Archive for Recipes

Replacement Sweeteners

Posted by html404 on November 19, 2013
in Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Health, Health and Nutrition, Holidays, Recipes, Reviews, Uncategorized

Did you know many replacement sweeteners are not healthy or even safe for long term use? Did you know that many websites including the Mayo Clinic say that artificial sweeteners are generally safe, even for pregnant women? Personally, we have stayed away from artificial sweeteners. Aspartame always left a weird, icky taste in my mouth and so even before I knew of the dangers of it I never liked it. We also try hard to stay away from High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as well. We use organic cane sugar, raw honey, molasses and maple syrup for the most part.

I participated in a Twitter party last week for #Switch2Swerve – Swerve Sweetener (granular) – and these are some facts I learned about refined sugar and artificial sweeteners:

1. Artificial sweetener Aspartame is genetically modified, toxic to brain cells and makes you to put it bluntly…fat. (I hate that word!)
2. Americans ingest 200 calories of high fructose corn syrup daily and 130 lbs per year.
3. Some high fructose corn syrup is laced with mercury which is a metal linked to heart disease and autism.
4. Sorbitol & erythritol can have a laxative effective if you consume too much. Family members with diabetes consuming products with artificial sweeteners have have found this to be true, but I don’t know which artificial sweeteners.
5. Someone went to a maple syrup farm, and was told 90% of store maple syrup really has none in it at all!
6. Sucralose (Spenda) is passing through our bodies found in waste water treatment plants. It has potential to harm food supply.
7. 21.4 teaspoons of sugar equals about 16-25% of total caloric intake. Currently only 5% of sugar is recommended.
8. Safe sweeteners include: Swerve, Stevia, xylitol, sorbitol, erythritol, raw honey, blackstrap molasses, & maple syrup
9. It is important to note that naturally occurring sugar in fruits, veggies etc. are all acceptable and should not be avoided.

Dr. Mercola has issues with store bought honey, not raw honey, and agave. He has a great article on sugar substitutes. Discovery Health even has an article on artificial sweeteners. So I won’t go into any more risks of using artificial sweeteners because you can do your own research and find out a ton of information instead of taking my word for it.

Enter Swerve, a product I just learned about and tried recently.

Swerve

I like the fact that Swerve contains no artificial ingredients, preservatives or flavors! It is non-GMO and has no calories. Swerve is non-glycemic and is actually good for your gut by helping you grow beneficial bacteria. You can learn more facts when you visit Swerve Sweetener (granular)

I have only tried Swerve in my tea so far but it tasted good. Not too sweet at all. We received an 8 oz. canister of Swerve Sweetner and I want to try it in one of our holiday recipes to see how it makes dessert taste. Swerve has lots of recipe ideas that look delicious. I am especially looking forward to trying their blueberry muffin, fudge and pumpkin pie recipes.

3 Swerve Sample Packets are available for just $1.00, plus you get a $2.00 coupon for your next order, if you are interested in trying it. Right now they also have a sale going on for aCanister 4pk for $20 + Free Shipping.

For more information on Swerve Sweetener visit them on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest (more recipe ideas).

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Fall Inspired Recipes with Squash

Posted by html404 on November 11, 2013
in All Natural Products, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Health, Health and Nutrition, Holidays, Home, Organic, Recipes, Shopping, Uncategorized

Thanksgiving is only a little over a couple of weeks away and I have been looking for fall inspired recipes for squash. I found a couple new ones I want to try. To facilitate this post I shopped at Mariano’s for the ingredients for our traditional recipe.

I really enjoy shopping at Mariano’s. I love that they carry a good selection of organic food. The employees make it a pleasant experience. Each time I have gone, one has helped direct me to a faster checkout. It’s very helpful. Mariano’s also has a reward card shoppers can use to earn 1% cash back on every $50 purchased from November 7 thru February 8, 2014. How’s that for a bit of holiday shopping incentive?

For my very simple recipe I purchased four organic squash, but only used two. Organic parsley, organic butter and ground cinnamon.

Those of you who have never cooked a squash, you wash the squash and cut it into halves lengthwise. Then put it face down inside a 9×12 dish.

