Healthy Living Heritage

Good tasty food is a guilty pleasure of mine.

I love good food.

I've always been interested in healthy living, and have strived to make it my lifestyle.

It started early in my youth, having a fit active hard working father, and a mother who created wonderful tasty healthy meals from whole foods - a big portion of which were home grown and raised.
One way I knew she loved us kids was by her diligent dedication
in feeding us and making such wonderful food.
She would often ask me what I wanted to eat and a few days later,
there would be the requested dish for dinner!

We always had:

* Regular meals as a family

* A vegetable garden & fruit trees - I would often sometimes help plant, weed, 

water, pick, cut and help can our goodies.
My favorite caned good would be the cherries from our Cherry tree or the plums...

* Chickens
 I loved collecting the fresh eggs as a kid!

And lets not talk about how much I loved the oven roasted young chickens from heaven where a few of us 4 kids would fight for the golden delicious drumsticks!

* Ducks
The baby ducklings were too adorable!

* Rabbits
 So cute as babies, which I was careful not to get too attached to as they ended up in a
delicious stew on my dinner plate!

* And the occasional goat
Fresh goat cheese, which I never ate as a kid, I soooo regret it now!

Let's face it, French cooking and food is the best on the planet!

We were not "rich" as to money but "rich" as to food goodness! 

Our physical needs were always met, I never had to go to bed hungry.

I feel so blessed to have had such examples in my early years.

And blessed to have grown up in France.

Merci Maman et Papa!

I strive to pass on a little bit of this way of living to my kids.

It hasn't been without challenges.
We had dinner every night as a family and I am saddened that this tradition has been mostly lost...

SometimesI think that I have failed in so many ways...

I feel sad to think that this healthy heritage from my parents will be lost.
But there is always hope... Especially as you kids get older.

Also I've had some picky eaters - you know who you are!
Amelie has been my try-everything-eat-salad-and-fruit kid from the time she was a baby!

There are other food influences in our home that have not been cultured in quite the
same way in their upbringing. 

[Food 'snobness' intended]

I find the American way of eating not the best to say the least.

And yes, a lot of it has influenced our eating as it is often fast, instant and convenient.

I hope my Kids - you reading this? - will see some value in what I have tried to teach them and feed them. Even if it's later on in life.

My philosophy has been.

Try it. If you don't like it, you don't have to eat it. 

But try it again later on, then again and again. 

One day you may like it.
Partake of Mother Earth's goodness!

 I was a little picky as a child too - for french standards - and now regret not eating all the wonderful things my maman would make.

Yeah! A favorite Visitor is Here!

I can't tell you how good it was to have my friend Sarah walking with me this morning in the forest!

To have her in person and not on the phone... 

She arrived during the night at 2 am. 

Poor thing was stuck in Charlotte because of very bad weather, like tornado-warnings-bad-weather!

Anyhow she made it to our house and we are thrilled!

Of course our back yard was delighted too!
This is her first day and what does she do?
Get to work!
Have I mentioned how much I like my friends! :)

Under her care and Emric's help, it is starting to look very nice, 

We were neglecting it a bit these past few weeks...

(It's her in red weeding)

This is moi, putting my feet up.

 After making a delicious salad. 

Lots of yummy stuff  and love were put in it!

Homemade dressing, tomatoes, tuna, (Choruzo sausage for mike) pine nuts, cubed cheese, blue,

 broccoli, red cabbage, cucumber, 

small crispy pan fried potatoes cooked in coconut oil, 

We ate it with a side of toasted Cibratta bread and a 

Champagne infused olive oil with Balsamic Pear vinegar!!!! 

A nectar from strait from Heaven!

Fall Festivities

Tonight we had our yearly fall Festival at our church.

This year we had a Truck-O-Treet

Emric was a modern Harry Potter

Amelie; Cat from the show 'Victorious'

She can speek just like her and kinda looks like her too!

My Rat Car

We also had a Chili Cook-off

I made a White Chichen Chili 

The kids had a few games stations put on by the youth.

I was wearing boots and gloves!

It was the first day of real cold, barely in 60's!

