Homemade Frozen Pizza and the 80/20 Rule

#becausesoccer #becauseparkour #becauseholisticnutrition

Ok, wait a minute? Because Holistic Nutrition??!  I made a frozen pizza, with ooey gooey cheese and a homemade pizza crust, processed meat, packed with gluten and all of the ingredients that we’re so often told to avoid?  Yes. Why? I have kids and kids love pizza.  Who doesn’t?  I love pizza.  Also, I love balance, an 80/20 Balance.  This recipe can be filed under my 20%  and served up with a great big, delicious salad (good choices like that make up the 80%). 

The last time I made pizza, I made way too much dough!!!  I could have made up an extra pizza and served it up for kids lunches all week but that doesn’t pair well with the 80/20 rule.  That’s when I decided it was time to make my own homemade convenience food.  I’ve been experimenting with this idea in my kitchen lately; I’ll write up my homemade chicken fingers and my frozen cookie dough at a later date.  

I’m busy lately, studying like a big, awesome nerd at my kitchen table.  As a result, my kids have had to step up their household contributions.  I honestly don’t remember the last load of laundry I did, thanks to my amazing teenage daughter and my son has become quite brilliant with a vacuum and mop. These are all life skills that my kids have helped out with from time to time but now that I’m back in school, these chores have been assigned as expectations.  My list of chores still includes supplying delicious and well balanced meals for the family, regardless of how busy I feel. I do feel that kids belong in the kitchen; so I often ask for their help around dinner time, especially, if I have something easy prepped with which that they can help. I have always done a fair amount of food prep on the weekends; that habit has taken on a life of its own. Throughout the course of the weekend, I aim to make an extra meal for later in the week, I cook up a meat that can be used for sandwiches (usually a roasted chicken or a beef roast served with all of the fixings, on Sunday), a bone broth, if I’m really ambitious, a soup with the bone broth, a salad dressing and if I have time, a bread or a muffin. Two weeks ago I made pizza for dinner with my favourite pizza dough recipe:

http://carlsbadcravings.com/perfect-homemade-pizza-crust/

We enjoyed two pizzas for a dinner on a Friday night and I prepped the third, with my homemade pizza sauce, a lactose free mozzarella and some parmesan cheese, pepperoni and peppers. Once prepped, I popped it into the oven, while we ate.  I didn’t want to fully cook the final pizza, just pre-bake it long enough to melt the cheese for easier freezing.  I set the oven to 350 F and baked for 10 minutes. When I pulled my half baked pizza out of the oven, it looked like this:

I allowed it to cool, for about 20 minutes, before I placed it in the freezer on a cookie sheet.  Once it was completely frozen, I wrapped it with plastic wrap.

When my pizza was completely wrapped, I returned it to its place in my deep freeze.  This crowd pleaser is currently awaiting a busy night, when I have to study, my daughter has soccer and my son has parkour.  The kids can pop it into the oven at 350 F for 20-25 minutes and serve it with a delicious side salad or cut veggies and possibly a glass of red wine for this mama!  It’s convenience food but convenience food that is going to properly feed my family with no extra additives.  That fits within my realm of 80/20.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post!  Please feel free to comment below if you have any comments, questions, concerns, or if you just liked this blog.

For Hard Knocks Door Stopper

Ahhhh.....life with children.  This was the most recent and most necessary fix I’ve had to do in a very long time.  The handle of our front door regularly finds it way into our wall.  Yup.  Into our wall.  I have repaired this small dent in the wall more times than I can count.

What an eyesore!!!  The most recent fix came while I was painting my front entry from blue to white, I pristinely repaired the dent by painstakingly adding layers off spackle and sanding until I could no longer see any evidence of a dent on my wall.  It was perfect; for one week.  When the door handle yet again found its way into my wall.  Unfortunately, many children do not understand the fine art of opening and closing doors with any level of grace.  I have kids in and out of my house constantly, between my own kids, their friends and my niece and nephews, I had no hope of keeping my beautiful handiwork in a pristine condition. That’s when I devised a plan...

I was going to make my own door stopper.  My best girlfriend had just completed updating her flooring with a beautiful hardwood.  She sequestered her husband to cut me a small circle from one of the left over scraps.  I used my favourite Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in “Old White” and a fine detail brush to write the words, “For Hard Knocks,” that’s what this was for, after all; Hard Knocks and Dents!  I used the wooden end of the brush to dot the edges of the disc and painted the unfinished wood Old White.  

