Making It Easy for Mom
I’m just a mom on a budget, trying to keep my family healthy.
"Assume you are without a list, without a shopping plan. Then ask yourself: How much pleasure do I get from spending the extra twenty or thirty minutes or more in my favorite food store each week? That's what happens when you don't plan ahead of time. Thirty minutes a week taken over an adult's lifetime translates to between 62,400 and 78,000 minutes; 1,040 to 1,300 hours; or 65 to 81 waking days." Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D.
Stanley, Thomas J. (2001) The Millionaire Mind. Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMell.
My original purpose for this blog was to help my friends and family find ways to easily incorporate healthy eating habits into their daily lives. Let me do the work of the research, which really isn't work to me since I love every second of it, so that you can save money, time and learn some new things about nutrition. However, since my husband keeps suggesting to me that I should find a way to use my master's degree, I am going to be using this forum to offer up some super easy ideas to boost your children's brain power. Okay so here's week two. Enjoy!
Book Recommendation: Wheat Belly by: William Davis
If you wonder why I am almost completely gluten free in my recipes, please read this book. Davis clearly explains the problems with both the production of wheat and the response our bodies have to the current wheat we eat. It's shocking and frightening. Davis makes the analogy that today's genetically modified wheat is to wheat as closely related as chimpanzees are to humans. Remember that wheat is not only a genetic science experiment, but it increases your blood sugar quickly and to unhealthy levels. He gives many success stories of people curing whatever heath concern with the elimination of wheat. Not to mention while curing themselves they lose that big "wheat belly" or bloated midsection. Davis has the ability to connect with his readers, no matter who you are, and no matter how flexible you are to incorporating his recommendations. I don't want to give away all the exciting details, so read it. And then tell me what you think. I don't know anyone that has read this book and doesn't want to talk about it.
"Eliminate the wheat, eliminate the problem." William Davis
Davis, Willilam. (2011) Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Way Back to Health. New York, NY: Rodale.
Podcast Recommendation: Great Podcast on boosting your kid's immune system from Nutritional Weight and Wellness. These ladies know nutrition. Download this episode (right click and save)
The question posed by the nutritionists at Nutritional Weight and Wellness was asking if we realized that sending our kids off to school with a breakfast of cereal with milk and a cup of orange juice would suppress their immune systems for hours? Why? The amount of sugar this type of breakfast contains. This podcast will do the calculations for you, and you will be horrified when you hear how much sugar you and your kids are eating for breakfast. If you don't want to listen to the podcast, know that four grams of listed sugar on the ingredients is equal to eating one teaspoon of real sugar. Look at your cereal, milk and orange juice and do the calculations. But make sure you remember to check the serving size because my guess is most people eat more than one serving of each of these foods. Please share with us what you find out.
Another fascinating fact you will learn is that, "Eighty percent of your immune system is in your gut." Nutritional Weight and Wellness
Have you ever taken antibiotics? Have your children? Those antibiotics have destroyed both good and bad bacteria, and building back up your good bacteria is a must for your health. Probiotics give your intestines the good bacteria they need. What are probiotics and how much do I give to my kids? The nutritionists at Nutritional Weight and Wellness will give you types of probiotics and tips on when and how much to give.
Probiotics for Kids
Something I have learned from my kids this week: Apparently if I let them help make it, they will eat it. My daughter can be a picky eater. I decided to let her take control of making her lunch, and guess what? She ate her whole lunch! All I did was put everything on a plate and let her create her own sandwich. She really loves Vegenaise (great replacement for mayo) and was thrilled to do it all herself. This was not an isolated incident. She is now in charge of her daily lunch preparation, and she is eating a better lunch than ever before. Sometimes it's good to be reminded of the simple things that work.
Question of the week: I received a question this week asking about how to get your kids to try new veggies. The key word here is try because once they have tried them, about 10-13 times, they will eat them because they like them. They might not like every veggie, but they will find some to be delicious. I have found that giving the raw version of the fruit or veggies is the tastiest, and let's be honest, easier to prepare. On top of that, the raw version is almost always the most nutritious way to eat veggies and fruits. Okay, drumroll please...I bribe my kids. Isn't that what all good parents do? I have six strategies, and I will be posting one a week for the next six weeks.
Method 1: The Story: Go to the library and pick out some new books. Not just any books, but some really good ones. Two we used this week were The Frog Prince Continued, by Jon Scieszka and The Three Pigs, by David Wiesner.
During the meal have your child or children each pick a new library book. Before you turn to the next page (make sure it's a cliffhanger), make them take a bite of something the color orange, or yellow, or green, or you get the picture. You can also have them choose a shape, circle, cube, etc... It's also a big hit to cut some fun challenge shapes. We make it a game. The added bonus is they are learning their colors and shapes too. I still use this strategy with my picky daughter and my slow eating son.