Not to worry though, we will be back in the 80's by next Wed.

For now I will enjoy wearing my warmer clothes hats and scarves...

My Chili was gone very fast! It is an awesome recipie!

Camille

I always love to have my little niece Camille come visit!

She usually cleans or organizes something.

This time she cleaned up the back yard,

helped in kitchen and made us a very yummy Apple-Almond cake!
Reciepie here, just substitute cherries with apples.

The batter wasn't bad either... It's my favorite!
Right, hand-caught-in-the-bowl-Audie?

I told her she is someday going to be an awesome wife and mom!

Don't you love my Yellow & White Polka dot apron?
I do!

Conference Cookies

During the afternoon session of Conference,

Amelie and I made some Peanut Butter cookies -

some with Heath Bits,

some with mini-chocolate chips

and some with both.

She has a little swim-team girlfriend who moved-in on our street.

We took her family a dozen cookies to welcome them to the neighborhood.

Needless to say I will have to re-listen to that session!
Thats ok, cause I will be listening to all of Conference
on my phone during my walks with Chloe within the next 6 months...

But boy! Was that cookie dough YUMMY!

The Heath/Peanut cookies were delicious too!

I'm not a huge fan of Peanut Butter Cookies but these;
I really like!

Robin's Peanut Butter Cookies Recipie

(we made a double batch to share)

My little baker!

I just had to take a brake from our vacation to post these photos of my little baker! She is so darn cute! When I start cooking she goes and gets a little stool and her apron, and comes to helps. But that is not all! She pretends she has an audience and describes everything we do! Like a TV cooking show! She asks me what we are doing and why, so she can tell her audience! Simply adorable! I should record her!

Je dois prendre une pause de notre petite vacance pour mettre ces photos de ma petite cuisiniere... Elle est trop mimi! Quand je commence a cuisiner, elle va chercher un petit tabouret et son tablier et vien m'aider. Mais c'est pas tout! Elle imagine qu'elle a une audiance et decrit tout ce que l'on fait! Comme a la Tele! Elle me demande ce que l'on fait pour bien pouvoir tout expliquer a sont audience! C'est trop adorable! Je devrais la filmer!

Canning

I am trying my hand at Canning. This year the cherry tree I planted 3 years ago gave some wonderful sweet cherries... I couldn't eat them all before they would go bad, so a friend came by to help me last night. She had come during the winter to show me how to can chicken breast. It really is not that difficult, especially when someone with experience helps! :)
It is so satisfying to see the finished product! (I leave them on my counter for a few days before I put them away!) It will be even more satisfying when I open the 1st one to see how it all turned out! I hope they are as good as they were fresh! YUM!


J'essaye ma main a faire des bocaux . Cette annee, mon cerisier, que j'ai planter il y a 3 ans, nous a donne de bien belles et delicieuses cerises... Je ne pouvais pas les manger toutes avant qu'elle ne pourissent, alors, une amie est venue hier soire pour me montrer comment les metre en bocaux. Elle m'a deja montre comment faire du poulet en bocal cet hiver. C'est vraiement pas trop complique, surtout quand on a quelqu'un avec de l'experience qui nous aide! :)
C'est tres satisfaisant de voire le produit fini! (je les garde sur mon contoire pdt qlqes jours avant de les ranger!) J'ai hate d'ouvrir mon 1er bocal pour voire si elles sont bonnes comme ca! YUM!

Mmm... mmm.. good!

Since it is so cold today, I made us a little treat to warm our hearts (or should I say our tummys?) Waffles of my childhood... There is nothing better than eating the yummy stuff my mom made us! Now, that, is leaving a true legacy! I hope that this recipe will stay in my family for some time...

Ben, comme if fait froid, je nous ai fait un petit delice pour nous rechaufer le coeur (ou plutot le ventre). Les guauffres de mon enfance... Y a rien de mieux que de manger les bonnes p'tites choses que ma mere nous faisait a la maison. Alors la, c'est laisser un vrai heritage! J'espere que cette recette restera dans ma famille pendant plein de generations...



Ps: Recipe is on the Joy of cooking blog :)