Next came the difficult task of attaching to the wall.  I didn’t want a screw or a nail to throw off the design of the door stop, so I used my trusty crazy glue.  I waited months to write this blog, for fear that it might fall off of the wall.  Believe it or not, it is still adhered to my front entry wall.  I held in place for 3 minutes after applying crazy glue and then taped it for 24 hours to ensure its bond. 

I feel that this looks much better than the dented wall...now to decide what colour to paint the back of my door....please feel to comment below if you have any questions, concerns or you just liked this Big Idea! Thanks for reading!!

Slow Play Sunday Morning Gluten Free Pancakes

Yum!  That’s where I’m going start this blog...Yum!  My kids love pancakes, who doesn’t? They love fluffy pancakes made from all purpose flour; again, who doesn’t?  In an effort to increase my family’s fibre intake, however, I have been playing with alternative flours.  I have to be honest, whole wheat flour doesn’t appeal to my kids pallet, also, if I’m changing out my flour, I’d like to reduce the amount of gluten we’re consuming.  No one in my family struggles with gluten but there have been so many documented health problems related to mass wheat production and gluten issues in today’s society, I feel like a reduction is not going to hurt anyone in my household.  They can still have their Mac N’ Cheese but they don’t need to be consuming gluten three times a day.  I’m a firm believer in the old mantra “Moderation is the key.”

Oat flour is delicious, made from a whole grain; higher in protein and healthy fats and lower in carbs than many other grains. Oats also contain more soluble fibre than any other grains.  Plus, they’re gluten free.  Not convinced yet?  Oats contain Beta-glucans which have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.  Also, diets high in fibre show an increase in the appetite controlling substance, Peptide Y-Y.  This chemical sends a message to the brain to tell it when the stomach is full and encourages the body to stop eating.  I researched this flour, which is readily converted to complete many of your favourite all purpose flour recipes and decided that it should find a home in my pancake recipe.  I do find oat flour requires some extra liquid in a recipe than its wheat counterparts, it’s certainly not a straight conversion with wheat flour but there are many resources on line to assist you in this process.

I have been mixing up my dry ingredients ahead of time to reduce my kitchen time and maximize my sleep time.  Sundays have become very busy for us, we often have kids in two different directions by 10am.  A Bit of Convenience goes a long way for me...unfortunately, I trust almost no food manufacturing companies, pre-made muffins and waffles are not an option in my household.  I had to figure something out because I hate feeling stressed on Sunday morning. I have always thrived in slow-playing Sunday.  This relaxing morning sets me up for the busy week ahead.  On meal prep days, I now take a few moments to throw together a mix or a special seasoning in a mason jar.  My pancake mix is always stocked and has a permanent home on my shelf.

I often mix the dry ingredients into the same mason jar that I just dumped into my mixer, as I clean my kitchen.  It takes moments, but moments, when I have them.  The idea of getting up on Sunday and pulling out my flour and baking powder makes me throw a piece of toast into the toaster.

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups of oatmeal flour

1 tsp of sea salt

2 tbsps of cane sugar

4 tsps of baking powder

I dump all of those ingredients into a mason jar, twist the lid on and shake. That mason jar finds a place on my shelf until the next time I feel ambitious enough to make some high fibre, satiating pancakes.  When I’m ready to make my pancakes, I add the entire jar of mix along with 2 eggs, 1.5 cups of milk or milk substitute (coconut milk is my personal fave) and on tsp of vanilla to my mixer. As soon as the pancakes are ready, I use a ladle to drop pancakes onto a non-stick pan.

I cook over medium heat.  When bubbles appear on the raw side, its time to flip and cook for 2 more minutes.

I can only cook three pancakes at a time on my pan so I drop them into a casserole dish into my warm oven until I’m ready to serve.

Half Blueberry and Half Plain Pancakes is the winning batch in my household.  The leftover pancakes freeze beautifully and make an even quicker breakfast for later in the week!

That’s it for my Slow Play Sunday Blog!  I hope you’ll try these pancakes, I know I love them and just two makes me feel full for hours.  Thanks for reading! Please feel free to comment below with any questions, concerns or if you just liked this blog!

