The Love Crunch stopped me in my tracks. And then I discovered the Q’ia. We can’t get enough of Natures Path – nor can the kids. We are doing an epic giveaway of a huge box of #FeelGoodHoliday products, but first I wanted to share a not-so-secret recipe for healthy gingerbread men that the kids and I will be making this year. We may make the odd gingerbread dog too.
Rarely do I feel as if I could take on Bobby Flay or Giada De Laurentiis. But I have discovered a secret weapon for busy mothers who haven’t been to the grocery store alone in nearly a decade, let alone had time to develop unique Mexican sauces in a traditional style – a full spice shelf! In my household, my partner is BBQ grill-obsessed, and our new Weber has been a huge success. While he grills, my roll is to prepare veggies and sauces – between kids, laundry, working and filling out a myriad of school permission slips! So I must admit that I don’t do everything from (ahem) scratch.
After my successful trip into British Columbia’s Okanagan region, I got the ‘bug’ to preserve and can all of the produce I possibly could. Because, well, zombie apocalypse. Or simple healthy organic food that doesn’t need refrigeration or freezing! The 90 pounds of roma tomatoes I purchased from Covert Farms yielded 16 1 litre jars of organic canned tomato sauce.
Organic Canned Tomato Sauce Ingredients:
35 to 46 lbs roma-style tomatoes
14 Tbsp bottled lemon juice
Salt
Sugar (optional)
Prepare the jars and lids:
Wash all jars and lids thoroughly with soap and water and rinse well. Fill your canner with enough water to cover the jars by at least 1 inch and bring to a simmer. Using a pair of canning tongs, lower the jars, lids and rings in gently. Boil for 4 minutes and remove with the tongs, placing them on a wooden cutting board.
Peel and core the tomatoes:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Have a large cooler of ice water at the ready. Gently lower the tomatoes into the boiling water and blanch them for 60 seconds. Remove with a strainer and transfer them to the ice water. Once cool, the skins should peel off easily. I reached into the cooler with sleeves rolled up and did this job with my hands, easily removing both the cores and skins.
Prepare the sauce:
Coarsely chop the tomatoes and add them to a large stockpot. Place stockpot over medium-high heat, crushing and stirring the tomatoes to keep from burning. Continue until all the tomatoes are added and crushed. Bring the tomatoes to a boil, then reduce heat and keep at a low boil. Reduce to the desired thickness, by a third for a thin sauce, or by half for a thick sauce. For a fine, smooth sauce you can blend in a Vitamix in batches.
Fill and close the jars:
Add two tablespoons of bottled lemon juice and one teaspoon of salt to each jar; add a teaspoon of sugar to offset the added acidity if desired. Use a ladle to pour the sauce into the jars through a canning funnel, leaving 1/2-inch headspace at the top. Run a clean chopstick around the inside of the jar to dislodge any trapped air. Wipe the rims of the jars with a damp paper towel. Place the lids on, and screw on the rings until just finger-tight.
Seal the jars:
Using canning tongs, gently transfer the jars to the canner, taking care to keep them vertical. When all the jars are in the canner, there should be at least 1 inch water covering them; if you need more, add water from the kettle until the jars are sufficiently covered. Bring the water to a full rolling boil, and process for 40 minutes.
Remove and cool:
Using canning tongs, gently remove the jars from the canner and transfer them to a kitchen towel or cooling rack, again keeping them vertical. Do not set hot jars directly on to cool counter surfaces. Leave to cool, undisturbed, for at least 12 hours. If any of the jars do not seal when cool, reprocess using the method above, or refrigerate and use immediately.
Label and store:
Add a label to the lid or side of your jar, noting the date it was canned. Remove the rings and store jars in a cool, dark place for up to one year. Refrigerate after opening.
We try to make the best decisions we can for our kids, we limit their screen time, we make them eat their vegetables, we teach them how to read and write and be good citizens. Halloween is definitely a time when most parents (myself included) let their kids splurge. I’m not opposed to letting kids have a candy bar every once in awhile, but with the vast amounts of candy that most kids collect on Halloween, it seems like a good time to investigate some healthier Halloween options for trick or treaters. We’ve collected a handful of our favourites. We’d love to hear your healthier halloween ideas too.
Go Go Squeeze
I first discovered these parent-guilt savers at Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. The boys were with me and devoured about 6 in one sitting. I try to provide healthy snacks for the kids but it doesn’t always work. These pouches are great for busy families on the go! Plus they are a Canadian company that harvests the fruit from their own orchard. How cool is that?
