Tormented Kitchen

Hello, dear readers! I've survived the rush of birthday season and now we can resume our regular, hectic schedule. That's good news for you because I have some great posts waiting to be shared with you! I have  jewelry boxes, a new box from Influenster to review, a couple awesome recipes, and then this post. Today's post is something near and dear to my heart. That's breastfeeding. Mom's can never get too much support, if you asked me. I have successfully breastfed my three kiddos.  I worked full time and pumped two or three times a day for the first year of each child's life. Once I got the OK from the pediatrician, I introduced cow's milk and gradually reduced pumping at work to a stop. But I still had a great milk supply. I know, I know. Lucky me! My oldest had a huge appetite and even with my great milk supply, using supplements and galactogogue foods, I still had to supplement with formula.  He weaned just before he turned two because my sup...

Back in the middle of winter, we decided to attempt something new, something healthy. Green smoothies. First, we tried the Dr. Oz 3 day smoothie cleanse. Wow, were those nasty tasting! One important thing to note though, we felt good! Three days of no junk, no artificial anything, and both of us felt good.  We just wanted something that tasted better. I borrowed a book from the library, Green Smoothie Revolution by Victoria Boutenko and got out the Blendtec high speed blender. The whole point of this book is that the author states people need the nutrients from greens, but you have to make it taste good to get them down the hatch. I have to admit that at first, we thought the smoothies were going to be horrible like the Dr. Oz ones. We started with some of her very basic recipes, and they were surprisingly tasty! With her idea in mind, I've experimented with some different combinations. They generally look like green or brown sludge, but there are some really tasty combination...

You know who loves breakfast? I do. You know who else loves breakfast? My kids. Sometimes I have to take advantage of the kids and their love of pancakes and waffles. I use it as an opportunity to get them to branch out. I find that often my kids will devour breakfast and then pick and snack the rest of the day, so it's a good time to get something nutritious in them. Ages ago, when I was a teenager learning the basics of cooking, I happened across a British recipe for oat waffles. They were good, but a bit more work than I was willing put out as a 14 year-old. About Thanksgiving, I ran into that recipe again. I hadn't seen it in years. I made it a few times with some changes. I tried using quick oats instead of slow-cooking oats and swapped out the buttermilk for regular milk. They were better. On a lark, I threw in some ground flax and wheat germ. It was so good. These waffles are filling. The texture is really light with a crisp edge and they are a little chewy from the...

This recipe is basically one of trial and error that constantly evolves each time I make it. It began as a recipe from a French cookbook for Zucchini Quiche. Well, since neither Justin or myself particularly like zucchini, I changed that right away to other vegetables. I tried broccoli (which is good when the florets are realy small) but we just love spinach. So spinach it is. By the way, spinach is a SuperFood so it's nice to find a way to eat it without noticing the vegetable-ness. I have also changed up the cheese blend and every time it's good no matter what I use. I happen to prefer Colby-Jack, or a Mexican blend, but sometimes I use whatever is on hand. Sometimes it's a blend of provolone, cheddar, and Swiss cheese. We love cheese so it always tastes good. Ingredients 1 9-inch blind baked pie shell 1/4 c. finely diced onion 1 clove garlic, mashed or diced (or 1 tsp. from a jar) 2 Tablespoons butter 1 c. diced ham 1/2 c. frozen chopped spinach 1/2 to 3/4 c...

I found the recipe! It was saved on the big EHD at home so I didn't have to retype everything that was already typed. Thanks goodness. I also found my crepe recipe so that will be coming soon too. I realized that since this contains almonds, even though it's not "health food" it is somewhat healthy. According to SuperFoods Rx by Steven Pratt, nuts and seeds are very good for your health. In any dose, they benefit cardiovascular health. And that is one of my concerns. Heart problems run in my family so any help is help. Some notes on preparation: I use my Kitchen-aid stand mixer to beat the egg whites. A hand-held mixer will do the job just fine, but with two little ones, I need my hands free most of the time to hold them. Ingredients: 3 large egg whites 1 c. sifted confectioner’s sugar ½ c. all purpose flour 1/3 cup finely ground, blanched almonds (no skins) 6 T. unsalted butter, melted and cooled 1 T. honey Method: 1. Preheat oven to 400F. Butter 2 ...