put some foodies "pump" into your soup & muffins

happy halloweenies!!!

meet the foodies.

i found the foodies through my sister-in-law's bff - miss kristen.  kristen emailed me one day and suggested i check out these lovely books, as #1 they are sooooo up "my alley" and #2 are authored by a close friend's sister, joanne roach in england.  joanne, it's such an honor to know you and to spread the word about your foodies.  i love each each book and it's unique message about real food, values and cooking so very much.

tommy asks me to read him the books almost everyday.  and you can't just read one.

"can i have just.one.more mommy!?"

of course, the month of october is all about pumpkins.  check out the foodies amazing blog post page about mr pumpkin and how you can bring the story alive in your kitchen or classroom with kids.  yea yea, i know it's the 31st, and november loves pumpkins too:)  i made pumpkin soup last saturday night (i had never cut open a pumpkin before except to carve it!) for a super fun dinner crowd.  three families, 7 kids, 6 adults.  it rocked.  i forgot to read the book to the kids though... i think somebody gave the hostess too much wine...

as my oldest mac so perfectly explained after reading a foodies book for the first time, "mom, these are so cool! you read a story, then you learn about the fruit or veggie and then you get to make a recipe with it at the end."  i agree mac, it's all pretty genius.

this will not be the last time i blog about the adventures in the foodies' little veggie patch.  i plan and hope to spread the foodies as far as the eye can see:)  it's slow food, it's farm to table, it's real food it's edible schoolyard, it's food revolution it's food day... it's everything i am passionate about nowadays.

i made these pumpkin muffins today for abbie's classroom party.  i originally made these with shredded zucchini a few weeks ago and i altered them to pump.em.up for the big spooky day today.

pumped-kin chocolate corn muffins

1.5 c gf flour (200g - i use a scale for my flour and this is oh so easy to measure)
1 can pureed pumpkin (or 1 zucchini grated)
1 bag pamela's corn bread & muffin mix
1 T baking powder
2/3 c honey/organic sugar/coconut palm sugar
1 c coconut oil (room temp - it's like softened butter)
4 eggs (best quality you can buy)
1 T vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 c enjoy life brand mini chocolate chips

in a stand mixer, cream the oil and sugar.  add eggs, vanilla and pumpkin (or grated zucchini).  in a separate bowl whisk together flour, corn mix, baking powder and salt.  gradually mix into batter.  add chocolate chips.

bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

and here's the optional spooky green frosting i am making later today for the kids to spread on top!!!

ooooooooooo-oooooooooooooooooooo-ooooooooooooooooooooooo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ooooo



ps

i bet you are wondering what the what are we doing with the hoards of candy!?  the kids separate all the pieces and remove any "approved" candy (yea, there's not much we'll keep).  then, they'll turn in the candy to the "halloween bank" for 5-10 cents a pop.  next week, we'll go shopping for something special together.  they learn about math, how far the mighty dollar will take them and we get the fake stuff OUT-o-the-house.

you won't be a meanie... happy happy halloweenies

xoxo

2nd grade hiccups - a gluten goof-up

it still amazes me how quickly abbie slides downhill when given any amount of gluten.

i bought some peanut butter corn puff cereal to mix in with our more expensive gf granola abbie loves. when i grabbed it off the shelf, i of course looked at the label, but my eyes just glossed right over the "whole oat flour".  my head was clearly up my arse.

we had such a bad morning after she ate her bowl of granola/cereal for the second day in a row.  we had major & ridiculous argument about wearing a coat (it was only 34 degrees outside) so i sent an email to her teacher warning her that we had a rough start before i connected the dots with her food. here is what her teacher had to say about her behavior on the gluten goof-up days.  it takes abbie about 2-3 days for the gluten effect to wear off.  

