Family Friendly Wildtree Meals

Many of you know I'm in the WIldtree business now and I love it! I love to cook so its been fun for me to experiment with some new stuff but our products are great for those who don't like to cook, too, because its all SO easy to make! Plus, its certified organic so there's no preservatives, pesticides, MSG or other nasty stuff in any of the products. 

I've compiled some kid-friendly meals (adult friendly, too) so I hope you can find some new ideas for your family! Please excuse the less than professional photo quality! My photographer husband would be ashamed, haha. 

Products used:
Cranberry Poppyseed Vinaigrette, Everything Spice Blend, Garlic Grapeseed Oil, Onion & Chive Blend, Traditional Turkey Gravy, Kids Cheez Blend, Hearty Oatmeal Sugar & Spice Blend, Quick & Easy Pizza Dough, Red Bell Pepper Sauce, Lemon Grapeseed Oil

Shop: www.mywildtree.com/385327/ 

Simple Turkey Sandwich with Strawberry Salad 

Simple Turkey Sandwich:

Toast your ciabatta bun with butter (or Wildtree Butter Grapeseed Oil) and sprinkle with Everything Spice Blend, add cheese, turkey and lettuce. 

Strawberry Salad:

Slice 1 large strawberry and cut up 1 cup of romaine lettuce (or lettuce of choice). Add blueberries, raspberries or other fruit if you choose. I just had strawberries on hand. Top with Wildtree Cranberry Poppy Seed Vinaigrette. Enjoy! 

The Kid-Friendly Salad (same as above, just smaller)

Served with fresh deli turkey, carrots & peanut butter, and blueberries 

One Pan Chicken, Potatoes and Carrots

Place 2 Chicken Breasts in pan with 3 small, diced potatoes and 3 large carrots. Drizzle with about 1T Wildtree Garlic Grapeseed Oil and Sprinkle with desired amount of Onion and Chive. I used about 1 1/2 tsp. Make sure the veggies are well covered with oil so they do not stick to the pan. Bake at 400* for 25 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked and potatoes are soft! 

Kids Cheesy Quinoa 

I've recently discovered quinoa and realized how much healthier it is than rice or pasta and my toddler doesn't really notice the difference so I've started using it frequently! 

I honestly don't measure when I make this for her but I probably use about 1/4 cup of quinoa and just 2 tsp (maybe a little more) of Wildtree Kids Cheez Blend. She gobbles it up! 

Blueberry Lemon Pancakes

I experimented with these just this morning and they were yummy! I'm pretty partial to having chocolate in my pancakes but I'm trying to wean myself off of chocolate for a little while. 

I used Bisquick because that's all I had on hand but Wildtree also has a yummy pancake mix available! I also halfed the recipe since it was just my daughter and I eating these (my husband doesn't like lemon) and I hadn't made them before so I wasn't sure how they'd turn out! 

Blueberry Lemon Pancakes

Blend 1C pancake mix, 1/2 C water or milk, 1 egg (I used just under 1/4 C vanilla greek yogurt instead), and 1Tbsp Wildtree Zesty Lemon Grapeseed Oil. Mix together and cook on a griddle or pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or drizzle with syrup (Wildtree Blueberry Pancake Syrup would be a great choice) and top with Blueberries! For a strong lemon flavor I would add another 1/2 tsp.

Wildtree Red Pepper Pizza

Prepare Wildtree Quick & Easy Pizza Dough according to package. Drizzle and 'paint' on some Wildtree Garlic Grapeseed Oil if you choose. Spread Wildtree Red Bell Pepper Sauce all over pizza dough and top with cheese and your favorite pizza toppings. Bake until cheese is melted and enjoy!

Sweet & Saltly Popcorn

Prepare popcorn according to package. Sprinkle approximately 1Tbsp of Wildtree Hearty Oatmeal Mix-in Sugar & Spice and shake bag until popcorn is covered. Drizzle with Wildtree Butter Grapeseed Oil for a yummy, buttery flavor. 

