Paleo Italian Wedding Soup

We've been in a different food territory for about the past two weeks. For about the past year, we've had some different digestion issues going on, and I finally felt ready to tackle them. I'll try to get into it more at a later time, but right now I'm still processing, and slightly overwhelmed. For now, we're pretty much eating paleo, minus sweeteners and fruits...which leaves.....meat, vegetables, and healthy fats. It hasn't bothered me too much, except that we can't even do eggs, which makes breakfast really really hard. No scrambled eggs, no egg and veggie muffins, no butternut squash pancakes (which are seriously delicious and totally fall-ish.). We're mostly eating leftovers and soup right now, which is really ok...I just miss pancakes and baked oatmeal :)

I've been experimenting a lot with soup lately, because it's so easy, and super quick. I can pretty much just throw whatever into a pot with some chicken stock, salt and pepper, and call it good. Thankfully, it's soup season, and everyone in my house loves soup...even Hannah was sipping on some chicken stock the other day!

Tonight for supper, I made my own version of Paleo Italian Wedding Soup. It was so yummy! I don't know why I haven't thought of putting meatballs in soup earlier. It makes a LOT of meatballs, so save some for lunch tomorrow! Or freeze them!

Italian Wedding Soup

Serves 6

Meatballs:

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 lb. ground pork

1 Tbsp Parsley

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/4 onion, chopped finely

Soup:

6 Cups chicken stock (divided)

1/2 bag of frozen broccoli

1/2 bag of frozen cauliflower

1 1/2 Tbsp pesto (I used homemade, dairy free pesto, but you can use whatever you have on hand.)

Mix ingredients together, and form into balls. Heat a large stock pot over medium high heat, and drizzle in some olive oil. Once the pan is heated, put half of the meatballs in the pan to brown. After about a minute, flip onto the other side. You're not looking to cook the meatballs, just to get a good amount of caramelization on them...and to get some brown bits stuck on the bottom of the pan. Remove, and do the same for the other half. Take 1 cup of chicken stock and pout it into the pan (it will be loud and steamy! That's what you want!). Use a whisk to scrape the brown bits off of the bottom of the pan...that's where the flavor is! Add in the rest of the stock, the meatballs, and the veggies. Cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the broccoli and cauliflower are cooked through, and the meatballs are floating on top. Finish the soup off with the pesto, and salt and pepper to taste... And maybe some parmesan cheese if you can ;)

Note: feel free to add whatever veggies you'd like! Carrots, and potatoes would be good, or even some white beans to stretch it a little further. Next time I'll be adding some chopped kale for some more greens!

Enjoy!

Changes

How funny that my last post was almost exactly a year ago! I was just telling Mike how I don't remember very much of this time, last year...other than being sick. It was just kind of a blur! :)
Life has been crazy, busy, loud, stressful and wonderful this past year. Our sweet Hannah has brought SO much joy into our lives, and we are so thankful for her!

Brand New, Hannah Joy

We MOVED!! We put an offer in on a house just hours before Hannah was born, and moved when she was 4 weeks old. I don't want to do that again. But, we're settled, and absolutely loved having a large backyard all summer. The kids were outside all day long most days, and wore themselves right out. We've moved so many times within the last 6 years, it's such a strange feeling to know that we're staying put for awhile! And, I don't have to listen to anyone stomping on my ceiling :)

We had a couple of big birthdays...Maddie celebrated her golden birthday in September, and Charlie turned 4 in August! People say that time flies...well, it really does!

Birthday Kids!

We're getting ready for Thanksgiving this week...and boy am I ready. I'll have my thanksgiving pants on, and plan to pig out! **Bonus points to anyone who gets that reference!** I'm looking forward to this next season, even with the snow!

Practical Ways to Teach Your Kids About Jesus

This was originally my idea for a post on Monday, but after praying about it, I felt like God was leading my into a different direction(obviously.) But, this has been on my mind SO much lately, and I've been working on compiling a mental list of small ways that I can teach my kids about Jesus. Here it is!

*Every night at bedtime, Charlie and I lay in bed and thank God for the things He's given us. We also pray specifically for those who are sick, or hurting.

*Let them see me reading my Bible, or doing my Bible study

*Read to them from a Children's Bible. We have this one.

*A friend gave me the idea to pray over them as their acting up. For example, if Charlie pushes Maddie, I will hold his hands, and ask God to help him to remember to have kind hands.

*Memorizing verses. Charlie is part of Cubbies, so this is pretty easy for me. We just read through his book each week, and memorize the verse that goes with it.

Charlie at Cubbies

*Make a prayer book. This is an idea that I have yet to work on. It's really pretty simple, I just have to put it together! I just plan to take a small photo album, and put pictures of family and friends in it. The kids will each have their own, and it will be a great reminder that we need to be praying for our family!

*Listen to christian music on the radio. I try to be very careful about what we listen to in the car...we pretty much stay away from most secular music, especially now that Charlie is really listening and repeating everything that we say!

*Reminding him that Jesus wants us to be loving and kind, and that it makes God sad when Charlie sins.

*Answering questions that they have. Talking to them about where Jesus lives, and about heaven. It's fun to imagine what heaven will be like!

I hope this is a helpful list, I know that we have a long way to go, but this is a pretty good start!

