a candid hot mama perspective

oh christina... cheers to you, your friendship and all the fun & knowledge i wanna suck out of you.  you mean the world to me.  reading this gets me alll vehklempt... oh and ditto back atcha with the "hottest":)

***

Lindsey – The hottest mama of all 

I want to start by saying that Lindsey has begged me to write this.  It came up one night over a glass (or 2 or 3) of wine and we were talking about how her family used to eat and how impressed she was of my family and of our from scratch cooking, vege eating children, and commitment to organic and local foods. She says, “Oh my god you have to do a post on this for me! The view from a friend.  Chris did one, you can too!”  I wasn’t so sure, it is one thing to be laughing over it between the two of us, but for me to put it out there, the nitty gritty habits of old.  I wasn’t so sure.  I of course have been there for Lindsey from the very start of her food journey, cheering her on and encouraging her any way I can.  And of course am very proud to be one of her hot mamas. 

Well here it is… the good, the bad, and the dino shaped chicken nuggets…

The past…

Although my family for the most part eats unprocessed foods, I realize that this does not always work for every family and on some crazy nights doesn’t work for my family either.  I have 2 wonderful children, I cannot even imagine having 3 so I never judged the food choices Lindsey made for her family, whatever works for you…  So when our 2 families would hang out at their place, I would let my kids eat whatever Lindsey would cook.  So my kids would indulge in dino shaped chicken nuggets, Little Ceasars pizza, pre-made and packaged PB&J, basically all the things they don’t get at home ; ) My 5 ½ year old, Ava, and Abbie play together quite nicely especially given their age difference.  I never really noticed anything off with Abbie’s behavior until Lindsey made her food change.  She was all over the place and I found them once hiding in the pantry housing marshmallows and giggling, but nothing that as a friend would have set off alarms.  Then one day last September Lindsey says, “I just cleaned out my pantry and got rid of all the processed foods, and anything with food coloring, preservatives, and fake stuff.  I think that stuff is affecting Abbie’s behavior.  Oh and I’m going to blog about it.”  My jaw dropped on the floor, I was shocked that she was going from one extreme to the other.  I was thinking to myself, “Ah, yeah, duh, didn’t you know that food can affect behavior??”  She was doing one of the hardest and bravest things any of my friends has done for their family.  She was talking about a total lifestyle change.

The present…

The changes Lindsey has made are amazing and I am so proud of her because she is spreading the word, working so hard at her blog, finding and creating new recipes and helping others make positive changes in their lives.  She has shown people that you can make changes in your kid’s behavior and their health by feeding them better food.  She has had lots of success but also lots of bombs and has bared it all to her readers.  That is one of the things that I love about her journey, she shares everything!  When I read her blog, it is like I am sitting there, just talking to her.  Now, when Abbie and Ava play together they play differently.  Their play has more of a purpose; they perform skits, dances and show up in some crazy outfits.  Lindsey has talked a lot about hard it has been and I hope I have helped her with my advice, recipes, and crazy ideas for her to try!  I mean kohlrabi; she would have NEVER picked that up at the store on her own!

The future…

I have learned a lot from her and have improved my family’s eating habits too.  I love that I have a friend that loves to eat the way my family does and will try new things.  I don’t know what the future will hold for my dear friend but I think the possibilities are endless.  A cookbook, maybe… Total food world domination, most definitely.  Where ever this crazy road takes her, I (along with lots of others) am right there with her every step of the way!  

Keep cookin!

-Christina

***

"no one's more important than people.  in other words, friendship is the most important thing.  not career nor housework, nor one's fatigue - and it needs to be tended and nurtured."  - Julia Child

you light me up christina!!!  

let's keep this real thang (sing it in your prince voice) going, shall we?!  xoxo

what a weekend!!

i don't know about you, but i am b.e.a.t.

i am reflecting on the wonderful holiday weekend full of parties, friends and good food.  our hood is a hoot!

what a difference from last summer... that's all i can say.  mac and abbie are so much more aware of the food they are eating.  i give them choices and i think we're striking a good balance with navigating the party food circuit.  we're trying to savor every moment of summer!  i found this post to be extremely helpful to me.  no matter what stage of parenting you are in, it covers the pitfalls... and i have fallen into everyone so far and climbing my way out!  top 10 feeding mistakes parents make from 100 days of real food.

i'm super excited about this webnar going on this thursday at 1pm CST.  i just registered and have it in my calendar!  check it out, it's free!!  easy steps to safer foods.  i can't wait to report back...

happy monday

xoxo


ps

looking for some family foodie movie nights? check out this top 10 food documentary movie list



  

my mom, retirement and a food change

here we all are.  three generations of the mullies.   my sister katie just visited from colorado with her super sweet family for a wonderful, long weekend.  we all (my dad really went all out) threw my mom a sweet retirement party at my house to celebrate 33 years of teaching kindergarten.  can you believe that?  that's over 1000 children whose lives she touched at 6 years old.  she is one popular person when we go out shopping together around town.

