Christmas Goodies

Merry Christmas! I hope you have a happy and healthy holiday season. I also wanted to remind you of Christmas recipes I have posted previously, should you decide to make more healthful goodies for your family this year and need some ideas. All of these recipes are very yummy--my kids love them all--and none of them uses refined white sugar:

Christmas Cranberry-Orange Bread (part of our traditional Christmas morning's breakfast)

Gingerbread Cookies (a must for this time of year)

Pumpkin Pie (I didn't make one for Thanksgiving this year, but it's still in season, right? I'll be making one soon!) Along with this, check out my post on how to make a better pie crust.

Delectable Cheesecake (seriously divine)

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake (most people call it "bread," but we all know it's actually cake made in loaf pans--and scrumptious)

Cranberry-Orange Caramel Corn (yum!)

Homemade Egg Nog (a favorite at our house)

Pumpkin Bread (addictingly delicious)

Thanksgiving Quotes

Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude. 

~E.P. Powell

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Improving Traditions

We had an enjoyable Easter Sunday yesterday and our simple, yet joyful celebration got me thinking again about how important traditions are. They help bring families together, make great memories, and provide something for us to look forward to that our children know they can rely on.

I've talked before about improving food traditions to make them more healthful without taking away any of the spirit of celebration. In my family growing up, one of our Easter traditions was candy not being included in our Easter baskets. Even as a child, I felt it was so much more exciting to open up a plastic egg and find earrings or a colorful eraser, than candy that would be gone quickly. I loved all the nick-knacks, the fun little things Mom would fill our baskets with, and I decided I wanted to do the same for my own future children.

Yesterday I discovered--again--that it's even funner to be on this side of the giving! And I think my children would agree that they feel sorry for those other kids who only get candy in their baskets. :)

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to wish all of you wonderful people a Merry Christmas before I take a blogging break until the new year. I hope you have a joyous season remembering the Reason and make some great memories with your loved ones!

Homemade Eggnog (refined sugar-free!)

Like everyone else in my family, I love eggnog and look forward to savoring it each holiday season. We've always just bought it at the store (even though it's loaded with sugar), but last year my mom figured out this recipe, which uses raw sugar instead of refined, and ensures the eggs are pasteurized. She made it for us last year when we were visiting and I decided it's better than store-bought! (I shouldn't have been surprised, since most things are better homemade.) I haven't tried making it yet, but I will shortly...

Homemade Eggnog

7 large eggs
½ c. plus 2 Tb. raw sugar crystals
¼ tsp. salt
6 c. whole milk
1 Tb. vanilla extract
½ tsp. nutmeg

Whisk eggs, then add sugar and salt while whisking. Continue to whisk while pouring milk in slowly. Turn burner under pan on medium low and stir continuously until reaches 160 degrees F. Pour straight into a strainer over a large bowl to remove any egg bits. Add vanilla extract and nutmeg. Stir. Pour into a container with lid and refrigerate until well chilled.

Harvest of Gratitude

This year as Thanksgiving has been approaching, it has struck me more than ever before why it is so appropriate that we have this tradition of giving thanks at this time of the year with an abundance of food. I guess my family, in a sense, lived closer to the land this summer, as our garden was the biggest we've had so far. And since a good portion of it was root vegetables, which are now in storage, I have felt the tremendously gratifying feeling that comes from providing for one's own family and preparing for a "rainy" day. This year, more than ever, I feel the spirit of thanksgiving and the desire to celebrate my gratitude with family and friends. I've never thought about it quite that way before.

May you also feel that special feeling and enjoy this beautiful tradition with your loved ones!

Thanksgiving Traditions

Now that we're officially in the Thanksgiving month, many of us are thinking and planning for traditional menus. So I'm curious: Are any of you making changes--healthy improvements--for the season?

Since my siblings and I will all be enjoying Thanksgiving at our parents' house, where Mom has always been our foremost example of healthful eating and positive changes, our delicious desserts will be all (or almost all) refined-sugar-free. (I don't know if everyone will appreciate that as much as my mom and I will, but hopefully someday they will.) That means less worry for the mothers about how much our children are eating, and less guilt for everyone about over-indulging ourselves on that day.

Other than that positive change in my extended family, I think our traditional food will remain pretty much the same. And since we make nearly everything from scratch anyway--including real mashed potatoes and real stuffing--what's to change? Once, a family member tried to make the stuffing "healthier" by cutting the butter down by half and it tasted like breadcrumbs--it just wasn't stuffing! What a disappointment. I decided then that there are times when it may be more important to stick with a good, wholesome tradition than try to fool with the recipe! I figured we only have stuffing once a year and one bite is packed with so many memories of family in years past that it simply isn't Thanksgiving without it.

I'm sure the same could be said for many of those sugary foods most people eat after Thanksgiving dinner. And it could be justified that it's only once a year, so no big deal (though for many people it's only the beginning of a sugar overload throughout the end of the year). But if you can make a positive change without sacrificing taste or enjoyment, why not do it? That's what I tried last year when I brought the yam dish (which people typically fill with marshmallows and/or other forms of sugar)--and was happily successful.

So who of you are making changes?  I would love to hear your ideas!

Post-Halloween Traditions

Last year after Halloween we had a definite problem at our house: Waaaaay too much candy.  I underestimated people's generosity, and even without going door-to-door, my kids ended up with an astonishing amount.  We have always had the rule (like I had growing up) of one candy per day, but even with that, I figured my kids had enough candy to last them a year.  And I didn't want it hanging around that long, offering a temptation and causing tantrums when I said no (because a child was sick, etc).  So, in desperation for ideas, I posted a question on Facebook: What do you do with your kids' candy after Halloween?

I was very surprised by how many responses I received--and especially by the realization that I was definitely not the only parent who didn't want Halloween candy to stick around very long.  Since I received so many great ideas, I thought it would be good to post that question again here, for the benefit of others.

So what post-Halloween traditions do you have for getting rid of the candy...?