Healthier Frozen Treats for the Whole Family

Raising Healthy Families series

Welcome back to the Raising Healthy Families series – a fun and informative series designed to help you and your family thrive! Join us each Friday as we take a look at different ways to keep your family healthy and vibrant in a not-so-healthy world!

In this final installment, Kelly at The Nourishing Home is sharing a healthy way to beat the heat of summer without compromising good nutrition.

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Making your own homemade ice pops and frozen treats is so easy and it’s fun too! And best of all, you’ll feel good knowing that your family is enjoying a healthy boost of wholesome nutrients in each and every yummy bite!

So be sure to join Kelly at The Nourishing Home as she helps us celebrate summer with some delicious and nutritious real food frozen treats certain to bring a smile to your kids faces, while keeping the ice cream man at bay!

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Roasted Strawberry Goat Cheese Ice Cream

roasted strawberry goat cheese ice cream

I’m a bit of a goat cheese fanatic and I try to add it to anything I can, so when my favorite gelato shop had Apricot Goat Cheese gelato, I knew I had to try adding some goat cheese to some of my homemade ice cream. I decided to pair it with strawberries, since that’s what I had, and my husband declared this “the best ice cream I’ve had in my life.” Not sure if you’ll agree, but I definitely recommend giving this a try, especially if you’re a fan of goat cheese.

 

Notes:

I use this ice cream maker.

If goat cheese in your ice cream isn’t really your thing, try my simple vanilla ice cream recipe and feel free to add in your own flavor combinations.

**This post contains affiliate links which means if you make a purchase through one of my links, I’ll receive a small commission. Thanks for supporting More Than Mundane!

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Homemade Tea Recipes ~ Family Favorites

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Welcome back to the Raising Healthy Families series! Join us each week as we take a look at different ways to keep your family healthy and vibrant in a not-so-healthy world.

Today’s post is brought to you by Andrea Green of The Greenbacks Gal:

Homemade Tea Recipes

Over the last 50 years, we’ve had a major shift in the American diet. We’re now consuming more of our calories by drinking them. In fact, the average American is now drinking approximately 400 calories per day!

Soda, fruit juice, energy drinks and sports drinks. My kids ask for them, do yours?

Reach for a healthier alternative: tea. Full of potent antioxidants, studies have proven tea is good for your health. Can any soda say that? Plus, with so many flavorful recipes, you’ll have no problem convincing your family to drink more healthy tea.

Andrea Green from The Greenbacks Gal shares her Homemade Tea Recipes that are sure to become family favorites.

Note: This series is designed as a fun and informative compilation to help you and your family thrive. Each post is the opinion of that particular blogger, not necessarily mine or Positively Real Media’s.

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Summer’s Coming! It’s Time for Homemade Ice Cream

lavender vanilla ice cream

Homemade ice cream is one of my favorite things to make. Mainly, because it’s delicious, but I also love knowing exactly what’s going into my food. And it’s so fun to be able to dream up any type of flavor combination I want. I even have a pinterest board dedicated to homemade ice cream recipes.

We love our Simple, Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream recipe and I’ll always go for some Lavender Vanilla Ice Cream, but I also love trying new recipes.

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That’s why I was super excited when I saw that Just Making Ice Cream was one of the ebooks included in the Ultimate Homemaking eBook Bundle. It’s the first one I downloaded after purchasing the bundle and I have not been disappointed!

Filled with practical tips for making homemade ice cream, an ingredient guide, and over 70 recipes, it’s an ice cream lover’s dream! I almost don’t know where to start, but here are just a “few” of her recipes that are at the top of my list:

  • pura vida coconut gelato
  • smooth ‘n spicy chai ice cream
  • quadruple chocolate crunch ice cream
  • salty caramel pecan ice cream
  • roasted strawberry balsalmic creme fraiche ice cream
  • just peachy sherbet
  • lemon chamomile sorbet

We have the Cuisinart 1-1/2-Quart Ice Cream Maker and we love it. I’ve also heard that the KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker Attachment is great if you have a KitchenAid. But, you don’t even have to have an ice cream maker to make ice cream! In Just Making Ice Cream, she also includes 5 different methods for making ice cream without the ice cream maker.

Summer’s on its way! Grab an ice cream maker and get started making your own creations!

And don’t forget to check out the Ultimate Homemaking eBook Bundle–it includes all 12 cookbooks shown below, plus 85 more (and $120 of free product bonuses) for only $29.97. It’s a great deal!

kitchen

Do you make homemade ice cream? What’s your favorite flavor?

**This post contains affiliate links which means if you make a purchase through one of my links, I’ll receive a small commission. Thanks for supporting More Than Mundane!

BundleoftheWeek.com, 5 eBooks for $7.40!

Peace on Purpose: Managing Kids and Cooking

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Welcome back to the Raising Healthy Families series! Join us each week as we take a look at different ways to keep your family healthy and vibrant in a not-so-healthy world.