she is so excited for this new chapter, this new pace of retirement.  though, i don't think she plans on slowing down anytime soon.  

change is a funny thing.  sometimes you're ready for it, sometimes you're not.  

when i jumped into our food change 10 months ago i had a little bit of resistance from her in the beginning.  i think the family and social fall-out was the hardest to contend with in the beginning, middle and always...  

to top it all off, my parents live next door so my new food rules were a constant tazer gun in.the.face.  

here is how it went in a nutshell from sept 8th - nov/dec 2012:

me:  

mom, we are extremely limiting refined sugar and we also can't have any artificial colors, preservatives, gluten or dairy right now cuz i'm going to see if this makes a difference with abbie's ADHD and sensory processing symptoms in the classroom.  kay?

mom:  

come again?

are you nuts!?  

what are the kids going to eat!?  

they look gaunt already! (that was said on day 2... HA!)

what can i feed them!?  what can they eat!?

where are they going to get their calcium?  

what is gluten anyways?  

what's wrong with artificial color and preservatives?

i've never seen or heard of this working in all my years as a teacher, but ok, give it a try and i hope it works:)

she was a skeptic to say the least... as was most everyone else.  

my dad jumped right on board my crazy train.  cuz he pretty much does whatever i tell him to do... and he had been trying to find the magic cure for his GERD & stomach ailments for years.  see, he and i get a tad overly excited sometimes: "this is the BEST THING EVER!!!!  you have to try it!!!!" my mom just waits it out to see if we crash and burn.  she shares her opinion, but let's us go.  if we fly back to the nest with some feathers missing, she fixes us up and we charge onwards together with a little "i told you so".  if our bright new idea succeeds, she becomes our strongest ally and will devour anyone who gets in our way.  it works out pretty well, this arrangement of ours.  

my mom is my biggest advocate/supporter/partner now.  as a veteran teacher of 33 years, she's seen a lot of kiddos similar to our abbie.  however, she hasn't been a grandparent to any of them, so this was a tricky situation.  i would ask her to evaluate abbie's reading countless times throughout kindergarten and first grade to double check what was going on in the classroom.  we both knew something was wrong with her ability to pay attention and to stay focused.  she couldn't even get abbie to focus or read for her.  and she gets e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e to read.  when i chose the food change path she feared i chose the wrong one.  i can't blame her, for she was only familiar with the path i was so very afraid to travel down.  

she watched the tantrums at my table escalate, she came over to scrutinize the new dishes i began preparing.  she tried everything i made, the good the bad and the ugly.  she watched my abbie transform before her very, watchful, judgmental eyes.  on the flip side, i got to watch both abbie and mom transform...  boy o boy it was scary at first to be alone in the first car of my newly designed roller coaster.  chris had one leg out of the second car, clutching his peanut m&m's.  my dad had his hands in the air yelping for joy in the third.  my screaming kids had their hands over their eyes in the middle cars and my hot mamas cheered me on from the rear.  my mom patiently waited with a tool belt on the platform as the maiden voyage ran it's course, speeding through some super dark tunnels.  would we come out of space mountain alive!?  

so here we are today.  we're all on a lazy river together, coasting along (with an occasional rapid or two) getting wet and feeling the sun on our faces.  the roller coaster waits for now.  it's summer time and it's time to celebrate.  

thank you mom.  thank you for being next to me, watching me with your tool belt ready to go if it didn't work.  thank you for jumping into the coaster with me so quickly when you realized it was working.  thank you for sharing my success story with your co-workers and families who were interested in hearing about it all.  i'm so happy you're here with me.  i don't want one moment to slip by of your retirement.  cheers to our next mom and cheers to your shrinking waistline... 

you and dad are looking HOT.HOT.HOT.  way to turn back the clock.

100 years

let's not wait.  it's a blink of an eye.

oh miss briana, you are the one and only couture caterer and i am so honored that you are my fellow jamie oliver food ambassador and the fashionista of food.  you truly outdid yourself.  this was my family's first catered party and it was a homerun.  thank you so much!  we will never forget what you created for us!

is your mouth on the floor or what?  this was one.exquisite.cake.  not only on the outside but the inside was literally the best cake i've ever tasted.  really, it was.  it was such a work of art nobody wanted to cut it open!

it made her cry she loved it so much.

just in case you want one for yourself too.  tina can pretty much can do anything in the universe with a cake.  thank you from the bottom of my heart.  it was the magical icing of the party:)

yup, we're sisters...

and we have a calendar in place to keep mom busy through 2020:)  hee hee!

now, go have a lovely 4th of july and celebrate with everyone you love.

oh my lovely america, happy birthday and i'm looking forward to helping your stars and stripes get even brighter in the coming year.

