Homemade Baby Food

Yesterday I realized the Peaches and Nectarines I got in my shares this week from Blissfully Organic Co-Op were incredibly ripe and needed to be used!  My daughter will be 6 months old next week and will be eating solids soon.  So, I decided to make her some baby food.

First, I sliced the fruit in half and pitted them (Peaches were easy, Nectarines... not so much!).  Then I placed them cut side down in a pan that had 1 inch of water in it.  I baked at 400* for...  Honestly, I don't know how long it was.  I didn't set a timer, I actually forgot about them and happened to check right when they were looking perfect.  :)  Basically, you just want to bake them until the skins start peeling up.  Once out of the oven, take skin off.

Puree

Then put in these WONDERFUL Silicone Ice Cube Trays and freeze

This is the juice that was leftover from baking the fruit.  This makes for a great Sugar Substitute in recipes!  I used it in my Best Ever Banana Bread yesterday.

Spruce up your water: Homemade Citrus Electrolyte Drink

Around here, we like Powerade.  But after reading the back and seeing how much sodium and sugar is in one of those things, I decided to start making my own.  This recipe you can use as a drink itself, or make into ice cubes and add a couple to your water to spruce it up a bit.  I know sometimes drinking enough water can be difficult, it does get boring after awhile.  This will help!  

Ingredients:

• Orange Juice (Fresh is best!) about 1/2 cup
• Lemon Juice (The fresher the better) about 1/4 cup
• 1/2 - 1 TB Honey (to your taste)
• Dash of salt
• Enough water to make 3 cups total liquid (about 2 1/4)

Directions:

• Blend ingredients
• Pour into Ice Cube trays

• Freeze
• Put in water, enjoy!

Eating Better: Juice for Breakfast "Apple Mango Carrot Banana Juice"

I had some leftover fruits I  needed to use up this morning.  Half a mango and half a banana, leftover from some green smoothies, and 3/4 of an apple.

Chopped up the apple, mango and some carrots, juiced those.  As you may or may not know, bananas are not a fruit to be juiced.  So, I threw the half banana in the blender, added my juice and a little bit of Coconut oil, hit blend and done.  Only made about 8oz but it was delicious!

Next time I have a full mango, I know what I am going to make :)

Eating Better: Juice for Breakfast

I'm not much of a morning person, nor much of a breakfast eater.  We all know that breakfast is "The most important meal of the day!" yet it seems to be the one that gets skipped more than any other meal.  Why is that?  Lack of time?  Or in my case, lack of desire to eat.  Either way, it's not the healthiest decision to skip breakfast.  It's important to eat something within 2 hours of getting up, or your body will start to go into semi-starvation mode.  That means your body will start hoarding and storing what you eat for lunch and dinner.  So much for losing weight.  Eating breakfast gives your metabolism a good start and gives you energy for the day.

Here's a great solution for a quick, low calorie breakfast...  Drink your breakfast!  Turns out, liquids are easier on your digestive system in the mornings and easy to take with you.

So, today I made vegetable juice.

I poured the juice into my blender and added juice from half a lemon, some horseradish sauce and a dash of salt, blended together and viola!  250 Calories of goodness!  It's technically 2 servings, so only 125 calories or so per serving.  :)  Juice on.