Crock Pot Ranch Turkey with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Turkey Gravy

Ranch Turkey

This was one of my Freezer Meals so I used 3 lbs of Turkey (3 separate, small, breasts). Use 1 package of Wildtree Ranch Dressing Mix for 3lbs of turkey breast. 1Tbsp of Wildtree Buffalo Blend. Cook in crock pot on low for about 3 hours (depending on the size of the breast). You could also bake it in the oven. 

Garlic Potatoes

Boil 8 small potatoes or 4 large baking potatoes until soft. Place in a large bowl and mash together with 3Tbsp butter, 1/2C sour cream, 4oz cream cheese, 1C milk and 1Tbsp of Wildtree Garlic & Herb. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes. 

Turkey Gravy 

Follow directions on package of Wildtree's Traditional Turkey Gravy (seasonal product) and serve with potatoes and turkey. The gravy takes about 3 minutes to prepare. Super simple and full of flavor!

I hope these recipes are helpful for you and that you get a chance to try them all! If you need some additional recipe ideas or would like to purchase any of the Wildtree products used above please visit my website at www.mywildtree.com/385327/ 

Mail Holder

My husband and I have been working on this little project for way too long now but we finally finished it this week! It really shouldn't have taken as long as it did but we just kept putting off getting the things we needed for it and our weekends were always busy...so many excuses, haha. But now I finally have my awesome new mail holder!

Here is how we made it!

              We bought this piece of wood from Home Depot for about $5, give or take. I stained it (my first time staining something...not quite as easy as I thought it would be but it turned out really nice).

A few months later...

I painted a baby food jar and used some leftover (from 2 years ago) wedding flowers for a little decor to put at the top of the mail holder. 

Next we found the letter "F" (for our last name) and I painted and covered it in fabric. I'm normally not enough of a perfectionist to do something quiet like this but I forced myself to take my time and I really like how it turned out. 

It was my husband's idea to use hinges as the holders for the mail...he's so creative. It was really hard to find ones we liked but we found them and I love how the whole thing turned out!

Ta-da! There you have it! A super simple, cute mail holder! 

Here's a blog with some great toddler activity ideas mommyish and below are a couple new ones that I tried with Layla over the weekend.

I made some super simple things for Layla to play with...the ones in the second picture are a little advanced for her right now at 13 months old but she'll get there :)  In addition to the 'sewing' cards I cut out a circle and then cut a hole in the middle and gave her a popsicle stick. This is a great way to work on hand-eye coordination and Layla got the stick through the hole in just a couple of tries! I was so proud! It's such a simple, cheap way to entertain and these were all things I had laying around.

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 Here are some photos from the last week for you to enjoy 

Labor Day at Grandma and Grandpa's 

Enjoying our Saturday together 

Layla loved all her Daddy playtime she got this past weekend 

Playing peek-a-boo

She's Miss Independent now and loves to help herself to her food. I'll have to learn not to leave it out! 

Having fun swinging at Grandma and Grandpa's

Lunch at Culvers with Nana and Papa - she was showing Nana her 'ta-da' trick 

Cheap Toddler Activities

I've been stuck in a rut lately, not knowing what to do to entertain Layla. She stays pretty happy with her toys and is good at entertaining herself but now that she's really, really soaking up things throughout the day I feel like new activities would be good. For her and I both because, lets face it, the day can get a little boring if all we do is sit on the floor and play with the same toys all day. 

In my search for new activities I went to Pinterest, of course. I usually use what I find as more of a guide and put my own spin on things. I saw on The Activity Moms blog the idea to fill a bowl with rice and give your toddler a small cup and funnel to use to play with. Instead of rice, which we actually like to eat, I used some beans, that we don't eat (unless canned and ready to go). 

Layla had fun with the beans but mainly just wanted to eat them so this activity was cut very short. I tried to encourage her to play and not eat but it didn't work, haha. Something to keep in mind for when she's older. Hopefully she'll outgrow putting everything in her mouth! 

I also made some animal flashcards to help me teach her animal sounds and recognition. She loves animals! Her favorites are cats, dogs, polar bears and ducks. (A little random, but that's our family!) 

