like there’s no tomorrow. Never forget that you’re weird and I’m weird and everyone is weird.

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Twelve More Pounds of Strawberries and a Whole Lotta Green Food

March 8, 2016 by Laura 18 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

It wasn’t very long ago that our family didn’t go through many fruits and veggies in a week. Even during the first few years of our real food journey when I was learning more about nutrition, I never made fruits and veggies a big part of our meals.

healthyeatingjourney

Slowly but surely, we’ve added more variety of produce to our diet. Gradually, we’ve noticed our bodies crave more and more fresh food. It’s pretty fun actually! (Don’t be thinking we’re all that though because we also still like chips. Meh.)

I love strawberries

I’ve probably already been pretty clear about how excited our family is that it’s strawberry season again! We recently went through 16 pounds of them in less than a week because they were in our house for the first time in months and we could not stop. As we ate the last few berries from that stash, we all started freaking out about being back down to zero strawberries again. (I exaggerate. No one was actually freaking out. Not even me. I was perfectly calm. Who even cares about strawberries?)

The next day, I went to the store with a plan to price-match a good deal on strawberries. While there, I found that the store had two-pound containers at a better deal than the one-pound price-match. I only put 6 containers in my cart because I’m nice and wanted to leave some berries for the other customers. Twelve pounds of strawberries ought to hold us for a few days, I think.

groceries3716

I’ve officially decided this is my favorite time of year to buy food. Oodles of goodness is starting to become available again at good prices. Not only did I get a cart full of strawberries, I also got pears, avocados, asparagus, mixed greens, cantaloupe, and spinach. You’ll see in the picture that I also got cream and cottage cheese. The cream is for the berries and the cottage cheese is going to taste marvelous with the fresh pineapple I got last week.

The post without a point

I would appear that I’m just rambling here, showing you all my berries and other fresh produce. What am I actually trying to say?

  1. Buy fresh produce!
  2. Eat fresh produce!
  3. Have fun trying new fresh produce items.
  4. Challenge yourself to enjoy more fresh produce than you might typically eat each day.
  5. I love strawberries.

If you aren’t eating many fruits and vegetables, you aren’t fueling your body with enough nourishment. Period. I care about this so much that if you came to my house, I would actually share my strawberries with you. Now that is a true friend.

Don’t just nod and smile and walk away. It’s time to commit. Leave a comment here telling us about some of your favorite fruits and vegetables, and let us know what you’re going to buy at the store next time you go. Increase the fruits and veggies, friends! Let’s do this!

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“We eat a lot of veggies because they’re cheap” – A Young Bride’s Perspective

February 22, 2016 by Laura 5 Comments

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Veggies are cheap? How’s that for a young bride’s perspective?

food1303

She said it as she sat in our living room beside her fiance. Matt and I have been meeting with them once a week since November, offering mentor-ship and guidance before they tie the knot in March.

This particular visit, we were discussing finances. Were they on the same page about spending and saving? Did they have any questions about necessary line items in a budget? Did they plan to have joint accounts? How did they plan to communicate about spending? How might they handle potentially lean times? What challenges had they already encountered? What might offer the most financial peace in their marriage?

Somewhere in there, one of them brought up grocery shopping. They already cook many of their evening meals together, either at her apartment or his – so beyond paying for all the aspects of an upcoming wedding (oy!) they had definitely experienced times of figuring out money and spending and budgeting together in the area of food. Imagine our shock, then, when this young couple offhandedly said, “Whenever we find we’re spending too much money on food, we also recognize we’re eating less healthy, too. So we cut back by buying more vegetables since they’re so cheap. Then we’re saving money and eating better too!”

I guess she hadn’t heard (the myth) that it costs too much to eat healthy. That they needed to skimp on the grocery budget by avoiding the fresh produce. Instead, she’d already figured out the truth:

Vegetables are a great way to stretch the grocery budget and stay healthy too.

