My kids won't eat ______!!!

So if you have ever said My kids won't eat...followed by vegetables, fruit, wheat bread or food that's good for them this article is for you.
No this is not an article full of wonderful tips on how to magically get your kids to start wanting broccoli over a cheeseburger. This is a call to look at yourself and your food decisions.
Where are your food priorities? Do you value pleasure over health? Do you value price over quality? Do you stop off in the drive through regularly because you are too busy to cook? Do you eat the things that you want your kids to eat? Do you eat them with the same pleasure and gusto as you would say a nice juicy burger?
Why would you expect your children to eat any different than you?
Now hear this it is never too late to change your children's eating habits!!! Now if they are teenagers or even if they are seven or eight and they have lived off nothing but junk it will be difficult!! Do not give up!!!
First you must decide what your food priorities are. You do not have to give up anything as long as it is real food. Treats should still be real food and should be treats. Also look at portions how much on your plate is meat? How much is veggies and whole grains? Once you have your food priorities set you then make a plan and sit down with your children. Explain to them the importance of taking care of our bodies and apologize for not teaching them this before if necessary. This is a journey you can take on together!
Now if you have very young children you need to take some things into account. It is normally to have likes dislikes. This can be based on texture taste look etc. Pay attention to what your child does not like but continue to offer small amounts of it and encourage them to try a small amount of it. They may come around do not give up! Offer things they "don't like" in a different way. My youngest would not eat a strawberry would not even try it until I cut it up into tiny tiny pieces now it's one of her favorite and she eats it in much larger sizes.
If your child is refusing to eat any vegetables or any fruit or even will eat nothing unless it's chicken or it's covered in ketchup. This is not healthy it is not normal (although it is main stream.) Offer them food that you are eating do not fix them something different and If they are hungry they will eat it!!! It is not child abuse they will not have an eating disorder. Feed them food you know is good for them and that you eat yourself. Now if you refuse to eat something you can't very well make them eat it!! If they gag or throw up while eating something don't shove it down their throat. If you are fixing a nice balanced meal with some choices on their plate there will be something they can eat. If you know they like sweet potatoes and they have yet to eat corn. Give them more sweet potatoes than corn but still put the corn on the plate and encourage them to try at least one bite.
Now some of you might think this harsh and cruel. It is not. What is harsh and cruel is allowing your children to eat poorly and condemning them to a lifetime of diet related disease and an inability to make healthy decisions.
Now if you are just now trying to get healthy do not beat yourself up over past decisions. We all make mistakes. We all have to start this journey somewhere. You can control where you go from here though!! You do not have to continue in the old path of eating! You know what to do. You know what is best for your children.
Remember you can do this!!! You and your family are worth it!!!
Good luck and healthy eating!

Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream

My super sweet husband finds this place online and takes me and doesn't even tell me where we are going. All he says is it's the kind of place you like. Well that was a serious understatement this place was awesome. Yes it is a little more expensive than some ice cream places but it is well worth it. The ice cream is made locally right here in Ohio. All the ingredients are fresh and local. The ice cream is made from local Ohio cows that are grass fed with no hormones or antibiotics. This place is seriously a dream come true. They have some really awesome flavors you will not find anywhere else. I had the Salty Caramel and I'm normally a one scoop girl but you bet I got two scoops of this(of course I was sharing) My daughter got the Wildberry Lavendar, My son just got the Belgian milk chocolate and my husband got the Buckeye state. He loves chocolate and peanut butter and said this is the best he has ever had(I'm pretty sure he has been a buckeye at heart forever) This is what I'm talking about when I say you don't have to give up the food you like just watch how it's made. I personally am now a loyal Jeni's costumer and look forward to supporting this great local business with my future purchases. If you are in Columbus you should really check it out. If not great news you can order online

Voting for real food

Did you know you have the power to make a change in the availability of healthy foods? You do every single time you go to the store or farmer's market and purchase food you make a vote. Are you voting for real, fresh, local, sustainable food or are you voting for processed chemicals pretending to be food. When you purchase this pretend food you are essentially saying this is ok this is what I want! When you leave this crap on the shelf and instead buy fresh local produce and meat that is raised without the use of antibiotics or hormones you are voting for real food! It's that simple!!!