the mullies are lighting it up and not waiting for the next 100 to pass us by without some action jackson.

light.it.up.

xoxo




ps

just in case you're wondering... did this real food party follow all of the food guidelines i cook by?

nope... but it was pretty darn close as it was all cooked from scratch!!!  yea baby yea.

remember, it's not about perfection.

running to the bookstore...

to get this book.  What a sweet q&a!

i love 100 days of real food.  
it was one of the first places i found online that spoke to me and the adventure i started 9 months ago.
i still read it everyday.  

green thumbs - we r a growin!!!

our little garden is exploding!!!!  my mom and i are so freakin excited.  we counted over 20 tomatoes on one of our sun sugar plants!  i am dreaming of my kids picking tomatoes and perhaps trying one... falling in love for the first time over a sweet & juicy, perfectly ripe garden tomato.

oh wouldn't that be lovely?

have a wonderful weekend!!

ps

my sissy is in town and we went golfing today...  FORE!!!!!!

chimmie recipes: enchiladas and fritters

as promised from monday's post, here are the dishes i whipped together when my chimmie was here... read em and weep!   they were so so so so good.  no recipe books were out for these guys, i am getting better at this gumption thing if i'll do it with company around!!

no guts no glory.

the mullies gluten free, organic chicken enchiladas

1 container of prepared enchilada sauce (i used wildtree organics.  oh.my.word.good)
1 package brown rice tortillas (i used 5 tortillas)
2 lg organic chicken breasts shredded optional
1 lg organic zucchini diced
1 lg organic yellow squash zucchini diced
1 organic onion diced
2 organic carrots diced
2 equal handful fulls of fresh parsley & cilantro finely minced
1 c imported sheep's milk cheese grated (cacao de roma from whole foods) optional
2 T organic aroma free coconut oil 
s&p

preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  boil the chicken in water until they are no longer pink inside (about 10-15 min).  remove and shred with two forks.  in a large saute pan melt the coconut oil over med high heat.  throw all the diced veggies in together and season with s&p.  mix occasionally until the veggies are soft and perhaps browning a bit.  pour in the enchilada sauce and stir until well mixed and heated through.  grab your casserole dish and start layering in the following order:  sauce - tortilla - sauce - shredded chicken -  a little more sauce - a little cheese & repeat until you have enough layers to reach the top of your dish.  the last layer:  tortilla - sauce - cheese.  *i used just a sprinkling of cheese on each layer and saved the most for the top.  cook for 30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and browning a bit.



the mullies gluten free, organic zucchini, squash and sweet potato fritters

1 organic sweet potato grated
1 lg organic zucchini grated
1 lg organic yellow zucchini squash grated
3/4 c gf flour
3 organic, pastured eggs (vegan?  try an egg sub here and tell me if it works!!!)
1/2 c homemade ranch
3 equal bunches (about 2 T each) of fresh dill, parsley and mint
splashes of light coconut milk
1/2 tsp sea salt
pepper
2 T organic aroma free coconut oil
1 T ghee

homemade gluten free, dairy free ranch (inspired from it's all good by gwyneth paltrow)
about 1 c vegenaise (i eyeball this in a lidded jar... so who knows!)
juice from 1 organic lemon
1 T penzeys mural of flavor (here is link to recreate it.  or find the real deal here)
2 T dried chives (fresh would be lovely, but i never have it on hand)
1/2 c sheep's milk yogurt (go probiotics go)

mix everything up in a large bowl.  add splashes of light coconut milk until the consistency resembles lumpy pancake batter.  melt the oils together in a large saute pan (i eyeballed the oil until i had a thin layer).  spoon little patties onto the oil and fry away.  it takes about 3-4 minutes per side.  once cooked, let cool on a paper towels (i layer them over cooling racks).  serve warm, sprinkle with a little more s&p if desired and pour some homemade ranch over the top.

yea baby yea.

xoxo

hot mamas with christina - corn and fava bean risotto

i feel so lucky to have girlfriends who know so much about cooking.  christina bumps me right out of my veggie comfort zone with this little how-to and complete dinner ditty and i hope she inspires you too!  my mouth is watering for her finished dish.

take it away my dear hot mama....

***

So not to sound braggy, but there are not many readily available vegetables I have not had some experience with.  I like trying new things and love finding new flavors and recipes.  So when I saw these lovelies at the grocery store I thought why not??!!  Do you know what they are?  They are fava beans.  When I think of fava beans, I think of this...

fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi

I know creepy right??

I had never made them and never had fresh ones before.  I ate them as a kid but we called them lupini beans and they were sort of preserved in a salty water brine.  So here is my first, and definitely not my last, experience with fava beans. I plan on buying a ton more and freezing them for later.

Before I could figure out what to do with the beans, I had to clean them.  This was a process, but I did it in the afternoon and it took about 30 minutes.  Of course I googled it, I mean really what did we do before google?!

