Wednesday, October 30, 2013

All Candied Out

It is pretty hard for healthy food to compete with a holiday that revolves almost completely around candy. If you ask my kids "candy" doesn't come in any farther than second when asked what the best part of Halloween was.

Have you seen the video going around that films a study that was conducted and has kids eating "treats" made out of vegetables and made to be veggie flavored. The part where they eat the nori-pops just about kills me every time.

But you don't have to be the worst house on the block and give out healthy treats. Or at least, not as bad for you as candy - "treats".

Peanuts - kinda fun and different, you'll need to be careful of children with peanut allergies, but those kiddos have to be careful around most candies anyway.

Pumpkin Seeds - you can make them salty or sweet. Save them from your jack-o-lantern carving and call it a double whammy!

Cereal or Granola bars - watch your sugar intake on these, they can get a little high if you aren't paying attention, but you can find ones that are made without excess sugar and without high fructose corn syrup.

Carrot Sticks - you can buy them in individual sized packages. Watch out for the ones with dip included you can undo all the good you are trying to do with those sneaky servings of fat and calories.

String Cheese - low in calories, high in protein and calcium, and who doesn't love to make long strings and gobble them down.

Popcorn balls. - while you can make them from home when you get a craving, most parents will frown on homemade treats during trick-or-treating. You can buy factory sealed ones at your local store and be the cool house that is handing out whole grains!

Trail Mix - lots of varieties, lots of choices, pick one that is more fruit and nuts than candy and you are good to go.

Pretzels - We were lucky enough to catch on to these a while ago, they come in trick or treat sized bags and we stock up for the rest of the year. They make great take-to-the-class school snacks.

Apples and Oranges or Raisins - Fruit always makes a great portable snack and kids love it - everyone loves it.

You can always think outside the box and give away toothbrushes, nickels, or little trinket toys. Anything that comes in a single serving or snack size would be great - applesauce, fruit purees, and snack packs of fruit packed in juice.  Get creative, you could be the most popular house on the block.



Monday, October 28, 2013

Farm Stand - Late Season (Eye and Belly "candy")

 It is getting to be the end of the season for almost all the farmer's markets and farm stands. If you local one hasn't closed yet, It will soon. So it is the perfect time to rush out there and buy yourself some veggies!
All types of winter squash are available as well as onions, apples, peppers, eggplant, and pumpkins!

 I just love winter squash with their interesting colors and shapes. And they are so wicked cheap!


You can stock up on them while your local market has them on super sale and store them at home. You can store them in your basement or garage. So long as you can store them at 45°-50°F in a dry place they can last for up to three months.
 Don't forget that at in almost any recipe you can exchange one winter squash for another. The texture may vary a bit as well as the intensity of the flavor, but if your recipe calls for acorn squash and you don't have one, feel free to use a butternut or hubbard squash.
 The apples are lovely and at the peak of their season right now. They are crispy and ready to pick and eat. What flavors are available locally in your area?

 Don't forget the pumpkins. It is pumpkin season after all. You can make everything from cookies, cakes, pies and breads with pumpkins - you can make them into soups, sauces and eat them plain - in either sweet or savory ways. Is there anything this orange veggie can't do?!
 The hot peppers are on, and they are HOT! Did you notice the stretch marks on the peppers that means they are extra hot inside. I think that means that I am extra spicy too.

 We saw all the colors of the rainbow today at the market. The baby even cried when it was time to go. Be sure you are still getting out there and getting your fresh veggies from your local growers while you can.

Friday, October 25, 2013

The one kitchen chore I know you don't do

Do you know the basic rules of kitchen safety? Clean, Cook, Separate, Chill! Have you taken the Food $ense lesson on Food Safety, or visited the new website area for Cooking Safely.





Here are a few kitchen quick tips for cleaning and staying safe.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

World Food Day

Today is World Food Day. Are you doing anything locally or at home to celebrate?  Here are a few ideas if you are feeling charitable and want to help some one else.

Apply for Snap benefits.