"Yesterday and today Abbie has been a little off.  It makes sense now that I read that she had a rough start to her day yesterday.  During school she was very focused during a few of our classroom activities, but not all.  She almost seems upset and would easily become frustrated.  There were a couple instances where she had trouble getting along with the other students at her table.  They are usually able to cooperate well.   I don't know if this is in relation to something she ate, or if it's a result to a sour start to her day yesterday.  We will see how her afternoon goes."

crazy isn't it?

whole oat flour (unless it specifically is labeled gluten free) is not to be trusted and i have learned my label lesson yet again.  i haven't bought cereal other than a good quality, gf granola in over a year and i won't be doing it again unless there is a clear gluten free label on it... the funny part is abbie didn't even like the cereal anyways!

abbie's back on track again and we have three great reasons to celebrate this mistake:

#1 abbie has yet another experience where she can directly understand how gluten effects her.
#2 her teacher now knows how gluten effects her both socially and behaviorally in the classroom so she can really help me pin point another food blunder.  just a week earlier she asked me how abbie acted before the food change!  though i hate that i goofed up, i love that her teacher now knows what symptoms to look for in abbie.
#3 abbie is starting to take the reigns: "mom, quit giving me gluten, ok!?"

yes, abbie, my bad.

whether you are in the process or simply thinking of making a real food change in your family, i have found another amazing resource for you.  i am so happy to find it cuz i don't have to write the post!
check out this 6-week ADHD clean eating guide by a fellow food revolution blog of the month, ourfamilyeats.com.  the only thing i would add is removing gluten week 4.  moreover, you can check out the salicylatic content of foods (case in point, abbie goes coo coo if she has too many strawberries which are high in salicylates) as you gain speed.  over the course of the past year, i too have slowly gone "clean" with our household products and beauty supplies and it sure has made a difference for all of us.  this is the make-up i use now and i'm seriously hooked.for.life.  

you can do anything for 6 weeks.  if it doesn't work, good riddance.  if it does work... well now that would be something to build your city on - no regrets, just rock and roll baby (i couldn't help myself with that song, the mullies kitchen is currently jammin to the 80's).

enjoy love bugs

xoxo

ps

happy halloweeeeeeenies - no need to buy a costume to be little orphan annie and daddy warbucks:)

that's how curly my hair is if i let it go cray cray.  i need my sis/bro/niece's red hair and i would have been PERFECT!!!!!

today is food day - let's get cooking with our KIDS!

the mullies get's cooking with kids! Food Day 2013

happy food day 2013 party people!!  let's celebrate and have some fun in our kitchens tonight!!

me and my friendly imovie-loverpad put this little ditty together.  i'm just warming up folks!

i invited two amazing families over to cook together in honor of food day today and it never ceases to amaze me how fun it is when we cook.with.our.kids.  yup, this stuff is not getting old...  but you know what is getting crusty?  the horrifying statistic that says my kids' generation is going live a shorter life span than my generation.  sob.  and how about the fact that more people are going to die from obesity than hunger today...  and then there is the lovely news that our grand USofA ranks 50th globally in life expectancy. but i digress... teaching my kids about real food and how to cook is the only way i can help make sure they won't be shackled to "take out" for every meal when they fly fly away from me.

unleash your inner-cook you wild stallion you!  i was navigating around the foodday.org site and found a free cooking class link here.  i was floored to find it available to all and will definitely be checking it out.

needless to say, dinner was a slam DUNK.  below i have included my gluten and dairy free recipe adaptations from the amazing food day cookbook (that is where you'll find the three original recipes we chose to whip up - i have not included the recipe directions as the interweb is running out of ink and i really want you to see the cookbook.  HA!).

i hope you like cooking and eating the recipes as much as we did.

**warning** before embarking on any cooking tonight, please fasten your aprons securely and play this music immediately.  feel free to show the children how to dance properly (running man please).  pump up your jams and let the cooking partay begin.

quick tostados
(we doubled this recipe!)