My wonderful designer husband put the pictures together nicely in InDesign and I printed them off and cut them with my handy mini paper cutter from my MIL. I need to borrow my moms laminator bc after just a few minutes with them Layla has them pretty bent up (and I printed on card stock). 

After we went through all the cards a few times I pulled up some animal sounds on YouTube and she loved that! It was a great way for her to make the connection of sound with the animals and to see the animal on the card and on my phone. This activity was definitely successful. 

And there you have it! Super cheap, super easy entertainment for your toddler! 

Sorry for the absence

Lots has happened in the last few weeks!  We've been to Wichita to marry off Emily, celebrated Layla's 1st birthday and Layla has reached a few big milestones!

Emily's Wedding

We had a great weekend in Wichita for Emily's wedding. I got lots of girl time with my friends from college and loved being a part of the wedding. We woke up in time to see the pretty sunrise on the 27th (wedding day and Layla's birthday)! Layla got to open a few gifts and I got some playtime in before I had to get ready for the day.

Me with my sweet birthday girl :)

Jenny and I (and our hubby's) got to stay at the same house together during the weekend. That was fun and perfect for the guys bc they got to hang out all day Saturday. 

The weather was absolutely perfect that day! The wedding party took some pictures outside and enjoyed the amazing July weather and then we got some "rest" and dinner before the ceremony at 7pm. 

Just before the ceremony

So much has changed since we graduated! It was so fun meeting each others babies!

Nancy came all the way from Hong Kong!

Layla playing with Sidney. They were so cute!

Layla did so good staying up way passed her bedtime two nights in a row. I was so proud and thankful! We had a great weekend! It was just over a little too quick. 

Layla's 1st Birthday

We had a great party for Layla and were even able to help out a sweet family who's little girl is in the hospital. She was born with Jeunes Syndrome which requires her to have surgery every 6months. We raised over $400 for her and her family to help with medical expenses! It was so awesome to be able to do something for them. (They're good friends of my in-laws). 

Enjoying her new soft blocks from Grandma and Grandpa

Fun new bubbles from mommy and daddy

She loves her new leapfrog puppy from Nana and Papa (she had just waken up from a nap, hence the wet, sweaty hair lol)

Today

Today we made a fort to change things up a bit. She wasn't too terribly excited about it but I think she had fun :) it definitely won't be our last living room fort. 

More Projects

We finally got up our new curtain in our bedroom! Before we just had a short black curtain. I think we'll still put it up behind this one so the sun doesn't come through so much but that will require hammering and Layla is asleep :) 

This one is a work in progress but Antony is going to make me a mail organizer...it'll make more sense when its done :)  But I stained it this past weekend and really love the color! I'm excited to see the finished product. 

Layla is very picky about food these days and its hard to get her to eat vegetables that aren't in baby food puree form. I overheard a lady at the pool the other day say that she puts veggies in pancakes to get her kids to eat them so I thought I would give it a shot! The veggies were still a little too chunky but she ate it covered in applesauce! Still didn't fix the problem of me having to feed her but we'll get there. At least she's getting some form of veggies. I added some cinnamon and pear puree for sweetness and extra flavor...and I promise it looked better once it was cooked :) I just didn't get a picture of that.

Those are all the projects for now! Tomorrow the in-laws come up for the day and then Antony and I are going car shopping on Saturday! So excited!! We also celebrated 2 years of marriage yesterday with a little ice cream date while my sister and brother-in-law babysat. Layla got some fun playtime with them and her cousin Macey. 

Red, White and Blue

I just wanted to share my dessert I made for tomorrow's 4th of July celebrations! My creations never turn out so pretty!! Although some are a little messy, I really like how they look! The filling is cheesecake flavored pudding, heavy whipping cream and almond extract. Next time I'll leave out the extract.

Here's the link to the recipe if you'd like to try them. I used cheesecake pudding instead of vanilla 

http://kikukat.blogspot.com/2012/06/strawberries-filled-with-almond-cream.html