This young bride-to-be went on to share that she’s found it easy to buy several different kinds of veggies to make soups and stews and stir-fries for very little money. Certainly this is much cheaper than eating out! But they found that it was also cheaper than shopping most of the aisles in the grocery stores. When they stayed on the outskirts of the grocery store – mostly getting veggies, fruits, meat, and dairy – the savings really showed.

As far as I could tell, this couple hadn’t read this information in any article or book. They’d simply learned by experience. Eat out – spend more, feel worse. Walk the aisles and throw tempting boxes and packages into the cart – spend more, feel worse. Fill the cart with vegetables and a little meat then make homemade meals – spend less, feel better.

I’d say “out of the mouths of babes” but I believe this really is more of a case of “wise beyond their years.”

Great Ways to Save on Fresh Veggies and Fruit at the Store

Gardens, farmer’s markets, and orchards aside – here are the best ways I’ve found to save oodles of money at the store on produce.

1. Comparison shop or price-match.

Last week, a pint of blueberries was marked at $3.54 at Walmart. A store within my price-matching range had them priced at $1.69/pint. Yes, please. I bought four. Twice.

2. Buy “in season.”

When it’s strawberry season, I can get them for $1.50 or less per pound. When it isn’t strawberry season, they look terrible and cost almost $6.00!

3. Consider the staples.

Carrots, onions, cucumbers, and lettuce (different varieties) are almost always low in cost – on sale or not. We keep those on hand at all times and we go through them like crazy. While not fresh – I’ve found that it’s also financially savvy to always have a supply of frozen peas and green beans on hand. I supplement these staples with produce in season and on sale – but I know that if all else fails we have carrots and green beans.

What ways have you found to be most effective to save money on vegetables and fruit? Do you find that buying fruits and vegetables actually helps you save money?

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Stickers on Produce. I Cannot Handle It.

June 21, 2015 by Laura 66 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Stickers on produce. Why? Oh why??

Those of you who know me well are very aware that I have plenty of weirdness lurking in my brain. Hey, we all have a variety or three of weirdness going on, do we not? We all think our personal weirdness makes sense (and is, therefore, not weird) and we do not understand why other people’s weirdness is different from ours. Then when we see someone else being weird we’re all dude, that’s so weird. When in truth, the weirdness we see in others is simply a different variety from our own weirdness because we are all weird.

The Bible backs me up on this although I think it uses more terms like “different gifts” and “knit together uniquely” and stuff like that.

So here’s one of the ways I’m weird that you likely did not know as of yet.

First, I love staring at my groceries. Yes, you knew that one already. That’s not my weird thing even though it kind of is. What you didn’t know is what I’m about to show you. I cannot handle it. I mean, it looks like a lovely table full of grocery and Bountiful Basket purchases. But as it is at this point, I can not admire it. There’s too much distraction.

Stickers on Produce!!!!

stickers produce 2

There are stickers everywhere. It’s highly alarming. I want to see the pretty produce in all its natural beauty. But the bar codes and the item numbers and the sticky residue – oh it is all too much.

stickers produce1
Say it isn’t so.

stickers produce 3

So weird thing #672 about Laura: I have to take all the stickers off my produce the minute I set it down in my kitchen. The admiring of the produce cannot happen until all stickers are removed.

stickers produce 4

You think I’m kidding.

stickers produce 5

Ahhhhhhhh, there now. Now we can all stare at the pretty produce, without stickers, in all its God given glory.

stickers produce 6
Before you say, wow Laura that’s weird – let me just remind you that you also have weird things that you cannot handle. They are perhaps different from my weird things because God knit us each together uniquely amen and amen. But you, my friend, are also weird. And I mean that in the kindest, most supportive way. I do.

Today, let us embrace our weirdness. Leave a comment confessing one way you’re weird.

Just so you know, if you make fun of my weirdness, I will pretend to give you a big bear hug but what I will actually be doing is placing all 28 of my produce stickers onto your back then watching to see how long it takes you to notice. Then people will see your back full of stickers and think you’re weird and it would be for real.

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Build a Simple Veggie Flower (Great for Showers and Holidays!)