Once cut, scoop out the seeds and pulp from the ball of the squash.

The squash seeds may be saved, dried and used to plant in your garden next spring (especially if they are organic, non-hybrid seeds!). Or the seeds may be roasted and eaten as a super nutritious snack.

All four halves would not fit in my pan so I wrapped the last half in foil and baked it along side the pan.

After the squash is baked, it is scooped out of it’s skin and put into a bowl.

Then I mash it to make sure all the clumps are pretty much out before adding the butter, cinnamon and parsley. And that’s all there is to it. Very simple, inexpensive and yummy!

Fall Inspired Recipes with Squash

Simple Squash Recipe

Print recipe

Serves	8-10
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	1 hour
Total time	1 hour, 10 minutes
Dietary	Diabetic, Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian
Meal type	Side Dish
Misc	Child Friendly, Serve Hot
Occasion	Barbecue, Casual Party, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving
Region	Canadian

This simple squash recipe is a tasty side dish for the holiday season.

Ingredients

2 Organic Butternut Squash
1 sprig Organic Parsely ((I used curly parsley, there is also flat leaf))
1/2-1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
2 tablespoons Organic Butter

Directions

Step 1
Wash squash of in warm water.
Step 2
Cut squash in half lengthwise.
Step 3
Place face down in a 9x12 baking dish. I had an extra so I wrapped it in foil because it would not fit in my pan.
Step 4
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 -60 minutes or until soft when poked with a fork.
Step 5
Spoon out squash into a bowl.
Step 6
Mash out lumps.
Step 7
Add butter and cinnamon. Cinnamon can be to taste with more or less.
Step 8
Sprinkle a little extra cinnamon on top and add a few leaves of parsley for garnish.
Step 9
Enjoy!

Shopping at Mariano’s

You can learn more about Mariano’s and get new ideas on a weekly basis on Mariano’s website. Consider liking #MyMariano’s on Facebook and following them on Twitter.

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Jif Sandwich Contest

Posted by html404 on November 3, 2013
in Contests, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Recipes, Travel, Uncategorized

Magnificent Mole Chicken Torta

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting (#MC) for Jif. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

Do you know what one of our favorite go-to meals is at our house? One that we reach for on busy nights or busy weekends? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Do you know how many sandwiches our family can eat in one sitting? There are ten of us and on average most of us eat two sandwiches, a few will eat three. That’s 20-30 sandwiches!! Yowsa! Talk about needing to buy stock in peanut butter and jelly. We also like deli ham and turkey. Just today we had grilled cheese for lunch. Sandwiches are such an quick and easy meal. We love them. Sandwiches usually mean very few dishes too, which is a definite bonus!

Now through November 8th, Jif Peanut Butter is running their Most Creative Sandwich Contest – challenging families across the country to create an original sandwich recipe that includes two tablespoons of your favorite Jif products! Parents and children with 6-12 can submit their original sandwich for a chance to win a $25,000 college fund and a trip to New York City! The photo featured above is one of the winning sandwiches from last year’s contest – Magnificent Mole Chicken Torta.

You can enter the Jif sandwich contest too by going to www.Jif.com/Promotions/Most-Creative-Peanut-Butter/

Have fun!

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6 Tips to Healthier Eating

Posted by html404 on October 29, 2013
in All Natural Products, Food and Treats, Health, Health and Garden Tuesday, Health and Nutrition, Organic, Recipes, Uncategorized

This is a featured post.

I was recently in a discussion with some other moms about how to start eat healthier. It made me think back to when we began to revamp our eating habits. It became a blog post idea so I thought I share some of the ways we changed our diet when we started to read labels and take a closer look into our pantry and refrigerator.

6 Tips to Healthier Eating

1. Read food labels. I cannot tell you how important this is. Reading labels will change your food buying habits. Learn what ingredients are bad and what ingredients are good for you to ingest.

2. Eliminate food dyes and artificial flavors from your diet. Dyes and artificial flavors are in a lot of things. So read labels and refuse to buy any food with these dyes and artificial flavors. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it. We noticed a huge difference in how our children acted after we eliminated these from our diet.

