Keeping Big Families Full, Homemade Cocoa Puffs, How to Make it Easy to Throw a Shindig, and More in Today’s Monday Morning Mix-Up 5/6/2013

We've got a special weekend ahead with our youngest's First Communion and a big shindig here afterward, so miracle of miracles, I'm actually getting this Monday post done ahead of time!  (Update: I added a couple pictures below.)

One thing I'll tell you, though, is that picking foods that can be made ahead makes everything so simple.  My mom and sister are also helping by bringing food, so the only stuff I'm making could easily all be done a couple of days prior:  everyone loves sloppy joes (grass-fed ground beef with heart, organic sauce ingredients, fermented buns), organic baked beans, and this carrot salad with lemon that the kids say is so good that it tastes like a lemon-lime soda!

***I know that a lot of us are throwing parties this spring and summer, please share what are your favorite meals that can be made ahead and that can be made in big quantities to feed large groups???

On to the randomness I have for you today…

• Our daughter, who loves to be in the kitchen, is chomping at the bit to make these homemade cocoa puffs – don't they look yummy-licious?
• I love that soaked nut butters are back on my resources page!!
• See what you think about this interesting post Heather published a while back:  Are Fever Reducers Fueling the Cancer Epidemic?
• My sweet friend, Kimberly, is the publicist for Sally Fallon Morell and the Weston Price Foundation, so wouldn't you love to hear her story?   In this podcast she tells how she and her husband, Keith, lost weight and regained good health.
• Doesn't this video on Canola oil just gross you right out?  Can you believe people still think that this super processed slop is a ‘healthy' oil???

• Some helpful comments came in on this Facebook post where a reader was asking for tips on how to feed her big family and keep everyone full.
• Did anyone have some tasty Mexican food yesterday on Cinco de Mayo?  Have you made the red enchilada sauce in Nourishing Traditions yet?  (If you don't have this book, you'll want to get it soon if you can, it's the “real food bible” for real foodies!)  Pin it here for later.   
• Heads up for anyone who is currently using the NuvaRing contraceptive: Over 1000 women are suing Merck & Co. (the company that makes NuvaRing) for injuries caused by the contraceptive including pulmonary embolism.   Read about the NuvaRing lawsuits here.
• Will you or your kids be spending a lot of time in swimming pools this summer?  Emily at Holistic Squid has some simple and inexpensive ideas for reducing absorption of pool chemicals.  Read about it here!  (Hint, I'll be keeping some coconut oil in my van all summer.)
• Doesn't this Monsanto info-picture from my Facebook page last week make your blood boil…?
• I don't want to end on that icky note, though, so instead, check out THIS precious picture, also from my Facebook page last week.  🙂
• Here's a family shot and a picture of our sweet little dude on his First Communion day: