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BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!

August 2, 2017 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!

Six years ago, I was struggling with the path my life had taken. I had two very small children, I had left my career working with trauma survivors, and I was doing erratic consulting work that bored me to death. I knew I needed a change and so I wrote an email to my closest friends and former colleagues and asked them a question: “If you could see me doing anything, what would it be?” I encouraged them to be creative, to be crazy, to think outside of the box. Every single person responded, and everyone said the same thing: something with food! As soon as I saw the word food, I knew I had found my answer.

Within the year, I completed a training program to become a health coach and launched The Balanced Kitchen. I had found my true calling! I was able to share my belief that cooking could be a simple, easy, healthy, and delicious part of life. I got to help people who really wanted to eat a healthier diet and cook for themselves and their families, but didn’t know where to begin. In short, I had the best job ever!

Today, I am sharing the latest development in this wonderful, challenging, exciting journey. I am SO excited to announce that I have become the new CEO (and owner) of The Six O’Clock Scramble!

 

What’s The Scramble?

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, The Six O’Clock Scramble, founded and run by the amazing Aviva Goldfarb, is an online meal planning service committed to helping busy people get quick, easy, and delicious meals on the table every night. Aviva and I share the same philosophy: making dinner should be a low stress and enjoyable experience and that family dinners are one of the most rewarding and important opportunities to connect with and nourish the people we love and ourselves!

The Scramble will give me a platform to encourage even more people to get back into the kitchen, to experiment with new tastes and cooking techniques, and to feed their friends and families healthy, delicious meals that are simple to prepare.

 

But What About The Balanced Kitchen?

Some of you may be asking, what will happen to The Balanced Kitchen, to the recipes found here, and to my weekly musings on food, feeding kids, feeding ourselves, and life balance? The answer is twofold: my recipes will stay archived here on The Balanced Kitchen, but my new recipes and posts will all be on The Scramble.

I invite you to join me at The Scramble to continue getting inspiration and ideas for feeding yourself and your family well. In an effort to make that as simple for you as possible, I will be merging my list with The Scramble’s. What this means is that you will continue to receive emails from me from time to time with recipes, cooking ideas, and lots of other opportunities to experiment with cooking and eating, just from The Scramble rather than from The Balanced Kitchen.

 

Join The Scramble Family!

Finally (and perhaps most importantly), as an enticement and in celebration of this big change, I am offering a Friends & Family discount if you’d like to join The Scramble’s meal planning service. I love and believe in this service because it helps to make cooking that much easier and more accessible. So, if getting a meal plan delivered to your inbox or phone each week sounds appealing, if a generated-for-you shopping list sounds amazing, if access to a database of over 1,000 carefully curated recipes sounds wonderful, then join us! (And if you aren’t sure we have a 2 week free trial, so there’s no risk!)

Thank you for your support of The Balanced Kitchen over these past years. I have loved carving out my space in the food and cooking conversation. I have loved working with you as clients, meeting you at workshops, and sharing ideas with you online. I look forward to our relationship growing over at The Scramble! Sign up for a free trial now (and use the code FANDF17 to get 25% off all memberships now through August 16th).

Happy Cooking, Happy Eating, and Happy Scrambling!

Filed Under: Baked Goods, Breakfast, Cooking Basics, Cooking with Kids, Culture of Food, Dessert, Dinner, Drinks, Family Dinner, Feeding Kids, Freezer Cooking, Healthy Eating, Life Balance, Lunch, Lunch Box Food, Money, Picky Eaters, Quick Dinners, Sides, Slow Cooker, Snacks, Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized Tagged With: changes, meal planning, opportunities, six o'clock scramble, transitions

Strawberry-Rhubarb-Mint Fizz

May 21, 2017 By Jessica Braider 1 Comment

Strawberry-Rhubarb-Mint Fizz

This month’s Recipe Redux challenge is pushing me out of my comfort zone! We were encouraged to come up with a cocktail/mocktail recipe for May celebrations. While I’m super comfortable combining and experimenting with flavors in a dish, doing so in a cocktail is totally uncharted territory for me.

I decided that I wanted my cocktail to be seasonal and fun and since some members of my family, myself included, have been soaking up as much rhubarb as possible while this seasonal treat is around, I figured it was a natural starting point. I am a big, big fan of sparkling wine and when it comes to celebrating, I will always choose bubbles. So with those two parameters in mind, I set out to create something simple and fun.

This Strawberry-Rhubarb-Mint Fizz is so, SO much fun. It is fizzy and bright, and since the main ingredient is an infused simple syrup, you can make it into a cocktail or a mocktail (my boys have been loving their strawberry-rhubarb soda!). If you have never made a simple syrup before, it is called a simple syrup because it is just that: simple. All you are doing is dissolving sugar in some water, and in this case, some other flavors. The other thing that is great about simple syrup is that it will last for a long time in the fridge, so don’t worry about having to use it all up in one go (or make a huge punch, which would definitely make you the life of the party!).

Oh, and a fun little perk: after you strain your simple syrup you will be left with a sort of fruit puree. Don’t throw it out! If possible, pull out the mint leaves, and then use it as a topping for pancakes, French toast, waffles, yogurt, oatmeal, etc.

So really today you are getting three recipes for the price of one! A simple syrup, a cocktail, and a fruit puree recipe. Cha-ching! I hope that these recipes will bring much happiness and laughter to your celebrations this season!

Strawberry-Rhubarb-Mint Fizz
 
Save Print
Prep time
1 min
Cook time
25 mins
Total time
26 mins
 
Author: Jessica Braider
Recipe type: Drinks
Ingredients
  • For Simple Syrup:
  • ¾ cup chopped rhubarb
  • ¾ cup whole strawberries (fresh or frozen)
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ¾ cup water
  • 8 large mint leaves
  • For Fizz:
  • 4 oz dry sparkling white wine
  • 2 tablespoons strawberry-rhubarb-mint simple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon brandy (optional)
Instructions
  1. For Simple Syrup: Place all of the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is totally collapsed. Pour the mixture into a fine mesh strainer, or a regular strainer lined with a cheesecloth, and gather the syrup into a bowl or jar. Put it into the refrigerator to chill, then put the fruit puree into a sealed container and save for breakfast!
  2. For Fizz: Pour the sparkling wine into your champagne flute, add the simple syrup, and brandy, if using, and then give it a very gentle stir to combine. Celebrate!
3.5.3226

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Filed Under: Drinks, Uncategorized Tagged With: cocktail, drinks, mint, mocktail, rhubarb, strawberry

Jessica Braider

Hi! I'm Jessica. I love delicious food that is simple and easy. As a busy mom, I am always on the lookout for ways to make life easier and tastier! Read More…

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