People are fed by the FOOD industry, which pays no attention to health….And are treated by the health industry, which pays no attention to FOOD.

~ Wendell Berry

3. Buy as much organic as your budget will allow. There is a meme out there about organic food. It went something like this, “Think organic food is expensive? Have you priced cancer lately?” Pretty much says it all. Cancer is rather rampant. Organic food is usually non-GMO (Genetically Modified Organism), if labeled Non-GMO. Organic food also has a lot less pesticides and insecticides used on it. Organic food can be bought in most grocery stores now. Start with a couple of products and slowly increase it over time so the slight increase is only noticeable over time.

4. Shop the perimeter of the grocery store. Shopping the perimeter of a grocery store generally means buying more fruit, vegetables, dairy, juice, eggs and meat. It reduces the amount of packaged convenience food you buy.

5. Substitute junk food with healthy snacks. We rarely buy potato chips any more. We buy organic tortilla chips or make popcorn on top of our stove. You can also eat your favorite veggies and fruit in place of your favorite junk food.

6. Reduce and eliminate your soda pop intake. Start drinking water. You can add lemon or lime for flavor. Have a glass or 100% juice with your breakfast. Soda pop offers no nutritional value and causes weight gain when used in excess.

There are many other tips I could share but these seemed like the easiest to start with. For recipes to aid you in your healthier eating journey visit apple crisp recipe and this blueberry muffin recipe appeals to my sweet tooth and love of blueberries!

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Pompeian Olive Oil – Smiley360.com

Posted by Brande on October 8, 2013
in Coupons, Food and Treats, Health and Nutrition, Recipes, Saving Money, Uncategorized

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product through Smiley 360 Bloggers program in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

I have been trying to incorporate more healthy options in my family’s meals. I was extremely excited to try Pompeian Olive Oil. What a pleasant surprise, it’s light and healthier for my family. I’ve replaced regular oil for Pompeian Olive Oil.

One of my favorite recipes from the Pompeian Olive Oil is the Honey Whole Wheat Waffles. Mmmm….. Click here for the recipe! You can try some great recipes as I have from the Pompeian Website also!

Come and get your $1.00 coupon for your next purchase! Don’t forget to you and LIKE the Pompeian Facebook Page for more coupons!

Smiley 260 & Pompeian Olive Oil are doing a survey, when you take the survey you can enter for a chance to win $200.00 gift card!

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Coppertone Water Moms Recipes

Posted by Brande on August 24, 2013
in Camping, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Parenting, Products for Dad, Products for Mom, Recipes, Safety, Seasonal Stuff, Shopping, Uncategorized

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

With the end of summer drawing near (sniff…. sniff), I wanted to share Coppertone Water Moms recipes for upcoming parties! Enjoy and don’t forget your sunscreen!

Coppertone Water Moms Recipes

Summertime Strawberry Lemonade

Ingredients:

1 liter of lemonade

1 cup of Strawberries, sliced OR 1 cup of Raspberries

½ cup of sugar

2 cups of water

Ice

Directions:

Combine sliced strawberries/raspberries and sugar in a bowl. Using a fork, mash the berries into the sugar, leaving some large chunks. Chill for 1 hour. In a large pitcher, combine the berry mixture, the lemonade and the water and stir. Add ice then serve!

Sea Salt Sweet Potato Chips

Ingredients:

2 medium sweet potatoes

2 tbsp. Extra-virgin olive oil

½ tsp. of sea salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Slice sweet potatoes into 1/8 inch thick slices, then coat slices with olive oil by tossing together in a bowl. Place slices on baking sheets in a single layer so there is no overlap and then sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, slipping once, until lightly browned and crisp.

Beach Sand Pudding Cups

Ingredients:

2 cups of Milk

1 (3.5 ounce) package instant pudding mix

1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 (12 ounce) package of vanilla wafer cookies, crushed

Variety of candy topping to decorate

Directions:

Combine milk and pudding mix in a large bowl. Beat with a whisk until well blended, then let stand for 5 minutes. Add in whipped topping and half of crushed cookies and fold in. Place 1 tbsp. crushed cookies into each cup, and then fill each up ¾ of the way full with pudding mixture. Top with remaining crushed cookies. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Decorate with fun topping such as gummy worms, gummy snacks, gummy fish, paper umbrellas, or get creative and come up with your own!