One World - Everyone Eats

Food Day. org

The Hunger Site

No Kid Hungry

Feeding America

and remember we here are Food $ense are all about helping YOU to help stretch your food budget, increase your cooking skills and your confidence.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Family Mealtime - The Plan in Action

I wrote earlier this week about family mealtimes and how hard it was for me to accomplish. I knew a little bit about why it was so important, but I have learned a lot more about why it is something we all (no matter your family size!) should be doing. and some great tips on ways to make it happen. (remember realistic achievement, not perfection)

Here is a website completely dedicated to helping you make family meals a reality. There are articles, recipes and tools to help you. You can read about how to ease the battle of the vegetable, teach your kids how to cook and how to make mealtimes even more fun. This website is a fantastic resource that can you get you started and keep you going to dinner together as a family. 

My Plate has a page on family mealtimes. The tips are quick to read and very helpful. They even have conversation starters and ideas for what your kids can do to help at dinner time. 

Kid's Health has some information on family meals. They break it down into three easy steps: Plan, Prepare, and Enjoy! They even had a little graphic to remind us that we should enjoy mealtimes and cooking together. That cooking for ourselves and eating "in" together really can be so much nicer than grabbing some unhealthy "on the go". 

And the ultimate crusader for family mealtime The Food Nanny. There are so many ideas and solutions to problems here and she is so cute and fun you could spend a whole day (at least) exploring her website and reading her books. From her ideas of theme nights to her philosophy of living the True Life, she is amazing and you will end up loving her as much as I do. 

Are you getting excited about doing this? Me Too! For those of us who are serious about taking better care of ourselves and our families, this is one of the best things that we can do - and get real results. 

Just a parting thought, this is a long term - long range goal thing. Aim for three nights a weeks to start, or even three meals a week - make one of them a breakfast - it doesn't always have to be dinner. And if you don't make it today, then try again tomorrow and the next day, and next week too. This is one of those little changes that is going to add up to be amazing for everyone. Good Luck to All of us, We can do This!




Monday, October 21, 2013

Family Mealtime - The Mission

One of the last lessons in the Food $ense at home lesson series is Family Mealtime. I have watched the lesson a few times, and I think I know in the back of my head why it is important, but honestly this is a really really hard one for me. It isn't hard for my kids yet, with schedules and the like, but it is hard for me, because I get so frazzled at the chaos.

Sitting down to dinner with all 9 of us is something that I practically dread. I don't mind the cooking and surprisingly as it is, I don't mind the clean up as much as you might imagine, but sitting there at the table amid the chaos makes me want to scream. (not that anyone would notice I was screaming too!!)

Family mealtime at our house resembles that scene in  7 Brides for 7 Brothers where Milly cooks her first meal and calls them to the dinner table and they throw food and tip the table over and there is a wrestling match over rolls. I think in the movie there is even someone that uses their plate as a scoop in the serving bowl. This is very much like what dinner feels like to me when we are all together.

Now that I have made you think my children have the worst manners ever, that isn't true. It just feels that way to me.  I would much rather feed them, clean up their mess and then sit down to a nice quiet dinner and enjoy the food that I cooked without having to say 16 times, "now, be kind".

So as I exploring the new website and came across the Eat Together area, I thought, "Okay, this is an area that I need to improve in, what can I learn here"  and there is was... Like a glaring neon sign with my name on it....

 Learn how to make family mealtime realistic and enjoyable for your busy family. realistic And enjoyable, I am all over that.... Let's see what we can learn. 



1.  Plan meals ahead of time. We are doing that pretty good at our house. I have learned and finally am rembering that a little bit of time spent meal planning goes a long way towards reduced stress and being able to answer the dreaded question, "what's for dinner". 
2.  Schedule a set time for meals. We don't have too much of an issue with this yet. The events we have planned aren't around dinner time and the kids schedules don't prevent us from being able to be together. 
(So far, I am doing really good!) 
3.  Involve all family members in the meal prep and clean up. Oh man! this is a terrible one for me, I would just rather do it myself that deal with the hassle of "helping" my kids to do it. I get frustrated and then I get upset, and then I have to do the job anyway because I have given up on doing the task together or I decide that it isn't done good enough. This is a real personal issue that I need to work on. I know that I need to raise my children to be able to do things for themselves and I truly don't want to send adults out into the world that can't scramble eggs or load the dishwasher.  Perhaps I can menu plan easy meals with kid friendly preparations at first so they can use basic skills and I can be patient. I can also plan family mealtime dinners on days when I don't have other major stresses to deal with. That way I can have all my patience to devote to this important event.  
4.  Turn off the TV and all other electronic devices, including phones.  There are some in the family that are more guilty of this than others. I think if I was willing to put my phone away for the designated time, the kids would be more than willing to do so in exchange for having undivided parental attention.          
5.  Have pleasant conversation and leave discipline and other negative emotions for another time.   This one is going to be a doosey for me. The thought of being able to do it looms before me like a Mount Everest serving a casserole. 
So for me to be able to have family mealtime with my kids, it sounds like we are going to need to have a family meeting / meal about family mealtime.  
I think tonight when we all sit down together, which will be a shock because mom isn't doing the dishes while the kids eat, I will say, "isn't this nice" and "what can each of us do to make this even better". Perhaps with their help and efforts as well as mine, we can make this into something that works for us. 
If I was in a situation where someone asked me if I was willing to do something that would help keep my children off drugs, prevent risky behavior, help them get better grades, and be better people, my goodness! of course I would say "yes" and I would be willing to do it too.  That is going to be my family mealtime mission.  I can do this...   and so can YOU! 

