Quick Tip Tuesday-Make Your Own Mix

Prepared seasoning mixes have all kinds of added sodium and preservatives that you don't need, and they are easy to make. Try to replace your normal seasoning packets with a homemade version. Here is an example of a Mexican seasoning (makes 1 oz):

1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

 

Experiment until you get it just the way you like it. I like to add a fair amount of cilantro and leave out the crushed red pepper flakes. I also use fresh garlic instead of powder most of the time. You can mix it in a large batch to have on hand, or just get used to how much you need for a single use.

I Have a Problem

Sometimes I daydream about living in a climate where I could grow my own food year round (or at least most of the year). However, since I live in a climate where most things can't survive the winters, this time of year is exciting for me. This is the time to start tomato plants from seed. It begins the renewing feeling of spring, even if it is still months away here. The mere act of planting seeds and watching them grow is so satisfying. It breeds new life into the white landscape of the world outside my window. Enter my problem: I love tomatoes. Why not just wait until the end of May and buy an already mature plant from the local nursery? Most of the common tomatoes are bred for convenience. They have a good shelf-life, uniform size, they ship well, and a hundred other convenient traits, none of which include superior flavor. When you start looking in to heirloom tomatoes, your mouth will really start watering. Here is an excerpt from Seed Savers catalogue for the Emmy tomato: "...Originated with Ernestine’s friend Emmy who fled Romania after WWII with one of her Transylvanian tomatoes. Small orange-yellow fruits with an intense tomato flavor. Indeterminate, 90 days from transplant." I mean, come on, if you are fleeing your home country because of war and you think to bring a tomato plant or seeds along with your precious few possessions, it must be quite the tomato! Needless to say, I bought the seeds. I can't say how long it took me to narrow my choices down, but I was only able to narrow it to 10 different tomatoes. Those seed catalogue writers are GOOD! So, here are the seeds I will be planting as soon as I finish making my newspaper strip pots: Siberian, Ispolin, Brandywine, Emmy, Sasha's Altai, Nepal, Galina, Riesentraube, Valencia, and Beam's Yellow Pear.

My Garden, one of my favorite hang-outs

The books that I have used to glean all of my gardening knowledge are, Organic Gardening in Cold Climates, by Sandra Perrin; All New Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew; and Carrots Love Tomatoes, by Louise Riotte. If you don't already have a garden, I suggest starting a small one and see if you get addicted to eating food that has been within your site since its conception. Even the best store-bought tomatoes and carrots don't stand a chance against ones that are plucked from your own back yard and consumed while you meander through the rest of your garden. It is truly one of life's great pleasures.

Meal Planning

Possibly the most important part of eating healthy is having a plan. Having a plan cuts down on trips to the grocery store, allows you to buy stuff when it's cheap, and prevents the, "Oh no, what's for dinner tonight?" syndrome. There are many valid ways to plan meals, but I will share two that work for me. The first one I will call the one month calendar method. The first step here is to just keep track of the meals you eat for several weeks. After you have a collection of meals you have used, print a blank calendar and insert those meals into a slot. Try to balance the choices throughout the week. If you love to try new recipes, leave a day each week blank for a new recipe. If you eat out regularly, also leave those days blank. Once you have a complete month of meals, you can make your shopping list. I like to shop for a whole month at a cheap grocery store, where I get everything for the first week, and all of the non-perishables for the whole month. For the rest of the month, you just have to check that week's meals and get the fresh stuff at a more convenient grocery store. I go to the local store every week except the week I go to the cheap store for my month's supply.