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Recipes Using Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar #HeinzVinegar

Posted by html404 on August 12, 2013
in Cleaning, Food and Treats, Home, Recipes, Uncategorized

“I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Heinz Vinegar. I received a product sample to facilitate my review and as a thank you for participating.”

We like using vinegar for many things around our home, not just for cooking but also for cleaning. Did you know if you sprinkle baking soda and then pour vinegar over it and scrub it whitens and cleans like a chemical cleaner but without all the harmful fumes or potential side affects? We use apple cider vinegar for our horse and cows intestinal needs (the nice way of writing about it since I will be talking food in a few minutes!)

Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar

We recently tried a couple of different varieties of Heinz® Vinegar: Heinz® Apple Cider Vinegar and Heinz® Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar. Pretty similar products except the unfiltered apple cider vinegar is cloudy and thicker. Both have similar tastes and results in the recipes we used them in, in my opinion. I had never tried either of these products before, just Heinz® Distilled White Vinegar. They also have a few other varieties as well.

Heinz® describes their apple cider vinegar products in this way:

Bottled at the peak of freshness, Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar begins with fine quality apples and crystal clear water to deliver a mellow flavor ideal for brightening up salads, flavoring a main dish, pickling or topping off a cool beverage. For vinegar in its most natural and wholesome form, , check out Heinz Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar. It retains the “mother” of the vinegar – a compound created naturally during vinegar’s fermentation process, and is best used in cooking to bring out refreshing flavors, as well as other unique uses.

Badly Burned Pot Cleaned Up Using Vinegar

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

adapted from Ruby Hatfield’s recipe in one of the Cooking for Miracles cookbooks I purchased as a teenager to support the children’s hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Serves 4-6

Meatballs

1 lb ground beef
1 egg (beaten)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soy sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
1 small onion (small or fine)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1-2 tablespoon ground sage

Mix all ingredients together and form into balls. Brown, pour off any excess fat.

Sweet and Sour Sauce

1 cup water
1/3 cup cane sugar
3 tablespoons Heinz® Apple Cider Vinegar or Heinz® Distilled White Vinegar, whatever you have on hand.
1 can pineapple chunks with juice included
1 tablespoon soya sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Amino
3 tablespoons ketchup

Add together. Simmer for 30 minutes. Thicken with 2 tablespoons cornstarch, mixed in 1/4 cup cold water. I often double this for more sauce. Well, now we probably triple or quadruple!

We serve it with rice and veggies or a salad.

Berry Vinaigrette

from Heinz Website

A light and refreshing dressing. Also a wonderful accompaniment to grilled salmon or chicken. Can be made a day in advance. We added sunflower seeds to our salad.

Ingredients

2/3 cup Heinz® Apple Cider Vinegar** (we used Heinz® Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar)
1/4 cup sugar**
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups cut berries (raspberries, strawberries or blackberries)

Directions

Whisk all ingredients together in a medium bowl. Cover and store in refrigerator. Serve at room temperature. Can be made a day in advance. **If preferred: Replace with Heinz® Distilled White Vinegar Use 1/3 cup of sugar instead of 1/4 cup Makes about 2 cups Prep Time: 5 minutes.

You can gather more recipes here, as well as visit the Heinz Vinegar Pinterest board.

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Peanut Butter Popcorn Recipe – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on August 7, 2013
in Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Recipes, Uncategorized, Wordless Wednesday

Peanut Butter Popcorn Recipe

Peanut butter popcorn has become a favorite treat for our family. It is so very yummy! And pretty easy to make.

3 quarts of popped popcorn
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of honey
1 cup of peanut butter

Heat honey, sugar and peanut butter until bubbly. Remove and add popcorn. Spread on wax paper. Let cool. Enjoy!

