Just a few notes...

Here's another great book I've been reading:

101 Foods that Could Save Your Life

It is a very easy read, highlighting 101 super healthy foods. Some are familiar, some are not. Each "chapter" gives the history of the food, it's health benefits and even has a recipe. I credit the book for me eating dried apricots for a snack today. Yup, got my full RDA of beta-carotene :) And we really need to eat more avocados. And I'd really like to try agave syrup. Can you tell I'm still on the A's?

A couple more tidbits to share from my copy of "Eat This Not That for Kids." First, this quote:

"Most of us don't labor under the illusion that ice cream snacks and fast food burgers are healthy. The occasional sinful indulgence is part of living, even for (or especially) for kids. But most parents could never guess how bad many of today's kids' meals really are."

That is, when you get down to the nitty gritty, these things are SOOOO much worse that most people realize. Those occasional treats add up to something quite awful. But there are alternatives! You don't have to deprive yourself and your kids, you just need to be educated on better choices.

And how about this, "Today's children are likely to be the first generation to live shorter, less-healthy lives than their parents." That's pretty sad.

And you know what is really disturbing to me? It's how deceiving the packaging is on store bought food. Any product can claim to be healthy and these marketers are very sneaky and quite dishonest actually. You can't trust the front of the box, you have to look at ingredients and the nutritional info to really tell if it's good or not. And most people don't know how to decipher all that, it's ridiculous how confusing it all is. Busy moms especially don't have time to read the small print on items so these sneaky marketers splash these "sound bites" on the front, make it sound "all natural" and "wholesome" when it's really just a load of sugary, fatty, processed CRAP!! Can you tell I'm annoyed? I have fallen prey to this deception, but no more. I'm finally realizing it is MY duty as a mom to figure it all out and do right by my family, so that's what I'm trying to do.

Dinners

I made some pretty good dinners this past week!

-Monday: Chicken tosadas with corn & black bean salsa

-Thursday: Steaks on the grill with sides of Greek garbanzo bean salad and a cucumber pasta salad. Small note: I used that whole wheat pasta again and I'd have to say it doesn't taste quite as good in a salad. I think it does better when it is warm and smothered in some kind of sauce. Everyone kind of ate it with a frown on their face. Like this --> :(

-Wednesday: Leftovers

-Tuesday: Crock pot BBQ chicken with baked beans and cole slaw on the side

-Friday: Vegetarian night! Pesto pizzas on whole wheat pita bread with a side of roasted fresh green beans. These beans were awesome. They had toasted almonds and caramelized onions on them. We all loved them. Here's a pic of that dinner (it was so much more delicious that it looks):

A Few Substitutions

I've been trying to sneak in a few healthy substitutions because I think little things like this can make a big difference. Here's three I've had success with.

Whole Wheat Pasta in place of plain white pasta. I made some this past week for the first time and it was very good! And, it was only about 50 cents more than the regular white pasta. It had just a little bit chewier texture but tasted pretty much the same. My son looked at it funny, noticing that the color was darker. It reminded me of the way lo mein noodles look at the Chinese buffet, so I just told him that's the kind they use at Chinese restaurants and he was more than satisfied with that answer and ate it right up.

Plain Yogurt in place of sour cream. Actually, subbing it 100% for sour cream still doesn't cut it for me, so I've been mixing it about half and half with light sour cream and no one can tell the difference. It works wonderfully well this way in dips and on top of anything Mexican.




Almond Butter in place of peanut butter. I bought a big bag of almonds last week and I found a recipe for almond butter. It was delicious! It definitely wasn't as spreadable as peanut butter but the flavor was great and it was a nice change. It was yummy on bread with jelly and we dipped apples in it too. Here's a pic of my batch.

Right after I made it, I saw almond butter for sale at the health food store. A small container was $5.99. I definitely saved money by making it myself!

Eat This Not That

I just discovered this series of books and I'm so glad I did! These books compare and contrast various restaurant, store-bought and some home-cooked food and helps you make the healthiest choice possible. I chose the "For Kids" title since we have kids and getting them to eat healthier is my main challenge right now.

This book is really amazing, scary, exciting and enligtening all at the same time. I've just started reading, but I'll share a few of the things that have jumped out at me so far.

There is a large section on restaurant foods, kids meals, etc. and some of the calorie and fat amounts in this stuff is astounding. It actually makes me angry that there is someone out there deciding that this food is appropriate for kids or anyone for that matter.

Check out this kids meal from Denny's, the "Kid's D-Zone Big Dipper French Toastix." It is a pile of french toast sticks with 2 slices of bacon. It has 770 calories and 71 grams of fat!! Kids ages 4-8 should have within the range of 39-62 fat grams per day so this meal is SOOOO above and beyond what ANYONE should have at one sitting.

Another thing that I'm learning about is evil condiments, namely mayo and ranch. These two things can turn an okay meal into totally not okay meal. I like to think a chicken sandwich is a pretty healthy choice. Well, not if it has mayo on it. Unless it is light, the mayo and ranch that restaurants use is jam packed with grossness, adding fat grams into the double digits. More often than not, a hamburger is a better choice than the chicken sandwich.

A really big surprise to me was the Arby's recommendation. When I first saw these two pages, I thought they had it backwards! Turns out, the Arby's Melt, a roast beef sandwich smothered with cheese sauce and piled on a onion bun is a pretty good choice. That doesn't sound healthy to me at all! But it beat out the Roasted Turkey and Swiss Sandwich on wheat bread big time. 303 Calories vs 708 Calories and 12 grams of fat vs 30 grams! WAY less sodium too.

And I learned something really sad about a cookie. Last time I took the kids to Fazolis, I decided their chocolate chip cookies looked yummy, so we got one. Well, little did I know that Fazoli's Chocolate Chunk Cookie is probably the most caloric cookie in the history of cookies. It has more fat and calories than a Quarter Pounder with Cheese from McDonalds!!! That's ONE COOKIE! It was good, but not THAT good.

I'm so glad to be learning about where these evils are lurking and I'm going to do my best keep them away from me and my family.

I'll be back soon with more "fun" info...

Black Bean Brownies

Yes, you read that right, beans in your brownies! I ran across this recipe a while back (I don't even remember where) and finally I tried it out. Here's what you need:

1 can black beans & 1 box (any) brownie mix

That's it! Here's what you do: Drain and rinse the beans. Then put the beans back in the can and cover with water to the top of the can. Put the beans and water in the food processor and process it good until it looks all creamy chocolate-y like this:

Now combine it with the box of brownie mix and follow the directions on the box to bake. It sounds crazy, but they turned out pretty good! I won't claim that they were the most delicious brownies ever, but I liked them fine and so did the fam. In fact, they were gone in less than a day. To substitute protein & fiber for fat & cholesterol, I'll give up a little flavor for that! Still took care my chocolate craving no problem.

I sprinkled some walnuts on top before baking and voila!

Aren't beans amazing?!?