A Greener Biener

1 cup flour (I use about 1/3 cup wheat flour, the rest white) ½ teaspoon baking soda 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder ½ stick butter ½ cup sugar 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla 1 large egg 1 cup of strawberry puree 1 cup of sliced strawberries 1 cup quick oats 1 cup chocolate chips Mix together [...]

As readers of Mama Bird Diaries may have heard, our venture to the farm to pick strawberries was a roaring success. I came home not just with thirty tons of delicious fruit; but a bonus. I now held visions of my husband filtered through a dusty new light. Just a couple of hours with the [...]

Picky eaters are the worst. I should know, I used to be one. As a kid I hated all things edible, except one. Back in the day I would have traded my baby brother for a bowl of frozen strawberries (ok, I would have traded him for a black eye, but that’s a different story.) [...]

These beautiful fries are made from beets (we used Chioggia beets because they came in our CSA packet, but we’ve been known to disguise any root veggie as a “pretty fry”) Slice beets into shoestring fry shapes. Toss with a little oil (we use canola) and some salt. Arrange on greased cookie sheet in a [...]

I borrowed this recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, but I think it would work just as well to add the cup of zucchini to your go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. 1 egg, beaten ½ cup butter, softened ½ cup brown sugar 1/3 cup honey 1 tbsp. vanilla extract 1 cup white flour 1 cup whole [...]

They grow so fast. Sure, that’s what they all say but then when I shlep my kids in to the pediatrician she breaks out those charts and explains to me exactly how my little spouts are not measuring up. I feed them, I nap them, I do everything short of putting them on medieval stretcher [...]

This is a trick, but it’s one my kids fall for and adore and best of all devour, so what’s the harm? I’ll even make them in a wine glass, which makes them feel grown-up and seems to encourage even more eating. Ingredients: Yogurt–Plain Greek yogurt (Faje) is my kids favorite, but tends to be [...]

This jam is incredible, and incredibly easy if, like us, you weren’t raised down south steeping jars in vats of bubbling water while okra grew out back. But that doesn’t mean we don’t know good jam when we taste it. We use the No/Low Sugar Needed Sure Jell Pectin and mostly followed the freezer jam [...]

(This recipe works with a 4 quart ice cream machine) (8 cups total are needed of milk and/or cream. Use more cream if you want it richer or if you have scrawny kids you need to bulk up.) Ingredients: 3 cups regular milk (I use 2 %) 1 cup heavy cream 4 cups half and [...]

Warning to the faint-at-heart: This post contains terrifying images of unfamiliar roughage… Q–How are we supposed to eat local, encourage the kids to consume their veggies, and support the efforts of small organic farms? A—Join a CSA! A CSA? What is that? Give me a sec, I always mix up the acronym. It’s Communal Sex [...]