Food as Antibiotics! A Great List to Remember

Goodbye Crappy School Lunches! Hello, LAPTOP LUNCHES! Buy Them Here! :)

BPA, Phthalate, Lead-Free! EcoFriendly

for You and Your Child!

Click to see COLOR choices for product above

I am so excited to be selling these! After years of fighting with the schools over their toxic lunches they feed our kids, and struggling to send a healthy lunch that would be well-preserved and not smashed up in a bag...this is the SOLUTION!

Eco-friendly lunch containers, available in a multitude of sizes and colors, with neat options like expandable pockets for drink containers, hot and cold canisters, and more! Also offered, are more professional styles for Mommies and Daddies on the go!  Kids are not the only ones that need to eat healthy, you know!

So ditch the artifical colors, high fructose, and pink-slime!

Keep your kids healthy and energized throughout the day with healthy fruits, vegetables, pasta, sandwiches,and more. Foods that YOU make for them!

Here are two samples of their products, and I have included the quick VIDEOS on each so you can see the details, first hand!.  

TO PURCHASE THESE PRODUCTS, PLEASE CLICK HERE

 OR USE LINK ON MY WEBSITE SIDEBAR! THANK YOU!  

Mommy Laptop Lunch Urban Swing Bento Kit

The New MomAgenda Planner, is Awesome! Buy them Here!

CLICK TO BUY NOW!!

I picked up my first MomAgenda planner last year in a little shop in Michigan, and fell in love with it!

It has a beautiful placekeeper ribbon, and fabulous organizing tools for work and home.

The company also specializes in many other types of planners, such as the Kitchen Planner...which you can also buy here :) 

Click the link on my left side bar (of the blog) and it will take you to the site.

Let me know when you get yours and if you love it as much as I do!

La Dolce Vita, Mommies!!

xoxox

A Better Basil Pesto

It started with this...

and ended with this...

Fresh, Basil Pesto!

Last year, when I started this little blog, I threw together a Basil Pesto and posted it.  I was reprimanded by someone whom claimed to be an authentic Italian whom smashed my recipe to bits.  She was right to some degree in that I was blending the ingredients far too much and making it too liquidy.

So, this year, I made it differently and like it much better.

I still did NOT use the mortar and pestil however, so forgive me again.  It seems I cannot

bring myself to forego the food processor to get through this much basil!

As it turns out though, this worked just as well :)

Basil Pesto!

12 cups Fresh Picked Basil

1/2 cup Pinenuts

2 cloves Fresh Garlic

1 tsp Sea Salt

1/4 cup Olive Oil (EVOO optional)

1 cup Fresh Parmesan, Shaved

Wash and dry basil, and within hours of picking, blend in food processor until small bits.  Add remainder of ingredients and blend until smooth.  Taste, add more Sea Salt if needed.

Serving Suggestions:

On Eggs, Omelots, Egg dishes

On Tomato slices

On Toast or Crackers

Mangia Bene!

La Dolce Vita!

xoxo

Guest Blogger, Tracie Ring Sikora..and Blueberry Buckle!

THANK YOU to Tracie Ring Sikora for this fabulous recipe! Tracie and I are Facebook friends, although am not sure about how the connection was made...I think through my sister, Tonya. But, the great thing about social media is that

virtual friends end up feeling like real friends :)

Tracie is a high-energy Mom, whose label is "Senior Vice President @ Sikora Family".

I love that!

I think all of us Wives, Mothers, and other keepers of the family life

ought to have such a title!

Thanks Tracie, for sharing part of the Good Life!

Read her great recipe, below!

La Dolce Vita!

Blueberry Buckle

by Tracie Ring Sikora

(compliments of Taste of Home)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk (I used Silk Coconut Milk...makes recipes richer and has a better flavor)
2 cups fresh blueberries

Topping:

‎2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 cup cold butter, cubed

Directions: In a small bowl cream butter & sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Combine the flour, baking powder, & salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Fold in blueberries. Pour into greased 9-inch square baking pan.

