The word "natural" is such a loaded word. Essentially everything comes from nature, even the things we don't specifically like and are terribly bad for us. But when we see the word "natural" on our food and clothing and personal care products we believe that these products are as close to their original state as they can possibly be. When I came up for the recipe for these muffins, I made an effort to use foods that were as close to their natural state as I could. With the exception of the whole wheat flour and vanilla extract, all of the ingredients are fresh (and some local). There is also no sugar in these muffins! The sweetness comes from the honey and grated apple.I used this method to substitute using applesauce in the muffins. You can also use real maple syrup instead of honey and the eggs can be replaced to make them vegan.

Chicken is one of the most versatile of proteins out there: you can bake it, fry it, turn it into a soup or stew, steam it, stir fry it - it's pretty much endless. And at 38 gram of protein per cup, very low saturated fat, and is naturally low in sodium, you can't beat this lean meat.

Even though I am going gluten free for Lent, I needed to share this recipe for my Tutorial Tuesday..I mean THURSDAY! I had wanted to make my own whole wheat bread last week to eat with the following day's dinner, but I am not a fan of having to sit and wait...and wait...and wait for my breads to rise. I also wanted to make some whole wheat bread since I had a large opened bag that I needed to start using up and we had been eating so much of the white stuff the past week. I went online and found the 5 Minute Flax Wheat Bread Recipe from momdish.com and decided to give it a try.

A few weeks ago we had some friends over to let our boys have a little "play date" fun. In my 1950's-esq fashion, I needed to have something baking! You should always have something baking when you have company! It's like some ingrained female/maternal instinct I have always had despite the fact that never remember my mother making anything from scratch. I mean, even Cher in the movie Clueless put a stick of cookie dough in the oven when Christian came over for their "date." (Maybe not the best reference since she did, after all, set fire to the oven. But still...)

I hope everyone had a very Happy New Year! As for me, things have been pretty mellow the first four days of the new year. After our nights of Christmas celebrations and the three of us constantly battling illness thanks to the 72 degree weather post solstice, we all just needed a break and some R&R time.

We never do anything spectacular for New Years Eve. In fact, I cannot remember the last time I actually decided to venture out into the city for NYE. It is just too crazy and full of people who cannot hold their liquor. Instead, ever since Terry & I have been together, we have opted for a simple night in with sushi and champagne followed by a binge marathon of something witty. This year we celebrated with The Thin Man followed by one of our favorite shows, Futurama. Since we are a pretty low key family, it's a great way to ring in the New Year. Plus it doesn't cost a fortune and we can sit in our pajamas all night.

It was Thanksgiving Day and all of my homemade pumpkin soup and pumpkin puree I had so tirelessly prepped during the week and froze cracked, broke, and poured into my tiny freezer. I was preparing dinner entirely by myself for the first time since Terry was volunteering at the homeless shelter, so fter a few choice words on my list of horrible experiences involving pretty much all of my recent experiences with Ball quart jars, I was forced to resort to the quick and easy "ingredients on hand" version of a pumpkin pie (or pies actually) that I could accomplish along with all of the other holiday tasks in time for our company. So...I took to the internet to find a version that was lower in sugar than the one printed on the can and, as usual, I ended up combining bits and pieces of recipes from all over to get the perfect pie I needed.

I was on the hunt this weekend for a spinach soup that was hearty but not creamy and not full of noodles or other grain. We have been trying to cut back on the grain intake again and I had already had my share of creamy soups during the week (lots of pumpkin and creamy potato leek). Plus, we had purchased a big bag of spinach at the market last Sunday and it needed to be finished before it ended up going to waste, and I was not about to let that happen. I was pretty disappointed at the recipes I found online as they required either orzo, noodles or ten cups of milk and most used ingredients I simply did not have on hand and was not about to spend money on. So, I decided to try something on the fly and I was actually quite pleased with the end result.