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The Easiest, Healthiest Side Dishes

January 15, 2016 by Laura 5 Comments

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

After I finish detailing my favorite healthy side dishes to serve my family, you are going to be so unimpressed and bored that you will fall asleep on the spot. This post is like a lullaby, sung sweetly to you after you’ve had a warm bath and a mug of milk. Pin this post. You will want it to refer back to on the nights you’re anxious to relax and have a good night’s sleep.

See, the thing is that I’ve simplified my real food kitchen life so much during the past few years that I barely think about or plan ahead for side dishes anymore. Do I serve them? Absolutely! In fact, I serve at least 2 if not 4 side dish options at almost every lunch or dinner. But here’s my trick:

I set out a variety of fruits and vegetables based on what I have and what will offer healthy options for my family to choose from.

That’s it. I rarely mash a potato anymore. For me, side dishes are no longer something that require much work. There is no time!! The main dish gets my attention and the side dishes are a variety of fruits and veggies that make our plates pretty and offer oodles of nourishment.

side dishes1
Every once in a while I go all out and steam some broccoli and carrots. Phew. Big day. Otherwise, I do something like wash some berries, slice some pears, and throw some frozen peas in a pot to cook (which they do all by themselves in about 4 minutes).

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More often than not, prepping the side dishes is the job I hand my boys. “Peel 6 clementines.” “Cook some green beans, please.” “Wash the raspberries.”

Do you see how easy this is? Side dishes at our house get pulled out of the fridge or freezer just a few minutes before the meal is served. They take very little prep, yet they are the most nourishing part of our meal. Side dishes are almost always served in the container they came in or the pot they were steamed in. In case you’re wondering why I ask a boy to peel clementines when we could all just peel our own (which we do sometimes) – it’s this.

You might also be interested in another post I wrote recently about How to Easily Add Fruits and Veggies to a Meal.

Easily Add Fruits and Veggies to Your Meal

Healthy, easy side dishes come down to these three rules at my house:

  1. Buy fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season and affordable. (You can’t serve ’em if you don’t buy ’em.)
  2. Keep frozen veggies in the freezer ready to steam quickly before a meal.
  3. Be intentional about offering a variety of these goodies with every meal.

Every week, I buy big containers of mixed greens and fresh baby spinach. Boom. We have salad.

I buy whatever berries are on sale, which we wash and plop on the table. I buy grape tomatoes in season (or grow them when it isn’t -3°). I buy apples and pears, which can be washed and sliced in 30 seconds. I buy heads of broccoli, big bags of carrots, and lovely cucumbers – all of which can be prepared for cooking or served raw in just a few minutes. I always have jars of homemade applesauce or homemade pickles to pull out.

Below are some pictures I came across that show the variety of easy side dishes I serve. Notice how little prep these took:

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alfredo leftovers 2

Cream Cheese Chicken

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food week may 96

colorful plate

And there you have it. Nothing terribly exciting – just simple side dishes that our family eats regularly. We get a variety, we get plenty of nourishment, we don’t wear ourselves out making the prep work tedious. That works for me!

So what works for you? What are your favorite side dishes?

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Crustless Cheesecake Cups

July 30, 2013 by Laura 13 Comments

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

High Five Recipes 2

Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts. In fact, I believe I will have my boys make these for my birthday on Saturday. Since I’m turning 40, perhaps I could have them double this recipe so we can have 40 little cheesecake cups. (Why, so I can gain 40 pounds as I celebrate?)  Yeah, we’ll just stick with a single batch.

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Crustless Cheesecake CupsYum

2 – 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup real maple syrup or 1 1/2 cups unbleached powdered sugar

In a medium sized bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks form. In a separate bowl, beat together cream cheese, maple syrup, and vanilla. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture. Scoop cheesecake mix into about 20 paper-lined muffin cups. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to serve. Top with fresh fruit.

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These Crustless Cheesecake Cups are so easy to make and since they freeze well, they can be made ahead of time. You can even serve them frozen. Delish!

cheesecake_cups_2

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Stocking Stuffers for Kids

December 11, 2010 by Laura 51 Comments

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

I think I love stuffing stockings almost more than any other gift giving at Christmas time!! My mom made our family’s stockings and they are just beautiful! But they’re a little bit small. It seemed that no matter how small I kept the stocking stuffers, half of them still wouldn’t fit through the top! I finally bought the boys new, bigger stockings. My mom’s stockings are still hanging for decoration and will always be among our favorite Christmas decor. You can read more about her hand made stockings here.

christmasdecor0915smI have learned during my last 13 stocking stuffing years that filling stockings with junk is a waste of money and toy box space. There are all kinds of little things on the ends of store aisles that are touted as “Great Stocking Stuffers”, but they’re made of junk. The kids will play with them for a total of two minutes before they get lost under the couch cushions.

I now avoid junkie toys and go with items that are truly usable, educational, or consumable.

This year (don’t tell my kids), they’re getting quite a few consumable items. I got them some treats that we hardly ever buy, which means they’ll be thrilled to find them in their stockings! Here are some consumables they’re either getting this year or have been given in years past:

  • Annie’s Mac and Cheese box
  • Juicy Juice 100% juice
  • Pack of Gum
  • A Can of Black Olives
  • A Favorite Candy
  • Cereal Bars
  • A Small Jar of their Favorite Jelly
  • Sunflower Seeds
  • Beef Jerky
  • Fruit
  • Fruit Leather

I love consumable stocking stuffers because well…they will be quickly consumed. They won’t get lost in a toy box never to be seen again. They’re treats we rarely enjoy, making them a pretty special gift!