Shabby Inspired Garden Gate

Sometimes you find inspiration in the old, the shabby, the broken down bits of life.  After living in my home for fifteen years, I wanted a bit more curb appeal and I think my hubby and I pulled it off with the addition of this Garden Gate.  My lovely neighbour, Sarah, salvaged this old pine door from the alleyway years ago; she never quite found the right use for it in her home.  The door was an odd size, 29.5 inches wide.  Enter opportunity.  I took the door off of Sarah’s hands one year ago and debated building shelving out of it, turning it into a gigantic picture frame and then it hit me...a new Garden Gate.  We were due for an update, the previous gate sat much further back along our neighbour’s fence line and was very old and shabby. Shabby bad, not shabby good.  There was nothing chic about the old gate.  It was old, run down, the paint was peeling and the latch no longer worked. It was time!

I got out my trusty red paint and between thunderstorms, I added coat after coat.  We primed this old, somewhat damaged door and then added four coats of red and a protective clear coat.  The wonderful thing about shabby decor is that imperfections are a thing of beauty.  Don’t worry about bubbles on your surface, little dings that happen along the way; especially for a piece that is going to find its home outside, this door is going to age and become even more beautiful.  If it doesn’t look more beautiful by next year, I’ll repaint it, or distress it.  

I need to warn you, the one thing that happens if you’re into shabby decor like myself, is that you collect things.  As I said already, I held onto this door for one year while I decided where it might find a home...the door knob that doesn’t fit on any standard door...that was in my basement for two years.  Same problem...the door knob literally doesn’t fit on any door. It didn’t fit on this one either.  Opportunity.  Luckily, I have a crafty Husband that aims to please.  This is a gate, it doesn’t need a functioning door knob, it has a handy dandy latch.  The problem with the door knob was that the interior hardware was much too long for a standard thickness door.  My hubby decided that plumbing pipe fittings were the best way to fill the space between the front and the back of the door knobs.  It was genius and so very shabby.  I love it.  The door knob can be used to pull or push to close but the door knobs don’t actually turn, in this case, that doesn’t matter.  This would not be a perfect fix inside a home but for our purpose, it was ideal.

Next issue with a Garden Gate made from an interior door.  It’s heavy.  We needed a strong structure.  I wanted to mimic Crown Molding with the frame. We had to build an outdoor door jamb that would withstand high winds.

See how shabby my old gate is? It’s the ugly peeling white fence in the background. This new gate has allowed us to reclaim so much space.  My husband built us a very strong structure with posts sunk into the ground, four feet and secured the other posts to our very strong deck.  The braces across the top and to the sides added more strength and stability.  The brace across the top was yet again, an opportunity for decor. We stacked boards to create the appearance of Crown Molding.  It was at this point that I looked at my husband with a worried look and said, “is our lawn mower going to fit through the gate!?!”  It did...here’s a tip, friends, check that before you build your fence gate. An un-mowed lawn wasn’t going to make me popular in my neighbourhood. 

This poor guy, bless his heart for coming along for the ride.  He nailed it with this project.  I couldn’t be happier with the results.  However, I wasn’t done yet!!!  A Shabby Garden Gate needs something really special to complete the look.  Lucky me, I have a bestie that knows where to find all the coolest kitschy decor.

The sign to complete my Garden Gate was too perfect. My girlfriend really gets me.  I’m one of those gals that doesn’t take herself too seriously.  When she saw this metal sign, she called me over for approval and bought it for me as a birthday gift.  I couldn’t be happier. I love it!

Totally perfect.  Totally me.  Worth the bother.

Our easy open latch was tied to a string and my hubby, again, drilled out a space for yet another pipe fitting that the string to pulls through. 

This guy earned a much deserved break...alongside my sister’s healing dog...poor Stevie was attacked by another dog, halfway through our project.  Its been a long week but I’m so pleased with how everything turned out.

 

Feel free to comment below with any questions, concerns or if you just liked this Big Idea!  Thanks for reading!

You’ll Totally Love These Eggplant Recipes

It’s an eggplant kind of day!!  When I started out cooking this afternoon, I was trying use up some left over Bolognese Sauce.  In effort to eat “veggie most dinners,” I’ve been experimenting in the kitchen. Recently, I have enjoyed Portobello Pizzas and Lasagnes, Cauliflower Rice with Deconstructed Egg Rolls and Roasted Spicy Chic Peas with Garlic Sauce and Avocado. I’m in heaven!!  I don’t know why I haven’t thought to do this sooner?  I love vegetables; but if you don’t, adding lots of extra flavours and textures to your veggies might just get you to increase the amount of fibre on your plate.  Vegetables fill us up, they give us sustainable energy and they help to keep us regular.  I’ve ditched my starchy carbs at dinner and traded them in for some of these delightful treats.  Best news? In two weeks, I’m down 4lbs, it seems we don’t need a heavy carb load in the evening, right before we head to bed; save that for the morning when we require energy for the entire day!

