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9th May, 2010 |
Parents are busy, busy people. Down-time is a thing of yesteryear and it’s all about the kids. Whether you’re a parent or not, real life is filled with choices that affect us and kids. The time to sift through these choices isn’t always plentiful. I haven’t even been able to post here in about a month. Where does the time go?
Parenting, preparing for presentations in my sleep, logging hours at work, working from home, going to class, doing homework, commuting, and juggling. Lots of juggling. That’s definitely where the time went. A very Happy Mother’s Day to each of you dear Mommies, some of the most adventurous jugglers of all time. Hats off to each of you for what you do every day, in your sleep, on your unicycles, and wherever you do your thing. I’m here on your behalf, juggling alongside you and cheering you on loudly. I set this little web abode up a little over a year ago with you Mommies -and dear Daddies-, and the rest of you fine peeps in mind.
I don’t know about you, but the more chaotic life gets, the more the big-box temptations appeal to me. The pre-packaged, easy “magical foods” on the grocery store shelves: frozen pizzas, pre-baked breakfast goods, packaged snacks with lengthy ingredient lists, and things I generally don’t have to chop and cook, but instead open and indulge. But I work hard not to give in. Why? For my kid. Kids are what kids eat, afterall.
Grab-n-Go’s that require minimal self-discipline:
Stonyfield Yogurt
Raisins
Fruit (favorites: mandarin clementines, bananas, grapes, berries, apples)
Organic blue corn chips & avocado
Real cheese
Handful of raw almonds
Simple, yummy black bean hummus dip (uber easy recipe below)
When possible, I take free moments at home to prep and make ahead. One of my favorite prep-then-grab’s is to wash grapes, separate from vine, and store in a covered glass bowl in the fridge. They’ll take you through the week, and are at your fingertips as easy go-to snacks. Slice ‘em in half for the wee ones, of course. Yesterday morning, I made another batch of buttermilk pancakes that will also take us through the week, maybe more. Some pancakes were kept in the fridge for today and tomorrow, the rest were stored in the freezer, separated with parchment paper. Some weekday mornings, these hot cakes get a minute in the toaster oven, then they’re whisked off, straight up, for the commute. Following a banana, they’re a spectacular grab ‘n go homemade breakfast.
Looking for a protein-packed snack on the go? Check out this UBER EASY, delicious recipe. It’s a favorite of mine and my family’s.
Black Bean Hummus Dip
Ingredients
Can of organic black beans
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
handful of fresh spinach leaves
 Spinach gives your black bean hummus a funky color and crazy super powers. Go green!
Do
1. Puree spinach leaves with olive oil (spinach can be raw or sauteed for a minute)
2. Blend spinach & olive oil sauce with can of black beans and garlic *do this with hand mixer or food processor: I use the magic bullet for simplicity
3. That’s it! Serve hummus dip alongside organic blue corn chips, celery, flatbread or any favorite hummus companion
Mmmmm.
Store this in the fridge, in serving-size containers to grab-n-go if you like. This makes a great snack or lunch side dish at work and school.
Life calls, gotta run….. A Very Happy Mother’s Day to YOU!
10th April, 2010 |
One of our lowest maintenance meals is this super simple, tasty salmon ensemble. You need salmon and an oven. Throw a few optional accoutrements in the mix, sure, but essentially it’s just the salmon and a baking place for it. The thing about salmon is it’s uber healthy and I try to eat a lot of it. As of late. I can only eat so much straight up salmon, though. I like accoutrements with my salmon. It’s a great marinade candidate, a good buddy to pecans and mustard, and simply delicious with barbecue sauce. Now, I’m not talking corn syrup disguised as BBQ sauce, I’m talking real. bbq. sauce. Store bought, that is. Challenge? Maybe. I like Annie’s brand BBQ Sauce. BBQ sauce is one of the things to shop for at either your local co-op or at Whole Foods. It’s hard to find the real thing at any type of big box store.
Wild-caught, Alaskan Salmon is pumped with omega-3’s and good protein. It’s also one of the best choices you can make in sustainable seafood. It’s good for you and for the planet. If you’re deciding between farm-raised and sustainable wild-caught, I have an opinion. A strong one.
