Working Mommy Journal

April 10, 2013

Top Five Vegetables Our Family Keeps Stocked

Ensuring my children eat enough vegetables every day to meet the Canadian Food Guide can be quite tricky! They can be picky some days, other days they do not want to eat certain vegetables raw (I’m sure you get the picture!). To ensure they are intaking enough vegetables, I have five vegetables that I keep stocked up in our fridge all the time that are so versatile and can be used in a variety of different recipes.

Here are our favourite vegetables that are used daily in our home:

1) Spinach

I love love spinach! Spinach is an excellent addition to recipes as it has a high nutritional value and rich in antioxidants. It is a source of Vitamin A, C, E, folate, iron, calcium, potassium, b2, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids and more! I purchase at a minimum three bundles of spinach a week. It is the perfect addition into any recipe: spaghetti sauces, sloppy joe’s, Shepard’s pie and many more! Just shred it up and add it while cooking. Spinach is also a great addition in salads.

2) Mushrooms

Mushrooms are a low calorie food and are a good source of B vitamins, selenium and potassium. They are an excellent addition in any recipe – we use mushrooms in almost every dinner meal (and a lot of breakfast meals as well!). They are great additions to recipes with chicken and steak, and we always add them into our spaghetti sauces.

Check out our family’s favourite recipe using mushrooms here.

3) Carrots

My children are not a fan of raw carrots what so ever. That being said if I cut them and put them in sauces, casseroles or stir fries – they have no problem eating them!. They contain roughly 87% water and rich in minerals and vitamins. Carrots are also full of carotene which our body converts into Vitamin A. They are the perfect addition to sauces, chili and I love to use a potato peeler and create shavings to add them into our meatballs.

Want to sneak those carrots in, try my suggestion above with shaving carrots to add to meatballs – find the complete recipe here.

4) Cauliflower

I was never a huge fan of cauliflower growing up. I did not like the appearance of it and how crunchy it was – it was not until I went away to school that I realized what a versatile vegetable it truly is! Cauliflower is low in fat and carbohydrates but high in fiber, folate, water and Vitamin C! There are so many fantastic recipes on how to cook cauliflower. It can be roasted, fried, raw, steamed and boiled. As a bonus, I have also seen it used as a substitute for potatoes in mashed potatoes

5) Green Beans

This is one vegetable my children will eat raw. We cut the ends together and they love to munch on them as snacks. Green beans are low in calories, saturated fats, sodium and cholesterol while still being a good source of thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, Vitamin B6, calcium, iron, folate and magnesium!They are excellent in casserole and stir fries!

What are your top vegetables that you love to keep stocked in your fridge?

Find more nutritional info here.

April 10, 2013

Dinner Out With Our Children #WW

Photo compliments of my children – this is what a nice dinner out with our children includes: sippy cups, toy cars, crayons and play phones (and nachos everywhere!).

April 9, 2013

Liberte Bebe #Review

Recently I was selected through Yummy Mummy Club to try out Liberte Bebe. This was the first I had ever heard of the product so I was very excited for my little guy to be able to try it out.

I generally do not purchase yogurt geared to toddlers as I do not like the texture, colour and the small amount of yogurt in each container. My eldest son used to eat yogurt geared to toddlers and as he became older he would refuse any type of regular yogurt which really upset me (he has come along way and now eats any type of yogurt!).

Liberte Bebe yogurt comes in two steps:

Step One is a plain yogurt with a lightly sweet taste for infants aged nine months and older. It contains whole milk and has a milk fat content of 6%! It also contains probiotics and Vitamin D.

Step 2 comes in two flavours: Banana and strawberry! It is geared for infants twelve months and older. This step contains a milk fat content of 5% along with probiotics and Vitamin D.

I loved how the yogurt had a creamy, thick texture to it but did not give the appearance nor taste of typical infant yogurt. The container was just slightly smaller than a normal portion of yogurt (which is great as my little one loves his yogurt!). He feel in love with the banana flavour. He actually ate three in a row before I had to stop him!.

Overall, Liberte Bebe was a huge hit in our home and I will definitely be purchasing more of the banana flavoured Step 2 yogurt! You can receive your own free product coupon by visiting their Facebook page and submitting your baby’s first time milestone.

I received two free product coupons for the purpose of providing my opinion to the company and the Yummy Mummy Club. I was not obligated to feature the product on my blog. All opinions on this product are my own and not influenced in any way.

April 6, 2013

Ultimate Blog Party 2013 #UBP13 – Come Join In!

Ultimate Blog Party 2013

Welcome to Working Mommy Journal!

This will be my first time joining the annual Ultimate Blog Party hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom and I am very excited for this event!

I want to start off by telling you a little bit about myself and what I love!

My name is Carla. I have two young boys – who will be nine and two this year! I am a Kinesiology graduate who is currently working full time.

I started my blog as an outlet to share my love for my children, cooking, photography and coping with parenting while working full time. I love to share all the great tips and ideas that have been given to me (or found out the hard way – mostly found out the hard way!) with others. My boys are very active, love sports and my eldest is involved with competitive soccer. We love to hike, bake and make crafts together!

Have a look around, take a look at my recipes, photographs and tips. Let me know what you think! I am new and always looking for constructive feedback. I can not wait to meet all of you!

Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest!

You can also join in here.

April 5, 2013

ABC Friday…M is for Mommy’s Monsters!

ABC Friday Photo Share…..with Mom vs the Boys and Maple Leaf Mommy!

This Friday…

M is for Mommy’s MONSTERS!

The boys received this ‘monster’ hat for Christmas and they completely love it!

They put it on and chase us around the house being silly little monsters. They growl, they dance and make funny noises. Their hat has given us hours of silly, make believe fun.

Link up your ABC Friday Photo Share post here.