Friday, October 18, 2013

Ways you can participate with me

I thought it might be a good idea to pull all the ways you can participate with me and Food $ense online in one place. Sort of like a table of contents.


So follow along, and chat along and giggle along and join not just the conversation, but the lifestyle. We can do it together. 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Fries - From some "new" vegetables

I have been having a craving for days, for french fries, the greasy, salt, for-sure-no-good-for-you french fries.  Today I decided to do something about it. The kids are out of school on holiday and they are wanting "kid food".  The television has taken control of their taste buds and they have a craving too.

And so for fun tonight, we made homemade french fries, and we experimented with the veggies that we made them out of.

Here is the secret recipe for making anything into a french fry.



Baked Vegetable Fries
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat it with cooking spray.
Cut the vegetables into uniform sizes.
 ( These is where the tradition "fry" shape comes in, but you can cut them into rounds, ovals or even squares if you are so inclined) 
Arrange the pieces on the prepared baking sheet, in a single layer.
Bake for 20 for 30 minutes, until golden brown and crisp.





One simple recipe, endless possibilities. The instructions above can work for any and all of the following vegetables:





• Zucchini and yellow squash: unpeeled and cut into rounds or fries
• Avocado: pitted and peeled; cut into wedges, dipped in flour, then egg whites and then seasoned bread crumbs
• Portobello mushrooms: stems removed; cut into thin strips
• Yellow Onion: very thinly sliced into 1/8-inch-thick rounds
• Carrots: peeled and cut on a diagonal for oval pieces or cut into sticks for fries
• Butternut squash: peeled and cut into wedges or fries

And of course:

• Yukon gold and red potatoes: peeled or unpeeled; cut into wedges or fries
• Sweet potatoes: peeled and cut into wedges or fries


So don't let them fall vegetables pass you by without turning them into our favorite way to eat a vegetable. "with Fry Sauce, of course"!


Monday, October 14, 2013

Oven Baked French Toast

Here is the story of a giant bag of rolls. \


A giant bag of delicious rolls, but rolls that were going to go bad if I didn't use them. We ate them with soup yesterday and then we ate little sandwiches on them. But today, when faces with this giant bag of rolls, I couldn't face another little round ball of bread - no matter how delicious it was in the first place.

Enter - Oven Baked French Toast.



I ripped the rolls into little pieces and whipped up some eggs and milk with added vanilla and cinnamon. I let it sit in the fridge all day and soak in; then baked it for about 30 minutes at 350.


I served it with syrup and cinnamon sugar (the traditional way to eat french toast here at our house). Dinner was a hit and the rolls are used up because I made a pan for my sister who is sick. (Get Well Soon, K)

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Create a .... Pantry Noodle Soup

I am back from annual conference and I am recharged and ready to go! Like my vacuum after the battery has been plugged in and has full charge, it practically sucks my carpet off the floor. It was fantastic to be introduced to the new curriculum that Food $ense is going to be teaching all of us. I can't wait to learn and explore it more. We are all going to be such kitchen whiz-kids, dinner is No match for US!!

So I learned that the first thing we needed was a well stocked kitchen, well not even that, we needed to have a few cans of something in our pantry. If you attend a Food $ense class or go to the website you can get This awesome handout, that can tell you what you might need in your pantry and some ideas of what to do with it. Remember, this is NOT about going out and buying everything on the list, it is about buying what you can when it is one sale and restocking when you can afford it. The point of having a well stocked pantry is to save us all money, not cost us our entire budget.  Here is the Food $ense lesson page about Cooking Basics and starting to equip your kitchen and stock your pantry. 


