A Meal By Mail

I have a dear friend in Alabama who recently had a sweet baby girl.  With all my heart, I wish I was closer so I could go over and take dinner for her family.  I know how fun it can be to have a newborn and still have to prepare dinners for a hungry family!  I know it takes a while for the whole family to adjust to the newest little member.  And so, when dinners were brought to our home just a couple months ago, we were so very grateful.  I wanted so very much to offer my sweet friend the same thing.  But I live in Washington -- and it's not super convenient to drive to Alabama to deliver a meal ;). 

But once again, THRIVE Life came to the rescue!  It occurred to me that I do have a way to offer my friend a meal for her family that would be very quick and easy to prepare.  Literally just add water!!!  So this morning, I prepped a whole meal for her family and shipped it off in the mail -- all using THRIVE!  I posted some pictures of it to my Facebook business page ("THRIVEing with Hila," if you're interested in following me!) and had a request that I share the recipes.  So here they are, the recipes I used for a meal by mail for my dear friend!

VEGETARIAN TACO SOUP  (original recipe posted here, but I changed some measurements)
 1/2 cup THRIVE Instant Black Beans
1/4 cup THRIVE Taco TVP
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons THRIVE Sweet Corn
3 tablespoons THRIVE Chili Peppers
1/4 cup THRIVE Tomato Powder
2 tablespoons THRIVE Chopped Onions
1 tablespoon Taco Seasoning
3/4 teaspoon ranch dressing mix

Bring 4 cups water to boil.  Add contents of bag and simmer 15 minutes.  Add additional water to your preference.


GOLDEN CORNBREAD (this is a THRIVE Life recipe)
1 cup THRIVE Cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour*
2/3 cup white sugar*
1/2 cup THRIVE Butter Powder
2 tablespoons THRIVE Whole Egg Powder
2 tablespoons THRIVE Nonfat Powdered Milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Put contents of bag into a medium mixing bowl.  Add 1 1/2 cups water and stir (or whisk) until well blended and lumps are gone.  Pour into a greased 8x8 pan.  Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to set 15 to 20 minutes before serving.


SUMMER (BERRY) LEMONADE (recipe from the can of Summer Lemonade)
1 cup sugar*
2 tablespoons THRIVE Summer Lemonade
berries of your choice (I included THRIVE Strawberry Slices and THRIVE Raspberries)

Mix contents of larger bag with 2 quarts (8 cups) water.  Chill.  Add berries of your choice to individual servings.

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

All of these things can be done in jars as well.  In fact, we will be making the Golden Cornbread at our upcoming jar meal event in September!  So if you're interested in attending, let me know so I can get you the details!  The cornbread is awesome, by the way...  My family had it with chili on Friday (the chili recipe will also be available at the jar meal event in September!).

I noted in the instructions to them that I recommend these be used within a month, since they are not vacuum sealed.  At the jar meal events, we do vacuum seal the jars and that means they are good for 5 years!

I am truly excited I found a way to get a meal to my friend.  She is an amazing woman and we have a friendship I treasure beyond words.  And I hope this dinner makes at least one of these days with a new little miracle just a little bit easier -- and yummy to boot!

If you'd like to know more about this and how you can get all these great ingredients, contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or visit my website:  www.thriveingNilla.thrivelife.com/THRIVEingNilla.

Happy THRIVEing!

Farfalle Basil Marinara

This is now one of my go-to dinners!  Especially in the summer!  It's stove-top.  It's fast.  And it's delicious!  My whole family loves it!  It was served at a Power Up Seattle, and I knew I wanted to have it again at home!  And now we have it again and again :).

FARFALLE BASIL MARINARA
2 cups farfalle (bowtie) pasta*
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon garlic
1 1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons THRIVE Chopped Onions
1/2 cup THRIVE Tomato Dices
1/4 cup THRIVE Classic Tomato Sauce, dry
1/4 teaspoon THRIVE Chef's Choice Seasoning Blend
1/2 tablespoon Basil*
1/4 cup THRIVE Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes until done.  Drain and set aside.

Sweat oil and garlic together in saucepan.  Add all remaining ingredients except Parmesan and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes.

Toss pasta with sauce and Parmesan and bring back to a simmer.  Simmer another minute or so and then enjoy!

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

As written, this recipe makes about 3 servings.  But it would be very easy to double it for a larger family!  Seriously, our dinner was done in about 30 minutes from start to finish that night!  We served this dish alongside sauteed spinach, fresh strawberries, and French bread!  Yum!

