3 simple meals in 30 minutes or less

Bacon & Sweet Potato Hash
Photo by thebittenword.com at flickr

I like simple. And I like fast.  So this week while we've been sharing a car as one is in the shop getting some repairs, my typical late afternoon meal prep time has been squashed so that the kids & I can pick Greg up from work. We've enjoyed the time together in the car, but it means dinner must be made fast.  Slow-cooker meals would definitely work in these instances, but our mornings have been so busy too I haven't had the chance to throw something in there earlier in the day!  So, fast meals it must be.

These meals can be adapted for various diets, and you can go so far as swapping the type of ground meat, bacon or potatoes that are required in a few of the recipes.  

Here are 3 simple meals you can make in likely under 30 minutes!

Real Simple's Speedy Sloppy Joe's

(Potential modifications: using ground beef instead of ground turkey; using homemade salsa; using a different biscuit, bun or breading or opting out completely if grain-free.  We made them Monday night with hamburger buns instead of the tube of buttermilk biscuits.)

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey; 1 cup of fresh salsa; salt & pepper; biscuits or buns

Serious Eats Bacon & Sweet Potato Hash

This is our new favorite and go-to meal!  We modified by only making the bacon and sweet potato hash; we did not make the eggs or avocado cream, but for even a more filling & complete meal you certainly could!  

Ingredients: 

1lb bacon; 1-2 sweet potatoes; 1 medium onion; butter; salt & pepper to taste

Modern Alternative Mama's Quick Beef & Potatoes

Very similar to bacon & sweet potato hash just variations on the ingredients list!

Ingredients: 
1 lb. ground beef (preferably grass-fed); 4 – 5 medium potatoes, thinly sliced; 4 tbsp. butter; 1 tsp. onion powder; Sea salt 

For any of these meals, I may steam or saute a veggie on the side, which hardly takes any time as well. 

What are your favorite quick & easy meals?

Dangers lurking in your fabric softeners...and other fragrance-filled items?

Ain't nobody got time for that!

Sometimes, when we hear "this {everyday, common, household} item is toxic," we roll our eyes and think, "yeah, yeah, so is everything else!" or we may rebuff and minimize or choose not to believe it.  A common reply is, "I've used this product my whole life, and I'm fine."  Maybe that is true, but I know of a real account, that took place to a friend of mine, who was not fine.  And it involved a common household item.  Please read on...

source

They're marketed to us everyday in ads, commercials, in store flyers.  Buy these fabric softeners so your clothes will be soft and smell fresh.  Of course we want soft, clean-smelling clothes. Who doesn't? It's one of the comforts of fresh laundry and smells can evoke memories, pleasant thoughts, and lift mood.  According to HowStuffWorks.com, "the olfactory bulb is part of the brain's limbic system, an area so closely associated with memory and feeling it's sometimes called the "emotional brain," [and] smell can call up memories and powerful responses almost instantaneously" (source).  That's why the scent of dryer sheets, or the smell of a laundry detergent our parents used growing up can remind us of pleasant childhood memories.  

But what lies behind those fragrances is not always so pleasant.

My friend, "E.," who has a young daughter in elementary school, became a little alarmed when she noticed signs of early puberty and development in her 8 year old.  She noticed she was already showing signs of developing breasts and was experiencing some vaginal discharge.  This was not normal for her family history to begin puberty so early, nor had it begun happening yet to her other daughter, who was only a year older.  My friend was asked by her sister, "What are you using in your laundry?  You need to look at your fabric softener."  Initially, the idea seemed so unusual to her. "No, no, it could not be my laundry!" 
But, mortified by what she was noticing in her daughter, she continued to look into what was causing this sudden development.  
Someone else told her it might be the fragrances in her detergent and fabric softener, and she still was unmoved to believe it.
It took a third person mentioning it, and a visit with a chiropractor who does muscle-testing, to confirm what her friends knew was probably true.  It was indeed the fragrance in her fabric softener leading to the signs of early development in her young daughter.
[As a sidenote:  already ate a clean diet of grass-fed, hormone-free meats and dairy products, so she knew the source was not from additional hormones or antibiotics in her meat and dairy products.]

