Uh-oh, it's Halloween!

Today, was the book character parade at school, and Graham's class dressed up like little doughnuts! The book that they represented was Arnie the Doughnut. Everyone "paraded" through the halls of the church collecting treats from church staff. These little glasses were in a "treat" bag from school, and Hannah Reece immediately put them on and put on a show!

Healthier "Treating"

Check out this super idea for a healthier alternative to bags of candy that last for WEEKS, we might just have to try it out tonight! :) Plus a cool idea for fun with veggies...

Sarah's Simple Servings

...introducing food blog by me! For those of you who know me well, no you are not dreaming, it's really true! :) I know, we'll just laugh together about this one-because I am no culinary genius!

This blog is really born out of my own struggle to feed a child with multiple food allergies, another who is unbelieveably picky, and a Daddy and Momma who are trying to attain wellness through exercise and eating (mostly) healthy foods, on limited resources (time and $). I really enjoy learning new things about nutrition, although I don't always put these principles into practice!

Now that the kids are getting a little older, and a little more self sufficient, I feel like I can go a little beyond basic nutrition and actually enjoy cooking. It seems these days it's gotten a little easier to focus on meal planning an preparation... for at least 5 consecutive minutes without interruption! :) I'm excited to share a few of the resources and recipes I've found with you and anyone who's interested (or just bored). The new blog is separate from this one and is "open" (not password protected) I've added a link to the right on this web log so you can visit now. Enjoy!

A Yummy After-School Treat...

Sliced apples with peanut butter (slightly softened for about 10 seconds in the microwave) make a yummy, filling after-school snack. Though we are out right now, we also enjoy softened almond butter for dipping. Pumpkin gets all happy when the food looks cool on the plate. :) For this easy treat I was rewarded with "momma, you are the bestest food maker".

Snackin' Soybeans

Found this one in the T*rg*t freezer section a few days ago...Pumpkin actually asked me if I was gonna put some "Dora peas" in his lunchbox today! Still working on sweetpea, hopefully the "Dora" gimmick will be appealing?

Soybeans are a complete protein, and a good source of essential fatty acids, they contain (among other nutrients) vitamin A, C and Iron.


They had two kinds on the shelf: Spongebob unshelled Soybeans (still in the pods) and Dora shelled soybeans. These come frozen, and I just pop one in the lunchbox-it's all thawed out by lunchtime. These can also be served warm-just steam them to your desired texture, or nuke 'em in the microwave. Enjoy!

Creamy Chicken & Rice Soup

(courtesy of: Allrecipes.com)

Preparation: fairly easy, only took about 20 minutes to prep, and about 25 minutes to cook)

Serves: about 6
My review:
Sweetpea has been suffering from a really long cold/cough, so I decided to try the old chicken soup trick. She liked it, especially having the freedom to add her own little oyster crackers. Sweetpea loves rice, and noodley soup can get so messy, this was a good one for her to manage independently.

Surprisingly, Pumpkin was not too impressed. He's a texture guy and doesn't too much enjoy food of the soup/casserole variety. Likes his foods separated, thank you very much.

I really enjoyed the flavors of lemon and white cooking wine, these gave it a little kick! Not super creamy, but overall good. I give it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. chopped carrot
• 1/3 c. finely chopped onion
• 1/3 c. chopped celery (omitted this)
• 2 T. butter
• 1/4 c. All-purpose flour ( used unbleached)
• 2-14.5 oz cans reduced sodium chicken broth (used one carton) (some varieties are gluten-free and some are not)
• 2 c. cooked long-grain (used brown) rice
• 1 c. cooked and cubed (cut to same size as chopped carrots) boneless-skinless chicken breasts (about 2)
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 t. pepper
• 1/8 t. garlic powder
• 1 c. 2% milk
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 1 T. white wine

Instructions:

1. In a large saucepan, saute the carrot, onion and celery in butter until tender.
2. Stir in the flour until blended (to coat veggies).
3. Gradually stir in broth.
4. Add rice, chicken, salt, pepper, garlic powder; bring to a boil.
5. Reduceheat, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or untl vegetables are tender. Reduce heat to low. Stir in the milk, lemon juice and wine, if desired. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until heated through.

And the tradition continues...

Sittin' at Momma Smith's table, I enjoyed many grilled cheese and tomato soup lunches after church . Today, Hannah Reece (thoroughly) enjoyed her first traditional Smith-Sunday-lunch-combo...I think her favorite part was carefully crumbling crackers into her soup. She didn't quite get into dunkin' her sandwich in the soup..."no, Mama...isss jucky." Mmmm...gotta love some comfort food!