Meatless Monday: Grilled Carrots and Yukons

Summer is coming to an end, but with the weather still warm, last week Paul and I decided to get some grilling done before it's completely gone. I tried something new and grilled organic carrots and Yukon Gold potatoes with some unique marinades. Take a look...

To prepare vegetables:

Cut ends off of each carrot (I used 8) and shave. Thoroughly wash potatoes (I used 2 large ones) and cut into quarters. Peel if desired. 

Rosemary-Balsamic Marinade

2 tbsp olive oil oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp rosemary (fresh or dried)

Mix all ingredients together in small bowl. Brush over vegetables with basting brush. Add extra rosemary if desired.

Curried-Maple Marinade

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp maple syrup

Melt butter (or you could use coconut oil instead) over low heat in small pan. Stir in curry to make it curry butter. Remove from heat and mix together with maple syrup in small bowl. Brush onto vegetables with basting brush. 

To grill:

Allow vegetables to marinate for at least one hour before grilling. Heat grill to 350 degrees, then place vegetables directly onto grill, or wrapped in tin foil if preferred. Heat carrots for 10 minutes on each side or until cooked through; heat potatoes 15-20 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Pierce with fork to test done-ness. Marinate once more halfway through cooking. Allow to cool before serving.

They were simply delicious! I loved how both of the marinades turned out, but if I had to choose, I'd have to say the carrots were best with the Rosemary-Balsamic and the potatoes were best with the Curried-Maple. Just delish! Paul, Lily, and I ate them all up! The carrots went the fastest, though...

This is an ideal way to serve veggies for the whole family. Each marinade is sweet and slightly spicy without going overboard, and with low calories and only natural, healthy sugars. I hope you enjoy! Serve babies over 6 months fresh veggies grilled without marinade and mashed with a fork. My niece loves them that way!

Now it's your turn to share your Meatless Monday dish below! No rules, other than please only link-up meat-free recipes. No other un-related links or I will remove them. Sorry to sound so harsh, but let's keep it true to what it is, ok? Link up as much as you want, and feel free to spread the word with the button below. Thanks, and have a great week! 

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Sweet Saturday #16: Sweet BBQ pics

So, despite not having the best week last week, I had a great weekend! The family BBQ was a success full of good food, good people, and good fun! The day after, Paul, Lily and I hit the beach and had another great day in the sun and surf. For this Sweet Saturday, I'm sharing some sweet pics from that weekend, and hopefully I'll be sharing some recipes from that day soon enough...

 Note: all photos from BBQ were taken by members of my family. We took a lot more, but I specifically chose images that would keep my family's identities private ;)
 

Me manning the grill (I wasn't doing a very good job, so Paul's uncle and cousin took over)

We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores

Slip-n-slide action

Who's next?

My sweetie :)

One of the only food shots I took: leftover Indian-spiced chicken made by my mother-in-law with rice, peas, and bean salad made by my cousin-in-law

Daddy and Lily

Pouring water on her Spongebob pals

My brave girl. It makes me so happy to hold her hand :)

OK, now it's your turn! Our guest-hostess today is Linda from With a Blast! Follow these simple rules:

1. Link up something sweet to really WOW us all- your blog, Etsy store, Pinterest, Facebook, whatever you want! 

2. Link-up as much as you want and please follow me and With a Blast. Leave me a comment if you are a new follower so I can follow you back!

3. Hop around and say hi. 

4. Share my button to get more people to join us (not required, but it would be nice!)

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Thanks so much for linking up, I really do love Fridays even more because of this :)

P.S. After a few people mentioned to me that they don't like the word verification setting on my comments, I turned it off. The only reason I had it on was to prevent spammy comments, but I can just remove them myself. If I have any issues, I may decide to turn it back on, though. This just means that I'll be expecting more comments now, so don't hold back!!!! Thanks!!!! 

Sweet Saturday #14

I have been one busy bee lately, once again. So, I do apologize for not thanking everyone who linked up here recently individually yet, but I will! 


We had lots of great stuff here over the last 2 weeks, and since I have not even had time to do any fun recipes this week, I figured I'd highlight some of the favorites. Everything was awesome though, and I love looking at every single post. 


Here are some tasty recipes and fun crafts, in no particular order...


This cake grabbed my attention as soon as I read "Pina Colada"! Linda at With a Blast always has such fun and creative recipes, this is just one of many :) Thanks, Linda!