Relieved, shocked, and disgusted, she began on a mission to let everyone know to avoid these.  As soon as she took out the fabric softener, over the course of 4 weeks, her daughter's signs of puberty began to dissipate. Now she is looking to remove all signs of fake fragrance from her home.

Why fabric softeners contain a nasty ingredient and you don't know about it
As I googled "fabric softeners" and let my browser auto-populate for me, the first suggestion was "fabric softeners toxic."  I found that fabric softeners contain many toxic ingredients which can enter the body through our skin or through inhalation (source).  
One of the ingredients is phthlates, which are "used in scented products to help the scent last longer, phthlates have been linked to breast cancer and reproductive system problems" (source), emphasis mine.

There are at least 9 more toxic ingredients in fabric softeners, according to organicauthority.com:

• Alpha Terpineol: can cause central nervous damage and respiratory problems
• Camphor: causes central nervous disorders, is easily absorbed through skin
• Chloroform: a carcinogenic neurotoxin preferred by Ted Bundy
• Benzyl Acetate: linked to pancreatic cancer
• Benyl Alcohol: respiratory tract irritant
• Ethanol: on the EPA’s “hazardous waste” list, can cause central nervous system disorders
• Ethyl Acetate: a narcotic on the EPA’s “hazardous waste” list
• Limonene: a known carcinogen that irritates eyes and skin
• Linalool: causes central nervous system disorders and depresses heart activity (source)

OrganicAuthority.com says instead of using a chemical-based toxic fabric softener, "buy a $5 set of dryer balls, switch to a soy-based softener, or add a quarter-cup of baking soda or vinegar to your wash cycle."

Source

There are alternatives to fabric softeners are simple, but did you know that these "phthlates" lurk in other items we may use in our homes?  It's used in "perfume, hair spray, deodorant, almost anything fragranced (from shampoo to air fresheners to laundry detergent), nail polish, insect repellent, carpeting, vinyl flooring, the coating on wires and cables, shower curtains, raincoats, plastic toys," just to name a few (source).

Seems I'm not the only one concerned.  In January 2013, Maia James, blogger at http://www.gimmethegoodstuff.org, wrote about phtalates on HuffingtonPost.com.  She wrote:  

"Phthalates are thought to mimic and displace hormones and interrupt their production. This can have a range of unpleasant effects.

Some examples:

• In 2009, a small Taiwanese study on humans showed that phthalates passed from mother to fetus through the placenta affect female babies, sometimes resulting in abnormal sexual development.

• Boys who are exposed to higher levels of certain types of phthalates in the womb may show less masculine behavior (measured by playing with trucks and play fighting) than boys who are exposed to lower levels.

• Pregnant women exposed to phthalates in the workplace were found to be two to three times more likely to deliver boys with the reproductive birth defect known as hypospadias.

• A 2009 study determined that phthalate exposure correlated with premature breast development in young Taiwanese girls.

• A 2007 study found that higher levels of phthalates detected in the urine of adult males was associatedwith increased waist circumference and insulin resistance" (source, emphasis mine).

James shared ways to avoid phthalates and shared since they're not likely to be labeled on products as such, but rather under the names "fragrances" or "parfum."  Avoid these like the plague and look for items that say "scented with essential oils" or "phthalate-free" or "no synthetic fragrances."  

I know those glade plug-ins and febreze air fresheners are ever so popular and it is lovely to walk into a home that smells good, but James cracks down on the synthetic air fresheners and offers some synthetic-free alternatives at http://www.gimmethegoodstuff.org/air-fresheners/.  Check it out.  

For now, I'm going to be using baking soda & vinegar in cleaning, maybe testing out some essential oils, or letting some mulling spices (cinmamon, anyone?) simmer on the stove if I want my house to smell nice.  

This is Megan with your neighborly public service announcement.  ;)

What would you do? Have you ever known anyone to have such side effects from fragrances?  What are your plans to eliminate?

Life...as a family of 4.

