Natural Baby Teething Remedy

Nobody ever warned me about teething baby syndrome... It's pretty much a nightmare.  The array of symptoms are endless.  You know how you go on WebMD and immediately have cancer... well there is a baby teething version of that too... Baby pulls on ears, baby has mucusy diarrhea, baby has a mild fever, rosy cheeks, fussiness, pretty much anything under the sun and you constantly wonder if you need to take your baby in or if they are just teething.  I was lucky... my baby started teething at 8 weeks.  Yep, we were just getting used to no sleep figuring out ways to calm him when I look in his mouth and see two little white nubs.  And guess what... He's 4 months now and no actual teeth! That's because teeth can move up and down before they actually break through and stop hurting.  Isn't the human body wonderful?

We have tried several teething remedies including wash cloths, teething rings, stuffed animals, gels, the works... but when your baby is so small, you have limited options.  This recipe was sent to me by my sister in law when I needed something to ease the pain, but didn't want to immediately grab the Tylenol.  While waiting for my oils to arrive in the mail, I bought a homeopathic gel at a health food store just to get us by... for $16.  I put it on my little ones red inflamed gums and... wait for it... nothing. I put it on my gums just to see what it would feel like.  Nothing. I didn't feel anything.  Since it's made for babies, maybe I'm not supposed to? Anyway... after about 2 uses and not much improvement, the dog finally got to it and enjoyed it to pieces... left me the cap for proof.  Good use of money there.

Our oils arrived and I mixed them with the coconut oil we had on hand.  I first put it on my gums and there was immediately a cooling sensation.  I put it on the babe's sore gums and he actually smiled!  He loves it! Whenever he is fussy and I can tell his teeth are bothering him, I just dip my (somewhat clean) finger in and gob it on his gums... he likes to chew on my finger a bit and then he's soothed for a while.  The best part is that all of the ingredients are natural so I don't mind putting this on his gums 16 times a day.  It's really a great thing, and really all you need.  Teething pain is more of a constant mild soreness and really no need for medicine, this just soothes it long enough for the baby to take their mind off the pain.  Now there are more desperate times where you may need more than this, but for the regular daily tooth pain, this works great!  I even use it as chapstick when mine is missing (probably eaten by the dog).  Enjoy!

Natural Teething Remedy

Ingredients:

3 Tbs. organic coconut oil (Nutiva is the best!)

8 drops of clove oil

4 drops of peppermint oil (I used way more than 4 drops... probably 8 of each)

Directions:

In a small saucepot or double boiler, melt the coconut oil over low heat.  Add drops of peppermint and clove oil and give it a quick stir.  Transfer to glass jar or container.  I store mine in the fridge to keep cool.  Rub a dab on baby's gums when fussy.  

Chicken with Fall Veggies

Every Tuesday is like Christmas in this house.  That's the day we pick up our CSA box from the farm and see what delicious veggies we have to cook with for the week. The fall season has arrived and we literally have mountains of greens and squash.  We also have an abundance of sweet potatoes (which I have been steaming for the little guy), beets, radishes and potatoes.  This meal uses up much of those ingredients and was very delicious.  I felt healthy eating it, which made it easier to chow down a giant piece of cake afterwards!

There are three parts to this dish, there is roasted chicken with a goat cheese cream sauce, which is served over a bed of sauteed chard with roasted beets and sweet potatoes, and along side that is some roasted radishes.  P.S. when you roast a radish, it takes out that bitter spicy flavor and you're left with something between a potato and a summer squash. Enjoy!

Roasted Chicken with Goat Cheese Cream Sauce
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
4 thin chicken breasts (I usually use 2 and cut them in half... but we aren't big meat eaters)
salt
pepper
1/4 cup white wine or vegetable broth

3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs. butter
2 tbs. flour
1 cup whole milk
1 oz goat cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400, season the chicken and place in an oven safe dish.  I usually cook mine for 20 minutes (thin) in some white wine.  

