Wellness Mama®
Simple Answers for Healthier Families
I love the smell of baking. Especially when it’s lemon blueberry muffins in the oven! They fill the whole house with the warm aroma of berries. In fact, another favorite treat in our house, this healthy berry cobbler, also combines berries and baking. Blueberries: A Nutrition Powerhouse (and Kid-Favorite Snack!) Blueberry season is one of my …
Pregnancy, labor, birth, and then breastfeeding… all of these things put high physical strain and demand for nutrients on a mom’s body. It’s so important to take time to nourish and replenish our bodies each step of the way, especially during the crucial postpartum time. Sitting down to breastfeed many times a day (and night) …
I’m always looking for more easy and tasty ways to serve nourishing foods to my family. Getting kids on board with eating healthy can take some strategic planning, but recipes like this radish cream cheese dip help make it easier. (And it’s not a bad way for adults to enjoy more veggies too!) Having some …
If there’s one guilty pleasure all moms enjoy, it’s wine chocolate! Thankfully there’s a way to justify indulging a little because chocolate (like wine) has some fantastic health benefits. The key is to choose quality chocolate from the right sources … or make your own homemade chocolate. It’s easy and you have total control over …
Everyone lately is talking about the benefits of a ketogenic diet and how research shows it can reduce inflammation, increase energy levels, speed up weight loss, and improve focus and concentration. If you’re contemplating trying it, mastering a good fat bomb recipe is a must! What is a Fat Bomb? The name “fat bomb” may …
I have a confession… I love seafood and could easily live on oysters and salmon for the rest of my life. My kids eat these foods, but definitely don’t love them as much as I do. I’m always looking for ways to make seafood delicious and easy to eat for kids. Plus, it turns out …
Candy and sugary desserts are not a food eaten very often by my family. My husband doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, and we attempt to avoid sugar as much as possible. But occasionally when the kids are craving sweets, or if we’re out somewhere where candy and other junk food is around, I …
It drives me nuts that most “breakfast” foods are actually dessert in disguise. Many cereals have more sugar than donuts, which have more sugar than many desserts. Snack foods often aren’t much better! Ignoring the fact that we don’t need to eat every 2-3 hours and that our modern fascination with “snack foods” is more a …
Winter squash is a wonderfully versatile food that is easy to grow, easy to store and easy to cook. The whole squash can be used, including the seeds, and often winter squashes are available at great prices, making them an amazing budget friendly food. In the Fall, I’ll often plan our family’s meals for the …
Our family is really enjoying all of the seasonal produce available right now, especially the berries. I always stock up on berries when I can find them from a fresh, local, and organic source, and freeze and preserve them for the whole year. Last week, a quart of delicious strawberries was hidden in the back …
I’ve been a big fan of chia seeds for a really long time… I use them in healthy energy bars, chia-kombucha energy drink, and even as an egg replacement. Why Chia Seeds? Chia seeds are an amazing superfood and a great source of calcium, omega-3s, and antioxidants. They also hold many times their weight in …
My original probiotic marshmallow recipe with gut healthy gelatin and natural honey are a kid favorite at our house. Over Easter, I decided to find a way to naturally color these to make them more festive for the kids. In the past, I’ve used natural food coloring with great results (here’s why I don’t use regular food colors), …
Forget potatoes: the natural buttery sweetness of these delicious parsnip fries pairs beautifully with the exotic spiciness of a harissa mayo. Frying them in tallow, which is high in conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, gives them a golden, crunchy exterior. As you know, I’m a big fan of saturated fats — I think we NEED them …
As a mom, I’m all for recipes that simplify and save time. That’s why our dinner rotation includes simple one-pan dishes like beef and cabbage stir fry and Pakistani kima, and why I pre-make coconut oil pulling chews to do oil pulling every morning so that I don’t have to open multiple containers each day …
Tis the season for pumpkin spice everything. I’ve been making spiced pumpkin lattes and pumpkin spice muffins for breakfast occasionally, but I wanted a really filling no-bake treat that I could whip up for the kids. I’ve made coconut meltaways before with flavors like citrus, chocolate, and strawberry (I need to post those recipes too!) …
Note from Katie: My homemade chewable vitamins recipe is one of the most popular recipes on my site and I often get questions about different variations. Today, Sylvie McCracken from HollywoodHomestead.com shares a gummy snack recipe that is kid and adult approved. Enter Sylvie… You might say I’m a bit gelatin obsessed. You might be right. …
My name is Katie and I love cabbage. I never really thought I’d say that. I’m not a huge fan of cole slaw. In fact, I usually use broccoli instead of cabbage when making it. I’m part Irish though, so I have a soft spot for cooked cabbage, but this recipe definitely tops the list. These …
These coconut butter cups are similar to my coconut clusters, but slightly easier to make and without the coconut texture that many kids don’t like. They provide a lot of healthy fats and are a way to sneak some extra coconut into your kids’ diets. If you liked Reese’s cups in your pre real-food days …
Ok, so I was just trying to make these sound fancy by calling them “appetizers”, but these are one of my favorite (and super easy) snacks. I’ve even eaten these as an entire lunch, and they really do make great appetizers for parties too! A good source of protein over delicious, crisp and refreshing cucumber with …
Oh, jello … the sugar (or chemical) laden mystery food of hospitals and cafeterias. I went to public school and got my fair share of this stuff back then, so I have never made this for my kids … until now. The “Jell-o” gelatin you can buy in stores is packed with sugar or chemical …
Often a healthy diet and fried foods seem incompatible, but this doesn’t have to be the case. When using quality ingredients and oils that are safe to use at high temperatures (like coconut oil or tallow), fried foods can be an acceptable part of a healthy diet. This onion rings recipe is one of my …
Now that we are just on the verge of tomato and pepper season, I wanted to share this recipe for cultured salsa. Fermenting salsa is an easy way to make it last longer without canning and it adds a probiotic boost. We eat and drink a lot of fermented foods, from water kefir soda to …
My kids really like beef jerky, and actually I do too. For a long time, we never had it in the house because a) it’s expensive and b) unless its full of sugars and nitrates, it is really expensive! When a road trip left me desperate for some kind of portable protein, I tried an …
These sweet potato fries are a kid-approved substitute for regular french fries or conventional potato products and are packed with nutrition. A kid favorite at our house, the kids often help slice these or cut them in to crinkle cut chips before baking. They are fast and easy to make and go with a lot …