Today started out as a “clean the fridge kind of day” and ended with some very exciting and delicious meals.  I had a big, beautiful eggplant on hand. An eggplant can sit on your counter for a few weeks while you decide how you’d like to use it. They’re loaded with many nutrients and and vitamins, including Vitamin C and K; they contain magnesium, copper, folic acid and lots of dietary fibre.  They absorb flavours from marinades and sauces and blend well into meat or vegetarian dishes.  The trick to cooking eggplant as far as I am concerned, is uniform sized slices.  I’m not one to brag about my knifing skills so a kitchen mandolin is a necessity for me. I can get pretty easily overwhelmed by the texture and flavour of eggplant.  As a result, I tend to use thinly sliced portions for my recipes. Today, I sliced the whole eggplant, only to discover that I did not have enough left over bolognese sauce to accommodate my number of eggplant slices. Enter new recipe...a hybrid, if you will, an old chic pea favourite that I whip up regularly; this time with eggplant instead of chic peas.  It worked out beautifully.

Eggplant with Feta and Tomatoes

Half an Eggplant

2 tbsps of Garlic Olive Oil

1 Tbsp of Red Wine Vinegar

1 Tbsp of Olive Brine

3 Black Olives, finely chopped

1 tsp of dried oregano

1/2 tsp of Incan Fire Salt (Cayenne Pepper, Salt and Cumin)

1 Roma Tomato, sliced

1/3 of a cup of Feta Cheese

Pepper to taste

Directions:

Slice half an Eggplant with a kitchen mandolin. 

Line the bottom of a casserole dish with the Eggplant Slices.

Drizzle the slices of Eggplant with Olive Oil, Red Wine Vinegar and and Olive Brine. 

Pit and finely chop 3 olives, sprinkle over the Eggplant Slices. 

Season with Pepper and Incan Fire Salt. 

Bake at 350 F for 12 minutes add Sliced Tomatoes, and Feta along with Oregano and bake for an additional 5 minutes. 

Serve with Fresh Parsley or Raw Baby Asparagus (which I found in my garden today) and drizzle with balsamic reduction. 

If you enjoy this recipe, try my favourite Chic Pea Dip, which is a constant staple in my home.  You can find the link here

http://melsbigideas.blogspot.com/search/label/chic%20pea

I did tell you I made two recipes today...here’s the other twist on my Eggplant Slices...

Eggplant Bolognese

1/2 and Eggplant, sliced with a kitchen mandolin

1-1.5 cups of Bolognese Sauce

1 tbsp of Garlic Olive Oil

1 cup of shredded cheese, I used Fontina and Parmesan

Directions:

Slice half an Eggplant with a mandolin. 

Layer the bottom of a small casserole dish with your Eggplant Slices. 

Drizzle with Olive Oil, salt and pepper.

Cover with Bolognese Sauce. 

Add a second layer of Eggplant Slices and cover with Bolognese Sauce. 

Top with your favourite Cheese Blend.  I use Fontina as it is Lactose Free and melts up just beautifully.

Salt and Pepper the top of the casserole. 

Bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes. 

Serve with Salad and Enjoy!

Thanks for taking the time to read this article and I wish you luck if you decide on an Eggplant Adventure in your kitchen!  Please feel free to comment below with any questions, concerns or if you just liked this Big Idea!!

The Joy of Sourdough English Muffins

We all know its the simple things that bring joy to our lives, but what does that really mean?  Personally, I feel that joy hides out in the most unexpected places.  Joy is simple to miss, it’ll pass you by if you’re not looking for it.  I’ve missed it, many times; I have chosen to live in the negative.  I have focused on the bad behaviours, the messy kitchen, my kid’s bad choices, my bad choices.  Joy is a choice.  It’s the dancing in the kitchen; forgetting your chores for a few moments, giggling on the phone, hugging your kids, doing something that you love.  I love baking and crafting. There is joy in creativity. 

