Homemade by Sereen

My 10 year old's first batch of sourdough from start to finish!

Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2-3 limes, juiced
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste

2 cups cooked quinoa
1-2 cooked chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups diced cherry tomatoes
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
5 green onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
salt and ground black pepper to taste
Directions:
Whisk olive oil, lime juice, cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, and red pepper flakes together in a bowl.
Combine quinoa, chicken, tomatoes, black beans, cilantro and green onions together in a bowl.
Pour dressing over quinoa mixture; toss to coat. Season with salt and black pepper. Best if it can sit in the fridge for at least an hour to let the flavors mix together.
Serve as a salad or as a dip with chips

This is a great recipe to adjust to your liking. Add or take away whatever you have on hand.

My kids LOVE Top Ramen. Although, I always hesitate to serve it because it has no nutritional value beyond providing them carbs for quick energy.

I was excited to find another option that was nutritious, tasted similar AND was still super quick!

This was one of those recipes I just eyeballed but has a great recipe with measurements.

*Bone broth: basically liquid gold with so many vitamins

*Organic ramen noodles: free of glyphosate which is an antibiotic

*Redmond real season salt: hasn’t been stripped of the minerals we need from salt and provides that classic Top Ramen flavor

*Grilled chicken and boiled eggs: Protein is slower to digest than carbs so we feel fuller longer

*Shredded zucchini: good source of lots of vitamins, vitamin A and Magnesium being at the top of the list

*Green onions: great source of vitamins A, K, C and folate

*Coconut aminos: provide antioxidants

Active bubbly starter ready to bake bread!

BUT

I was not ready to bake with it.

I fed this starter at about 6:00pm and it was ready 5 hours later. It had doubled, was full of bubbles, and was thick and stringy (not really sure what its called but when you see it you know what i mean).

I didn’t want to stay up late or get up early to make the dough so I covered the active starter and put it in the fridge until 9:00 the next morning. This significantly slows down the fermentation process. If I had left it on the counter it would have started to fall and become less active which means it will not make bread rise.

In the fridge it did fall a little because it does that when it gets cold. I used it in my dough straight from the fridge but if I had let it come to room temperature it would have started to rise again.

Lunch or dinner idea that took me 12 minutes to make!

BBQ Chicken Skillet

Precooked grilled chicken, diced and warmed in a skillet with BBQ sauce.

Sprinkle with grated cheese and broil until melted.

Top with diced avocado, tomatoes, and sour kraut.

Serve with chips.

How to help your kids not be picky (in my not expert experience)

We have tried to keep a culture of having fun trying new things.

We especially encourage trying familiar foods we know we don’t like in new forms. Out of 4 kids they all have ONE way they like to eat broccoli and don’t like it any other way.

I experiment in the kitchen. The kids experiment in the kitchen. I have been known to put a pan of eggs, flour, way too much salt, onion peels, milk, whatever the 3 year old mixed in a bowl into the oven just to see what happens.

When I take the kids to the grocery store with me we often come home with one new produce to try.

In this picture we all tried Dragon Fruit for the first time.

I’ve also learned the kids go through phases. Sometimes those phases last years and sometimes it’s a few weeks but we stay consistent in offering lots of varieties of food and teaching the kids the importance of nourishing and listening to their bodies

What has worked in your family to help with picky eaters?

It’s a good idea to stay consistent on the type of flour you feed your starter (not a hard and fast rule) but you can change up the flour in your bread to whatever you want! No matter what flour is in the starter you use.

Our kids are hungry for information! They love knowing the why for what we ask them to do.

When we started explaining to our kids more specifically how food affects our body they have become less resistant and even make good choices for themselves.

I love to keep our meals simple and flavorful.

Whole roasted chicken and 2 different roasted veggies for dinner tonight.

Roasted chicken looks fancy but it’s super easy and I love preparing it early in the day then let it cook just before the afternoon craziness begins. Low stress when it’s actually dinner time!

This recipe says to tie the legs of the chicken together. I skip that!
Today I had extra red onion and shallots that needed to be used so that’s what I put in the bottom of the pan instead of the yellow onion.
I don’t always stuff the chicken with lemon and herbs because I don’t always want to buy them or have them on hand.

Don’t be afraid to make the recipe work for you instead of feeling like a slave to what the recipe tells you to do.

https://www.familyfoodonthetable.com/easy-whole-roasted-chicken/

Had too much kale in my garden so I turned it into powder to add to smoothies and anything else we fancy. You could do this with any store bought greens. Especially if you get the large amount of spinach from Costco and can’t get through it fast enough.

*Wash and dry the kale, or any greens you want.
*Dehydrate in the oven at 175 until crispy.
*Blend in high power blender until powder.
*Store in a dry airtight container.

I started this page over a year ago when I was selling sourdough bread and was just in survival mode. I hit rock bottom and decided to put most extras aside and focus on my health. I was ready to be more present for my family and get back to thriving.

A lot of growth has happened in this last year and I have discovered a love of nutrition and providing the best quality food for my family.

I have decided to make this my space to share all things related to my kitchen for those who are interested in how a mom of 4 with a husband in chiropractic school operates in a less than perfect kitchen and is always looking for new ways to add delicious and nourishing food to our diet.