Dinner and Thoughts

We've been marking up the new cookbooks with so many sticky tabs of things we want to make that its hard to choose what to make. Jon's Mom, Andrea, and his sister, Naomi, were still in town and one of Naomi's favorite foods is enchiladas. One of the cookbooks had a recipe for potato and kale enchiladas so we figured we'd make that one. (it doesn't hurt that enchiladas are one of my favorites and I can never say no to a good baked, mashed, or grilled potato...so it didn't take much convincing to make these) I added some black beans and quinoa to the original recipe - and doubled the enchilada sauce recipe... man oh man they were delicious, especially the sauce. We all ate them right up, and even the kiddos went back for seconds, some for thirds.

I love the fact that our kiddos love food... yes, sometimes a little too much in the sweet department, but they are kids after all. We hope that our passion for healthy food, organic, nonGMO, etc... will have a lasting impression on them. We decided years back that we didn't want to be the type of parents that forced our kids to eat their vegetables or hide the vegetables in their other food. How can a child develop a love for something if they are forced to do it, or if they don't even know they are eating it. We tell our kids they need to try two bites of everything on their plate, and that just because they didn't like it this time doesn't mean they wont like it next time. (I try to remember these rules for myself) Its really has been a joy to watch them try something they didn't think they would like only to absolutely love it. We try to involve them with the cooking and baking too. Some nights we ask how they want their side veggies cooked and with what spices (some mixes are not so good, lol, "two bites Mom") So far they all show signs of being adventurous with foods and they love being helpers in the kitchen.

silly faces (like his silly hair--- he cut the front all by himself a few weeks ago while he was suppose to be brushing his teeth, oh yes the things they can do in 60 seconds is amazing)

ha, silly Grae has decided that she likes to eat with her feet up, or in this case,  foot up

totally chill

both being silly and trying to not look at me for a picture

Love these silly kiddos

stealing her brothers food

picking recipes

playing with our food -- brussel sprouts

the kids thought it made a fun weapon or a mini tree after taking all the sprouts off

Little Chef

clearly we don't feed our kids often -  and notice the bottom  hot pad has a bite missing, lol

made some Peanut Butter Granola and Cinnamon Granola - yum