Here is a list of items I recommend that are fun, small enough to fit into most stockings and either educational or useful!

  • Veggie Tales DVDs
  • Sewing Kits from The Whole KIT ‘n Kaboodle
  • Card games like Blink, Old Maid, Skip-Bo…
  • Regular decks of cards
  • Mittens or gloves, hats, scarves, ear muffs
  • Socks (okay, bordering on being in the “not fun” category, but my kids are always happy to see socks without holes)
  • Fun bandaids
  • CDs
  • Books
  • Hair clips and such for little girls (although I have no experience in this area!!)
  • School supplies

What items do you put in your kids’ stockings?

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Gratituesday: The Flipcam

September 27, 2010 by Laura 23 Comments

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gratituesday

Justus (our 10 year old) just got himself his very own Flipcam.

He’s been dreaming about it and planning for it for months. The kid LOVES making movies. Lego movies, real life movies, super hero movies…he is a movie producer in the making.

It all started with Justus making small movies using my regular camera (the kind that has a few minutes of video recording on it). He played with it a time or two, then realized that he LOVED creating movies. I let him use it, and he used it often…but inevitably about the time I would have a plate or bowl of something delicious to take a picture of for the website, I wouldn’t be able to find my camera. Or the batteries would be dead. Because the kid loved making movies THAT much.

And then came the day that he dropped my camera. And it broke. Forever.

I’m a blogger; I need a camera, pretty much daily. He felt terrible. He apologized. And he was forgiven. But he still had to give me some money to replace the broken camera. And then Matt and I decided that Mama’s new camera would be Mama’s camera and nobody under the age of MAMA would be allowed to touch it. (Okay, Daddy gets to use it too even though he’s a little younger than Mama.)

Justus understood the new rule, but I think he went through Movie Making Withdrawals. And so, after looking into what he would need, he began to save his money for his very own movie camera. All summer long he mowed lawns (and he mowed and he mowed…). Once soccer season started he began to referee the younger kids’ games. Every bit of money he earned, he saved. Until finally the day came that he could buy his own video camera.

We’re so proud of him. He’s so proud of his camera. And understandably, he’s a little bit protective of it. As hard as he worked to earn it, he’s pretty sure he doesn’t want ANYONE to drop it!! :)

There are movies in the making pretty much constantly around here these days. I’ve even been able to star in a few. (Okay, co-star, who am I kidding?)

So why is this my Gratituesday post today? Because I’m thankful that Justus learned to work hard and save toward a goal. Talk about perseverance! Who knows but that this will be something that Justus can develop into a career someday (although he still really wants to be a chef, so we’ll see!).

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!


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The Decision to Eat a Healthy Diet

June 8, 2010 by Laura 47 Comments

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simplesteps

When I introduced this series, I suggested that the first step I felt each of us should make as we worked toward eating a healthier diet was to simply begin adding more fruits and vegetables to our diets. As I got ready to publish that post, I asked my husband what he thought was the first step people should make toward healthy eating. I wanted to see if he and I were thinking along the same lines.

Matt thought for a moment and then he said,  “Well, the first thing anyone has to do if they want to start eating healthier is to make the decision to do it. If they’re in it with half a heart, they’re likely to stay in unhealthy eating patterns. But if they decide that eating healthy is what they need to do, then a big part of the journey has already begun.”

And then he said something like, “Laura, you look absolutely beautiful today.”

Okay, he didn’t really say that part. I just made it up. I mean he has said that before…but not usually when we’re talking about vegetables and making healthy food decisions.

Anyway.

While I think that my “eat more fruits and veggies” idea is a good first step…I agree with Matt. The first, first step toward healthy eating is that you have to make the decision that you’re going to do it.

You have to decide that eating nutritious food is best for you.

You have to decide that eliminating bad food is best for you.

You have to decide that making tough changes are possible for you.

You have to decide that the difficulty of making dietery changes is worth it.

You have to realize that it won’t be as hard as you think.

You have to know that you aren’t alone and that you’ll have help.

You have to decide.

And that’s all there is to it. 

Sometimes it’s hard. You may have a hard time getting your husband or children on board with you. Your friends and family may think you’ve gone bonkers because you used to love poptarts and now you are on a mission to find a local farm source who will provide you with grass fed beef. Your local grocery stores may not supply many of the foods you are now looking for. You might still crave cheetos. You may feel overwhelmed with trying to make all the dietary changes. You might not know what to do with all the boxed, processed food that is in your pantry. There is so much information out there you may feel like you don’t even know where to start.

But you’ve made the decision to eat healthier…and that is the most important first step.

And you’re reading this, which means that you’ve come to the right place. Not because I have all the answers, but because I’ve likely been exactly where you are. I know how it feels. I’ve walked the journey. I’ve felt the frustration and been completely overwhelmed with where to start and where to turn. 

I’m going to help you do this! We’re all going to help! This is a team effort. You are not alone!

Making the decision to eat healthier is hard. Realize that if you’ve made the decision, you’ve taken a huge step into your journey already.

Woohoo…here we go! 

Are you on board?

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