Today’s post is brought to you by Stephani Jenkins of The Cheapskate Cook:

kids-and-kitchen

It’s no surprise that when you commit to preparing healthier food for your family, you also commit to spending at least a little more time in the kitchen. And if you’re following this series on Raising Healthy Families, you’re probably doing it with kids.

Stephani from The Cheapskate Cook is no stranger to making dinner with a toddler clinging to her shin. However, over the years she’s learned a few simple but intentional ways to take the fight out of kids versus kitchens, and she tells all in her post, Peace on Purpose: Managing Kids & Cooking.

Note: This series is designed as a fun and informative compilation to help you and your family thrive. Each post is the opinion of that particular blogger, not necessarily mine or Positively Real Media’s.

BundleoftheWeek.com, 5 eBooks for $7.40!

16 Uses for Lavender

lavender
Photo by Clownfish

Not only do I love using lavender essential oil, but I also love using dried lavender, whether it’s in homemade health and beauty products or in the kitchen.

I buy my lavender from Mountain Rose Herbs,  but you can also find it at your local health food store. Or if you have your own lavender plant, you can dry it and use that (even better!)

Lavender is easy to grow and does well in most conditions. It’s a great addition to any garden! If you live in an area with cold Winters, plant your lavender in a pot so you can bring it indoors and place near a sunny window during the colder months.

Lavender is most known for its soothing, calming quality and it’s ability to promote sleep and reduce stress. It is also gentle and healing for skin.

In the kitchen lavender pairs well with cream, honey, vanilla, chicken, lemon, peaches, plums, rosemary, thyme, and walnuts.

lavender vanilla ice cream

Here are 16 ways to use lavender:

  • Honey Lavender Syrup: I use this to make honey lavender lattes or I add it to sparkling water for a refreshing treat.
  • Lavender Vinegar (great for cleaning, using as a hair rinse, using for a facial toner, and more!)

Read more about the many uses for lavender, and tell me how you like to use lavender in your home!

Shared at Your Green Resource,  Jill’s Home Remedies, and Frugally Sustainable.

**This post contains affiliate links which means if you make a purchase through one of my links, I’ll receive a small commission. Thanks for supporting More Than Mundane!

BundleoftheWeek.com, 5 eBooks for $7.40!

Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes

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Reading one of Shauna’s books always feels to me like having a good conversation with a best friend (which might explain why I think I can call her by her first name when I’m writing a review!) and Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes is no different.

I was lucky enough to receive an advance reading copy of the book and finished it a couple weeks ago. Ever since, I’ve been searching for the words to explain how much I loved. this. book. I’ve been stalling on writing about it, because I knew I just wouldn’t be able to find the words.

I always can relate to so much of what Shauna has to say. Within the first few pages of the book I was texting my best friend quotes from the book and turning down the corners of every other page. In Bread & Wine not only does Shauna share her stories (which will make you laugh, cry, and call your best friend), but she also shares her recipes. And they are some a-ma-zing recipes!

Every couple months I get to escape for a night and spend time with my good friend and old college roommate, Nicole. We always do the same thing: I get there, we spend some time catching up, and then we break out the recipe books. Once we’ve decided what we’re making for dinner that night, we walk next door to the grocery store and pick up what we need. Then we spend time in the kitchen together: cutting, prepping, laughing, sometimes crying, cooking, talking, and sharing our lives. And then…we sit down and enjoy what we’ve made together. It’s one of my favorite things to do and I look forward to it for weeks in advance.

green well salad

As soon as I started reading Bread & Wine I knew that the next time Nicole and I got together, we needed to try out some of the recipes. When we got our chance, we made Shauna’s Basic Risotto, because it’s the perfect thing to make when you have a friend to chat and stir with, and the Green Well Salad (pictured above), well, because it sounded delicious…and it was! I’ve made it more than a few times since.

Also on the menu for the night was Dark Chocolate Sea Salted Toffee, which we never got to after stuffing ourselves with the risotto and salad, but I made sure to make it later that week, much to the delight of the whole family.

Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes is available on Amazon April 9th (tomorrow!), but you should just go ahead and pre-order your copy today. It’s a book for on your night stand, and in the kitchen getting it’s pages covered with splashes of vanilla. It’s a book to pick up and read snippets of while you watch your kids play at the park, or one to get together with your best friends and talk about. It’s a book you’ll come back to again and again.

shauna1-001Shauna Niequist is the author of Cold Tangerines and Bittersweet, and Bread & Wine. Shauna grew up in Barrington, Illinois, and then studied English and French Literature at Westmont College in Santa Barbara. She is married to Aaron, who is a pianist and songwriter. Aaron is a worship leader at Willow Creek and is recording a project called A New Liturgy. Aaron & Shauna live outside Chicago with their sons, Henry and Mac. Shauna writes about the beautiful and broken moments of everyday life–friendship, family, faith, food, marriage, love, babies, books, celebration, heartache, and all the other things that shape us, delight us, and reveal to us the heart of God.

