A Day in the life of...

With so many meals and snacks served up in a day of a bustling household, I thought I'd give you peak into our food world, on a random day of the week: Thursday.

After a typical egg/toast breakfast and morning baby-feedings, the girls and I make these awesome whole grain cookies (which will now replace our standard chocolate chip cookie. Bonus? Check out the nutritional facts at the end.)

"Nutty for Oats Cookies"

2/3 creamy peanut butter
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs
1 cup rolled oats, ground for 30 seconds in a food processor
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

(Grinding the oats which will become the flour adds so much more flavor and texture to the cookie than ordinary flour.)

Cream the peanut butter, butter, sugar, vanilla, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Beat in the eggs, scraping the bowl once they're incorporated, then the ground oats, old fashioned rolled oats and chocolate chips. Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets.

Bake the cookies, reversing pans midway through (top to bottom, bottom to top), until they're barely set and just beginning to brown around the edges, 11 to 13 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool completely on the pans.

Nutritional Information per cookie: 7g whole grains, 131 cal, 7g fat, 3g protein, 5g complex carbs, 10g sugar, 1g dietary fiber (my MC says 2), 14mg cholesterol, 64mg sodium, 99mg potassium, 14RE vitamin A, 1mg iron, 11mg calcium, 62mg phosphorous, 7mg caffeine.


(Babies shootin' the breeze in the kitchen while we bake.)

Lunch: Chicken Salad Wraps

Chicken shredded (we use Costco's premium canned chicken--excellent!), mayo, 2 TBSP prepared pesto, 1/2 c. chopped sun dried tomatoes (in oil), Italian seasoning, onion powder, and salt and pepper, to taste.

Then we wrapped a thin layer of the chicken salad in flat bread wraps,

added apple slices and our favorite chips (that's for another post),

and you have a break from the everyday ham, tomato and cheese sandwich.


Lastly, dinner.
One of my favorite fall dinners to bring in the new season: pumpkin soup.

Here is the recipe from the top of my head which is the "doubled" version so you can freeze the rest for a colder wintry day.



Pumpkin Soup

(Serves 8-9)

1 really large onion, chopped (or two large)
4 c. pumpkin puree
1 tsp. curry powder
5 c. chicken broth
1/4 c. butter
1/8 c. olive oil
3 tsp. salt
3 c. heavy cream
1 c. milk

Saute onions in both the butter and oil. (You always want to saute in both butter and oil for optimal flavor.) Once they are translucent, add the curry.

Add the pumpkin and salt and remove from the stove. Puree the mixture in a blender or food processor. Bring back to a stock pot and add the stock until warmed. Finally add the cream and milk until also warmed and serve.

To garnish: a dollop of sour cream and a dash of cinnamon. Children are the most excited about the add-ons in any soup. Let them help serve.


There you have it: happy faces and satisfied tummies. Another day gone and another to create.

"Soup in a Bag"

I have it from an insider in the chicken industry that this harmless looking chicken breast that you would innocently point to at the deli counter and order a half pound or so of is called "soup in a bag".

"Soup in a bag" refers to the process of taking scraps of real chicken breast, emulsifying them with gelatin and salt water into a chicken flavored slurry. It is then pumped into a bag (the same bag you see in your deli case) and solidifies into a sphere. The industry term for this is "chopped and formed".

Now you can see why this is $2 cheaper then the real stuff.


Tips to not be deceived:

1. If you're at the deli counter, avoid the chicken/turkey that is shaped perfectly round or oval, like the above photo (emphasis on the formed part of "chopped and formed"). It will look exactly like the next one they bring out from the back.



2. Look for deli chicken/turkey that looks like a natural chicken or turkey would look: imperfect in shape, because, alas, it IS a real chicken or turkey! Just observe all the shapes of turkey, say, in front of you to choose. At my grocery store, the real stuff has "turkey off the bone" as its title. It doesn't get much more unprocessed then that!

See above: a real turkey shape.

Making a Come Back: Corn

Here's a simple after school snack. And from what people are saying, get the yellow corn over white. Although corn started out white thousands of years ago, after a genetic mutation which turned the corn yellow, it also acquired a chemical called carotenoids. This chemical is now found to have high levels of vitamin A. (npr.org)

Your kids will be pleased that they can eat popcorn over carrots now to improve their sight!



It is simple:

Pop your popcorn. I prefer using the Whirley Popper because it is so easy to use. Once your stove top is hot, put oil and corn in and crank the handle. You really get perfect popcorn every time.

Then experiment with toppings. I like to shave parmesan cheese on the popcorn while it is hot. Fresh parmesan is salty and pungent enough to hold its own without adding much more.