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Cinco de Swap with Avocados from Mexico and $100 Gift Card Giveaway

Posted by html404 on April 26, 2013
in Blog Stuff, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Fun Stuff, Giveaways, Health, Health and Nutrition, Recipes

“This sponsored post was made possible by The Motherhood and Avocados from Mexico. I have been compensated for my time and work on this campaign, however all opinions are 100% my own.”

Last Friday night four Chicago area bloggers gathered together to experience Cinco de Swap with Avocados from Mexico. We each made an avocado dish (or two) to pass and share. There was one blogger who had never tried avocados before. The majority of us were trying new recipes from avocado macaroni and cheese, avocado ice cream, guacamole and avocado fries. For some fabulous photos of the dishes served visit Frosted Fingers!

Did you know that avocados from Mexico are available all year round? I didn’t know this. I also didn’t know this when I chose a recipe for BLT sandwiches:

Fresh avocado in sandwiches, on toast or substituted as a spread in place of many other popular foods may help reduce your intake of calories, fat, saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol.

I also did not know that one ounce (3 slices) of an avocado has 50 calories and contributes nearly 20 vitamins and minerals, making it a good choice to help meet nutrient needs! I find that amazing.

However, I did know that avocados are full of good fats our bodies need. One of the reasons I would feed it to my little ones as babies – my older girls to this day love avocados. It makes for a very easy to prepare meal. Just wash it, cut it open, de-pit it and start spooning baby bites into baby’s (or your) mouth! Easy peasy! Our younger crew didn’t even notice the avocados on the avocado BLT turkey sandwiches.

Not very many in my family liked the avocado fries. I thought they tasted good, but liked Michelle’s (of Honestly and Truly) idea of serving them with a yummy dip.

Avocado Recipes

Here’s the link to the recipe that inspired our Avocado Fries. However, we did not fry them, we baked them and we used olive oil instead of canola oil. We also used regular bread crumbs seasoned with our own spices.

Our Avocado BLT Turkey Sandwich was inspired by this Turkey Avocado Bacon Sandwich recipe.

You can visit www.theamazingavocado.com for more recipes and nutritional
information.

Cinco de Swap with Avocados from Mexico and $100 Gift Card Giveaway

You all have a chance to win a $100 gift card! Just enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Homemade Caramel Candy Recipe – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on February 6, 2013
in Food and Treats, Home, Recipes

My daughter was on a baking spree last week. Remember she made the homemade chocolate chip recipe, then what does she go and do? She made a homemade caramel candy recipe. She was making homemade twix bars for our tea party and needed caramel to make them. So she did what any person does these days and turned to Google. She searched for “homemade caramels” and found a recipe for caramels…highly comparable to the brand name caramels you buy for caramel apples in the fall, only now we don’t have to buy them anymore because we have a non-GMO version. B substituted the corn syrup for honey and the regular sugar for organic sugar and the results was a soft, smooth, yummlicious caramel treat. Granted for the purpose of the this post, the caramel candy shown in the photo is more like a caramel square than caramel candy – and eating that much would be a very, very rich treat.

Yum, yum, yum!

Have a Wordless Wednesday post? Link up yours below:

http://www.faithandfamilyreviews.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=11490&action=edit

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« Older Entries Recent Entries »

Archive for Recipes

Replacement Sweeteners

Share and Enjoy

Fall Inspired Recipes with Squash

Fall Inspired Recipes with Squash

Simple Squash Recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Shopping at Mariano’s

Share and Enjoy

Jif Sandwich Contest

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6 Tips to Healthier Eating

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Pompeian Olive Oil – Smiley360.com

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Coppertone Water Moms Recipes

Coppertone Water Moms Recipes

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Recipes Using Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar #HeinzVinegar

Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar

Badly Burned Pot Cleaned Up Using Vinegar

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Berry Vinaigrette

Share and Enjoy

Peanut Butter Popcorn Recipe – Wordless Wednesday

Peanut Butter Popcorn Recipe

Share and Enjoy

Cinco de Swap with Avocados from Mexico and $100 Gift Card Giveaway

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Homemade Caramel Candy Recipe – Wordless Wednesday

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