I'm so excited to announce...

I am now a Barefoot Books Ambassador! Our family absolutely loves these books and I can't wait to share them with others:-) if anyone is interested in hosting a party I would love to help you earn some free books! Feel free to visit my site at heather-connor.barefootbooks.com and I can't wait to share book reviews here as well!

MLK Day and a free family outing

One of the many joys of my new job is more family time. For Martin Luther King Jr. Day the whole family decided to go hiking at Preachtree Rock. It was a wonderfully sunny and comfortably warm day (SC weather is so strange!) to enjoy nature and it's beauty and the best part?! It was totally free!

I would like to encourage each of you to try out these types of things around your town...sometimes the most rewarding fun is free! So give it a try and Eco-live and laugh with me! 

My dreams are coming true...

There has been so many changes for our family over the past 5-6 months! Moving, working crazy hours, getting injured, etc. But the biggest change has been for me...I am now an assistant montessori teacher for a primary classroom. Yippee!! God is Good! I am so very excited to finally be on the path to eventually becoming a lead directress in Montessori (once I get certified) and I absolutely LOVE my new job. This job not only makes me happy while I'm there,  it also allows me to actually be the wife and mother that I have longed to be. Having dinner as a family every night, tucking my children in and reading stories together, enjoying more that just car conversations with my wonderful husband; it's truly a blessing! But I know I've neglected my blog followers and for that I am sorry. But I'm refreshed now and full of lots of ideas so I can't wait to get blogging!

Let's eco-live and laugh together!

Healthy Halloween

This week we had a blast with out all the sugar crash! From fun fall crafts to cute halloween lunches our sprouts enjoyed all the fun of the holiday without all the junk. We got goodie bags from Whole Foods and cannot wait to do the candy trade in at Earthfare tomorrow! We enjoyed a yummy meal with friends before trick or treating which kept the sprouts full and help curb the desire to eat their stash. 

Most parents sort candy only for allergies or open packages (or, let's be honest, our favorite treats) but we also sort for artificial colors and GMO's...which means a lot of things got tossed. (I know some folks will say I should have donated it but I can't in good consise give anyone that junk!) We got left with lots of chocolate and a few real sugar items...but the kids had a blast and no one really needs all that candy, a little square of organic chocolate makes our sprouts very happy! 

So, here's our healthy and spooky lunch boxes from this week: 

Hope you had a healthy, happy eco-halloween! Don't forget to compost those pumpkins! 

I Wonder...

 I sincerely believe that for the child, and for the parent seeking to guide him, it is not half so important to know as to feel. If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The years of early childhood are the time to prepare the soil. Once the emotions have been aroused – a sense of the beautiful, the excitement of the new and the unknown, a feeling of sympathy, pity, admiration or love – then we wish for knowledge about the object of our emotional response. Once found, it has lasting meaning. It is more important to pave the way for the child to want to know than to put him on a diet of facts he is not ready to assimilate.” - Rachel Carson, in Sense of Wonder (1965)

All to often we forget the simple joys of discovery. The innate response to desire more knowledge of something is all but lost with the constant need for regurgitation in our modern educations. From the time we are children we are expected the repeat the ABC's, then the states, multiplication, test answers and so on. But what if we were to approach things differently? To look at a child's wondering not as a lazy, day dreaming or grow annoyed with the questions of why? What if we touch and experience, create lasting knowledge? Remind ourselves of the first time we took something apart, just to see how it worked. Or of the time we dug our toes in deep to the sand...and discovered a sand crab! 

"...with children there is greater need for observing than of probing" - Maria Montessori

Let's dare to remind ourselves  how to wonder! With our children, lets discover the new and exciting...and see the desire to know more follow. Our children are so much more than we give them credit for...they are artists, they are philosophers, they are dreamers...they are the future.

"Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment." - Maria Montessori

Do not stifle that since of wonder...instead, dare to do a little wondering of your own; you may be surprised where it may take you! 

How it should be...Let's get cooking!

This is a little more my true style of having my sprouts enjoy (or at least try) various veggies. . .

If you saw my Market update from this week you know that I enjoyed a demo from the fairly new Evanston restaurant FOUND, thanks to the Friends of Evanston Farmers Markets. Well, they shared the recipe used and I just knew this was a PERFECT summer dish! Plus, with little cooking involved I know the sprouts could help out with prep. And we all know if a child helps cook or grow a food/dish = more likely to enjoy or at least try it!

I'm proud to say that our Squash Blossom Quesadillas and Succotash turned out wonderfully! I am not sure if I can legally post the recipe here, but if any wonderful folks from Friends or FOUND give me the okay I will! The youngest sprout LOVED it all (he's easy to please) and the older enjoyed most of it...but, key to me...she tried it all!

Create fun names for veggies and go with it (i.e. we used gorgeous pan patty squash from Lake Breeze Organic Farm (also provider of the squash blossoms in this recipe) and it was "space ship squash" while whole and when sliced on the mandolin, it became "flower squash".

So, seek out summery recipes that are colorful, delicious and nutritious...and EASY! Get your sprouts in the kitchen and eco-live and laugh together; you won't be disappointed with the results!

 FOUND chef, making the real deal :-) 

 snapping green beans and yellow wax beans

 she decided to get her chef on and dress the part; prepping 'dilla's for cooking

 End results: YUM! We used a combo of flour and corn tortillas

End result: No cooking needed! Crunchy, sweet, fresh succotash...I think I could eat this everyday! 

Little White Lie Recipe

I am not a proponent of hiding veggies from kids or lying about food....however my oldest sprout loves cucumbers and (before this recipe) claimed she didn't like zucchini. So, since the two resemble each other...I fibbed and claimed dinner was cucumber. However, after she very quickly enjoyed her dinner, I did come clean that it was in fact, zucchini. And *whew* she was okay with it and dropped the claim to dislike zucchini .

So, what was the recipe?

Almost-Raw Zucchini "Manicotti", A.K.A Little White Lie  

1 large zucchini, sliced lengthwise
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
     - toss together and set to the side

1 cup organic ricotta
1/8 cup organic Parmesan, grated
1/8 cup basil, chopped (thanks to my oldest sprouts window garden)
Dash of salt & pepper
     - mix it all together, set aside

1 can fire-roasted organic diced tomato, puréed
(You can also sub a good marinara here too!)

Lay out zucchini slices, add ricotta and tomato sauce ( about 2 Tbps ricotta, 1 Tbps sauce) and roll up.

Take a baking pan, line with parchment, put a little sauce on the paper, add each zucchini manicotti.

Top each with a little more Parmesan and mozzarella, place in oven just long enough to melt the cheese.

Serve it up and smile big at your family enjoying tons of veggie goodness!