PB&J pancakes? Whaaaa??? Oh, yeah, here's the recipe from Holli at Full Hands, Full Heart. Your kids will thank you!

If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you probably know that I am a fan of lemon and lime- especially lemon! And I've had lemon sugar cookies, but this is the first time I've seen lemon and lime combined in a sugar cookie. Genius! Thanks Marly at This and That :)

And now for a fun craft- how darling is this wreath? And so easy to make! Thanks for sharing, Mrs. T Naturally!

I am such a sucker for baby shower favors, and this easy-to-make pacifier corsage is TOO CUTE! I want one just to decorate Lily's room with ;) Thanks, Cluttered Genius! Check out that post for sure, she also has another cute baby shower idea plus a yummy cake recipe!

And last, but certainly not least, check out these super sweet Polar Bear Cupcakes from today's guest hostess, Mary at Mary's Kitchen. How adorable and creative! Bookmark this idea for your next kids party :)

For today's Sweet Saturday, I'd love it if you linked up special BBQ-themed recipes like salads and casseroles in favor of my upcoming family BBQ coming up. If I like your recipe, I'll make it and blog about it later next month! Read here for details: Family BBQ Planning.


OK, now it's your turn! Follow these simple rules:

1. Link up something sweet to really WOW us all- your blog, Etsy store, Pinterest, Facebook, whatever you want! 

2. Link-up as much as you want and please follow me and Mary at Mary's Kitchen. Leave us a comment if you are a new follower so we can follow you back!

3. Hop around and say hi. 

4. Share my button to get more people to join us (not required, but it would be nice!)

Thanks so much for linking up, I really do love Fridays even more because of this :)

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Family BBQ Planning

Every summer my husband's family holds a family BBQ at one of his family member's homes. This year, we decided to host. I know- crazy, right? What was I thinking? I recently held a small Memorial Day BBQ at our home and I was stressed out, tired, and too hot the entire time. Plus, nothing was ready in time for the guests and everyone wanted hamburgers and chips instead of the healthier choices I provided. Lovely.

But, we're going through with it and planning ahead this time. I'm planning to make burgers (turkey and beef), Sangria (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), fruit salad, and some other kind of salad. This is where you, my readers, step in. I want to make something new that will really wow the crowd and appeal to everyone, whether they like to eat healthy or not. Does anyone out there have the perfect family cook-out salad for me to make?

Yes? You do? Then tell me in the comments! Link your recipe below or tell me the recipe. Feel free to email me at healthymommyhealthybaby@gmail.com instead. And, if I choose your recipe, I will blog all about it next month after the big day. I'll be sure to take lots of pretty pictures too and link back to your blog, of course ;)

And, if you don't have a perfect salad recipe but you have a different recipe you think is too awesome not to share, then link that up instead!

So, let the recipe-sharing begin!

Sweet Saturday #13: Strawberry-Kiwi Lemonade!

Once again, we had a great turn out last Sweet Saturday. Yay! Thanks to everyone who linked up! Let's make it BIGGER this time, ok? I'm officially addicted to having a large turn-out at my link parties now :) ...


Today's recipe was inspired by this tasty-looking treat I came across last week that I just had to try: Strawberry Lemonade from Addicted to Recipes. Mine is a little different because I used less sweetener and added kiwi since I had 2 that were a bit overripe and needing to be eaten. The result came out REALLY GOOD, so I hope you like it enough to try it. Let me know if you do!

What a pretty color, right?

Strawberry-Kiwi Lemonade
(makes 1 pitcher full)

Ingredients:

3-4 lemons
1 cup strawberries
2 kiwis
1/2 cup sugar or 1/3 cup stevia
1 1/2 cup water
1 small aloe leaf
4 cups water

Heat the sugar or stevia with the 1/2 cup of water over medium heat until dissolved, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat once sugar or stevia is completely dissolved and allow to cool. Meanwhile, juice the lemons and set aside. Hull and halve then quarter the strawberries then put into blender with 1 cup if water. 

Strawberries in water

Slice the aloe leaf lengthwise so one side of the leaf exposes the gel. Scoop the gel out and add it to the strawberries and water. Next, add the sugar syrup and hit puree. Lastly, add the lemon juice and water. You can just mix them together with the strawberry concoction if your blender has a "Mix" or "Stir" setting, or just pour everything into a pitcher and stir it up that way.