Every time I have a moment to sit down and think about blogging, my mind essentially turns to mush. I had so much to organize and keep track of before Gabe was born and life seemed really interesting (to me, at least) with all that I had going on, and now life has simplified down to the bare necessities: are we all fed? Do we have clean clothes? Is the dishwasher unloaded, or running? Have I bathed recently?  Perhaps I make it all sound like we're in a crazy mad dash all the time, which we're not, but I've had far less time to just sit down and twiddle my thumbs.  For which I do not complain. I know in time, God willing, that personal free time will return. And I'll take what I can get, when I can get it.

3 weeks in with Mr. Gabe and life's been pretty good to us so far.  None of the rough starts that afflicted us with Mia have been present with Gabe, bless them hearts.  Gabe's only concern so far was slightly elevated bilirubin levels (threatening us with jaundice) right after he was born, which kept us all in the hospital about 2 extra days.  The mixed blessing in that was that I received extra lactation help, which has made a world of difference this time around when it comes to breastfeeding.  I struggled so much with that in the beginning with Mia, which led to my decision to exclusively pump for her.  I've not even touched a pump in over a week with Gabe, which has felt really nice.  There are times when I wish I could just hand him over to Greg and he give him a bottle so I could get a little more sleep in the middle of the night, but in some cases it's not worth the effort to go through all of that.  We're still working through the first few weeks of nursing, but all in all, we're very much off to a better start, for which I'm super thankful.

sleep: it's mostly what he do

Because that is going as it is, and we're not using bottles, in some ways I feel like I'm dealing with a newborn for the first time.  I often wonder--is he fully content and fed? Does he need me? Is he sleeping right now because he's full, or is he just taking a little break? With Mia, we gave her a bottle with approximate amounts based on what she seemed to need to consume, and that was that. There was very little question as to if she was full/hungry; anytime she cried hard we gave her a bottle and up she went gaining weight! And generally speaking, she'd go back to sleep with a little prompting.

Sleepwise, it is what it is.  Some nights are certainly better than others. He could sleep soundly all day quite easily, and tends to right now, feeding every 2-4 hrs, but at night, he is still figuring out how to consistently sleep longer stretches.  Let's just say I'm thankful it's a holiday weekend because with Greg home, I'm allowed to go back to sleep for another hour or two after Gabe wakes up for a morning feed, while he hangs with Mia.  During the week I do not have that luxury.

And speaking of luxuries, my mom was in town for the first week and a half that Gabe was home, and that made such a world of difference. I don't know how people survive without their families, communities, villages or tribes (whatever you want to call it).  I cannot fathom having a child without having the help of someone you inherently trust to assist you with the nitty gritty.  (This includes Greg as well, and those friends of mine who have *blessedly* seen me in unusually compromising positions! *points to certain hospital visitors*)

Mommo & Gabe

For essentially the first week and a half, Mia was taken care of, fed, bathed, napped, and entertained by either Greg or my mom. I was instructed not to lift her the first 2.5 weeks, which I was not expecting to hear!  It was emotionally hard to not be able to deal with Mia at certain times especially when she wanted mommy, but I was so thankful to have others around to attend to the situation and keep things rolling, keeping my stress levels low.

My parents were in town part of this week for Thanksgiving, so my mom went home and essentially turned around 5 days later, meaning I only had to be totally on my own for 3 weekdays.  It was not as rough an intro to life with 2 kids as I'd been fearing.  However, next week when everybody is gone, including Greg's parents, I might feel otherwise.  It'll be 5 straight days on my own!  That, my friends, seems a little bit scarier!

The most challenging parts of the day are usually at feeding times, when Mia all of a sudden wants mommy to hold her; naptime, if I'm not sure if Gabe is totally out and asleep and I'm trying to get Mia down; and right after naptime, when Mia tends to wake up as I'm feeding Gabe.  I think it's probably hard for her to often see mommy consumed by another baby, but right now, so much of my time is spent sitting in a chair "eating" Gabe (that's what Mia says instead of "feeding."  "Mommy, you eating Gabe?"  "Yes, I'm 'feeding' him.")

loving on her baby brother

Mia loves Gabe though, wants to hold him, burp him, give him his pacifier, and talk and play with him. She received a new Signing Time DVD this past week (about going to the potty! *thinking positive thoughts here*) and it showed some signs she already knew and she started putting Gabe's hands to his mouth to sign "eat".  It was so cute and I love that she already wants to get him involved in everything.  If she puts up a fight about anything, it's just about the attention she is not receiving 100% of from mommy and daddy anymore.


