2 cups shredded chicken breast

1 2/3  cups chicken broth

1/2 cup pesto sauce

10 oz. box fettuccine

1 tsp. lemon juice

1/2 cup pine or other nut

1 tbsp. olive oil

Fry chicken in olive oil until tender, add broth, pesto to skillet. .Cook pasta, drain and add to skillet. Add lemon juice. Stir a few minutes. Top with toasted nuts and serve.

So easy! So good!

-Mama Bell

Serving: 20 medium/large cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Cream the butter and sugar
2. Beat in the egg and vanilla
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and salt
4. Mix flour, salt with the buttery egg/sugar mixture
5. Chill the dough for 3 hours
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
7. On a flour covered surface, roll out the dough to 18″ and cut into shapes with cookie cutters
8. Bake cookies on a greased sheet for about 8 minutes

Add some flair by dipping in chocolate and adding lil’ ones initials if you don’t have a heart shaped cookie cutter!

Last step: enjoy these delicious treats with family and friends!

-Lauren has been babysitting kids since she was in her early teens. She works in-house at LLD and is the office cookie-baker!

Appetizers: Ditch the heavy cheese dips and chips before the big Thanksgiving meal. Creating this adorable veggie platter will give lil’ ones something to do while you cook, and will also interest them more in eating it since they were part of making it. Healthy snacks like veggies are often quite filling, and will help curb your appetite before the big dinner.

The Turkey: Almost everyone has family recipes and traditions on how to cook their own turkey. As for us, we have a few suggestions on how to keep that healthy. Try to avoid deep-frying your turkey, but rather roast it in the oven. Flavorful herb recipes like this one from Food Network reduce the need to cover the turkey in butter or gravy without sacrificing great flavor:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/herb-roasted-turkey-breast-recipe/index.html

Sweet Potatoes: Ditch any recipes with a lot of brown sugar or marshmallows in favor of healthier (just as good!) sweet potato recipes. Simple baked (sweet) potatoes is one option, as they are easy to cook and healthy! If you want a more traditional casserole, try this healthier version of the sweet potato and marshmallow casserole: http://recipes.womenshealthmag.com/Recipe/marshmallow-whipped-sweet-potatoes.aspx

Green Beans: A quick and easy way to enjoy green beans without butter or cheese, is to just steam them in a double boiler. Take a sauce pan with a little bit of olive oil, and brown some sliced almonds. Toss these together for a much healthier (and still delicious) version of green bean casserole.

Stuffing: In exchange for fat and carb-loaded bread stuffings, try these healthier, non-traditional versions of the Thanksgiving favorite.

• Celery stuffing: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Celery-Stuffing/Detail.aspx
• Wild rice stuffing: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/wild_rice_stuffing.html
• Wild mushroom stuffing: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/wild_mushroom_stuffing.html
• Quinoa stuffing: http://www.fitsugar.com/Quinoa-Stuffing-Recipe-Thanksgiving-25897153

Cranberry Sauce: Cranberry sauce is often loaded with sugar in order to make up for the tart-ness of the Cranberries. Unfortunately, so much sugar can be a diet buster for many. Enjoy recipes that are low-sugar or sugar free, like this one: http://wellnessmama.com/3392/slightly-sweet-cranberry-sauce-recipe/

Bread: To help with portion control, try baking cornbread muffins. The pre-portioned muffin serving will keep you from overdoing it, but the cornbread will let you enjoy the spirit of Thanksgiving. If you still want a loaf of bread, go for the whole-wheat option.

Drinks: Skip on the alcoholic beverages or juices at the table this year in favor of water. If you want to spice this up and make your table look fancier, use sparkling water with a lemon wedge on the rim of the glass. This will save you the empty calories, and leave space for dessert… yum!

Dessert: Feel free to indulge in a little healthy dessert… remember everything in moderation! A main downfall of us dessert lovers is having to try a little bit of EVERYTHING. To prevent this, try to only offer a few dessert staples. After all, you’re just cooking for a few, not an army! Don’t underestimate the power of a bowl of fresh fruit or homemade fruit salad as a great dessert option as well.

• Low-Cal Pumpkin Pie: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/low-cal-pumpkin-pie
• Healthy Fruit Pizza (feel free to add in kiwi, mangos, oranges, or any other fruit of your choice on top: http://undressedskeleton.tumblr.com/post/51247006634
• Mom’s Apple Squares: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/moms_apple_squares.html

We hope you like these recipes; feel free to try them out this week before the big day and leave comments below! Overall, the biggest helpful hint we can give you is: moderation! There are always Thanksgiving leftovers, so don’t worry about eating it all in one sitting! Gobble Gobble!

Luckily people like me love to navigate all the food terminology that gets thrown around these days and share simple, healthy tricks. And this time of year is no exception! Whether you’re a parent or sitter, check out these tips about food labels, cooking and baking for a happy, healthy fall.

Halloween Candy Labels:
With trick-or-treating around the corner, it’s good to watch out for what’s in your child’s candy sack. The number one rule is to avoid high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup. Yup, this excludes most of the traditional brands. If you’d like to give out a healthier option, consider the brand UNREAL candy; it’s gluten-free with no GMO’s, artificial flavors or preservatives http://getunreal.com

Healthy and cute snacks

Cozy Snack Recipes:
Classic munching favorites are potato chips and fries. Two fantastic alternatives are kale and sweet potatoes; they taste great and are more nutrient dense than your plain old spud. Use sea salt rather than table salt to get more trace minerals and less blood pressure stress. Tip: leave the skin on to save time.

