mama's kitchen: healthy snacking.

I have a three foot tall picky eater in our house but we're trying to change that. She used to eat everything but somewhere along the way, she has developed a solid twenty things she likes and doesn't stray far from that. I'm working hard to introduce her old favorites and some new foods into her diet and I'm starting with our snacks. 

Here's what we like to snack on right now:

pretzels & roasted red pepper hummus

apples & peanut butter

fishy crackers & "baby cheese"

honey nut chex & mandarin oranges

ritz crackers & grapes

Here's what I hope to add to that list:

ants on a log

baby carrots & ranch dressing for dipping

bananas, pears & peaches

What are some of your favorite healthy snacks?

mama's kitchen: cooking gluten free.

This week, I'll be doing a mini-series on my kitchen with favorite recipes, choosing healthy snacks, and cooking with a toddler. I hope you enjoy it!

We eat pretty simply around here. While we might cook fancier recipes every now and then, like homemade quiche or fondue, we like to stick to basics like chicken, tacos, meals in the crock pot, and homemade pizza.

When my in laws are in town, like they were last week, we make sure to cook gluten free because my mother in law has celiac disease. I suspect that the hubs may have some sensitivity to gluten but he's adamant that he doesn't. I think he just doesn't want to give up his normal bread, pasta, and snack food. *wink*

Some of our favorite gluten free meals that we eat regularly are:

Lemon Garlic Chicken
(served with rice & veggies)

Confetti Chicken 

(or what The Larson Lingo calls Easiest Dinner Ever, served with rice & corn tortillas)

Chicken and Peppers

(stir fry chicken tenderloins, mushrooms, garlic, and peppers in EVOO and top with shredded cheddar)

Brinner

(breakfast for dinner - eggs, bacon, fruit & potato pancakes)

Fruit & Yogurt with Granola
(organic vanilla yogurt, berries & Bear Naked granola)

Do you cook gluten free meals?
Share your recipes in the comments!

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just be quiet.

image made with the A Beautiful Mess app

I've never been one of those moms who is super productive during naptime. From the time N was a baby, I've used her naps to rest and I'm not talking sleep, though I probably should. I don't clean, do laundry, or anything else deemed domestically productive. Her (rare these days) naptime is my time to recharge, regroup, relax. I'll blog, read, do a devotion, snack, browse Instagram, or just sit and think.

I crave the quiet.

We don't allow ourselves enough time to do that these days, I think. To let our minds wander, to not fill it up on technology, to allow time to breathe and for contemplation. How can we be creative if we leave no time for creative thought? How can we function without time to quiet our hearts? How can we work through the trials of life if we have no time to think through them?

Can I encourage you to do something, if you're not doing it already? Try taking some time to just be quiet. 

Even if it's incredibly inconvenient.
Even if your house is a mess.
Even if your kids no longer nap and your quiet time is at 10:30 at night.
Even if you have to put all of the "screens" away so you're not tempted.
Even if your husband or kids don't get it.
Even if your to do list is six miles long.
Even if being alone with your thoughts scares you a little.
Even if it seems super weird.

It will restore you.

I promise.

just in case.

... you need to hear this today, too.

image made with the A Beautiful Mess app

I hope your Tuesday is a good one, friends.

all i wanted.

So, let's talk about Mother's Day.

Hubs asked me a few weeks ago if I wanted to do something in particular to celebrate and I told him that all I wanted was a pleasant day. Just a day that was free of toddler meltdowns, clothing battles, and attitude. Just a simply pleasant day.

Yesterday started with attitude from the three year old and escalated to a meltdown over what she was going to wear to church, all before 8 am. Hubs left for church and we continued with our morning, getting ready and watching cartoons. I started to grab my keys so we could join the hubs at church and ... they were locked inside my car. When I finally got ahold of a friend at church who flagged him down to come get us, well, we were really late to service. 

I should have just put my pajamas back on and climbed back into bed at this point.

After N's second meltdown mid-afternoon, I threw in the towel on my expectation of a pleasant day and lost my cool and some tears. What I really wanted was a perfect day and yesterday was far from that. Unrealistic, much?

my first Mother's Day in 2010

How can we expect to have a planned perfect day when the other three hundred sixty four never are?

It sets all of us up for failure, I think, especially those of us who are still parenting through the delightfully insane season of toddlerhood. The sparkly unicorn covered commercials and the whispy dreamlike visions we have in our heads are not always real life. Real life is messy, even on Mother's Day.

So, if you had a less than stellar Mother's Day (or three in a row like me), take a deep breath and know that you weren't alone. There's always next year and maybe, just maybe, we'll expect a little less than perfection.