This week I found creativity and joy in my Sourdough English Muffins.  I make these often.  I love them, my kids love them.  They make the whole family happy.  They taste so much better than the store bought version. I call them my English Muffins, which is technically unfair, as they’re a recipe I found on Jonesin’ for Taste’s Blog. You can find the complete recipe at this link:

https://jonesinfortaste.com/sourdough-english-muffins/

There is, however, significance in my ownership of this recipe. I have made it so many times that I use the blog post as a reference. I know what I need to add and when I need to add it; its simple.  It takes time and patience to complete.  I hit my “Flow” when I mix the ingredients together, as I roll the dough and sprinkle the cornmeal.  I don’t need to think, I just simply do, that’s the Flow I speak of, baking becomes a meditation of sorts. I take the joy; I eat it up! I ignore the frustrations of life, as I create something beautiful, I allow it to warm my soul.  That’s the trick to joy, you need to accept it.

The ingredients are simple, wholesome and I get to use my sourdough starter.  My starter, which I affectionately call Ramona, has received my love and care throughout the past two years.  I have personified Ramona, honestly, she has to be the most giving pet I have ever owned. If you don’t have a sourdough starter, I would totally recommend starting one of your own. I have added a link to my sourdough article here:

http://melsbigideas.blogspot.ca/search/label/bread?m=0

Sourdough English Muffins 

1/2 Cup Sourdough Starter

1 Cup of Milk

2 Cups of Organic All Purpose Flour

Mix these three ingredients together in a large bowl.  Once combined, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest at room temperature for at least 8 hours or overnight. 

Once your dough has rested overnight, add an additional:

3/4 Cup of Organic All Purpose Flour

1 Tbsp of Sugar 

3/4 Tbsp of Ground Sea Salt

1 Tsp of Baking Soda

Once your ingredients are fully combined, drop your dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 4-5 minutes.

Roll your dough out to 3/4 of an inch and begin cutting with either a wide mouth mason jar or a large glass.

Line a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper.  Sprinkle the paper with cornmeal.  

As your English Muffins are cut, drop them onto the lined cookie sheets; flip to coat both sides with cornmeal. 

Make sure to space them properly on your cornmeal and parchment lined cookie sheet, as they will increase in size during your rise.

When your cookie sheet is full, cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm area to rise.

Allow your muffins to rise at least 45 minutes before cooking.

You can re-roll your scraps to cut additional English Muffins but the dough requires at least 10 minutes rise time between each cutting. 

I typically get 10-12 English Muffins out of this recipe; if you require more, the recipe doubles well and freezes beautifully.

To cook your English Muffins, lightly oil a frying pan, cook over medium heat for approximately 4 minutes per side.

Enjoy them toasted with jam, peanut butter, almond butter or as an “over-the-top” delicious egg sandwich.  

The greatest excitement I experience while making these Sourdough English Muffins is how amazing they look. The first time I made them, I pulled them off of the pan as I giggled hysterically.  They looked like English Muffins. Real English Muffins. I had made something that I could buy at a store. They looked Professional.  Who knew you could make English Muffins?  Preservative Free English Muffins.  It turns out you can make English Muffins. If you decide to make them; you too should enjoy every moment of the process. Once your soul is fed, gobble one up and feed your tummy too. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this article. Feel free to comment below with any questions, concerns or if you just liked this Big Idea!! 

Eat Your Heart Out! Valentine Deliciousness!

Yet another Valentine’s Day and more homemade valentines for my son’s class.  He’s a happy boy again this year!  Drew and I made our famous sugar cookies for his friends and packaged them up with his Valentine wishes.  A classic wish from an 11 year old boy.... “From: Drew.”  One of these days I’m hoping he becomes more verbose, but for now this will do!! We very sensibly froze the left over red icing from his Mario Muffin Cupcakes, after his birthday; yesterday, we thawed it out to sandwich between two of our heart shaped cookies. 

The beauty of a classic Sugar Cookie recipe is it’s entirely versatile. Not only did I need to make treats for Drew’s class; I wanted to drop some goodies off to friends and prepare some treats for my thirteen year old daughter’s “Single Ladies Sleepover” on Valentine’s Day. Single Ladies Sleepover!?! Sometimes you just roll with your child’s requests.  This mama is rolling...and secretly very happy that she’s not sneaking out to see boys on Valentine’s Day. Girl time sounds perfect to me!!!