Go wild-caught Alaskan Salmon, because:
a. Wild-caught Alaskan Salmon is very high in Omega-3’s you want to eat; farm-raised is full of artificial red food-coloring (which disguises the farm-raised grey color) and barely contains Omega-3’s compared to wild-caught salmon. (2) (3)
b. Wild-caught isn’t full of the pesticides and antibiotics that farm-raised are full of. (2) (3)
c. Wild-caught salmon is high in protein; farm-raised salmon is just high in bad fat and chemicals. (2) (3)
d. Wild-caught salmon and other marine life are actually killed by farm-raised salmon. (2) (3)
Did I mention I had an opinion on the subject?
As with choices like BBQ sauce, I suggest you shop for your salmon at your local natural store, whether it’s a co-op or market. Save some money and buy a large frozen bag of Wild-caught Alaskan salmon filets at Costco. Trader Joe’s is another good resource for safe salmon on the cheap. If you are buying fresh salmon for sushi, your local co-op is probably your best option.
Barbecued Baked Salmon
*1 filet serves 1 person: we usually bake 3 filets for one meal, for the 3 of us
*I suggest serving salmon alongside organic greens and a baked potato: plan ahead and start your potatoes in the oven (scrubbed, fork-poked, and wrapped in foil) about 45-60 minutes before the salmon accompanies them to be baked.
Ingredients
Wild-caught Salmon filets
Annie’s barbecue sauce
On hand
Parchment paper
Covered Baking dish or baking dish and foil
Do
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Line baking pan with parchment paper, place defrosted salmon filets skin-side down on parchment paper.
3. Coat each filet in BBQ sauce.
4. Bake in covered dish at 450 degrees F for 20 minutes.
5. That’s it. Truly.
6. The skin is rich in Omega-3’s. Baking the filet skin-down releases those Omega-3’s into your filets. Bon appetite Omega-3’s and cheers to your health!
Sources
(1) Environmental Defense
(2) WHFoods
(3) Pays to Live Green
5th April, 2010 |
This year, I have a kiddo who knows what eggs, bunnies, colors, paints and fun are. Mission: have fun making colored eggs, naturally. Emphasis on the have fun reference. There was no lack of fun in this egg coloring adventure.
First step: locate canvas: eggs.
Oh yeah. We eat the eggs that have the BROWN shells. Maybe slight road bump, or maybe the challenge just becomes that much more exciting. We’ll soon find out, won’t we? read more
3rd April, 2010 |
Spring’s officially sprung here in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. I really couldn’t be more amped, the birds are having a sing-n-dance revolution, kids’ bikes are zooming down the sidewalks, the neighborhood park resembles a summer popsicle blanketed with busy bees (kiddos in this case), and air conditioners are humming… really? It is maybe a balmy 65 degrees F outside, snow mounds are still visibly lurking, and window air conditioners are already buzzing? Good ole Twin Cities fair weather fans, ahhhh spring is really in the air.
Delightful as the robins flocking the yard are, my top spring sighting so far has been my kiddo and the rest of the state playing outside, jacket-free, green grass underfoot and underway. A close second, though, are the hearty chives popping up to say Hi, Remember me? in our barely unfrozen and otherwise empty garden.
While finding the magic in the mess of spring cleaning, there are a few alternatives to keep in mind.
read more
21st March, 2010 |
When in Rome… Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner lacks something. It lacks artificial food dyes (yellow 5 and yellow 6), or tartrazine. Kraft products shipped to Europe and Australia are altered. European Kraft macaroni and cheese doesn’t contain artificial colors or chemicals, like the U.S. version contains. Is it that European children prefer Earth tones over hyper colors? Maybe, but doubtful. Europe is just, well, in the know when it comes to ingesting chemicals. You could say they frown upon it.
A 1994 study in Australia found behavioral changes in irritability, restlessness, and sleep disturbance are associated with the ingestion of tartrazine in some children (1). Perhaps this is why Kraft can’t sell their Macaroni and Cheese dinner with yellow food dye in Australia either.