April 9, 2015 by Laura 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I just came across a picture on Pinterest showing me how to carve a swan out of a melon. I highly considered giving it a try for about negative .8 seconds – mostly because I knew for sure mine would turn out looking like a melon that fell out of my cart at the store and got ran over by a minivan.

Art and food? It’s not my thing. I think life’s too short to design owls out of kiwi, grapes, peaches, and blueberries when there are so many other important ways to spend time – like looking for lost shoes and sweeping up glass after a ball has been kicked through the kitchen (details not included). Also – I stink at art. Like, I draw a picture of a bunny and my kids say, “why did you draw a picture of our mailbox?”

But. Two weeks ago I saw a picture of veggies displayed in the shape of a flower and thought to myself: I can totally do that and I should do it for Easter. And so I did. It took less than 10 minutes (no joke) and people were like, “oh look it’s a flower.” Score one for me.

Build a Simple Veggie Flower

I think this is a great idea for a springtime wedding or baby shower, and it was definitely perfect for our Easter buffet. On a regular day, however? I will be throwing down the veggies and dip like my normal non-artist self.

What You Need to Build a Veggie FlowerYum

  • Broccoli
  • Baby Carrots
  • Celery
  • Cucumbers
  • Grape Tomatoes

Putting it all together is self explanatory – if you can do it I can do it. Just look at the picture above for the “how to.” Serve with these great dips:

  • Homemade Ranch Dressing

Ranch Dressing and Dip Mix

  • Easy Veggie Dip (Made With Homemade Seasoned Salt)

Easy Veggie Dip 1

Have you done much mixing of art and food? I draw the line at this veggie flower. :)

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Build a Fruit Salad Bar

March 12, 2015 by Laura 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Create Your Own Fruit Salad

Yum

Sometimes fruits and veggies just need to be served in an exciting way to make them more appealing. That – and some people in my house just won’t eat bananas.  If there are bananas in the fruit salad, one of my kids will refuse the apples, strawberries, and pineapple too. “I’ll just put the bananas on the side,” thought I, as I prepared to make a fruit salad for dinner. But then I got the better idea to put everything “on the side” so each person could fill their bowl as they like. Fun!

As it turns out, I got all the boys involved in prepping a fruit. The result was a beautiful spread of choices that everyone was excited to dig into.

Build a Fruit Salad Bar

Justus (our 15 year old) built his salad and took this picture. Beautiful!

There’s nothing complicated about this:  Simply slice or chop whatever fruit you have on hand and set it out for people to pick from as they fill their bowl. Lay out shredded coconut, dried fruit, and nuts if you like. Real whipped cream or cottage cheese added to the spread wouldn’t hurt my feelings.

This was a perfect side dish with our pasta and mixed greens tonight. I’m thinking it would be fun to serve for breakfast some time soon, too!

What are your favorite fruits to add to a salad?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quick Note!

I made a mistake on yesterday’s Visit Omaha giveaway post. Durham Museum IS NOT free. my bad  It’s the Joslyn Museum that’s free. I made the correction on the giveaway post, but wanted to make sure you got the update!

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Because This Will Make You Want to Eat Cucumbers

February 24, 2015 by Laura 57 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

So you say you don’t like cucumbers? Ah well. I know exactly how to help this situation.

Zebra Cucumbers Taste Better

See? You peel stripes out of the cucumber and then you slice them and then they become adorable stripy zebra cucumbers which will then make cucumbers perfectly irresistible. Mmm-mmm yummy cucumbers.

I personally think stripy zebra cucumbers are more fun to eat than non-stripy, un-zebra cucumbers. (Let’s be clear that I’m calling these stripy {long i} and not strippy {short i} because there’s a difference that I’d rather not go into here.)  I think stripy zebra cucumbers look pretty on a plate. That’s why I had to take a picture to show you how fun these are.

But what if you just really, really don’t like cucumbers?

