Mostly Southern Mom

"Eat your vegetables!". A phrase we have all heard too many times to count from well-meaning mothers and grandmothers. Growing up, I ate vegetables when they were served to me, and as a parent myself, I try to get them onto my children's plates (and into their mouths, rather than being dropped down to the family dog). But.... they're vegetables. Boring, bland, vegetables. AmIright? However, several months ago, I adopted a vegetarian diet, and vegetables took on an entirely new meaning for our family. I began searching for new ways to prepare vegetables, and purchasing vegetables I had never tried before. I am always looking for ways to swap vegetables for meats in our family meals, and it has led to a whole new appreciation for vegetables in our house! We have found cauliflower, mushrooms, and beans to be wonderful staples for our meals, but I have been hoping for a while to try zucchini noodles. We recently moved, and while packing I stumbled across a spiral ...

I am always searching for new recipes that satisfy my whole family. Feeding a meat-and-potatoes loving husband, my vegetarian self, and 2 extremely picky little ones can be challenging, especially while trying to grocery shop on a budget and make meals that don't take hours of prep time. Most new recipes I try are a major fail...but tonight, I found a winner, and I want to share it with you. I made  Vegetarian Pasta Fagioli  and adapted this recipe from Cilantro & Citronella. Below is my version: Pasta e Fagioli 1 tablespoon Olive oil 1/2 medium sweet onion, diced 1 carrot, peeled and diced 1 celery stalk, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 zucchini, halved and sliced 1/2 teaspoon dried basil 28 oz whole or diced tomatoes, undrained 20 oz great northern beans, undrained 4 oz fresh baby spinach 1 cup vegetable broth 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped (optional) 1/2 teaspoon salt Pepper to taste 7 oz short pasta (I used elbow macaroni) Heat a large pot ove...

How many learning activities can you make with one $2 package of plastic Easter eggs? My son and I (unintentionally) made it our mission to find out! During our weekly grocery trip, I picked up a bag of plastic Easter eggs, with the intention of using them for a letter matching activity. I wrote an upper case letter on the top half of an egg, then the lower case letter on the bottom half. I broke each egg in half, and hid them all around our living room. Maddox went on an egg hunt to find all of the pieces. Once he found them all, he worked to find the matching letters and put the eggs back together. Originally, that was the extent of the activity. But once we got started, we took it a step further, and turned it into a phonics/vocabulary lesson.  He put all of the eggs into a container. He drew out one egg at a time, read the letter, made it's sound, and named a word that started with the letter. We then sorted the eggs into piles of vowels and consonants. Later in the day,...

Y'all...its one of my favorite times of the year...Girl Scout Cookie season! Since I may or may not have devoured every box that has entered our home this season...when I ran across  this recipe  from Spicy Southern Kitchen, I just had to try it! But in my usual fashion...I tweaked a few bits here and there. So, below you will find my modified version...its husband and child approved! Ingredients: 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened 2 cups + 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips 3 eggs 2 cups cake flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup Daisy sour cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup hot water For the frosting: 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter 1/4 cup sea salt & caramel ice cream syrup 3-4 cups powdered sugar 1-2 tablespoons milk Toppings: toasted coconut sea salt & caramel ice cream syrup 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare bundt pan with baking spray. 2. In a stand mixer,...

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day...or so they say. It was never a high priority to me until I became a parent.  Suddenly, I was faced with feeding another person breakfast every day of the week...Id never even managed that for myself! We started out simple enough...pureed baby foods, on to diced, soft fruits and simple cereals...but as my oldest got bigger, those weren't sufficient. The grocery store aisles are filled with sugary cereals and highly processed "quick-fixes". That didn't feel like a good option for a toddler. I also didn't feel like cooking a large breakfast, with biscuits, meats, etc. for myself and a small child felt like the right option. Since that time, Ive searched for and developed my own recipes that are somewhere in between.  They may use some store-bought ingredients, but I try to use "real", non-processed ingredients when possible...I like to know exactly what we are eating. Thats where I came up with this. ...

I spent this chilly Saturday in my kitchen, stocking our freezer with enough meals to feed my crew for another month. This is my second try at "freezer cooking " and Im hooked! In about 4 hours today (not counting time shopping or labeling bags) I made 28 meals for us.  So far, Ive only frozen crock-pot meals. I freeze each meal in a gallon-size ziploc bag, which fit in a perfect stack in our side by side refrigerator.   As I said, this is my second go at this. This time I made a few meals that we really enjoyed the first time, as well as trying a few new recipes, and freezing (for the first time) a few tried and true recipes.  For each recipe, I divided it in half. Paired with a side (usually rice or a side salad) this is a perfect amount of food for us (2 adults and a 4 year old).  I purchase all of my food at a local grocery store a day or two before I plan to make the meals. Shopping and prepping these in 1 day is more than I want to tackle with two ...