Mel and Drew’s Famous Sugar Cookies

1 Cup of Salted Butter

1 and a 1/2 Cups of Granulated Sugar

1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

2 Tsp of Baking Powder

3 and a 1/2 Cups of Flour

2 tbsp of Milk

1 tsp of Vanilla

1/2 tsp Salt

Cream wet ingredients.

Blend dry ingredients.  Slowly add dry ingredients to wet.  

Refrigerate for at least two hours.

When ready to start baking, preheat the oven to 350 F. 

Roll out dough to 1/8”, on a well floured surface.  

Use a cookie cutter to cut shapes and bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown on edges.  

Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack.

If adding icing sugar to cookies, add after cookies have cooled on the pan for 2 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Makes approximately 48 cookies. 

After your cookies have cooled, ice the bottom of one of them, generously.

Press together and Voila!!  Cookie sandwich!!  You can also use jam between your cookies, I used my homemade cherry jelly on some of my goodies.  Please excuse my craft nails...I’ve painting green...lots of green...

Treat Toppers

If you’re making Treat Toppers, you can follow the following instructions. First of all, choose a reasealable bag that fits your treat.  Measure the width of your bag and map out your plan on a white piece of card stock.  I typically make toppers 3” tall, with a seam at 1.5”.  The bags I’m working with are 4” wide.

Next design your topper, if you’re writing on both sides, one side will be upside down as you’re creating a folding seam in the centre.

Once your toppers are complete, you may now photocopy onto any colour of card stock you choose.  

I photocopied onto grey card stock.  Next, I trimmed the excess off of the edges and then I used a scoring blade to mark the toppers at 1.5”.  I used my pre-drawn lines to cut them to 4” wide.

I adore inking, I love the dimension it adds to any project.  In order to ink, you simply drag the edges of your project across an ink pad.

Feel free to add colour!!  You can do this before or after photocopying.  I used a red glaze pen to roughly colour the hearts, after photocopying as I enjoy the added texture and interest it provides. A glaze pen looks similar to a gel pen, until you use it!!!  A glaze pen’s ink dries raised and shiny. Finally, fold toppers over the bags and staple.

I enjoy the staples from the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher.  They’re tea bag sized and so super cute!!

Thanks for reading.  Feel free to comment below if you have any questions, concerns or just like this big idea!!  Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!

I Just Made Lactose-Free Yogurt!

Mmmmmmm....yogurt. I love it. I never eat it because my body hates Dairy. Which is sad, really, because I love to dealve into a hunk of cheese or drink a creamy latte.  I’m lactose intolerant, like many others, Nature

did not intend for me to slurping back milk after I was

done nursing. Many bodies are unprepared for the onslaught of creamy milk products. My digestive tract certainly isn’t lined up for it!! 

Fortunately, there are many good lactose-free products on the market. I often substitute my milk with a dairy alternative, my favourite being, coconut. I drink my coffee with coconut milk and honey. I buy lactose-free yogurts at the grocery store, or I avoid Dairy all together. It’s not all that difficult to avoid and I feel healthier when it’s out of my life, but I miss it. Not anymore!! I’m done paying a premium for lactose-free!!  I just made yogurt. Lactose free yogurt!! All you require is an organic high fat yogurt and some whole milk. 

As I write this blog, I’m munching on blueberries drizzled with honey, sunflower seeds, craisins and granola all wrapped up in one of my favourite substances, plain yogurt. It’s tart, it’s creamy and delicious. It’s also incredibly versatile.  It blends well into soups, Indian dishes, is a perfect sour cream substitute and makes a yummy high protein breakfast bowl!!

While meandering through Pinterest, I found a yogurt recipe for my Instant Pot. I don’t know if you have an Instant Pot but I got one on sale, right before Christmas. I love to cook delicious meals for my family. I actually refuse to slip onto that slope of convenience. Though convenience food might lower my stress level around dinner time, as I’m frantically trying to fill bellies before evening activities, I’d lose sleep. I’d rather provide my family with minimal ingredient dishes, healthy fats and nourishing meals than a store bought alternative.  The Instant Pot makes this easier. One pot meals, full of whole ingredients, in a fraction of the time. I’ve made a whole chicken in 35 minutes, rice in 10 minutes, bone broth or bolognese sauce in a couple of hours...these meals used to take me all day.  