I like cucumbers. Yay, me. But try as I might (and trust me, I really did try – more than thrice), I cannot make myself like jicima. We got two lovely jicima in our Bountiful Basket last week, so even though I don’t like them, I tried making jicima sticks for easier dipping. Also, doesn’t it just sound fun to say, “Yum! We’re going to snack on some jicima sticks!” (In case you’re not sure, the “j” in jicima is pronounced with an “h” sound. It’s not a jicima, it’s a hicima, like hiccup, even though it’s spelled jicima. It’s just that you need to say it right when you exclaim, “Yum! We’re going to snack on some jicima sticks!”)

jicima and rose

This is a jicima.
I took a picture of it beside the rose we got at
Asa’s basketball Senior Recognition night because who doesn’t like
jicima and rose together in the same picture, and also because
the rose is in its final hours and I never got a picture.

I talk all this semi-nonsense about zebra cucumbers and jicima sticks to tell you this:

I give you permission to not like every fruit and vegetable in the grocery store, farmer’s market,and garden.

Now if you haven’t tried it, you don’t get to say you don’t like it. But if you’ve really, really tried (and even cut it into zebra stripes or dipping sticks) and you really, really don’t like it – you can just not like it. Guilt free.

So I don’t like jicima. So what? I love and eat close to 50 other fruits and veggies (aka freggies), so I’m probably okay without the important vitamins and minerals obtained from eating jicima. This is a very good thing since I didn’t even know jicima existed until about three months ago.

But what about you? Is your fruit and veggie palate growing?

You need to know that it has taken me years to develop a taste for a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. (What can I say? I liked Pepsi and chocolate chip cookies better.)  But as I learned the importance of nourishment, I was open to trying. I tried hard. I forced myself at first to eat vegetables I only thought were “so-so.”

I went from liking and eating only – I kid you not – four vegetables (green beans, carrots, peas, and iceburg lettuce) and one fruit (apples) as a young adult to LOVING dozens of different fruit and veggie varieties. It took time. It took being intentional. I know my palate will still grow. (Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll even like jicima.)

Sooooo, I encourage you to try your least favorite fruits or veggies from time to time as truly, our taste buds do change. But I also know I don’t need to feel bad about not liking every fruit or vegetable out there. Just be sure you continue to make freggies a priority.

Now tell me: What fruit or veggie have you tried multiple times but just can not make yourself like it?

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How to Blanch and Freeze Broccoli

February 15, 2015 by Laura 16 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

There was this one day when I saw that I could order 20 pounds of broccoli for just $12.50 and we all know how much I love good deals on good produce. Then there was that other day I picked up my order and found that 20 pounds of broccoli filled a box big enough for my 10-year old to play in. This was also the day we had four basketball games and the day I wanted to make heart-shaped pancakes for my family because they might not have known how much I loved them unless I shaped their pancakes into hearts and also because it was Valentine’s Day. I  never bite off more than I can chew.

I also never can make nicely shaped heart pancakes, which is clearly another issue to tackle another day.

So there I was, flipping a triple batch of ugly heart pancakes on the griddle, packing lunches to take to our basketball games, and staring down 36 crowns of broccoli. I love relaxing Saturday mornings.

I started a pot of water boiling on the stove, flipped the pancakes, and started to chop broccoli. I almost (happy valentine’s day) slid the prepared broccoli into the pancake batter, but stopped myself just in time, took a deep breath, and got my camera because that’s how quickly my brain moves on to the next thing. I am a blogger, after all, which means that just at that moment I realized that I should probably document the project so as to share the broccoli blanching details with you.

Matt suggested I also take a picture of the heart pancakes and I was all, seriously? No one wants to see these. So instead you get to look at my pot of boiling water which mostly looks like I’m about to set my kitchen on fire. It’s just steam though, I think.

blanch broccoli 2

How to Blanch Broccoli

Step One:  Boil water. One might wonder at the fact that it takes an entire tutorial to explain this process. Don’t worry. The exciting part is yet to come.

blanch broccoli 1

Step Two:  Wash and cut your broccoli. (Told you it would get more exciting.)

blanch broccoli 3

Step Three:  Place cut broccoli into your pot of boiling water for 2-3 minutes. (This stops the aging process so your vegetables will maintain better nutritional value.)

blanch broccoli 4

Step Four:  Immediately remove broccoli from boiling water and run it under very cold water. (This stops the cooking process.)