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| Word Stairs Game |
Featured veggies: Fresh Salsa- Now this recipe is so simple and delicious. All you need to do is take 3 tomatoes, 2-3 jalapenos (without seeds for not so spicy, with seeds for spicy), one clove of garlic, and about a quarter of an onion. Food process this all up so it's liquid. In a small pot put a little olive oil and fry about 4 tiny slivers of onion. Add your food processed mix. Then add a little kosher salt. Cook it until it turns bright red. I make corn chips with sprouted grain corn tortillas (found by the frozen bread). I cut the tortillas into triangles, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. I bake them at 400 degrees until crispy. My daughter loves this!
Grocery List (meal plan based on a family of four)
Produce: You can replace the pineapples, clementines and apples for whatever you'd like, and what's in season in your region.
-2 containers of spinach
-2 pineapples
-1 bag of apples
-1 bag of clementines
-5lb bag of organic brown baking potatoes
-7-8 avocadoes
-3 red onions
-1 lime
-8 tomatoes
-6-9 jalapenos
-2 yellow onions
-1 lemon
-fresh garlic bunch
-4 red peppers (if you don't get organic, then scrub them well)
-2 orange peppers
-1 bunch of fresh oregano or a bag of dried oregano
Cold Stuff:
-1 container of cottage cheese (I would get organic for anything that has fat in it.)
-Udi's gluten free bread (find this in the frozen breads)
-1 bag of sprouted grain corn tortillas (find this by the frozen breads)
-1 container of whole milk plain yogurt
-1 bag of frozen berries (blueberries have some great stuff for your immune system)
-2 dozen cage free or organic eggs
-Box of organic butter
-1 container organic heavy cream
-1 container organic sour cream
-1 bag of shredded mozzarella cheese
-1 container of cream cheese
Meat:
-5 pork chops
-2-4 boxes Hormel (red and brown preservative free) lunchmeat
-1 lb grass fed or organic ground beef
-6-8 organic chicken breasts
-1lb mild italian sausage
Dry Stuff:
-1 jar of almond butter
-1 container of protein powder (we use Now Food Pea Protein)
-1-2 bags of tortillas
-Large bag of organic pinto beans
-Small bag of walnuts (or nuts you like)
-1 can organic corn
-1 bag of gluten free angel hair pasta
-1 jar of olives (the olive bar is best because the jars are filled with preservatives)
-1 jar organic plain pasta sauce
-1 box of Mary's Gone Crackers
-1 box or bag of Quinoa
-1 small can organic tomato sauce
-1 box organic chicken stock
Check your pantry:
-Panko gluten free breadcrumbs
-salt
-pepper
-italian seasoning
-olive oil
-soy sauce
-garlic powder
-onion powder
Breakfast Ideas:
Option 1: Cottage cheese and a piece of Udi's gluten free bread with almond butter
Option 2: Protein shake mixed with plain yogurt and some frozen organic berries
Option 3 and my favorite: Scrambled eggs cooked in butter with spinach
Sunday: Make a pot of pinto beans
-Boil water with about 1Tbsp of kosher salt. When the water is boiling, add the beans. When the beans begin to boil, transfer this to the crock pot. Cook on high 4-6 hours. We will use these beans a lot during the week.
Cut up two pineapples. Store in the fridge. Peel all your clementines and store in fridge. Wash all your apples so they are ready to be cut.
Let's hard boil about 3 eggs for our salad on Tuesday.
Monday:
Breakfast- Option 1
Lunch- Bean burritos
Refry your beans by placing a little olive oil in pan and bringing your beans to a boil. I usually do a scoop of beans per person. Then mush your beans when they are boiling. Add some cheese or avocado if you'd like. Or you could put salsa on them. Also have some fruit.
Dinner- Pork chops, mashed potatoes and avocado salad
First I peel my potatoes (we use about 6 organic brown baking potatoes) while I boil a large pot of water. When my potatoes are boiling, I begin to get my pork chops ready for the oven. I use 1-2 pork chops for each adult and my kids usually share one pork chop. I first get my bowls ready. Bowl 1 is about 3 eggs beaten. Bowl 2 is some gluten free flour. Bowl 3 is a mixture of Panko gluten free bread crumbs, italian seasoning, salt and pepper. I then dip my pork chop in bowl one, followed by bowl 2 and finally bowl 3. I fry them in a bit of olive oil to brown them. Then I stick them in the oven for about 30 min. at 350 degrees. While they are in the oven I am getting my avocado salad ready. You cut up into thin slices red onion (maybe half a red onion) and then thinly slice some tomatoes and avocados. Next lay the tomatoes on the bottom of a dish, followed by the avocados and on top the onion. I dress the salad with some freshly squeezed lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Your potatoes should be done by now and I like to use good fats (plan on posting information on this soon), so I use heavy cream, sour cream and butter when I mash them up. Not too much of any of the three. There you go. Dinner is served! If you are craving sweet after, have some fruit. And take some Zinc. Low zinc levels give you that sweet craving after you eat. I used to NEED dessert. After supplementing with zinc, I don't anymore.
