Foodie Friday: Stop...It's Spinach Time!

Here are a few things that popped up in the kitchen this week:

• Honey Whole Wheat Bread
• I'm on a roll with homemade bread! This recipe is seriously simple and has produced two great loaves of bread so far. It also doesn't hurt when one of your precious children says "You're the best mommy because you make our bread.". Sigh...
• Banana Ice Cream:
• 2 organic frozen bananas
• Scoop of organic, unsweetened cocoa powder
• Scoop of organic peanut butter
• Blend all until creamy and delicious

• Quinoa Muffins (courtesy of Martha Stewart)
• 2 C organic quinoa, cooked (I rinsed 1 C of quinoa, toasted it in a dry pan, added 2 C of water, and it cooked up to about 3 cups)
• 2 C organic whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 C organic coconut sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 C organic raisins
• 1/4 C organic coconut oil
• 3/4 C local 2% milk
• 1 large local organic egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt; add cooked quinoa and raisins
• In separate bowl, combine melted coconut oil, milk, egg, vanilla
• Mix all together
• Bake in greased muffin tin (I greased mine with coconut oil) at 350 degrees for approximately 25 minutes

• Spinach Salad
• The recipe is not the important part here nor is the appearance of spinach in our weekly diet - the girls have been packed full of spinach since they were tiny, sometimes in soups or enchiladas... most often in smoothies... But this week the girls each ate an entire (child's size) spinach salad for lunch. And I'm so stinkin' proud! They were proud of themselves, as well - as soon as John got home that day, when he asked how their day had been, the first thing mentioned was "We ate salad for lunch!". A few weeks ago, I started thinking about how few times I've offered or required the girls to eat/taste raw, leafy greens. They consume so much of it in other forms that the act of eating a piece of lettuce just hasn't been a must. I decided it was time to change that. So, I've been eating a lot more salads. Each time I fixed one, I offered a bite - just one bite. They saw me eating salads more, which is so important. When adding spinach to smoothies, I offered a leaf - just one leaf. And we've been doing this for several weeks. The taste, the texture, the experience - just like that it became familiar. They picked out tomatoes, shredded carrots, raspberries, and blueberries to dress their salad; I whipped up a little homemade dressing. It was delicious... and so exciting! When it comes to feeding my children, my job is never done. I love the challenge; I love the reward!