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!

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....

I had gum surgery 10 days ago and am still recovering. In my quest to find things I can eat (drink?), I've been revisiting many of the foods we gave to our kids when they were younger. My favorite appliances, not including the TV/TiVo which provided entertainment for three days of icing my face, have been our Waring Bar Blender and Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender. I use each of them at least once a day. I started with smoothies and from there have been looking for additional nutrients in a blended form - much like I did for my kids. One of the challenges I face is that I can't digest dairy foods or handle lots of sugar. Many smoothies, puddings, and soft comfort foods contain a lot of sugar so I've had to work hard to find things that won't make me miserable. Below are a few of the foods I've been eating. The next post will cover other comfort items...

Ever since my kids have noticed other kids drinking sugary substances, I've been looking for low sugar alternatives. My ideal fluid comes in a bottle so the kids feel like they have an adult drink and it tastes a little sweet but without too much sugar. I thought I had engaged on an impossible quest until we found bot fortified waters. My kids love them, they have less than 10g of sugar per bottle, not per serving, and they are fortified with vitamin B. They are currently available from Whole Foods. Grape and berry are my kids' favorites flavors - I like the orange one too.