Step 1: De pod (see video) This was a great way for the kids to help!

Step 2: Heavily salt some boiling water and cook the beans for 3 minutes.

Step 3: Strain and submerge in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

Step 4: Now you need to get them out of the outer skin.  To do this just squeeze one end it will just pop out.  As you can see from the picture, they will be as green as a pea!

Once you finish, you could freeze them for a rainy day, or cook em!  Once they were clean, I didn't get as much yield as I thought I would so I figured I would combine them with some frozen organic corn.  Looked up corn and fava beans on the web and found a recipe for risotto, yummy!  I have made risotto enough in my days to make it in my sleep.  Below is my standard risotto recipe, you can change up the broth and vege and the flavors will totally change.  I did follow the recipe for the basil mint pesto, OMG so good I will be making this again!! 

Corn and Fava Bean Risotto 

1 1/2 white onion chopped

4 cloves garlic minced

2 cups warm broth (I used vegetable broth) need to add this when it is warm, I just warm it on the stove in a sauce pan

1 cup fava beans 

2 cup corn

1/2 cup white wine

3/4 cup arborio rice

olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

4 tablespoons of mint-basil pesto

Step 1: In a deep skillet or pan, coat the bottom with olive oil. Add the garlic and onion and cook for 3ish minutes, until the onion is translucent.

Step 2: Add the rice and stir to combine with onion mixture, add the wine and ladle full of broth, stir.

Step 3: Keep on very low heat, the trick to risotto is not to hurry it, remember food is love.... when the rice has absorbed the broth add another ladle full.  Keep repeating this until broth is gone, should be about 20 minutes.  

Step 4: Check the tenderness of the rice, if it is al dente then it should have a little bite to the texture, it should not be crunchy, but also not mushy.  If you need to add more broth, do so and keep cooking.

Step 5: When the last of the broth is almost absorbed, add in the corn, beans, 4 tablespoons of the pesto and butter. The butter is not necessary but does give the risotto a great texture.  If you have had amazing risotto in a restaurant, it is because there is a lot more butter in it than you think there is ;)

I served it up with some grilled salmon the hubby made.  Seriously. this was a restaurant quality meal, it was so great I will be making it again!!  It could be amazing alone or even with chicken or other fish.

So don't be afraid of a new fruit, vegetable or grain.  Challenge yourself and just try it!  Next on my challenge list is... rhubarb.....

 ***

oh christina... are you kidding me!?  corn and fava bean risotto topped with salmon and a basil mint pesto?!?  that is crazy yums.  thanks for the delicious inspo, i think i might just conjure up the gumption to try this too:)

and i'll definitely be sipping a nice chianti with that.

xoxo

still treasuring my weekend

my chimmie came into town this weekend with her two darling kiddos.

it was life changing.  let me tell you why.

first of all, this recent post has been whispering to me and boy oh boy did it finally come to fruition.  the power of de-cluttering, cleaning and organizing.  i hate doing it, i get distracted, i end up not getting rid of anything (i just hide it some place else) and i just really need help to really do it right.

laura lit a fire under me and we did it bunny!!  both in our pj's on sunday, chris took all 5 kids out tubing and we went to motown on my kitchen and pantry.

so here's to treasuring the once in a lifetime friendships that make my world go round!!!  this is the song that we had on repeat this past weekend and the best jam was when we burst our ear drums bouncing in my swagger van.   oh what fun we had.

bruno mars - treasure

oh chimmie, remember these before pics!?!?!  this is my real.  i cleaned this sucker out 9 months ago... but i really haven't done anything with it since we moved in 6 years ago.

oye oye oye.

just disgusting...  every countertop was filled including my table and don't even talk to me about what the floor looked like...  really lindsey, really!?!?

clean clean clean...  now for the restocking...

yup, that's a cheater bbq bag right there... leftover from a boy's golf trip.  those things taste so good when they hit your lips.

and this cluster cluck... yup, it has looked like this for forever and a day.  sometimes i tidy a little bit, but  yeaaaa, i like to call it my anxiety corner.

here is my pile of byebye's...  those oyster crackers were so stale they stunk.  how did i miss this stuff?!

my stomach started hurting when i found those.  we had a good laugh.

i can breathe i can breathe!!!!  and i have a little coffee/tea station.  what dream did i wake up in!?

she made me a work station!!!  somebody pinch me.

thanks for the super boost chimmie.  i needed that big time.  

we of course cooked.up.a.storm, so i'll be sharing those little ditties later in the week.  

stay tuned love bugs.  i think i'm going to clean out my laundry room now... this girl is on FIRE.

ps

ok, i just had to share... check out these new hot coral lamps we found at homegoods!!!  gold insides and all.  treasure hunting is so fun:)

GO HAWKS!!!!