15th March, 2010 |
Following my wedding cake that I was too amped to eat, the eggplant parmesan of my dreams entered my life while honeymooning 2 1/2 years ago. It made its appearance at a cozy vegetarian restaurant in Madrid. It’s probably more romantic to say that we happened upon this veggie nook entirely by chance, while wandering the evening streets of Madrid. But alas, it was moreso targeted and hunted, after doing my homework to find this destination. Splitting a week between three cities meant some degree of pre-mooning research. Many a variety of eggplant parmesan has been dined on by yours truly, at and away from home, but I’m still oozing over this particular one. This made my top-five meals of all time list. more
8th March, 2010 |
It’s very hard to order restaurant-style sweet potato fries after having so many of these over the years. Baked, crispy, and oh so addictive, these sweet potato fries are made with olive oil, cinnamon and nutmeg. Nothing less, nothing more. They’re a perfect appetizer or side dish year-round. more
3rd March, 2010 |
Dearest FDA, Couldn’t our ingredient labels simply include: FOOD or NOT FOOD, following a list of partially-hydrogenated this or mono-diglycerides that?
Mother Nature and margarine just can’t relate to one another. Margarine is closer to plastic than it is to food or Mother Nature, since it’s ARTIFICIAL MATTER. No matter what the label says, margarine is definitely TRANS FAT. As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, trans fat isn’t something anyone should be eating. Ever. more
1st March, 2010 |
Our smoothie blender logs a lot of mileage between the three of us and our smoothie fixes. I’m surprised the little machine still runs, but I’m hoping it’s a lifer now. Smoothies around here include whatever we happen to have on hand when we’re feeling the power of the puree. This one happened to include an assortment of frozen berries, from our Minnesota winter stock pile, along with some yogurt, banana and protein powder, hemp protein in this one.
Summer and winter smoothies are extremely different at our house. We don’t go a day without each of us having one or more with fresh fruit and local greens in the summer, and have to put forth more effort to feast on the winterized (packaged) versions for a few months out of the year. Since it’s March 1st here, and the ground is covered in snow, this is a winter variety smoothie. All of the berries were purchased pre-frozen, too, since we ran out of our frozen stock of fresh farmer’s market and co-op fruit months ago already. I’m sad to say that at the moment of this one’s blending, there was not a single leaf of kale nor spinach to be found in our kitchen. None. This smoothie was not part of the Green Smoothie Revolution. Unless my hemp powder counts for something?
… more
27th February, 2010 |
I have a list of “should eat” breakfasts, like smoothies, egg whites, fruit, ice chips, you get the idea. I also have a list of “pretty decent” breakfasts, such as oatmeal, eggs, yogurt with granola, and on and on. Then there’s my list of favorite breakfasts. This list gets noticed more on the weekend, when I’m home to give the favorites the attention they need. Topping THIS list is fresh buttermilk pancakes. They’ve been a staple around here for a while, morphing into a tradition even, especially during this endless midwest winter. All four of us love ‘em, yup this guy too.
Now, they don’t have to be all that bad. Sure, they’re carbed up a bit and dabble in a bit of butter and maple syrup, but there are tweaks on these fine hot cakes that keep them on “acceptably healthy” but more importantly scrumptious too. One example is always using whole wheat flour for at least half of the flour, REAL butter, pure maple syrup, and organic eggs. These hot cakes could always be the follow up to an uber-healthy green smoothie, if you have that kind of dedication in the morning.
Buttermilk Pancake Paradise… more
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Bottles have BPA, gum has aspartame, snacks and drinks have artificial color, and everything else contains MSG and trans fat, it seems. Where do you start? Cheers, my name is Niki Ahrens and I just want the best for my family, and for the rest of us too.
It's our choice, as parents, whether OUR kids eat real food and whether we use First-Do-No-Harm products on and around them. The decision is always ours. Here you’ll find favorite safe recipes, links to research and data, and alternatives that give us super powers instead of harm us.
How the Food Industry is Deceiving You
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