Above image is grilled asparagus, baked sweet potatoes, and grilled quesadillas made on homemade tortillas.

So what are you voting for?

Snack time!

Pineapple with unsweetened organic coconut and almonds yum!

Replacing that bad "food" day 5~dessert

Sorry this is a couple of days late!

So dessert it's what calls to us in the middle of the night! Especially when you decide not to have it at all! There is no point in depriving yourself from having dessert as long as you are not having it every day! Once at most twice a week should be sufficient.
Here's the thing about dessert those candy bars, candy, and baked goods at the store are packed with some crazy stuff. You really need to learn to make your own desserts and it's really not that hard. You can find easy recipes for everything from pudding to cake to pies and cookies. It does not take much to make your favorite desserts and you control what goes into them. You can cut the sugar down and you know there are no chemicals or junk in them.
Now if you are trying to cut back on dessert because you've been enjoying it too much I suggest keeping a stash of fruit(which you should have anyway) to help with some of these cravings. One good thing I like to do is either make crepes or even use tortillas spread with cream cheese top with strawberries and enjoy. Super delish and it feels like dessert without too much sugar!
Now sometimes you just have to have chocolate and I have a great recipe just for that it's chocolate snack cakes and they taste just like those little cupcakes with the cream inside and the squiggles on top you know what I'm talking about. The difference is these are not filled with cream(although I have topped them with homemade whipped cream before) and you know exactly what's in it!
I got this recipe out of my Betty Crocker cook book and it's one of the few that I have not changed much about it except I make it in cupcakes instead of a cake and the original recipe calls for vegetable oil which I don't use! Beware there is a lot of sugar in this you could cut it down but I don't with this one however this is not an invitation to have this every day this is a once a month at most recipe!

Chocolate Snack cake
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cold water

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350
line muffin pan with liners or grease well and dust with cocoa
mix vinegar oil vanilla well
mix all dry ingredients together
add vinegar mixture and water to dry ingredients mix
pour into prepared muffin tin
bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick(or cake tester) comes out clean
Enjoy these do not need to be topped with anything but they are great with cream cheese icing and strawberries yum!

Also see day 2~snacks for more ideas on how to deal with dessert

Remember you can do this! You and your family are worth it!!!

Replacing that bad "food" day 4~dinner

Now dinner is really hard for some if you work out of the home it can be really overwhelming to have dinner ready at a decent time and in comes fast food. It doesn't have to be this way.
One of the biggest helps on days you will not have much time is a crock pot if you do not have one I suggest you go purchase one as soon as you are finished reading this=) Seriously there are a lot of good recipes out there just for crock pots and once you get used to it you will learn what goes good together and be able to just throw some stuff in there, make a nice green salad and you can eat. Even less time than a drive through especially during rush hour!
Also if you are already cooking you might as well make a big batch of whatever it is and freeze half of it. That way next time you need an easy meal you can just lay it out to thaw and heat it up! Just as easy as any frozen dinner but with less sodium no chemicals and you control what is in it! I like to do this with my homemade manicotti it's a little labor intensive because I make crepes to use as shells and make the tomato sauce so it's not hard but takes a bit of time and effort.
If you do not have a good selection of spices this would be a very good thing to invest in. How many times have you seen a good recipe and wanted to try it but didn't know what Turmeric was much less have any? If you go to your local health food store most of them have a section of bulk spices so you can buy a very small amount to try it out!!! Whole foods here in Dublin has a fantastic selection of bulk spices! If you have been using seasoning packets I suggest you stop they are often full of sodium and chemicals. You can easily make your own spice mixes and store in a jar or container. My favorite is my Mexican spice mix which I also use for chili it's awesome and I almost always have some in the fridge except right now because we had taco salad last week and I haven't replenished it. Most things you would use a mix for really don't require that much I make my spaghetti sauce with very few spices and I can use it for pasta, pizza, and sandwiches.
Now if you are like me you probably have some stand bys you know are healthy are easy to fix and inexpensive. The problem is you get tired of having it everyday. Now is when it's time to shake things up. The seasonings we talked about before can change something completely. Try adding cinnamon to rice or quinoa and you'll see what I mean! There also is something to be said for just putting things together that sound good and seeing what the result is. Last night for dinner I made quinoa(pronounced keen-wah and if you haven't had it try it it's delish) added some chopped apples cranberries cinnamon(I love cinnamon) and chopped fresh Italian parsley(I do not like the curly kind the Italian has a better flavor in my opinion.) I didn't know how it would turn out I had never even made quinoa before but it was absolutely wonderful! I served it with a nice green salad with chopped tomatoes, calamata olives and homemade croutons! Then for dessert we had peach smoothies. It really was a very satisfying cooking experience that took less than twenty minutes. All because I was willing to take a chance and try something. I love to look up new recipes although I rarely use them as is when I think of something that sounds good I will look up all the recipes I can find for it to get the technique and then just go for it. Then I end up with a recipe I can use later that I made from a combination of all the others. This also works well if you think something would go good together but you are not quite sure if you can find a recipe for it where someone else has done it it will probably work try it. Depending on who you are how you were raised and your cooking experience cooking will be either a science or an art. If it's an art to you just go for it and try new things pick up new things at the store and take them home and see what you can do with it. It's very exciting and fulfilling to do this. Now if you haven't had much cooking experience or you are not one for flying by the seat of your pants you will need recipes to come up with ideas. I love going to the library to get cookbooks you just scan or copy the recipes you like and you stick it in a folder in your kitchen! I've been doing a lot of recipe searching online on vegetarian websites lately. Now if you need some meat to go with it most of the time you can just add some grilled chicken or just alter it to your taste. The thing is it seems vegetarians are very creative with there food choices and we could all use more fruits and veggies!