Before Gabe was born, I had a lot of concerns. I was nervous about his health, my health, his delivery, the postpartum period, dealing with all the changes that occur after one gives birth, and how I'd feel by Thanksgiving. I'm happy to say that many of my concerns were relieved as soon as he was born and things started moving on "normally." I'm happy to be normal in this case, for once, and not at any extremes.  I still have much ground to break when it comes to mothering two children, and getting into a groove with Gabriel and Mia, so I shant count my chickens before they've hatched, but I'm so grateful to God and to my tribe for seeing us through the first three weeks.  Yesterday we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with both sides of the family including both sets of grandparents and nothing but good times accompanied our gatherings.  With Mia, I was very much of a Nervous Nelly for those first few weeks.  I figure that's probably a common first-time mom feeling and there's nothing I can do to change the past, but it makes me realize now how nice it is to just let things be and live in the moment, and not worry about every detail of the next 3 hours.  Just breathing is nice.

And now that Gabe is stirring, that's my cue.  Here a few pictures of Gabe meeting his other family members over the past week!

Gabe & Papa Jack

Gabe with Nana & Granddad

Sneaking in a picture of Mia with Uncle Jackson

Uncle Jackson & Gabe

Gabe happily asleep with Mommo & Papa Jack

"Welcome to the Real World"

I didn't realize this until yesterday, when Greg pointed it out, but pretty much from birth to adult life, we are told by our parents and authority figures (teachers, administrators, people who care & some who don't), that we are learning these so-called "tough lessons" now so that we'll be better able to handle the future.  It doesn't stop once you get to the next level, either.  He pointed this out as I was telling Mia the reason Mommy & Daddy were being so authoritative with her was so that she would have an easier time with friends and when she goes to school (I'm sure that reason really convicted her as she sat in timeout last night).  I was saying something along the lines of, "Mia, the reason Mommy & Daddy put you in timeout or ask you to do these things is so that you will understand there are boundaries and when you cross them, there can be consequences.  If we didn't do these things, you'd have a hard time at school or playing with friends as you get older or in LIFE."

School's in, for LIFE
Photo Credit

Greg said it reminded him of the lines he used to hear in school from his teachers.  Like in middle school, "It is important you figure this out now, because when you get to high school, there won't be so many opportunities!"
 
And then when you are in high school, your teachers tell you, "In college, they're not going to care who you are or where you're from, you need to get your work turned in and study, because no one's going to give you exceptions."

And then when you are in college, your professors, advisors, and teacher assistants tell you to suck it up, because in the real world, this is how it is and no one cares if you're upset because you can't find your bunny (or your dream spouse, house or job, what have ye) ... learn how to deal with it and move on.

It's not always pleasant to hear these words, but it's true and it's for our benefit.  We have to learn some of the tough stuff early on so we can better deal.  I'm not suggesting we purposely make our lives (or our children's) more difficult, or that we don't deal with them lovingly, but as much as I want to shield Mia from discipline that is no fun for everyone, it is for all of our benefits.  Unruly children, freaked, stressed-out parents...the combination is less peaches n' cream and more like rotting potatoes.  When you  discover the cause, you're a bit disappointed you let the potatoes get to the point, and embarrassed by the smell.

So, yesterday was that day for us.  All's well that ends well (right???), but there was a point (or several points, I should say) during the day where we thought, "She must be getting this by now. She has to be." And then the behavior would resume.  *Sigh*  The days when Greg works from home are a mixed bag: he gets to eat all his meals with us, avoid the commute, and enjoy the "comforts" of home, all the while Mia acts up even more and requires more attention from the both of us.  Needless to say, we were a bit exhausted last night!!