Crispy Kale Chips
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/crispy-kale-chips-recipe/index.html

Sweet Potato Fries
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/baked-sweet-potato-fries-recipe/index.html

Seasonal Gluten-Free Squash Sides:
Try these recipes instead of processed mac’n’cheese or spaghetti noodles.  The delicata squash skin can be left on and eaten.  With spaghetti squash: scoop, pour on sauce and serve.

Parmesan-crusted Delicata Squash
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2011/12/21/parmesan-crusted-delicata-squash/

Spaghetti Squash
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/cheese-and-pepper-cacio-e-pepe-spaghetti-squash-recipe/index.html

Baking Substitutes:
I recommend cutting out refined, processed sugars (white or brown) and unhealthy fats (shortening and canola oil). Fruit, like bananas, applesauce and avocado, can be used for all of the above, as well as for egg and dairy allergies.  The finished product will usually be softer and sweeter. Try just one substitute per recipe until you get comfortable!

Brown Sugar: natural applesauce (no sugar added) in 1:1 ratio

Canola Oil: coconut oil in 1:1 ratio

Shortening: ¾ cup coconut oil for 1 cup shortening

Butter: coconut oil or avocado in 1:1 ratio (avo will tint green, but the flavor cooks out)

Egg: ¼ cup mashed avocado or banana for 1 egg 

-Rebecca Kittle recently graduated from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition as a certified health coach. She is interested in educating people about clean eating, recognizing chemicals in processed and packaged foods, special dietary restrictions, and increasing your digestive health. 

Provide onesies for all attendees & encourage them to decorate.  You can buy iron-on backed material at Joann Fabrics or some place like that then ask everyone to draw some shape, cut it out and have an ironing board set up to apply.

The hostess drew the cute  whale onesie below, but you can use stencils for the less artistic.  There was a cute baseball and bat one for a summer too –they all were great really. Of course the shower has to be at someone’s home not a restaurant or this activity won’t work.

The hostesses of the shower also bought the white cotton onesies and cloth ahead of time for everyone in varying sizes. They used Carter ‘s oneises 3, 6 and 9 month sizes. The iron patches work for quite a few washings, but could be tacked down with zig-zag stitching on a sewing machine if you wanted  to secure them.

The watermelon baby stroller is cute also–you can find the recipe online.

It’s always a great photo opp to hang onesies on  a makeshift clothesline with clothespins at the shower.

Comment below if you used some of our ideas!

-Lindsay with the help of Mrs. W

Banana Split Dessert

• 1/2 pkg.graham crackers crushed
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2-3 bananas sliced
• fudge topping
• neapolitan ice cream

Mix graham cracker, melted butter, and sugar in 9X13 pan and push down. Layer sliced bananas, ice cream cut in 11/2 in slices, fudge topping and coolwhip. Freeze until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

-Mama Bell

Easy Broccoli Slaw

• 1 package broccoli slaw
• 1 small package sliced almonds
• 1 small bag dried cranberries
• Poppy seed dressing( Marzetti’s is the best) put in enough to suit your taste

Mix all ingredients together in a serving bowl and you are done!

Enjoy!

-Mama Bell

Merry Christmas from the Bells!

They’d come in with big smiles carrying presents and piles of plastic containers filled with Christmas goodies. Straight to the laundry room counter they would go. There was extra room there. My brothers and I would take turns sneaking into the room to get cookies. She made the best nutroll. She taught me how to make them and I have continued the tradition with the help of my kids. I’d love to share the recipe but it’s a pretty long recipe, so try this simple but yummy butter cookies recipe instead which you can make with your lil’ darlings.

• Christmas Butter Cookies

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in as much flour as the beaters can handle. Roll out dough and have fun with your cookie cutters. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

-Merry Christmas from all the Bells! And to All a Good Night!

My girls and Grandma Sylvia.

RECIPE
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cocoa unsweetened
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tbsp corn starch
3 cups milk
3 egg yolks
1 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Meringue:
3 egg yolks
1/2 tsp cream
tartar
1/4 cup sugar *add gradually

Mix milk with sugar, cocoa, salt, corn starch, and flour over heat until thick. Let cool. Make Meringue. Put over pie. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Mama Bell is our mother of 5 & weekly Monday columnist

But not at our house. My kids loved the family gatherings and the chaos that came along.

My girls and I before guests arrive in front of our fire place.

As family started arriving the shoe pile grew at the door as did the coat pile on the washing machine. The kitchen at this time got so hot that windows had to be opened as the cooks scrambled around and into each other. But it was the delightful smell that brought everyone together with mouths watering and eyes wide open as the feast was produced on the kitchen island. There always had to be the green bean casserole, dressing and cucumber salad. Everyone’s  favorite dessert was Edna’s peanut butter pie.

As the day went on and guests left it was the seven of us again now with full stomachs and sleepy eyes. We had one last task to complete this Thanksgiving day and it was searching through the After Thanksgiving sale ads for the next day’s shopping extravaganza, which is still a tradition today with  my girls.  We will be up at 4am this Friday!

Before I close also with sleepy eyes, I’d like to share one of my family’s Thanksgiving delights.
Dressing
1 stick butter
1 package of onion and sage dried bread cubes
1 large onion diced
3-4 sticks celery
2 small cans of chicken broth
1 ½ quarts of water
1 package of roll Bob Evans original sausage
Boil water, onion, celery, broth and butter about 20 min. Add bread cubes. Brown sausage in fry pan. Add sausage to bread mixture . Then bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
Happy Thanksgiving to All!

-Mama Bell is our mother of 5 & weekly Monday columnist