Crispy Fruit Snacks from Crispy Green
With flavours like Crispy Apple, Asian Pear, Mango, Pineapple, Banana, Cantaloupe and Tangerine these freeze-dried fruit snacks are 100% pure, have no additives, are non-GMO Project Verified and are allergy-free! Even better, they are delicious and kiddos love them! .
Xylitol Lollipops
If dentists gave out candy for Halloween, they would give out Xylitol Lollipops. Made from Canadian hardwood, Xylitol is a natural sweetener that stabilizes insulin and is good for your teeth. Many dentist give out Xylitol Lollipops with a toothbrush to their patients because of the positive impact that the sweetener has on teeth. Available in lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit flavours.
Harvest Snaps Snap Peas Crisps
Salty, crunchy and absolutely irresistible. SnapPea Crisps are a favourite in our house and the snack pack bags often go in our school lunches instead of a bag of chips. Available in a variety of delicious flavours kids will think they are eating chips but little do they know they are eating baked snap peas! Forgo the snack pack bags of regular chips and go for this low sodium, baked alternative.
Kellogs Multigrain Shapers Treat
It’s always fun to make homemade treats for friends of the family, close neighbours and school friends. Made with graham, Kellogs Multigrain Shapers would be delicious made into marshmallow treats, similar to what you would do with rice crispies. Drizzle with a bit of chocolate and the graham, chocolate, marshmallow combo would give them a smores flavor! Yummy.
Help fight off cold and flu season while giving trick or treaters something yummy with Yum Earth Organics Vitamin C Pops. Each pop has 100% of a child’s Daily Vitamin C requirements, plus they are super yummy! My personal favourite is the Pomegranate Pucker, but my kids always fight over the Googly Grape.
Annie’s Bunny Snack Packs
Available in cheese, chocolate, chocolate chip and honey graham flavors, Annie’s Bunny Snack Packs are another nice alternative to traditional Halloween candy. You can pick up a big assorted box of these at an Costco. My kids have almost as much fun playing with these little bunnies as they do eating them.
Have you tried Pirate’s Booty before? It’s impossible to stop at just one of these baked corn and rice puffs. They are SO YUMMY! Thank goodness you don’t need to stop at just one, because these delicious snacks are gluten free, trans fat free and have no yucky artificial colours or preservatives. They also have snack pack bags that are perfect to give out for Halloween.
And now it’s your turn… What do you give out to Trick Or Treaters on Halloween?
Gene Covert is a pretty cool guy. But he has to be. His mother is still a pilot, and the 1952 Mercury truck that she decided to learn how to rebuild is still the touring vehicle for the farm. Not only does the farm started by his father specialize in organic growing, but they grow grapes for Peller Estates wines, house a summer freestyle ski training jump for the Apex Mountain freestyle team, produce organic wine and have the biggest puffy trampoline thingy and plastic rolling apparatus for kids I’ve ever seen. Oh, and his wife homeschools. So I pretty much can’t even begin to feel worthy.
With a grumpy 6 year old who was instantly charmed by Gene, we began our tour of Covert Farms, nestled beside McIntryre Bluff which separates the north and south Okanagan. It took us all a while to get over the beauty of the truck and I admit that I took more photos of it than I did the farm for quite some time. Seeing grape varietals, feeding organic corn to cows and having a ‘snack break’ at an organic fruit mecca was incredible. But discussing vinticulture, sustainability and permaculture with Gene? Priceless. I spoke of my experiences as a McDonald’s All- Access Mom while touring cattle and potato farms. We talked at length about canning and preserves (yes. I did buy 90 pounds of organic tomatoes which have now been transformed into tomato sauce). The harvest season is the perfect time to go organic at Covert Farms, Osoyoos BC.
Feeling entirely comfortable, the kids asked questions and made observations. We were all sad when we had to get out of the truck. But it was then that the kids noticed the huge bubble-trampoline, and the adults sampled wines with local cheese and charcuterie. At which point we may have purchased a case of wine.
Not only will the Covert family be added to my Christmas list, but an end-of-summer visit is in the cards for our family for many years to come.
Disclosure: Our family was given a tour of the farm and a wine tasting for the purposes of this story.