If you’re not convinced by now, that you should probably throw out your slow cooker and buy an Instant Pot (the Instant Pot also has a slow cooker option), then let’s talk about homemade yogurt. I was intimidated to make yogurt. I tried a few years back and it was a complete and utter failure. My issue was lactose. I went out and bought lactose free milk and followed the instructions to make my yogurt from a yogurt stater. If you know anything about yogurt making, this makes no sense.  The cultures in yogurt eat lactose. The trick to lactose free yogurt is a longer incubation period. Let the bacteria eat all of that lactose for you!  If you’re not lactose intolerant then you can make yogurt with your Instant Pot in about 8 hours, if you are lactose intolerant, you let it incubate for 24 hours. 

Here’s the link to the yogurt recipe I followed, it worked out perfectly!!

http://wholenaturallife.com/instant-pot-yogurt/

Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts! Feel free to comment below with any questions, concerns or if you just liked this Big Idea!! 

Back to School. Back to Routine.

How do you get ready for back to school? This is a question I asked myself repeatedly, in August. How do you ready yourself? Ready your kids? Welcome routine back into your life? I welcomed school somewhat reluctantly this year. I had an amazing Summer Holiday.  We travelled, we played on the beach, we visited wineries, we stayed up late, we slept in, we basically did everything that we never get to do on a regular basis. I enjoyed time with friends, family and lots of quiet evenings with my husband. It was a dream. 

How do you start back to school after a Summer like that? You throw yourself into it! Routine is good for the soul. A little bit of order never hurt anyone. Book the appointments you've been avoiding, get your kids cool "first day of school outfits" and if you're like me, you start cooking! 

I'm not sure why I feel like preparedness is directly related to how many delicious meals I have prepped in my freezer, but I do. My mom always made wonderfully, delicious food for myself and my siblings while I was growing up. I like to do the same for my kids. 

If you think this blog is going to be about school lunches, you're absolutely right! I hate making lunches!!! I secretly think all moms do.

I tend to batch cook and force my kids to pack their own lunches.  I'm not a fan of sandwich meat but my kids love sandwiches. My solution...cooked chicken breasts. I season with salt, pepper, oregano and roast them in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350 F. 

After they cool, I slice them and pack into small sandwich bags. I store the prepared chicken in the freezer and thaw for sandwiches, as needed. 

As my kids pack their own lunches, I find providing them with lots of healthy options and allowing them the ability to choose makes for fewer fights. It also teaches them about healthy living and good choices. On that note, my kids love treats in their lunches because they are human.  They love to snack on muffins, which I encourage as opposed to over the counter "lunchbox treats." Their favourite muffins are banana, I've added a link to my recipe below. 

http://melsbigideas.blogspot.ca/search/label/Muffins?m=0

A close second favourite would be blueberry muffins. I had hoped to find time to throw together blueberry muffins before school started. Especially, after I found organic blueberries on sale...I didn't find the time, so I washed them, dried them...

and packed them into 1 cup servings, which I placed in the freezer. 

I'll bake muffins at another point. It's totally worth it to purchase fruits and veggies at the height of their season and freeze. These fruits and veggies are going to be as nutritionally rich as possible and typically more affordable, than in the winter. Freezing them allows you to access the wonderful benefits of this fruit, at a later date. 

Finally, my kids love tiny casseroles in their lunches and they couldn't be easier to produce!  I always double or triple batch my pasta sauce. Leftover bolognese never goes astray in my household. One of the absolute favourite lunch casseroles in my house is lazy lasagne!!

I let the kids choose their favourite noodle, grate some mozzarella and parmesan and mix with leftover sauce. These casseroles are baked in mammoth muffin tins, and smothered in melty cheese. They are baked at 350F for 15-20 minutes. 

Once they are removed from the oven, you allow them to completely cool and then freeze in the muffin tins. Once frozen they are easily removed from the pan. 

I store them in a ziplock bag, in the freezer until we're ready to pack lunches. 

It couldn't be easier to defrost in the fridge overnight and quickly re-heat in the morning, before school. My kids pack these yummy lunches into a thermos in the morning and gobble them up at lunch! Imagine, all of that was accomplished on a Sunday afternoon. Then school started and it took almost until October to post!!!  Ahhh...back to school! Hope you're all surviving! 

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or concerns, or you just liked this Big Idea, feel free to comment below!