High Maintenance Mom

In an effort to take my new found cooking skills to the next level (albeit a low level) and become more of a locavore, I decided to try out a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share this summer. That being said, I had a feeling a full share would be too much for my family of 4 so I am splitting a full share with my neighbors (it's a lot of food!). Community Support Agriculture is an amazing concept where a group of individuals support a local farm by buying into a “share” of the crops before the season begins giving the farm much needed cash to seed their crops. Many CSA’s offer half shares, plant your own shares, and work shares. So even if you don’t have the $500 (prices vary) for the summer’s full share, you can work for it at a much reduced fee. There are also winter shares at some farms which might be worth exploring if my neighbors are willing to go along with my insanity and split it with me again...(read more...)

Whether or not you have been watching ABC’s new reality show, Jaime Oliver’s Food Revolution, you certainly know the growing concern over America’s public school lunches. Flash back to your public school lunches and pizza, chocolate milk, french fries and rolls surly top the list. I remember those cute little chocolate/vanilla ice cream cups with the little wooden “spoons”. What I don’t remember is fresh fruit, chicken (no, not nuggets cooked in oil), fish (no, not sticks cooked in oil), vegetables (maybe even those from a small garden planted on the school grounds) or a dessert that isn’t complete junk (think oatmeal raisin or cranberry cookies or even fruit…gasp!)....more

Here is a recipe that a very close friend created. She is an excellent cook who loves to create recipes and try them on her two boys (2 and 4). They love this bread! She said the zucchini adds little taste but a lot of moisture. Enjoy!....

I love love love baking cookies but sometimes I just don't have the time or energy to make them from scratch. I found the first ready to bake cookie dough, Immaculate Baking Company www.immaculatebaking.com made with organic ingredients and very delicious. I am a cookie fanatic so I do not impress easily. I have tried them all and my kids and I love them!

Today a friend sang "O Canada" to N's preschool class and then we had a "traditional" BBQ at home. For dessert, I covered graham crackers in ice cream and decorated them with strawberries to make the Canadian flag. I was told the dessert was a little messy but it seemed to be enjoyed. Before B was born, I spent several hours making a template for the American flag using card stock and an exacto knife. I then made brownies and sprinkled powdered sugar on them using the template. It required a lot of work and I'm happy to now have faster, but equally effective, holiday dishes. One of my favorites, that I will use again in a few days, is whipped cream and berries. Waffles make a great medium for flags and do not require as much work as cupcakes or cake. Plus, you do not need as many berries to make them colorful.

Yesterday my kids and I went to the Matzah Factory at our synagogue. A local rabbi came in with an oven, rolling pins, and wheat. We talked about how when the Jews left Egypt, they had to leave quickly so their bread didn't have time to rise. Then we all got to thresh the wheat (we rolled our small piece on the table) and then added our seeds together. My youngest helped grind the wheat, which was then passed around for everyone to see. Afterwards, we mixed store bought wheat with water and then had 18 minutes to roll it and bake it...

To follow up on the previous post Healthiest Chain & Fast Food Restaurants, I found some great information on organic embracing restaurants. I liked www.dinegreen.com, a web site with a national listing of restaurants deemed "certified green". I also found a nice article in the April edition of KIWI magazine (www.kiwimagonline.com). It lists ten budget friendly chains that offer organic foods....

My family and I like to try to eat out together at least once a month. Not only is it a break from cooking and cleaning, it's a chance to teach our children how to act at a restaurant and how to make healthy food choices eating out. I have always been very skeptical of chain restaurants and also frustrated that they could never seem to put healthy food on their kids menu. How hard is it really?....

There was a blog post on the New York Times web page (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/the-11-best-foods-you-arent-eating/) that really interested me and several of my Mom friends. I was pleased to see that we already eat many of the 11 foods they said people are not eating. I went to work trying all of them on my family. My kids are fairly easy eaters but my 16 month old can still thumb his nose at things so I was not sure how he would handle some of the not so popular things on the list.

I grew up in a bit of an old fashioned family setting. We went on summer vacations as a family, celebrated the holidays at home and always, always ate meals together. Even when I would miss a family meal because of my after school activities, a plate would be saved and either my Mom or Dad would sit with me at the table while I ate. The TV was never on during meals, hats were off and manners were adhered to. That's just the way it was. Nowadays, that cant be said for many families....