There’s a joke in my house about me not being a morning person. But it goes further than that. I’m so groggy in the morning that I probably should have padded walls in the hall and a bathrobe made of bubble wrap so that I don’t hurt myself on the way to the coffee maker. Unless I make it the night before I always measure wrong. One friend laughed and told me it was ‘simply’ the miles to kilometers ratio for portioning coffee to water. That didn’t help much.. If I had a few million dollars I wouldn’t hire a cleaning lady or a chef. I’d hire somebody to place my coffee beside the bed in the morning so that I could wake to the scent and avoid EMI – early morning injury.
When McCafé first launched I had the opportunity as an all-access-mom to work behind the counter at a McDonald’s restaurant where I could act professional and run the barista machine. Incredible. Perfect every time (it was the machine), full of flavor and float-on-a-cloud aromas. I got slightly addicted. But then I ran into the issue of having to jump in my car in the morning in a half-awake state in order to reach the drive-thru for coffee. Not a wise move. The last time I tried I drove over my purse whilst backing up. I remember at university McDonald’s used to deliver to our residence. MMMM. Can you imagine fresh-brewed McCafé in the morning delivered all steamy and rich after you’ve been up all night writing a paper?
Though I still do a fair amount of last-minute writing, pigs can’t fly and I’m no longer in a university residence, but a thrilling coffee solution has fallen into my kitchen. McCafé is now sold in every major grocery retailer in Canada. To keep in your pantry! McCafé at HOME! In Canada, 65% of coffee is consumed in the home. I suspect that stat is about to go up… And if you have a fancy coffee maker you’re still golden – it comes in K-Cup, Tassimo T-Discs, or Ground. BOOM.
Now if McDonald’s could just teach my kids the miles to kilometers ratio…
Every mother wants to offer their child the very best possible, whether that’s education, extracurricular activities or the food that we put on their plates. Many of us struggle with how to “do it all”. Finding ways to make life easier is essential for every busy parent (and let’s be honest, isn’t every parent busy?)
Mother Hen Organic Baby Food is a great alternative for busy parents who don’t have the time to prepare and puree their own baby food. They come frozen so they don’t have the preservatives that traditional baby food in glass jars often has. All you have to do is thaw and serve.
Mother Hen had their nutritionist, Genevieve Nadeau, share with us some thoughts on different stages of baby nutrition month by month through the first year. She debunked some common baby nutrition myths and gave great tips on how to care for your baby’s nutritional needs.
Takeaway- Avoiding high risk allergy foods until after 1 year of age does not prevent allergies from developing. Introducing iron-rich foods amongst baby’s first food selections is important for baby’s health and development of palate.
Takeaway- Focus on foods that are high in iron, avoiding foods that are protein rich but low in iron. Introduce new flavours including dark leafy greens, small pasta and fruit.
Takeaway- At 9 months offer the breast or bottle after your baby has eaten their meal. Purees can start to take a backseat as you introduce grated or chopped foods. Introducing baby to a variety of flavours help develop their palate (even food that you may not enjoy.)
Takeaway- At one year baby can start eating all of the same foods as mom and dad eat.
Mother Hen recently shared their line of organic baby food with one of our writers, Kyla Beyer– mommy to baby Harvey and successful Vancouver entrepreneur. Kyla shared with us her thoughts and Harvey’s reaction to this organic line of frozen baby food.
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[/pullquote_left]It’s no secret that it can be challenging to balance career and motherhood. As a new mom I envisioned making all of my baby’s meals from scratch. Boiling, steaming, chopping, pureeing…I did it all….for a while. And then, when I went back to work, I found myself with less time to prepare healthy meals for my son. I wanted to spend my precious time with him, not in the kitchen. There are plenty of canned baby food products in the market, but once I discovered Mother Hen’s frozen baby food I was delighted. Natural, allergen free, no additives and all their fruits and vegetables are organic. I noticed a big difference in the smell and taste (yes, I tasted them!) of the Mother Hen products when comparing them to canned foods because the flavour and nutrients of their foods is retained due to their freezing process.
The Beginner line of purees are blended to the perfect silky consistency(no matter how I tried, I could not get my homemade carrot purees to be anything but lumpy). The portion sizes are perfect for little ones discovering new tastes, and their containers are free of BPA so they can be safely microwaved.
The Junior line (8 months and up) has great flavours such as Chicken Cacciatore and Lamb with Fruits (inspired by Morrocan cuisine and my son’s absolute favourite). The portion sizes are larger for growing appetites and the variety of flavours help to expand his palate.