Meal planning version 2 is a bit simpler. Basically you just cut out the calendar step. You plan one week at a time. It is helpful to plan your meals with your updated family calendar handy. If you have a busy afternoon, maybe you need a crock-pot meal for that day. Or a meal that you can assemble earlier in the day and just put into the oven just before dinner time. It is also smart to have your store's weekly circular handy so you can plan meals that take advantage of the store's specials. I just take a piece of scratch paper and fold it in half. on one side, I put the selected meals for the week. On the other side, I make my shopping list (roughly organized in the order of the store isles where I shop). I gather the recipes first then go through them one at a time. For each item in the recipe, I don't do anything if I know I have it. If I know I don't have it, I add it to my list. If I'm not sure, I put it on the side with the meals, at the bottom. Once my list it done, I go and check for the items I wasn't sure about. If I already have it, I cross it off. If I need it, I add it to the other side of the paper with the rest of the grocery list.

It's fun to ask family members if they have any requests for the week. If kids are old enough to cook, you can involve them in this process. Have them plan and prepare one meal regularly. This will teach them meal planning skills as well as how to prepare some of their favorite meals.

Thick Skin

Providing nutritious food for a family of six is no easy feat, and I learned a long time ago that it is nearly impossible to please all six people at the same time. That means even if only one member of the family doesn't like a particular food, you are likely to hear, "yuck" almost every single day in response to a meal you spent more than one hour of your precious time planning, purchasing, and preparing. At one point, I decided to instate a new rule: only positive comments about the food at the dinner table. It resulted in the frequent use of this phrase, "Wow Mom, the water is really fresh today!" I try to keep things interesting by trying new recipes frequently. Over the years, I have become quite proficient at choosing foods my family will like. However, one notable new recipe was called, "Hawaiian chicken and vegetable kabobs with pineapple coconut rice." Sounds good doesn't it? Even as I was preparing it, I kept thinking how tasty it would be and how all of the kids might just like this one. After the prayer was said and everyone served, I awaited their reactions. Wendy, then five, tasted everything just how she had been taught. In a very serious, matter-of-fact tone she said, "Wow Mom, where DID you get all this gross food?" As if it was preposterous that there could be so much gross food in one place at one time. The rest of the kids looked at James, who is known for being fiercely defensive of my cooking. He looked at me, and I knew I should be upset. All that work and time spent toiling for my family just to be insulted by one of my own children. That was the day I knew I had succeeded in not taking my kids' comments personally. I just laughed. It was, after all, funny.

I think we have to be able to laugh and disconnect ourselves emotionally from the reactions of our kids to the food we prepare. When my oldest was little, I read every parenting book I could get my hands on. One book was about feeding your child. One thing that stuck with me was the fact that you really can only control what food choices are offered. You can't force the food into their mouths. Even if you could, you can't make them chew and swallow it. A Mom has to realize where her control ends and try to find ways to make kids try new things AND avoid making meal time a battle.The thing that has worked best for our family is this: Everyone has to try everything-even if they have tasted it before. If, after having a satisfactory taste (as determined by me), they still really don't like it, they are allowed to have bread and cheese for dinner. This would not work for a child who would rather eat bread and cheese than anything else. I chose it for a few reasons: First, it is not something any of my children love. They are not likely to prefer it over many things. Second, it will fill them up enough that they won't be hungry again before bed. Third, they can get it by themselves. I already cooked a healthy dinner and feel that if they choose not to eat it, the effort to fill themselves should come from them. Fourth, it is a set option. If they were allowed to get anything if they didn't like dinner, I think they would be more likely to choose that option. I realize there are no fruits or vegetables involved, but am OK with that because it is just one meal. Hopefully the food I have offered up to this point have had plenty of fruit and vegetable options. This has really worked well for our family. I feel strongly about making them try things every time. All of my kids have gone through picky eating stages, and this seems to pay off in the end. Years later, my pickiest eater will now try anything and will readily eat things she struggled to even try before. Consistency always pays off in the end. I'm so glad I stuck to my guns, even when it would have been easier to give in.

This sets the stage for the content of this blog. I hope to include tips to help people "bring dinner home." Healthy, family friendly recipes, nutrition and exercise tips, research reviews, and maybe a health-related rant or two. Hopefully things normal people could incorporate into their lives to make the health of their family a higher priority.