Speaking of fruits and veggies I would like to talk about what kind of fruits and veggies you are getting. Are you still getting canned veggies and fruits that are swimming in salt and other junk? If so you need to stop. When possible buy in season fresh produce. Of course a very good portion of my veggies come from the freezer as long as you are getting fruits and veggies with nothing added(check those labels for added salt and sugar) they are just as nutritious if not more so than fresh. Not to mention a great deal cheaper sometimes. If you have it on hand you will eat it. Try mixing veggies into your tomato sauce, your eggs, your soup, your pasta. You will be pleasantly surprised at the depth it brings to your dishes.
Also one complaint that I have heard is when you buy fresh it doesn't last as long. This is true because food does go bad(doesn't that make you think about the stuff on the shelf?) Get to know your produce and eat the stuff that's going to go bad more quickly(spinach, berries) at the beginning of the week saving the sturdier produce for later(carrots, apples.) If you follow a plan according to this you shouldn't have waste. If you have leftover vegetables from dinner save them and they can go into a soup or veggie omelet the next day. Or even freeze them for this use another time.

One big thing about dinner is most of the time you are not going to have the option to be flexible you need a plan. Sit down with your calendar once a week or less often if you wish and plan out at least dinner. Some of you will do well to plan out every single meal at least for a while until you kick the fast food habit! When I was keeping other children I had breakfast lunch dinner and snacks on the calendar so I knew exactly what to get at the store. However when you get to the store and strawberries are on sale but they are not on the plan change the plan!
If you are concerned about going organic here is the Dirty dozen list which shows the top twelve produce items to buy organic(strawberries is number six on that list) also the clean fifteen which is the fifteen produce items with the least amount of pesticides.

One more thing and then I'm done for the day! If you are picky about your vegetables or fruits I really want to challenge you to start trying some things. Even if you didn't like it before peoples taste changes and sometimes you just didn't have it fixed right! Try cooking things a different way I love roasted asparagus but I used to couldn't touch the stuff because all I'd ever had was canned. Try adding it to things you know you like or adding different spices. It's well worth it. For those of you with children you know they say to give them a bite of something several times before you give up. Why not do that with yourself especially if it's something that's really good for you. Don't give me that I'm an adult and I know what I like!!! How's that got you so far not very good probably so get over it and try it already!
Anyway I'm really proud of all of you that are really going at this and it's great that people are talking. I know I might not be reaching a huge audience but I feel privileged to have each one of you as readers. This really means a lot to me!!! I love you all!

Tomorrow is dessert watch out it might be brutal=)

Remember you can do this!!! You and your family are worth it.