Thrifty Tuesday

Whoops. I missed this yesterday, sorry about that! You know how it is...life with two kids and all.
Instead of sitting down and writing out this post, I actually made myself some lunch and cleaned up the kitchen...and then of course, as I sat down to eat, Charlie got up early from his nap :)

So anyway, this was a tough week for me. I can feel that we're in the middle of the month, because this is when I usually go downhill and get antsy. Instead of doing my grocery shopping at Aldi, like I've been doing the past couple of weeks, I went to Target. And oh, it was like a breath of fresh air. They have the organic whole chickens that I usually buy, and their produce is fresh. BUT...I spent more. I could feel it as I went through the checkout lane, and saw the total...even with my cartwheel coupons, and target card...it was still more than what I would have spent at Aldi.

Here's the good news though...I still managed to save some money last week! Here's what we did:
*The kids and I stayed home most days. Other than to BSF and Cubbies, we didn't really go anywhere. This saved me from spending more money at a store, AND saved gas money!
*Charlie and I DID go out on a date...but I got water, and no appetizer, even though we were starving! (does that count, at all??)
*We made crafts with things that we already had on hand
*I made all of our meals, except for the night that Charlie and I went out
* Baked with ingredients that we already had on hand
*Skipped going out for lunch on Sunday, even though it was already after naptime, I didn't know what we were going to eat, and we were all, once again, starving!

There really isn't too much from last week, and I'm probably not remembering some things, but there you go!

Things that I'm learning.

As a woman who grew up doing the whole "Church thing", I thought that I knew so much more about the Bible than I actually do. Yesterday, at church, I heard the story of Gideon for the first time. It's a pretty huge story in the Bible, and yet, I didn't know it. Of course...part of that was probably my fault. I was pretty boy crazy/distracted no matter where I went...so more than likely, I had the opportunity to hear and study those stories, but I chose not to.

I consider myself to be a relatively new christian, and am always learning new things when I study the Bible (shocking, right?!). I've been going to BSF for a little over a year, and I know it's not for everyone, but I've gotta tell you...it's made a HUGE impact on my life. Right now, I feel like I need to study the Bible in depth. I need to dig deeper than just reading through, and skimming. My soul needs to learn as much about my Lord as it can. 

Do you know what else I've been learning throughout these past few years? My heart desires to spend time with women who trust and serve the Lord. To spend as much time as I can, soaking up their wisdom, and praying with them. Women who are my age, and especially women who are older than me, and have been through my stage of life. It's so important that I can talk and share and be vulnerable with those that I trust. Who I know will pray for me and with me when I'm walking through trials. 

So, here I stand today, convicted, because do you know what? Deep down, I know that my kids need the same thing. Yes, they're only three and one, but they, too, need to know that someone greater than their mom and dad loves them, more than we EVER could. Someone who send HIS SON to die for THEIR SINS. They need to be with family and friends who will teach them about their Lord and Savior. Not only that, they need me, someone who feels so inadequate, and so small compared to my Father, to teach them about Christ's unfailing love for them. 

The most important thing that I can do for Charlie and Maddie is to pray for them. Every day. Every night when I go to bed, I need to pray for their sweet souls, that they would grow to love Christ at an early age. That they will stand strong in the faith. That when they are called to do something impossible, they can hold on to the promise that their Father in Heaven, has everything planned out, and has gone before them. That they will share their faith with others. For their character traits that can seem so frustrating to me, but that God gave them. That God would help me to be the mom that HE made me to be, and that my kids need me to be.

Thrifty Tuesday

Here we are again!
I'm actually really excited about this past week, I feel like I really remembered that we wanted to save money, and we did!
Here's how we saved last week:
*We only went to the store once. I kept thinking of more things that I wanted to eat, but had to keep reminding myself that we have plenty to eat, in the apartment!
*We didn't go anywhere special. We went to cubbies and to BSF and that was it.
*We kept Charlie in underwear all day, instead of using pull-ups more often
*I bought snow pants and boots for both kids at once upon a child, and only paid about $20 total!
*We didn't eat out, but had leftovers for lunches

That's about all that I can think of...but I feel like by staying home, we really saved this week! Hurray!

How did you save money last week?

Pregnancy snacks

Every time I've been pregnant, I've promised myself that I would try to eat as healthfully as I could. And then...I get sick. I generally feel awful from week 6-17 or so...it's a miserable 11 weeks! Now that I'm feeling better, I'm trying to DO better. 

I'm finding myself constantly starving, which I would guess is pretty common when pregnant with the 3rd baby. I don't have time or energy to make many snacks, and instead finding myself grabbing a boxed granola bar, which really does nothing, but makes me feel worse!

Today, I made up some dried apricots, dipped in dark chocolate.

It might sound kind of strange, but they were SO good and SO addictive! Dried apricots are loaded with iron and vitamin A, and dark chocolate is....delicious.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (or a microwave...but we don't have one!) dip the apricots in them, and refrigerate until the chocolate sets! Believe me, you won't be able to stop eating them! 

Here's a list of other snacks that I'm making/eating this week!

Pregnancy Snacks

*dried apricots dipped in dark chocolate

*pumpkin cream cheese dip with apples

*tomatoes with cottage cheese

*peppermint smoothies

*hummus with veggies

*homemade jr. mints

*fruit

*hard boiled eggs

That's all I've got for now, but I'm sure that the list will grow...as will my belly! :)