**This post contains affiliate links which means if you make a purchase through one of my links, I’ll receive a small commission. Thanks for supporting More Than Mundane!

BundleoftheWeek.com, 5 eBooks for $7.40!

Crock On Cookbook Review and {Giveaway}

beef and broccoli

My slow cooker is one of my most used kitchen appliances. There’s nothing better than dinner time rolling around and it already being ready to go! I’d rather throw things in the slow cooker in the morning or even right when I put the kids down for nap, then have to deal with getting dinner together during the witching hour or after coming home from a long day at work.

So I was thrilled when Stacy of Stacy Makes Cents gave me a copy of Crock On to review. I love trying new recipes, and I especially love trying new slow cooker recipes! And even better…they’re primarily whole foods slow cooker recipes.

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Several recipes immediately caught my eye, and we have already tried: Beef and Broccoli (pictured above), Enchilada Lasagna, and Maple Sesame Chicken, all of which have received 5-star ratings from my husband (who doesn’t hand out 5-stars easily!) As I’m writing this I have Mexican Chicken Chowder in the slow cooker and it smells amazing!

Crock On includes 40 different recipes including soups, sandwiches and wraps, main dishes, sides, and desserts! You can see the list of recipes here.

And…Stacy has generously offered to give one of you a digital copy of Crock On!  Just enter to win using the Rafflecopter form below. Or, if you don’t want to wait, you can purchase a copy of Crock On today!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**This post contains affiliate links which means if you make a purchase through one of my links, I’ll receive a small commission. Thanks for supporting More Than Mundane!

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Lavender Vanilla Ice Cream

lavender vanilla ice cream

I have been wanting to try making lavender ice cream for awhile now after trying it at several different ice cream shops. I love using lavender in the kitchen and recently made my own Honey Lavender Syrup, which I have been loving in lattes and sparkling water. After having success with my syrup, I decided it was time to attempt the ice cream, and I’m sorry I waited until now!

Read more and get the recipe for Lavender Vanilla Ice Cream on Simple Homemade.

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Bundle of the Week: Real Food Bundle

BundleoftheWeek.com, 5 eBooks for $7.40!

Serving your family “real food” is important, but how do you do it without breaking the budget or sacrificing taste? This week’s bundle includes the resources you need to eat delicious, whole foods on a budget. Packed full of recipes and tips, it’s sure to be a go-to resource in your kitchen. And this week only, get all 5 ebooks for just $7.40 (a savings of almost 90%)!

Real Food on a Real Budget by Stephanie Langford
In this 280-page book, Stephanie provides a primer for families who want to learn how to save an average of 20-30% on their food budget ($100-$200 per month for most families), while at the same time serving better quality and more nutritionally dense foods. Based on 6 years of hands-on experience and hundreds of hours of research, Real Food on a Real Budget is packed with practical tips and suggestions to help you become a better a steward of both your finances and your health.

Real Food…Real Easy by various authors
With more than 70 recipes from 7 authors, Real Food…Real Easy is not only a cookbook, but also a handbook providing in-depth information about real food sweeteners, an introduction to soaking and sprouting grains, recipes for every meal of the day, a list of additional resources and more!

Real {Fast} Food by Trina Holden
Real {Fast} Food is a treasure trove of time-saving techniques and simply wonderful recipes that are custom fit for you and your schedule. You’ll learn everything from painless freezer stocking and bulk food prep to quick, healthy meals for day trips. Trina teaches you how to think about whole food prep in a whole new way, allowing you to make more real food in less time than you ever imagined, and even giving you the feeling of a “day off” once in a while — all without sacrificing quality.

Sourdough A to Z from GNOWFGLINS
Learn to put sourdough to work in your kitchen to produce naturally-leavened foods of all kinds, including healthy and nutritious cakes, muffins, pasta, crackers, pizza, cookies and more. Sourdough A to Z is your complete sourdough guide, including 25 lessons to walk you through sourdough baking step-by-step, ingredient and equipment notes, a suggested schedule, the science behind sourdough, how to create gluten-free sourdough, dozens of recipes and more!

Treat Yourself by Kate Tietje
Treat Yourself: Real Food Desserts is exactly what it sounds like: a book filled with delicious, sweet, tempting desserts that fit the real food model. The recipes in this ebook are full-fat, full flavor, and low-sugar. There’s no white flour, white sugar, or vegetable oil to be found. In fact, they’re all based on sprouted flour, soaked flour, or almond flour, if flour is used at all (yes, there are several grain-free and even GAPS-friendly treats!). This ebook shows you how to make delicious desserts with real food, so you can have your cake and eat it too…without the guilt!

The Real Food bundle is only available through 8am EST on Monday, 3/4. Get yours today:

BundleoftheWeek.com, 5 eBooks for $7.40!