Hip flexors
Photo Credit

In other parts of our world, I'm 27 weeks and almost to the 3rd trimester.  Still unbelievable.  Just this past week, I've started to feel more tired than I recall feeling last time, and my hips have been quite sore. I went to one of my trusty chiropractors [yes, I have 2: one I saw before & while I was pregnant with Mia which is who(m?) I saw yesterday; and a geographically closer family friend whom we all see more often since Mia's birth] and he explained it was probably my hip flexors which go from my belly to the tops of my legs.  When I go from a seated flexed position to standing up, it takes a while for those hip flexor muscles to warm up and I feel stiff.  I'm blaming this on a growing uterus & baby and hoping my muscles catch up soon, because there's really no time to slow down.  It just means whenever I stand up, I do the pregnant waddle for a few steps until it eases up.

Next week, Mia & I are taking a little girls trip to Northern Indiana to visit my parents. We planned this trip over a month ago and I thought the end of August would take forever to get here and now it is almost upon us.  I'm excited to go, but hopeful even with just a direct flight I can manage all the luggage & a 2 year old who likes to say, "Mommy, hold you!" Whatever happens, we'll figure it out.

Alright, onward & upward, right?  Time to eat breakfast....

Springing in the Midwest

We've taken a bit of a hiatus the last few days while we traveled northward to Jackson's graduation at Purdue University on Sunday.  We've been loving being with family & seeing another part of the US, but I have to admit I forgot what spring is like in other parts of the country.  As you may know, Florida more or less has 2 seaons: hot & hotter.  I have sorely missed the seasons while I've been in Florida, but apparently I've forgotten how to pack/dress for any other season aside from what we've experiencing in Florida lately (80s & 90s).  It's been wet & rainy here the past few days and I look like that sad Southerner who doesn't own a pair of closed-toe shoes, borrowing my mom's jacket while we go out.  Of course, I do have all these items at home, but they just didn't make it into my suitcase.  Next time, next time.


Today we trek a bit more southward to the hills of KY & TN, bidding adieu to the Hoosier state.  This has been a fun, busy trip, and sleep means more to me again now that we're getting less of it. Thankfully my appetite has returned the last couple of weeks meaning I don't feel like my meals are limited to a few things.

Here are some quick pics from this past weekend:

Wiley Boys Harley Trip

Jackson walking across the stage @ Purdue

Mia eating ice cream with Mommo

Safe travels, and keep praying for Scout.  She had her surgery yesterday and all went well!  Yay!

Time for a Change

Not just from the food post but also time for a change at home.

One of our many home improvement agenda items has been painting the family room & kitchen.  This weekend we tackled the family room and chose "Sharkey Gray" to go up on our walls.  We're still determining the kitchen color, and painting the kitchen will obviously require a bit more work: lots of weird angles, tall ceilings, and the obvious appliances with which to hassle.

It's not a drastic color choice, but hopefully something that will enhance the feel & vibe of the family room more so than the vintage white that was up there before.  It's such a vast space, it needs a little coziness to encapsulate it.

Mia--as she does in many things--wanted to help out, so she stood on the bottom rung of the ladder for a long time.
We'll pretend she didn't accidentally wipe her booty across the top of the wet paint can...

We were able to do all the painting on Saturday and then we finished up on Sunday by painting an accent color on the interesting woodwork we have popping out one wall of the family room.  Unfortunately, we sorta botched the color choice so that will need to be repainted at some point.  Too bad we really thought we had that figured out!

In other efforts to keep Mia distracted while we painted, we once again relied on our good friends at Sesame Street.  "What's the word on the street?"  Mia has definitely learned her numbers and the alphabet more thanks to Sesame Street, so there must be some learning going on there!



In the meantime, our current challenge with Mia is mostly behavioral.  She won't be two for yet another month but many a mom friend can relate to me here: the terrible twos have already arrived.  I received a call while we were walking through Target this morning and since I was holding the phone, and apparently Mia desperately wanted the phone at that moment (no doubt to watch Elmo), she began hitting me in the face and screaming.  Um, not the desired behavior while in public.  I put her in timeout at the end of an aisle and tried to discuss good and bad choices (© J.H.).  There is talk of a parenting class in the works at our church and it seems there's no time like the present ... we eagerly want answers and direction in raising our little one.  She has a fun, gregarious personality, but like someone else in her family (hmmm...who could that be?), she has a strong will and is quite independent.  Some have called her "secure," which I am happy to hear about her, but it gives both me & Greg a physical & mental workout at times!