And the great part, it takes 5 minutes to make. What is your favorite popcorn topping?

Simple vs. Complex

Carbs. One day they're evil, the next they're overindulged. What are we to think? The diet world would have us obsessed over the bun of a burger. "I'd like mine without the bun, please," is a common line now a days. (Which, if you're out at McDonalds eating a burger, fry, and soda, I don't think the bun is your biggest concern.)

So what is the trick with these carbs? And does it really matter if we're eating a lot of simple or complex carbs?

Simple Carbohydrates are turned into glucose quickly while complex carbs take longer to change into glucose. What does this do for you? Simple carbs give you quick boosts of energy while complex lengthen out sustained energy for your body. Translation: complex carbs fill you up much better then simple.

Simple Carbohydrates include:

fruit
fruit juice
milk
honey
yogurt
refined sugars
refined flours


Complex Carbohydrates include:

vegetables
whole grain breads
whole grain cereals
legumes
whole grain pasta


Here is a great example: the difference between white rice, an enriched grain, which falls in the simple carb category vs. brown rice, which is a complex carb. Interestingly, both are rice, but both with give energy in a different way and fill your appetite differently. The brown rice will sustain you much longer then the white rice. Another bonus to filling most of your daily carbs with complex is the additional fiber, vitamins, and nutrients found within most. The brown rice, for example, has about 3.5g of fiber per cup, while the white rice doesn't even have 1g per cup.

	Brown Rice (one cup)	White Rice (one cup)
Calories	232	223
Protein	4.88 g	4.10 g
Carbohydrate	49.7 g	49.6 g
Fat	1.17 g	0.205 g
Dietary Fiber	3.32 g	0.74 g
Thiamin (B1)	0.176 g	0.223 g
Riboflavin (B2)	0.039 mg	0.021 mg
Niacin (B3)	2.730 mg	2.050 mg
Vitamin B6	0.294 mg	0.103 mg
Folacin	10 mcg	4.1 mcg
Vitamin E	1.4 mg	0.462 mg
Magnesium	72.2 mg	22.6 mg
Phosphorus	142 mg	57.4 mg
Potassium	137 mg	57.4 mg
Selenium	26 mg	19 mg
Zinc	1.05 mg	0.841 mg

(Chart taken from DrLam.com)


In conclusion, eat both simple and complex carbs, but mostly complex in your diet. When eating simple carbs, eat fruit, yogurt, and milk, and avoid the refined white and brown sugars, enriched breads, cereals and sweets.

You CAN turn many of your current "simple" foods into complex, which would totally improve the function of your body, appetite, and energy.

Try:

White to brown rice
White to whole wheat bread
White hot dog/hamburger buns to whole wheat buns
Fruit Loops to Chex or Cheerios
Enriched pasta to whole grain pasta, or a mix of both


Give you and your kids something to actually satisfy their appetite!

What's on YOUR Pancakes?

You don't even think about it. You've run out of syrup for the "weekend pancake-fest" your family holds every Saturday morning, and you pick up good 'ol Aunt Jemima, or better yet, Mrs. Butterworth, and throw it in the cart.

Let's take a minute and review: what is it exactly you THINK you're putting on your pancakes? Maple syrup that comes from a tree? Try again.

Here is the ingredient statement to Aunt Jemima's Original Syrup:

CORN SYRUP, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WATER, CELLULOSE GUM, CARAMEL COLOR, SALT, SODIUM BENZOATE AND SORBIC ACID (PRESERVATIVES), ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL FLAVORS, SODIUM HEXAMETAPHOSPHATE.

Did I miss it--was there ANY maple syrup in there? Anything close to it? Let's see: cheap sweetener (corn syrup), CHEAPER sweetener (high fructose corn syrup), and then a lot of unsubstantial "stuff". Basically, pouring Aunt Jemima on your pancakes is like melting down a fluorescent pink Peep and soaking up your breakfast with that monstrosity.

Do yourself a favor--buy pure maple syrup. One ingredient in the ingredient statement: pure maple syrup. Yes it is going to cost a little more, but why shouldn't it; anything other then pure maple syrup is just a chemists approach to imitate the real thing. Although much of the nutritional info is similar to pure maple syrup (both have the same calorie count, similar carbs., 0 fat), Aunt Jemima's syrup has 24 times more sodium! Talk about a poor resemblance of the real thing, to nature's unadulterated sweetener.

I buy Costco's maple syrup--buying it in bulk saves a couple dimes, and I use it in quite a few recipe that use real maple syrup as a sweetener. You'll be surprised with the REAL flavor of maple on those pancakes when you make the switch. Pure maple syrup is rich and vibrant in flavor; one of nature's sweet pleasures.