1 T coconut oil
2 cloves garlic
2 cartons black beans
1/4 tsp salt
2 c cooked shredded organic chicken breast
6 c shredded romaine
1/4 c sheeps milk yogurt (sweet arse replacement for sour cream... not dairy free, only cow free)
gf tortilla chips/tostados/tortillas
3 avocado diced (we love to eat these pupppies)
1/2 c organic shredded cheese (we also served vegan "daiya" cheese)
1/2 c chopped cilantro

carrot, sweet potato & ginger soup 
(the surprise recipe star of the evening)

2 T coconut oil
1 lb carrots
1 lb sweet potatoes
1 bunch scallions sliced
1/2 c chopped celery
1 garlic clove minced/grated
1 T chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 tsp sea salt
4 T chopped fresh cilantro
1 T fresh lime juice
6 oz baby bok choy, stem ends trimmed, cut into 1/2 in slices

apple crisp
(this was completely prepared by our two 7th grade cooks, sarah and thea!)

toppings
1/3 c gf old fashioned oats
1/2 c gf flour
1/4 c chopped almonds
2 T almond flour
1/4 c coconut palm sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
1 T cold coconut oil, cut into pieces
2 T melted coconut oil
1 -2 T cold water

filling
9 apples
1/4 c fresh organic lemon juice
3 T maple syrup
2 T gf flour


that's.where.the.party's.at.and.you'll.find.out.if.you.cook.that.

wish me luck, i'm off to pass out 1300 apples to the students here in district 76 for our big apple crunch!  i wonder how many loose front teeth will be lost today in apples... or if my swagger van will ever lose the sweet smell... :)

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH


xoxo



ps

need more food day inspo!?  go back in time with our first mullies cooking class and then to our suit and tie party.  so what if you get your kitchen messy.  i don't have a fruit fly problem at all.  nope.

connecting chi-town and the burbs

there is nothing better than meeting other local fellow ambassadors!  i met up with one of the chicago food revolution ambassadors, sarvin haghighi, a few weeks ago for a lovely lunch downtown to get to know each other better...  it sure has taken me long enough to post about it!  i had the best time and our brains are very much connected on how to bring real food education to our communities.

she is helping me get apples for food day on thursday (1300 is not a shabby numbah) and we're meeting up tomorrow to exchange the goods!  how awesome is that!?  thank you so much sarvin and i can't wait to get cooking with you one of these days and introduce you to the other food ambassadors i work with - briana and christina!

here's what we have in the docket:

miss christina is in her kindergarten daughter's classroom today doing some real food demonstrating!   her co-worker sara lohrman (who is essentially a food ambassador too with all she does) will be leading her stevenson high school foods classes in 2 activities:  1 class is cooking with the preschool and another is doing a stir fry demo in the cafe during lunch for all of the students!  the cafe bought all of the food and even sourced it locally!  HOLY SMACKERALS!!
miss briana is going to be doing a real food cooking demo centered around apples & apple pies at her daughter's preschool classroom on thursday!  that is going to be one fantabulous sight seeing all those little kiddos getting into cooking!!

these ladies are simply incredible and i could not be luckier to be in their company. cheers to rocking food day week 2013 ladieeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!

making some noise, making some noise, making some noise



ps

looking for something to watch this week in honor of food day?  we got together with some neighbors a few weeks ago, cooked up a storm and ended the night on the couch to watch this eye opening film. put this one on your list foh shoh!

an evolution of a food revolution seminar

wanna talk real food with me!?!?

this past weekend i passed out information on the big food day coming up on thursday at our school district's "oaktoberfest" and 3rd annual diamond dash 5k run.  it was a blast!

AND tomorrow i'll be hosting a free seminar about my personal journey to improving my family's health through a real food change.   topics will include general health, learning disabilities, ADD/ADHD, cholesterol, Food Day 2013 and much more.  last time i checked in there was 35 people coming!  whoo hooo!  and the best part?  it's FREE.

All Ways Healthy Natural Food center
123 S. Rand Road
Lake Zurich, IL 60047
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
*RSVP your seat today 847.438.9200 (AWH)*
7pm

let's get real together!

see y'all soon xoxo.

celebrate your food revolution next week - it's FOOD DAY on the 24th!

i have two very exciting things to tell you about today!

