Monday, November 10, 2014

Happy First Snow: Meal Plan and Real Food Hot Cacao

Well, Praise the Lord we have a play written for our Christmas show! A stellar cast, director and team... I am already in the Christmas Spirit or in the Exmas Spirit? See the show and then tell me. :-)

Interested in getting tickets for "Christmas in Niatirb" click the link! But don't wait because we do sell out early especially for our Christmas show!

My picture is not uploading correctly... let's just say this is from Becket's perspective. :-)


Today was the first snow. And I know for some that is dreaded news but... It is November and its pretty fitting for this area. The first snow is pretty magical for me. Exciting and fresh and new. It quickly wanes after that. But I'm embracing today and with it comes excited kids who scramble to get dressed and out the door to play in the snow!

Eager little morning faces peaking out their window at the fresh white world. All my Winter's and Christmases come rushing back to me in a warm wave of cool rush on my face and the scent of cookies, hot chocolate and red cheeks.

I make my own "real food" hot chocolate for my kids instead of the nasty packaged stuff and it's oh so good, simple and really chocolaty!

Homemade Hot Chocolate:

1 cup of warm/hot whole Organic Milk
1/2 tsp Organic Cacao Powder (more for me less for the kids to avoid a caffeine rush) 
1 tsp Organic Powder Sugar/or Regular Sugar/Honey/Real Maple Syrup

Stir and serve with homemade whipped cream or mini marshmallows. That marshmallow part isn't so "real food" but my kids love marshmallows and I got 6 bags for $1 this summer so it's a fun treat. 

Menu for the week:

Sunday: Cashew Chicken Fried Rice
Monday: Beef and Mushroom Stroganoff
Tuesday: Tater Tot Green Bean Casserole
Wednesday: Hummus, 100% Whole Wheat Pita Bread and Veggies
Thursday: Spaghetti and Veggie
Friday: Tilapia, Coconut Quinoa and Broccoli
Saturday: Black Bean Chili and Crackers

Trader Joes: Total $22.30
Maple Shredded Wheat
Joe's O's
Button Mushrooms
Whole Wheat Pita Bread
Organic Gold Potatoes 4lbs
Organic Grape Jelly
Canned Coconut Milk
2 Bananas
Whole Organic Milk

Aldi: 
Tilapia
Boneless Pork Roast for pulled pork (next week)

In case you haven't noticed I plan to be under budget each week to leave room for special deals I come across. I also leave wiggle room since our grocery budget actually means our food budget. So if we go out to eat or grap a french fry to share or for Sunday donuts... that ALL comes out of my precious limited food budget. So I like to be spontaneously prepared!

Augustine has been skipping his daily nap most days and so that means he is consuming a LARGE mid-afternoon snack. He is SUCH a skinny boy and SUCH a big eater! He ate 3 bowls of buttered bone broth brown rice AND 2 slices of %100 whole wheat bread with butter. (He eats a lot of raw fruits and veggies so I let him eat reasonable snack requests of carbs and protein.) Gianna on the other hand eats like a little bird. She eats about 1/4 of whatever I give Augustine. So if he eats 2 PBJs, an apple and 4 carrot spears for lunch she eats 1/2 PBJ, a 1/2 apple and 2 carrot spears. And that is me MAKING her finish her food. It's quite a difference!

Becket is extremely allergic to eggs we recently found out. It was all pretty scary! But he is eating bone broth brown rice, ground turkey, beans, green beans, and even cheerios. He is the most peacful in his highchair surrounded by finger foods and he picks them up perfectly in his pincher grab. It is just darling. He is so quiet there I almost forget about him! What a darling!



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