My discovery of Mother Hen’s line of baby food has freed up precious time and helped me to find balance in my busy life as mother and career woman.
Thank you to Kyla and baby Harvey for testing and sharing their thoughts on Mother Hen Organic Baby Food and to Mother Hen for sending them food to test.
Kyla Beyer is mother to Harvey and the owner of Limelight Floral Design, a busy boutique floral studio based in West Vancouver. With the help of her fabulous husband she manages to balance it all and still find time to stop and smell the roses.
Going to camp is an exciting summer activity for kids. Meeting new people, learning new games and going on adventures are some camp memories that are never forgotten. We have compiled a list of camp must-haves that will make your kids experience at camp even better…
1. Pop Clocky. As most of us know, being at camp doesn’t mean sleeping in. Early wake up calls are inevitable. With Pop Clocky you can wake up the whole cabin with a fun start to the day. Pop Clocky resembles a Jack-in-a-box and makes early mornings fun. Sunny, Rosy, Gilbert and Charlie will make sure everyone up with the birds.
2. Allergy alerts from Mabel’s Labels will ensure that the peanut butter doesn’t pass the lips when the kids come back from canoeing a wee bit dazed and sunburned.
3. A few healthy snacks. Hippie Foods coconut snacks arrived at our office and I’m now hoarding them in my desk…. .
4. A Flashlight. For those long walks back to the cabin, in the woods, a flashlight is useful for avoiding injuries. We found one that’s also a portable music player – the Hipstreet bluetooth speaker/radio with flashlight will keep them dancing around the campfire!
5. A Journal. You can’t experience your child’s week at camp with them, so, by getting them to keep a journal they can keep up their writing skills and share every bit of their experience with you when they get home. We love this robot illustrated Mudpuppy journal/sketchbook.
6. A water bottle. Though you won’t be there to tell them to drink water and stay hydrated every minute, getting them to bring a water bottle will encourage them to drink more water and I’m sure they will be thanking you later. Having one of these adorable SIGG animals will make them want to keep it close.
7. An Eco Lunchbox. For those days when they’ll be going on an adventure and will be needing to carry around some snacks with them.
8. A backpack. A a similar idea to the eco lunchbox, when your kid is going on an adventure they will have a lot to carry. Whether it be sunscreen, a water bottle or a flashlight, your kid will be glad to have a backpack to put it all in. Companies like Land’s End allow for easy personalization.
9. Their own pillow case. She won’t have a chance to miss home when dozing off on this festive Mum pillowcase from Pottery Barn Kids. Better yet – you’ll avoid having a child return home with lice. It will be a reminder of home and be a lice blocker at the same time!
Le Creuset Introduces Palm Fresh, this new hue will bring a coastal vibe to every kitchen
Le Creuset is introducing a brand new crisp shade of green to the culinary world, Palm. This new addition to the classic palette of hues from Le Creuset’s cookware is fun and fresh. The premium French cookware line says Palm is inspired by the fringe of green that divides land and sea.
Palm evokes the feeling of tropical relaxation by the sea. It is the perfect accompaniment for coastal-inspired recipes and fresh summer dishes for entertaining. As Le Creuset’s newest colour, Palm is available this summer across the brand’s complete collection of quality enamelled cookware, bakeware, tableware, tools and accessories.
“Le Creuset was founded by a casting expert and a colouring expert. The company remains true to that foundation and is known to this day for its rich, trendsetting kitchen hues and its ability to offer them in the widest array of product types and materials in a variety of categories.” says Sarin Keusseyan, Marketing Manager of Le Creuset Canada.
The modern coastal inspired hue of Palm is now available across Le Creuset’s collection of quality cast iron, stoneware and accessories priced from $12 to over $600. It is available at Le Creuset boutiques and select kitchen stores across the country. Please visit www.LeCreuset.ca for more details.
This is a perfect long weekend meal, and one where the kids can join in to develop a passion for the grill! We used a smoker but a similar result can be achieved on a BBQ. The kale mashed potatoes are full of anti-oxidants and a great way to add a healthy kick to this summer meal. The 7-hour smoked beef ribs can be prepped long in advance so you have lots of leisure time to relax with friends and family as the smoke wafts through the air. Can you smell them? (P.S. Don’t count on leftovers!)