Tonight I got to put my new lessons into action for the first time. I spend the whole day working hard to finish a project that is due next week for a friend of mine. And happens so often dinner time rolled around. My husband says, "so, what's for dinner" and I replied, "are you hungry or are you just asking because you are curious?"  Turns out that in spite of all my lovely knitting that I had accomplished the people that live in this house with me still expected to be fed! Can you imagine? :) 

My first thought was, "those doritos tacos sound pretty good", and then I got a hold of myself and thought, "I have this, I have handouts and I attended classes and I tell people they can do this, so can I". 

 I started with two cans of chicken and pasta, this was a good place to start. I put the pasta on to bowl and thought, I can either make a soup or a pasta dish, what sounds good to me (besides horrific taco heartburn)?  It was a chilly day today and so I thought that soup sounded better. I check in the fridge to see what I had. Snack bags of veggies! I sneaked the carrots and celery from a few bags and chopped them up and threw them into the pot of noodles, then I added the cans of drained chicken and lastly to actually make it chicken noodle soup, I added a bit of S.O.S. mix!   I called it "creamy chicken noodle soup" and most of the kids had two bowls. The baby had her bowl empty and on top of her head, and dinner was saved.


Tuesday, October 8, 2013

First Day of Annual Conference

I am at Food $ense annual training and I am learning a million zillion things that I am going to be able to share with you. I am so excited I can hardly wait to get back home and get into my kitchen in from of my camera. 


Today as our last challenge of the day and first experience with our new curriculum we had to make our own dinner with just pantry stables that we were given and of course, we had to stick with all the basics that we have been teaching, My Plate, Family Mealtime, Half your Grains Whole all of it had to make it's way into the lesson. It was so challenging and so creative and FUN!

 My assigned group was an eclectic mix of people and their jobs here at Food $ense. We had 2 NEA's on our team, but one of them was hired just yesterday. Welcome to the Jungle (Guns and Roses screaming loudly) style.

We took our pantry items and had to make ourselves dinner. A My Plate approved dinner. could... we  ... do IT? ?!?   oh Yes, Yes We Can!

Carrot sticks with delicious yogurt pepper dip. (it was delicious and very pretty)






Tortilla soup. the perfect amount of spice, chopping took the longest and even that was done in 15 minutes or less. 15 minute chop / 15 simmer Dinner is DONE  Bazinga!!  It was a great chicken tortilla soup. we cut down on the sugar and fat as much as possible by rinsing the items that came from cans and not adding any extra salt or fats. The flavor of the chilils and the peppers was enough to carry the soup over the top!




Out sweet little ending to this dinner party was a fruit and yogurt parfait. We layered vanilla yogurt with canned peaches, topped that with rough cut oats and sliced almonds. How can something this simple. Be This Delicious! It could lead to an uprising....  All food should be so simple and Delicious..



I believe that I have just stumbled onto the secret of the Creates program. Simple, Pure, Healthy food can be Easy and Delicious!  Lucky for all of us, It isn't going to be a secret anymore!  Contact your county supervisor and request a lesson, attend a class. go online and participate in the online learning and grow your brain a shocking amount. 

I learned a lot today. I hope my brain can stop thinking about it long enough to rest so I can sleep and go learn about 100times MORE tomorrow.  We are going to have the BEST year!!

Monday, October 7, 2013

Cantaloupe Vanilla Jam

One of the coolest new things over at the new Food $ense website is the area that helps you to PLAN. If you have some time after your blog reading today, you should really head over there and explore a little.  

This weekend I was at my local grocery store and they had cantaloupes for 1.00$ each. I don't know about your family, but my kids love them some cantaloupe. So I bought a few of them. I bought them with the intention to eat one and then to make the others into a new Cantaloupe Vanilla Jam recipe that I came across in a new cookbook. 


First I had to deseed, peel and chop up my cantaloupe. At this point, a lot of it got eaten because as I mentioned my kids love it, and Hey! it is already cut up and reading for eatin'!  After I cut it up, I seeded the vanilla bean and added the sugar and set it on the stove to cook. 