Tuesday:
Breakfast- Option 2
Lunch- Salad with meat and hard boiled eggs
You can choose what to put in your salad, spinach, avocado, red onion, etc..., but also add your hard boiled eggs, and some lunch meat. If you like walnuts, add a few of these too. Eat some fruit too.
Dinner- Meat, potatoes and corn with salsa
This is my Mom's creation, and one that everyone loves. So so simple too! Okay I brown about 1lb of ground beef. In a separate pan I fry in a little olive oil with about 4 peeled, cubed brown baking potatoes. I season the potatoes with garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Then when all is cooked, I combine the meat and potatoes together and add a can of organic corn. I top this with some salsa (see featured veggie recipe). I also cut avocados in half (we eat them plain and scoop them out with a spoon) and cut up some fruit. Perfectly balanced, healthy, fast meal. Thanks Mom!
Wednesday:
Breakfast- Option 3
Lunch- Let's finish up those pinto beans and make some more bean burritos. You know what to do. Top it with salsa, cheese, and/or avocados. Have some fruit too.
Dinner- Salt and Pepper Chicken with noodles (think chicken scampi Olive Garden style)
Okay so take your 2-4 chicken breasts (use two for the night 3-4 if you and your family want to have it for lunch the next day). Cut into large cubes. Make a flour mixture of some gluten free flour mixed with kosher salt and black pepper, and if you'd like garlic powder and onion powder. Dip your cubes in that and fry in small amount of olive oil or coconut oil. DO NOT cover; I learned this the hard way; hence my capitals. Then when the chicken is almost done, add the red onion slices and orange pepper slices. I used orange and yellow peppers with a yellow onion. That was all I had in the fridge.
While the chicken is cooking, boil some water with a splash of olive oil. When the water is boiling, add your noodles and cook until soft. In a separate pan, melt some butter with some pressed garlic. When the noodles are done, put them in the pan with the butter and garlic and mix it all up. Now you have some Olive Garden style garlic pasta, but much healthier. You can make a small spinach salad with olives and red onion too. Have some fruit too. I don't think you will be hungry later.
Thursday:
Breakfast- Option 1
Lunch- Leftovers from last night. Easy, huh?
Dinner- Stuffed Peppers
This is my six year old's favorite meal. Take 3-4 red peppers and cut them lengthwise, and place them in a baking pyrex. In a pan brown your mild italian sausage; you can also use ground beef or ground turkey. If you don't use italian sausage make sure you season your meat with italian seasonings. Drain the fat and when it's almost cooked, add one cubed yellow onion. Then add some fresh (or dried) oregano. Enough to make it pretty green and smell good. When the onions are transparent, add about half a bag of shredded mozzarella cheese. Mix it all up so it looks cheesy. Then fill the peppers in the pyrex with the mixture. Use a jar of organic pasta sauce and pour over each pepper. Then top each pepper with some more mozzarella cheese. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees until the peppers are soft (about 40 min.). While the peppers are baking you can make a small salad and cut up some fruit. Your kids should love this one too.
Friday:
Breakfast- Option 3
Lunch- Meat roll-ups
Use about 5-6 pieces of meat and roll each one up with some cream cheese. I like to eat these with Mary's Gone Crackers. Make sure to eat some fruit too.
Dinner- Pollo a la plancha
In the am: Make guacamole-I cut up 1/4 red onion, 3 jalapenos, 1 clove garlic, add 3 avacados, one cubed tomato, some kosher salt and squeezed lemon juice. Then hammer out 2-4 chicken breasts (lunch next day) and marinate in the fridge all day in a little soy sauce (just enough that it is absorbed by the chicken and the chicken is light brown) with garlic powder and onion powder.
When you get home fry the chicken breasts in some olive oil and top with guacamole. I would also make some quinoa. Put a little olive oil and some kosher salt and fry one cup of quiona. When it's light brown, add one small can of tomato sauce into a measuring cup and fill the rest of the recommended liquid with chicken stock. Cook the recommended time.
And then on Saturday morning, I am going to wake up my husband to make breakfast! Forgive me for feeling entitled.
