.bacon.

The trainer I was working out with in Georgia told me once "A day without bacon is like a day without sunshine." I agree, but do try to limit our bacon consumption to a little less than once per day. For the last few weeks though, when we wanted a bacon fix this has been my go to side dish, with a few changes depending on what veggies we had in the house. Bacon pretty much goes with every single vegetable I can think of so, go crazy!

Bacon and Brussels Sprouts serves 2

10-15 large Brussels sprouts

3 slices of bacon

1 cup of chopped tomatoes

1 avocado, cubed 

In a non-stick skillet fry up the bacon. While that's cooking peel the outer leaves off the Brussels sprouts and then cut each sprout into fourths. Chop the tomatoes and avocado. 

After the bacon is done remove it from the pan and place it to the side. Now you can leave all or some of the bacon grease in the pan, or take all of it out and replace with a cooking spray or olive oil. It's up to you, we use a portion of the bacon grease. Put the Brussels sprouts and tomatoes in the pan with the grease, stirring occasionally. 

Once the Brussels sprouts are cooked through, roughly 7-8 minutes, place the veggies in a serving platter, mix in the avocado and bacon and serve! 

We have also done this with broccoli and it is equally as delicious. 

XO

.homemade frozen soy yogurt drops.

Store bought baby snack foods are easy. There I said it. They are convenient, they are quick, and they are just plain easy. Because of this we have been reaching for these snacks for Tyler a lot more than I would like to admit. In between the prepping for the move, the move and now getting settled into our new house in Washington, I just didn't have the time or motivation to be making her labor intensive snacks. We try to give her the healthiest things we can, and it helps that she loves fruits and vegetables, but sometimes there is just nothing easier than a handful of cheddar bunnies or Kix cereal, ya know?

The more settled we get, however, the more I try to change this. One thing I've been seeing at the grocery store are yogurt melts. I haven't been able to buy these for her because of her dairy issues but I have found soy yogurt that she loves and that actually gives her some protein instead of all the carb filled snacks that seem to be so popular with the bebes. After seeing the yogurt melts in the store and then seeing this on Pinterest, I knew I just needed to take matters into my own hands!

The soy yogurt my local grocery store has does come in a few flavors (vanilla, peach, blueberry, etc) but these usually have some added processed sugar and we would like to avoid that, so I bought the plain soy yogurt and then added some particularly ripe raspberries. This would also be great with pretty much any fruit, so over time I'm sure I will make them with strawberries, kiwi, peach, blackberry.... maybe even a little bit of honey or peanut butter!

Frozen Soy Yogurt Drops makes multiple snack servings
1 cup of soy yogurt (or regular if your bebe can have it!)
1/4 cup ripe raspberries

Cover a cookie sheet with tin foil or wax paper.

Mash the raspberries and yogurt together until they are completely mixed. If you wanted them to be smoother you could throw it in a food processor, but Tyler doesn't mind the texture. Using a small spoon place drops of the yogurt mixture onto the cookie sheet. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes, or until frozen. Pop the drops off the foil and either place them in a tupperware container to store them in the freezer or eat immediately!

I've got to be honest, these are so tasty that I find myself sneaking them sometimes. I might even have to make some of my own soon with my greek yogurt. Tyler is absolutely loving these and I'm glad I found the soy yogurt so she can finally enjoy stuff like this! She loves it unfrozen with some granola too!

For those of you looking for soy yogurt, I found our's at Fred Meyer in the natural food section. I have never seen it anywhere else but I also have never really looked so it's entirely possible other places have it, especially if they have a natural food area.

XO