Replacing that bad "food" day 3~Lunch

First of all there is something I would like to make clear. I am not a doctor/nutritionist/dietitian or anything of the like! I do not nor have I ever counted calories, fat, or anything else for that matter. I live and eat based on eating good nutritious whole foods with as much fruit and veggies as I can. My basic philosophy is to eat food as close to the way God originally made it as possible. I am not vegetarian I do eat meat although I do my best to eat good quality meat that I trust! With that said if any of the meals I post do not fall under a pattern of a protein two veggies and a starch or any other pattern it's because I don't follow one. I feel that if you are eating a variety of good healthful food you will probably be fine. If you have been advised by your doctor/ nutritionist to follow a pattern or count calories please do. This is a site dedicated to thinking about what goes in your body and not meant to be the final say.
Thanks just wanted to get that said=)
Now onto lunch!!!

Lunch might look different for you than it does for me. I stay home with the kids so I have a great deal of flexibility with lunch. If you work outside the home or go to school you will not have that flexibility as an option. Ideally if you do work outside the home your best option is going to be to bring a lunch with you. If you must go out I would suggest getting a salad or sides of veggies ask them to keep any dressing on the side so you can use very little of it. A lot of people think that they are doing good by eating a salad when really they could be eating more calories than if they got a burger! Use as little dressing as you can lemon juice is good as a dressing and using a vinaigrette is going to be better than ranch! The darker the lettuce the better. Iceberg is nothing it's nutritionally void Romaine is a much better option most restaurants have this and can use it for any salad. Spinach salads are a great way to get some great nutrients in for lunch!!! Just remember when going out to be conscience of portion and to only eat real food.
I am going to go out on a limb here and say if you send your kids to school you need to be sending them with lunch and a snack and making sure they have a good breakfast before they head out. You also need to be talking with them about the importance of how they treat their bodies. If they are older children and this is a new change apologize for the way you have been eating and talk to them about this new way of doing things and how it's better for everyone. You can not trust the schools to feed your children real food or to even teach them about it. This is your responsibility!!!

Now if you can take your lunch or you are eating at home the absolute best thing is leftovers! We love leftovers for lunch add a steamed veggie or a salad if you don't have enough and it's great.

If you do sandwiches make sure you are only using good ingredients check that bread label it should not have chemicals or HFCS in it and the first ingredient should be whole wheat just because it is dark in color does not mean anything. Some add coloring or molasses to get that dark color you want to see the word whole as the first word. Also you can look for the label that looks like a bail of hay standing up that says the wholegraincouncil Any peanut butter should just have peanuts and go for good quality jam and check the label for added sugar or chemicals(jelly is just sugar it doesn't use the whole fruit just the juice) Grilled veggies make nice sandwiches or lunch all by themselves. I like to use my panini press to grill the veggies right on it asparagus is delicious this way! If you like meat on your sandwich I suggest getting the meat and cooking it yourself vs buying deli meat. It is going to control the quality of your meat as well as being less expensive. Take the time to do this once a week or less and you can freeze it in individual bags to take out as you need it you could even make the sandwich ahead of time and freeze it but depending on the bread and filling it may get a bit soggy. This is a great technique for taking your lunch though because by lunch time it's thawed out but it kept well during the morning.

Sometimes one of the best lunches is just several kinds of raw fruits and veggies it's just so clean and can really be fun!

Beans make a great lunch make a huge pot at the beginning of the week and you can freeze this in batches as well just make sure they are fully thawed before warming or they can get kinda mushy=) serve them with a little cornbread muffin and you are good to go.

Eggs...they are not just for breakfast serve up some green eggs(scrambled eggs with frozen chopped spinach) or a veggie omelet yum!!!

Lunch can be fun but there are some things to stay away from such as those prepackaged lunches in the deli isle seriously walk away! Apple sauce that's filled with HFCS and other additives! Just remember lunch should be food to! Just because you need convenience does not mean you have to sacrifice quality!

Tomorrow is going to be dinner and I want to talk about taking foods you love to eat and turning them into real food so if you have a recipe that you love that's full of cream of chicken soup and butter crackers send it to me and I'll see what I can do!

Remember you can do this! You and your family are worth it!!!