 I got my jars all sterilized and lid prepared.  This whole process went a lot smoother than I thought that it was going. This is only my second time water bath canning and my first time doing it by myself.
 I followed the recipe and processing instructions exactly and I am happy to report the jam turned out beautifully. I am so pleased with myself. I found the cantaloupe on sale for a crazy deal, I had everything else already at home and so all I had to do we set aside a few hours in the afternoon to make the jam.
 Here is a close up of the jars. I have to say they are even prettier in person.

Now, hop on over to the Food $ense website and check out & explore our awesome new website! This experience was all about being in a position to take advantage of a local store deal on something that my family enjoys. The lesson is: 
  • * Buy unadvertised sale items if you use them often and have extra money and storage space available. Be sure to check the use-by date.
It took me some searching to find melons that weren't over-ripe and not bruised and mushy, but it was worth the few minutes of extra effort to be able to take advantage of this deal. 

Remember when you are using cantaloupe to wash the outside of your melon to ensure that no germs are spread from the outside rind to the inside when you are cutting and slicing with your nice. For other information on cantaloupes including how to pick a good one and some awesome recipes, like the cantaloupe salsa we made this summer check out the fact sheet HERE
 

Friday, October 4, 2013

Acorn Squash and Apple Soup


One of the things that I like the very most about the snap of fall weather is that it is time for soup! It it is time to turn on our stove top and let something yummy and fragrant simmer, warm your kitchen and your soul. A little dramatic, maybe? But I love fall soup weather, and we are rushing into it here at our house. For dinner last night we tried a Food $ense recipe for Acorn Squash and Apple Soup.


It turned out phenomenal and I would highly recommend it to anyone. Even my kids who, "don't like squash" ate the soup. I explained to them that they don't like tomatoes, but the loved tomato soup. It had a great texture thanks to the apples and onion. I spiced mine up a little bit after I dished the kids up. Even the baby had two bowls. (well, two baby bowls).




Thursday, October 3, 2013

Kale and Pepper Pasta


Yesterday was National Kale Day, you didn't get to hear about it, because the people who usually tell us that kind of stuff are a little bit "shut down" right now.  I didn't hear about it until almost dinner time, but I like to celebrate those kind of things (and I adore Kale) so we whipped up this quick pasta for dinner.  I found my recipe in the Food $ense Farmer's Market cookbook for 2010. 


 I was shockingly easy to prepare. I chopped the peppers and ripped the kale. I prefer to rip it because then I can pull it off the stalk which I don't like to eat because it never gets cooked until it is soft. Then you saute' them in a little bit of olive and (if you are like me - a lot of) garlic until they reach your desired tenderness. I like my kale really done and my peppers still crunchy so I added them at different time. When your veggies reach the level of cook-ed-ness (at totally made up word) toss the mixture with some pasta that you cooked earlier and top the whole thing with Feta or Parmesan cheese (if you want).

I served this to my kids and they gobbled it down. The kale was amazing it in, I had a few that picked out the peppers. I am for sure going to add this to the menu planning list. It tastes way too good for something that is this good for you.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Happy October and Happy New Year!

Hello Dear Blog Friends, I am happy you stopped by. I have so many upcoming changes to share with you and exciting things on the horizon. I can't wait to share them with you and experience them together.  It has been an exciting 9 l/2 months. I hope you have learned perhaps as much as I have.

Food $ense is an exciting program. Over the last year they have unveiled the new Food $ense at Home program. Have you taken advantage of any of it? Do you find the classes informative and educational? Do you find them fun?

Have you started to take steps to change your life like I have?  Have you started to Meal Plan or perhaps you are Making a Budget for the first time. Maybe you are eating out less and having quick meals at home. Remember that even the little changes for good are a step in the right direction. Don't get discouraged when it feels hard, WE can do this together.

Have you tried something new this last year? Perhaps a new fruit or vegetable; or like me, an interesting new grain. Do you have a new family favorite from something you were prompted by Food $ense to try.

Did you venture outside your comfort zone and try shopping at a Farmer's Market?  Did you maybe decide to try a new recipe with something that you got there. Food $ense has archived the last four years of their exciting Farmer's Market recipes, there is always something new to try.

Can you believe all that we had learned in the last little while. I can't wait for the new changes and exciting happenings.  Do you want a sneak peek?  We (you and me) are going to be doing things with Apples, Peppers (YUM!) and Winter Squash this month. And then we will gear up to make it through the holidays Healthy, on our Budget and Safely.

There is so much going on and to look forward too, I can hardly wait. I hope you are excited too.