And let me just say that I love the Classic Tomato Sauce!  I never would have considered buying it had it now been for trying this recipe at the Power Up.  Now I consider it a home store staple!

Happy THRIVEing!

Q-Pon Cooking: August 2015: THRIVE Peanut Flour: Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Truffles

It's time to celebrate!  My sweet baby boy has slept for 5 solid hours the last 2 nights (and here's to hoping this isn't a fluke, but a trend!).  All you moms out there know this is a reason to celebrate!

I can't celebrate by eating these (due to the chocolate coating).  But I can celebrate by sharing them with all of you :)!  Just one more reason to love the THRIVE Peanut Powder!

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE DOUGH TRUFFLES
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 2/3 cup THRIVE Vanilla Sugar Cookie Mix
2/3 cup THRIVE Peanut Flour
2 tablespoons water
10 ounces chocolate for dipping

Cream butter.  Add next 3 ingredients and mix until a dough forms.  Form into 1/2-inch balls and freeze 15 minutes (for easier handling).

Melt chocolate.  Dip balls and allow to dry completely.  SAVOR!  And have one for me ;).

Happy THRIVEing!!!

Why I Prep

Preppers are a group who believe in being prepared for the unexpected.  I consider myself a prepper, even if I'm not the best at it.  I believe in being prepared.  I believe in being self-reliant as much as possible.  I believe in being able to help others when things are hard.

This is part of why I love THRIVE Life and my opportunity to be a consultant and share it with others. 

I think many people think it is silly to store a year's supply of food.  Silly to have a 72-hour kit.  Silly to expect something awful.  Perhaps we preppers seem like doomsday people.  I don't know.  I just know I feel peace knowing I am working to have food to feed my family.  That I am working to make sure we have potable water in an emergency. 

One night, while up in the middle of the night feeding a sweet baby, I came across this article from the New Yorker.  Perhaps you have seen it.  Yeah, I'll admit it is a scary article.  And it made me even more driven to prepare even more.  Since that article had so much interest (and scared a lot of people in the Pacific Northwest), there have been a couple other articles written.  You can read those here and here.  This is why I am a prepper.

The time is NOW to get prepared. I still have more prepping to do myself (for example, we don't have a tent...).  But I'm grateful for what I do have at this point to bring me peace of my mind concerning my family.  I'm grateful I have the opportunity to share THRIVE Life, a company with great-tasting, healthy, convenient food, which also happens to have a phenomenal shelf-life and will enable people to have THRIVEing lives in spite of difficult challenges which may come (in whatever form they may be in!).  And remember, as one of the articles states:  it is better to do something than nothing -- even if you can't do it all.  Start small.  But start!

Summer Lime Bars

So even though I don't produce enough milk to sustain the life of my babies, I do produce enough that I can eat something that upsets their tummies...  And with our little guy, one of those things, I'm pretty sure, is chocolate.  Heavy Sigh!  Chocolate is one of my favorite food groups ;).  It's how I like to satiate my sweet cravings.

So I had to find a new way to do that -- and one of my other favorite things is lemon-y and lime-y stuff.  So I started thinking about lemon bars...  Which led me to thinking about lime bars -- with THRIVE Summer Limeade!  So I gave it a go!  And it was a success.  The flavor of these bars was wonderful!  I did get a little distracted while they were baking, so they came out a little darker than I wanted.  And I opted not to add food coloring, so they don't look lime-y.  But they are!  And they are oh-so-good!

Here's how I did it!

SUMMER LIME BARS
For the Crust:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup THRIVE Butter Powder + 2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup white sugar*
2 cups all-purpose flour*
For the lime layer:
2 eggs
2 tablespoons THRIVE Whole Egg Powder + 1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups white sugar*
1/4 cup all-purpose flour*
2 tablespoons THRIVE Summer Limeade powder + 2 tablespoons water
THRIVE Powdered Sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, blend together softened butter, THRIVE Powdered Butter Powder plus water, 2 cups flour, and 1/2 cup sugar.  Press into the bottom of a greased 9x13-inch pan.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden.

In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/4 cup flour.  Whisk in the eggs, THRIVE Whole Egg Powder plus water, and THRIVE Summer Limeade plus water.  (I recommend using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer on high speed to fully blend the egg powder).  Pour over the baked crust.

Bake for an additional 15 minutes in the preheated oven.  The bars will firm up as they cool.  Once cooled, sprinkled with THRIVE Powdered Sugar.