#1 i have been invited to speak at the one and only All Ways Healthy, my go-to independently owned health and natural food store.  AWH joined the Lake County Food Revolution last May for our first Food Revolution Day celebration and Carole Childers C.N., L.D.N. is the nutritionist i was referred to by a friend who successfully changed her family's food to help cope with ADD/ADHD symptoms.  i am there every week picking up my fresh produce box and i am so honored to share my story.  here are the lovely details of my "An Evolution of a Food Revolution" seminar.

if you live in the area and are able to make it, i simply can't wait to meet you!

***

One Mom's Journey to Improving Her Family's Health Through Diet Change. *general health *learning disabilities *ADD *cholesterol *and much more To reserve a space at Lindsey Shifley's seminar call us @ 847-438-9200 This seminar is free of charge!  *** #2  FOOD DAY is thursday, october 24th!!!  i sure hope you take some time to link up and check out how this amazing day will celebrate the nationwide movement to promote healthy, affordable and sustainable food.  my school district will be participating in the big apple crunch!  i am a busy beaver right now getting sponsors to donate apples to our students (and hopefully the staff too!)  i cannot wait to get everyone in on some apple action on the 24th and join nyc in some healthy crunching.  what will you be doing on food day?  i'd love to hear all about it!! here are some of the goodies i'll be passing out to spread the word about our national food day at my district's oaktoberfest tonight and tomorrow morning at our annual diamond dash 5k.  i need to bundle up my buttercup cuz it's gonna be a crisp one tomorrow!!!

jump suiting into a wildcat homecoming

the mullies went on a northwestern homecoming adventure.

we started the morning strong as tommy helped me beat egg whites to make our ritual saturday morning waffles. growing up, my mom called them power waffles and made them for me before every weekend softball game. they really are that magical.  i give them 1/2 credit to my string of triple perfect games back in high school (homemade waffles=a 21 strikeout game)  check out my last waffle post in case you too want to power up and make the best gluten free waffles in the whole.wide.world.

the purple was flowing freely yesterday as i got to play again with a huge group of wildcat softball alumni.  the field is named after the epic coach who recruited me, Sharon Drysdale... and she was there!!!  what a hoot we all had taking batting practice, playing slow pitch (no injuries please) and reminiscing on our playing days.  thank you so very much to the very best coaching staff ever: Kate (who was my assistant coach in '98 & '99), Caryl and Courtnay!  i love how you bring the past, present and future together - the fieldside tailgate rocked and i can't wait to join my softball fam next year!!  

seriously, how much do you love with my new northwestern jumpsuit!?  the monsoon came and brought the cold front i was hoping for so i could don my sweet arse getup.  hello cold weather tailgating here i come!!  the jumpsuit crew is owned and operated by the coolest neighbors and friends around (eat local and buy local, right!?)  so, in honor of an amazing NU homecoming weekend (plus the fact that everyone & their brother asked me where i found mine) i am tickled to give any interested mullies folks 10% off - just use "themullies" at checkout:)  psssssssss - they have the fighting ilini too or you can customize your own:)  the jumpsuit boys were at the game too and they definitely made my fav t-shirt with this creation:

i really thought fitz and the boys had those nuts crushed... damn those buckeyes!  

and for the very best news from evanston, the mullies would like to officially welcome the newest addition to our softball family - welcome to the world sweet Ellis Pearl.  i can't wait to meet you:)  

"purple.is.the.new.pink!!"  GO CATS!!!!!

xoxo

come google chat with me and the food revolution!

hey-oooooooooooo

it's time to google chat with the food revolution!

join us TODAY at the food revolution community's google + page or you can tune into the food rev's youtube channel here at noon CST!

today we're kaboodling about social media and i am so excited to be a part of the conversation!  there will be three other global food ambassadors that i'd like to introduce you to!  meet chef CJ Miller respresenting Bowling Green, Kentucky; Katherine Parent representing Barrie, Canada and Muriel Strobos representing Curacao.  in addition, our fab food revolution community manager, Sarah Curl will be moderating the bunch of us so go grab some lunch and join us all!

i can't wait to share the tidbits i've learned along the way and i'm super excited to learn more about how to keep rocking it out in cyperspace from these three awesome ambassadors!

if you aren't able to tune in live, no worries, it'll be there forever so tune in later at your leisure!!

be chattin soon!!

xoxo