It will look like this once you blend it all up

And you may have a mess to clean up that looks something like this

You can serve this sweet and refreshing drink with fresh fruit or mint as garnish. Additionally, you could also add some ginger and/or cucumber to the mix, similar to the last lemonade recipe I posted. I recommend allowing to sit your fridge overnight, or at least for a few hours, before serving, to allow the flavors to blend properly. I know my first sip was almost too sour-tasting, but the next morning when I had a glass it was perfect!


This lemonade is particularly healthy and detoxifying with the added benefit of aloe. Aloe is already largely well known for it's cleansing benefits, as well as its soothing benefits when used topically on burns. But, did you know aloe also helps to halt tumor growth, lower blood sugar and cholesterol, prevent kidney stones, and boost cardiovascular performance, among many other things? Read this link to learn more!

This is terrific punch to serve to your family, friends, or at a party. It will be a hit with everyone, especially the kids. Adding the kiwi to this makes me reminisce about the Strawberry-Kiwi flavor Snapple used to make, but this is so much better! Better tasting and better for you ;)

Notice I added aloe gel to this; I use aloe all the time. It's the best burn treatment and can easily be added to any fresh juice of smoothy. But, alone it tastes rather bitter. You can even use it as a moisturizer and to speed up the healing process on cuts and scrapes by apply a little bit right onto the wound. Aloe truly is a wonder plant!

This is how one of my plants looks when the leaves aren't all chopped off. This image is courtesy guide-to-houseplants.com

I will warn you of one thing when consuming aloe, though: it's diuretic, so don't give too much to little ones unless you want them to poop a lot! Just a tip ;)

OK, now it's your turn! Follow these simple rules:

1. Link up something sweet to really WOW us all- your blog, Etsy store, Pinterest, Facebook, whatever you want! 

2. Link-up as much as you want and please follow me if you aren't already, and our guest-hostess, Mary, at A Day in the Life. Leave us a comment if you are a new follower so we can follow you back!

3. Hop around and say hi. 

4. Share my button to get more people to join us (not required, but it would be nice!)


Please show Mary and her lovely blog lots of love, she's new to the blogging scene- plus she has really cute twins for you to ogle!

Thanks so much for linking up, I really do love the weekend even more because of this :)

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Sweet Saturday #12

I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July this week! We went to a family BBQ and then walked over to a local park for fireworks (Lily was more interested in the playground!). Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures because I was having more fun just being in the moment, but here's a cute pic of Lily I wanted to share anyway:

She was just recently introduced to Playdough and she loves it!

Now, let me just say how beyond pleased I am at the turn-out of linkers we had last week. I had the most bloggers link-up here than ever before. Thanks to all who joined us and a special thanks to Elise at I Heart Pears for co-hostessing!


There were so many sweet recipes, craft ideas, activities and more here last Saturday, I decided to share a few of my favorites again. 

Without further ado...

These cute little caterpillars inspired by The Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar book by Eric Carle really caught my eye. How adorable! Jen has lots of other nifty craft ideas at her blog, Experiment MOM, so check her out. Thanks for sharing, Jen!

With it being the 4th this week and all, I was happy to see a few patriotically-inspired crafts get linked up, including this lovely red-white-and-blue tulle wreath. Thanks, Kayla, at She's Freaking Crafty!

I found this adorable chimney sweep irresistible and just had to share this original idea from Pinkoddy's Blog.

And last but not least, these tasty frozen treats from our co-hostess today, Holli at Full Hands Full Hearts, are not only yummy but healthy too- and easy to make! Thanks, Holli! She's kind of new to the blogging scene, so be sure to show her extra love at her beautiful blog!

OK, now it's your turn! Follow these simple rules:

1. Link up something sweet to really WOW us all- your blog, Etsy store, Pinterest, Facebook, whatever you want! 

2. Link-up as much as you want and please follow me and Holli at Full Hands, Full Heart. Leave us a comment if you are a new follower so we can follow you back!

3. Hop around and say hi. 

4. Share my button to get more people to join us (not required, but it would be nice!)

Thanks so much for linking up, I really do love Fridays even more because of this :)

<a href="http://jessica-healthymommyhealthybaby.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="<" target="_blank"> />" alt="Healthy Mommy Healthy Baby" width="125" height="125" /></a>

Lily's 4th of July art projects from her daycare!

P.S. If you are a new follower from last week and I did not visit your blog yet, please let me know! Sometimes I get too busy and don't get to check all my blog stats, so feel free to remind me and I will be more than happy to visit you and follow back !