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

I love the THRIVE Summer Limeade.  It is so versatile!  I'm excited about using it in a variety of ways in the months ahead :)!  But it's a seasonal item, so if you want to grab some, you should do it soon!  You can shop at my website: THRIVEingNilla.thrivelife.com/THRIVEingNilla or you can contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com!

Happy THRIVEing!

72-Hour Kit: Infant/Baby Kit

Well, we once had a baby 72-Hour Kit.  And then our baby grew into a toddler!  Which meant we then had a toddler 72-Hour Kit!  You can check out that link if you'd like to see what we include for our toddler's kit.

But as many of you know, we recently added a handsome baby boy to our family.  Which meant we needed a new baby 72-Hour Kit!  And now I'm posting it here to share with everyone to help you prepare a 72-Hour Kit for your baby!

As with all of the kits I've shared here, your baby's 72-Hour kit may look different than our baby's.  For one thing, I have a low milk supply, so I cannot exclusively breast-feed our baby in an emergency situation (though wouldn't that be nice!?!).  Therefore, we need to make sure we include formula and at least one bottle for our little man.  And this means we also need to consider having extra water for his kit.

Here's what we have included for our baby boy's kit for early baby-hood (he's almost 2 months):

• 12 diapers
• pack of wipes
• burp rag
• 2 changes of clothes (one warmer) for summer weather
• 1 bottle
• 6 emergency water packs
• 2 small cans formula
• small bottle of baby wash
• toy

Something else to remember with a baby kit is that babies grow fast.  You will want to try to remember to change out diapers and clothes in the kit when you change them out for everyday use.  For us, I chose to start out with size 2 diapers in the kit from the get-go.  I figured I'd rather have too-big diapers rather than too-small ones!  And as your baby learns to eat foods, you'll want to include those items too!  So you may find yourself updating your baby's kit more frequently (perhaps every 3 months, instead of every 6!).  But better to keep it up-to-date in case of emergency!

Hope this helps you get better prepared if you have babies at home!  If I can help you prepare in any way, please let me know by contacting me at THRIVingNilla@gmail.com.

Happy THRIVEing!

To check out all of the information I have shared about our 72-Hour Kits, follow this link.

Q-Pon Cooking: July 2015: Sausage Crumbles -- Pizza Pasta

It's nearly the end of July, which means time is running out to snag the great deal on THRIVE Sausage!  It's the Q-Pon item for just a few more days, so let me know if you want to get some before the opportunity passes you by!

THRIVE Sausage Crumbles is easily one of my favorite THRIVE Life products!  I have used it in so many recipes.  Here is a small sampling of those recipes:

Mountain Man Mix
Italian Bowtie Pasta (which can also be a jar meal!)
Sausage and Pepper Brunch Pizza
Sasuage Zuppa Toscana (which can also be a jar meal!)

Truth is, before I was introduced to THRIVE Sausage Crumbles, I maybe bought sausage 2 or 3 times a year.  Now that they are a part of my home store -- and so easy to use! -- I use sausage so much more!  It's awesome.

So here is one more recipe for you to try out with the awesome THRIVE Sausage Crumbles!  And remember, if you want to grab some at this great price, contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or you can order through my website at www.thriveingnilla.thrivelife.com/thriveingnilla.

PIZZA PASTA
1 cup THRIVE Sausage Crumbles (I cut this back to about 3/4 cup for my family's meat preferences)
1/4 cup THRIVE Chopped Onion
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 cup THRIVE Tomato Sauce (also on special this month!)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil
2 cups rotini pasta (or pasta of your choice)
1/2 cup THRIVE Mozzarella Cheese (also on special this month!)
1/4 cup THRIVE Parmesan Cheese
Sliced Pepperoni
2 cups water

Add all ingredients except peperoni and both cheeses to a saucepan and add 2 cups water.  Bring to a boil.  Boil about 15 minutes or until pasta is done.  While there is still thick juicy sauce, add the pepperoni on top and then sprinkle the cheeses on top.  Broil 3 to 5 minutes until cheese is melted.  (You can choose to re-hydrate the cheeses first and they will melt better).

This can also be prepared as a jar meal!  I will be doing it one of these days to hopefully use at a future jar meal event!

I didn't invent this recipe, but got it from a consultant who shared it in a facebook group.  I think it's quite tasty!  And totally kid-pleasing!  We rounded our meal out with grapes and salad ;).

Happy THRIVEing!