For the sauce:
Melt butter in small saucepot over medium low, add garlic and let cook for a minute or two. Whisk in flour until it forms a pasty substance.  Slowly add milk and bring to a bubble.  Turn down to low and let simmer, whisking to avoid anything from sticking to the bottom.  Do this for 10-15 minutes until thickened (you are really supposed to do this for 45 minutes to get the true flavor, but I never have that much time).  Towards the end, melt in the goat cheese.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Sauteed Chard with Beets and Sweets
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1 bundle rainbow chard (or whatever you have on hand, spinach or kale will work too), chopped into 1-2 inch pieces
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbs. olive oil
2 medium beets, peeled and chopped
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400.  On a baking sheet, spread out chopped beets and sweet potatoes.  Drizzle with olive oil and toss.  Place in preheated oven for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium low heat, add the garlic to the olive oil and saute for about a minute.  Add the chopped chard and saute until wilted, 5-10 minutes.  Add the roasted beets and sweet potatoes and give it a toss. Serve chicken over this... Goat cheese compliments chard and beets very well.  

Roasted Radishes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1 lb radishes, (I really have no idea how many I had, but it filled a large baking sheet)
1-2 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F, quarter the radishes and toss with olive oil and spices.  Place on large baking sheet and roast in oven for 30 minutes, until soft.

Turkey Chili with Buttermilk Cornbread

The cold weather has arrived for us lucky ones and what's better than a nice crockpot full of warm chili on a cold day?  I made this chili last year for our housewarming party.  It was delicious, but 2 days later, I found out I was pregnant and the morning sickness hit hard... I didn't have chili for a year... until now! This was so good it's hard to believe I spent all winter last year chililess... We will definitely make this again soon! So easy to freeze and stick in the crockpot in the morning too.  This recipe is adapted from one of the best chili's on allrecipes.com (click here for original recipe).  I made it with turkey instead of beef for all you non-red meat eaters.  It just makes you feel better when you have two bowls.  I served it with Buttermilk Cornbread... delicious! I had never made cornbread before, it turned out spectacular the first shot! woo hoo! Enjoy!

Turkey Chili

Serves 8

Ingredients:

1.25 lb ground turkey

1 lb spicy turkey sausages (in the meat section by the uncooked brats)

5 strips of turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled

2 cans chili beans, drained

1 can spicy chili beans

2 cans diced tomatoes with juice (I used about 10-15 tomatoes from the garden, peelings removed)

1 can tomato paste

1 large yellow onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 green peppers, chopped

2 jalapeno peppers, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 bottle of beer (I used Octoberfest)

1/4 cup chili powder

1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce

1 tablespoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less depending on how spicy you like it)

1/4 cup brown sugar

salt and pepper as desired (about a tsp)

Shredded Cheese for topping

Other desired toppings like onions, corn chips, sour cream, cilantro etc...

Directions:

In a large soup pot, cook the ground turkey & spicy turkey sausage (remove meat from casing) until done and add onions, celery, green pepper, jalapeno peppers, and garlic.  Cook until onions are translucent and add tomatoes.  If using fresh or frozen, Cook until they are combined.  Otherwise add the rest of ingredients except for the toppings and simmer on the stove for at least 2 hours.  I like to make this the night before and put it in the crockpot the next day for all the flavors to combine.

Buttermilk Cornbread

Serves 8

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted

2/3 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 and lightly butter a cast iron skillet.

In a large mixing bowl, combine melted butter and sugar until blended.  Quickly add the eggs. Combine the buttermilk and baking soda and add those to butter/sugar mixture.  Add the cornmeal, flour and salt and mix to combine, but still lumpy.  Transfer to cast iron skillet and put in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until firm in the center. 

Easy Gluten Free Frozen Cake!

I remember being a little girl and everyone wanted a little mermaid cake.  My mom, being the cake decorator that she is, made a ton of little mermaid cakes.  All unique and beautiful.