Step Five:  Spread the cooled broccoli on a clean towel to dry. I didn’t get a picture of this. I was probably flipping ugly pancakes.

blanch broccoli 6

Label a freezer bag and fill the bag with blanched, cooled, and dried broccoli. Freeze for up to 6 months.

You can use your prepared broccoli for soups and stir fry. The work is done!

How to Blanch and Freeze Broccoli

If you have a trick for making nicely shaped heart pancakes – do tell. If you have any tasty broccoli recipes, I believe I’ve made it clear that I would benefit. And in case you’re wondering, I slept very well the night of the basketball/broccoli/ugly pancakes.

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How to Easily Add Fruits and Veggies to Your Meal

January 14, 2015 by Laura 9 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

It’s not hard, it’s not hard, stop making it hard, I’m telling you – it’s not hard.  It’s also quite easy.

I used to just serve one fruit or vegetable with each meal (if that). This might have been enough for our nutritional needs, as long as we were getting some fruits or veggies at snack time too. But when all was said and done, I think my family was only getting 1-3 servings of fruits or veggies each day. That is just not enough.  Our bodies need more – more variety of nutrients, and a larger quantity too.

Putting a big variety of fruits and vegetables on the table with each meal is something I’ve been improving on through the past few years. I hope you’ll join me in this endeavor. It isn’t nearly as difficult as I used to believe it was. In fact, I’m learning that fruits and vegetables are probably the easiest food there is to make and serve. Truly!

Below you’ll see an example of a meal I made recently. Notice the simplicity. Also notice that I rarely put our food in serving dishes – we just eat them right out of the cookware. :)

Easily Add Fruits and Veggies to Your Meal

See the big pot of Tuna Casserole? Easy as that was to make, it was the most time consuming meal item I prepared. All the fruits and veggies on the side were a piece of cake. Actually, they were fruits and veggies, not cake, but you know what I mean.

To go with the tuna casserole, I cooked some frozen peas (which took about 3 minutes), washed blackberries, sliced a cucumber, and opened a bag of petite baby carrots. That made a total of four super easy fruit and veggie side dishes that we enjoyed. The apples, bananas, pears, and clementines you see in the weren’t actually for our meal. Those just sit out on the table as a center piece and for all of us to grab for snacks as needed.

This practice of setting out several different lightly cooked and raw fruits and vegetables to go with our main dish has become the norm around here. Once you get into the habit, it really is easy. Actually, I’ve found that it’s even been a fun challenge to see how many different kinds of fruits and veggies I can put on the table with each meal!

groceries 2014

This is a typical grocery shopping haul for the week, plus I have many fruits and vegetables in the freezer.

An added benefit of setting out a wide variety, beyond the obvious fact that we are getting a great bounty of nutrients with all the different types of goodies out there is this:  If one of our boys doesn’t love all the types of fruits and vegetables I set out, they will at least like 2 or 3. I do it this way on purpose so that everyone will have something they love. While we don’t all fill our plates with every single item, we do fill our plates with what we like…which means there is no fighting at the table to get my kids to eat their veggies. Hallelujah!

And one more thing. Crunching and chewing on these fruits and vegetables as side dishes has been filling up my boys’ hollow legs. If I covered my table with a bunch of grains and carbs, they’d certainly fill up on those, but would not be gaining as much nourishment. We still eat plenty of grains around here (especially at breakfast), but I’ve found that we’re feeling better by trading heavy amounts of bread for larger quantities of fruits and vegetables.

And another one more thing. If fruits and vegetables is what you serve, that is what your family will learn to eat. If you don’t serve them, they won’t eat them.

Okay, one last one more thing. I still have to push a couple of my kids to fill up on fruits and vegetables. It is getting easier, but just like most kids –  mine would rather have a donut with a side of potato chips. Keep encouraging, keep serving, keep providing – the love of fruits and vegetables will come.

How’s it going at your house? Have you found easy ways to add fruits and vegetables to your table?

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