For topping, in a small bowl, combine the sugar, flour & cinnamon; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over blueberry mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Yield: 4-6 servings.

***



Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting...Best Summer Cake Ever!

Summer is a time for fun and good food!

This is the dish that I bring to almost every summer event, including brunches and sports picnics!  Each time I make it, I get rave reviews and everybody wants the recipe! It is very EASY to make and with an usual trick of freezing the cake right out of the oven which locks in the moisture.

This is a very moist and heavy cake, which allows you to slice up until little sections for easy serving at big events.

Make it in a travel tin and you are ready to go!



Ingredients:

Cake-

1 1/2 cups ripe, mashed bananas

2 tsp lemon juice

3 cups all purpose flour (do not use cake flour)

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup softened butter

2 1/8 cup sugar

3 large eggs (room temperature)

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Frosting-

1/2 cup softened butter

8oz softened cream cheese

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 275 degrees (yes 275...very low but long cook time balances it out to perfection)

Grease and flour 9 x 13 pan

Small bowl:

Mix mashed banana with lemon juice, set aside.

Medium bowl:

Mix flour, baking soda, salt, set aside.

Large bowl:

Cream butter, sugar together until light and fluffy  (2-3 minutes)

Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla.

Beat in flour in small portions, alternating with the buttermilk.

FOLD in banana mixture

Pour into pan and bake in preheated over for one hour plus 15 minutes.  As ovens differ in temperature, bake until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from oven and PLACE IMMEDIATELY IN FREEZER-UNCOVERED, for 45 minutes up to 3 hours.  Remove and frost.

For frosting-cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth.

Beat in vanilla and confectioners sugar on high speed until smooth.

Spread on cooled cake. 

Enjoy! Mangia Bene!

xoxo

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie...A Summer's Delight

This wonderful recipe, I took from a few different including Emeril Lagasse and other chefs.  Combining elements I found beneficial and developing a perfect balance of sweet and tart; and of  balanced crust with filling. 

Enjoy warm or cold, but I found that if I chilled the pie and then let it warm up slightly at room temperature before serving, it had perfect taste and consistency.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie:
2 lbs Strawberries, washed and hulled -organic preferred
1 lb Fresh Rhubarb, sliced
4 Tbsp Butter
1 cup Sugar

1 cup Brown Sugar
2 Tsp Corn Starch
1 Tbsp Flour
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Vanilla Extract (or fresh 1/4 vanilla bean)
Continued...
Ingredients for Pie Dough (Bottom only on this recipe)  click here for Pie Dough Recipe and instructions.  
Ingredients for Pie crumbled topping:
1 cup Oats
4 tbsp Butter, cubed-small
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Flour

Directions:
Saute Rhubarb in butter, over med high heat 4-6 minutes, until soft.  Turn off heat, add fresh Strawberries, Lemon Juice, Vanilla Extract. Stir in Sugar, Brown Sugar. 
Shake corn starch and flour over top of ingredents and stir in with fork, eliminating any lumps. 

Tip: to eliminate lumps altogether, remove a few Tbsp of liquid from pan and stir in dry flour/corn starch until smooth, then return to pan and stir in to the rest of the filling-the same works for any flour or starch addition to sauces, gravies, etc. :)

Let mixture sit in pan, cooling, while you prepare your dough for crust.  See link above for complete dough recipe.  After chilling your dough per recipe, roll and lay out your dough in bottom of pie pan. Pinch edges to form a nice wavered edge, or use a fork to press in lines.
Lay filling from pan into the pie.  Top with Crumb Topping.

If you have a pie ring to cover the crust, I always recommend using these, as they help to prevent the crust from burning.


Crumb Topping Directions: 
In large mixing bowl, add all ingredients for topping.  Using pastry cutter, cut butter into mix until
fine and crumbly. Pour over top of pie filling.


Bake @ 350degrees, 45 mins.
Let cool, then chill.