Ain't that the way it goes, though?

Speaking of workouts...we have a 5k this weekend.  Here's hoping that these little workouts + some runs with the jogging stroller will be enough to see us through!

Shalom in the Home

I've been having ongoing conversations with multiple kindred spirits of late, the most recent, LH, about "owning the home."  It's taken me about 2 years to finally grasp just a part of this concept, and making it work for me.
The first place where I've started trying to "own the home" is by actually making it a place where we want to hang out--thus, making it aesthetically pleasing.  Seriously, with as much HGTV as we watch, we should have this down to a science by now, but of course, we're slow learners.  And naturally, sometimes the budgets get in the way--we have to remind ourselves we aren't doing $50,000 kitchen makeovers or quickly staging our house for $2k.  In due time, I say, in due time...

And then secondly in "owning the home" is having a well-run, efficient kitchen.  This is a monster of a challenge to figure out as meal-planning can get sketchy at times.  Some weeks it's a breeze. I look at the weekly ads for our grocery stores and see what I already have in stock at home and we're golden.  Other weeks, it's more a matter of what can I scrounge up that won't seem too random and mismatched?  So...here's what we're eating this week.  It's basically a combo of what I already have on hand tripled with what I want to buy at the store and what's not overly complicated to make.  Without further adieu...

This week's 5-night meal plan:

• Chipotle-inspired burrito bowls (Greg's version based on The Simple Dollar)
• Chipotle Rice recipe
• 1-2 cans black beans (or make your own from dried beans) 
• Guacamole (this is our favorite part!)
• Sour Cream / Greek yogurt
• Salsa (either homemade or store-bought)
• Cilantro
• Black Olives
• Shredded cheese of your choice 
• Tortilla chips on side
• Homemade Pizza
• Since we are going gluten-free for approximately 3 months, and pizza is one of my all-time favorite foods, we've found ways to get around it!  I've seen recipes online for how to make your own dough from almond flour, which I have yet to tackle, so in the meantime, I've used Bob's Red Mill GF pizza crust mix, then added our own tomato sauce, and I make a cheeseless pizza for me with whatever fixings I like, and a cheese pizza for Greg & Mia with whatever fixings they like.  Might I suggest black olives, red and green bell peppers, Italian seasonings, plus some kind of meat?
• Marmalade Curry Chicken
• I found this website (crockpot365.com) a few weeks ago, which felt like a godsend after weeks of finding really bizarre gluten-free recipes that had become quite discouraging to try to make.  This woman cooked with her crockpot for an entire year! and all recipes are gluten-free because her daughter has celiac's disease.  I made a few adaptations to the recipe for our liking--I used apricot preserves instead of orange and our own homemade chicken broth.  We served it over rice with some salad or veggies on the side and it was delish!  I tried it the last time my MIL was in town and it was a crowd-pleaser.  
• Turkey burgers w/ sweet potato fries
• There are so many recipes for this kind of meal on the interwebs.  I usually take 1lb thawed ground turkey, mix in some chopped onion, and season away with garlic salt, garlic powder, S&P, onion powder, and maybe some type of dried green herbs and make about 4 patties.  Heat on a skillet or the grill.  If you want to follow a specific recipe, try here or here (for us, minus the breadcrumbs).  These look pretty similar to what I've tried before.  And as I'm gf for now, I eat it sans bun!  Mia loves the taste of these burgers.
• Sweet Potato Fries
• Chicken Tacos
• This has become one of my newest obsessions lately, but I can't go too overboard with it otherwise I know I'll make us all sick of it. I saw this idea on a friend's Facebook page. Take 4 large frozen chicken breasts or thighs, one can of Rotel, one can full of water and some salt and onion powder. I made an adaptation by using one can of homemade chicken broth instead of water the first time and it was super tasty!  I've been serving it up with hard or soft taco shells, some leafy greens, greek yogurt, guacamole or avocado, and then splashing a few of the Rotel tomatoes on top.  In German, ser gut.

And that's that! Salud!