Frozen is the "in thing" now (even though Ariel can kick Elsa's frozen behind anytime) and as much as I can't stand all of the Frozen hype, I understand what it's like being a little girl and wanting your favorite princess on your birthday cake.  I do have to say that if you are to make this cake, plan ahead because you'll find that these little Frozen characters are impossible to find.  Not exaggerating, I went to 15 different stores to find these perfect little characters.  They were at Walmart... the 6th Walmart to be exact.  

I love love love decorating cakes, and they usually take me a few days to complete to perfection.  I didn't have a few days though, since I was traveling and have an infant (a giant infant) and was pressed for time so I needed something easy.  I have confidence that any mom out there can make this cake... You don't even need the fancy cake stand (though it's awesome and we use it for every party... Michael's and don't forget to use your coupon!)  You can Pinterest how to make a cake stand or just lay table cloth over raised shoe boxes to make it elevated.  Be creative!  The sugar candies are from Party City and are super easy to stick in as the castle.  I actually ran out of frosting so I piled on some marshmallows last minute to act as snow.  

On to the cake now... All Gluten Free!  I prefer the gluten free cake mixes, they always get rave reviews and taste more like you're using real ingredients and not a mix.  I use Pamela's Classic Vanilla Cake Mix.  I have tried other gluten free cake mixes and this one is the tastiest.  It's about $5 a package and makes 15 cupcakes or 1 double layer round cake.  I always add ingredients to these cake mixes because I can never leave anything alone.  Here is what I did for this cake.

Vanilla Cake with Cookie Dough Filling

(The top tier, I left as vanilla and made a gluten free cookie dough filling)

Cake:

1 Pamela's Classic Vanilla Cake Mix

3 Eggs

1/2 cup oil (I use coconut)

2/3 cup vanilla almond milk (the package says water, but I always use milk)

1 tsp. pure vanilla (for added vanilla flavor)

Cookie Dough Filling:

1 tub marshmallow cream

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup chocolate chips

For the cake, mix ingredients and cook according to package instructions.  For the filling, beat all ingredients, except for chocolate chips, together until smooth.  Add the chips and stir to combine.  When cakes are cooled (I like to freeze them the night before), layer them and spread the filling in the middle.  Now they are ready to be frosted!

Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting:

1 tub marshmallow cream

2 sticks butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

Cream all ingredients together until a nice thick frosting forms, adding powdered sugar as needed.  I used a Wilton's Teal coloring for the blue, spread it on the whole cake and piped out white snow "icecles" on the top.  I did run out, but I was being very generous.  Top cake with sugar rock candy sticks in the form of a castle and add your characters!

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes:

1 Pamela's Classic Vanilla Cake Mix

3 Eggs

1/2 cup oil (I use coconut)

2/3 cup vanilla almond milk (the package says water, but I always use milk)

1 package of gluten free chocolate sandwich cookies

Crush up one row of the cookies (about 5) into larger crumbles.  Mix cake ingredients together and add crushed up cookies.  Line a cupcake pan with liners and add one whole cookie to the bottom.  Pour batter 2/3 the way up and bake according to package instructions.  Top with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 8 oz package cream cheese

1 stick butter

3-4 cups powdered sugar

Cream all ingredients together, adding powdered sugar until you get desired sweetness and consistency. 

Caramel Apple Cupcakes:

1 Pamela's Classic Vanilla Cake Mix

3 Eggs

1/2 cup caramel apple sauce (I made my own by peeling 1 apple, cooking it with a couple tablespoons of water until soft, mash with potato masher and add a spoonful of brown sugar)

1/2 cup vanilla almond milk (the package says water, but I always use milk)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 apple, peeled and chopped

Mix all ingredients until they come together to form a batter.  Line cupcake pan with liners and pour in batter 2/3 the way full.  Bake according to package instructions.  Top with cream cheese frosting, recipe above.  

You can pretty much add anything to these cake mixes to make them extra delicious.  Hope you enjoy!