Summer Smoothies

I am a Smoothie fan. I like to create my own versions and discover new and interesting tastes. Not everything works out, especially as I am not good at following measuring rules, but sometimes I hit the jackpot!

My shining glory this morning was a recipe inspired by recent posts on other blogs to do with Kale. I am not a lover of this green, leafy vegetable, but I do know how wonderful it is nutritionally. Naturally, I have never managed to get my kids to eat it, as I don’t cook it much.

Organic? New York Times Article

Having read the New York Times article on the lack of ‘organic’ in our organic food, I am very disturbed by the latest revelations. It seems that we cannot buy real food anymore. We can buy almost real food, but there is always something added or modified. I, like so many others, felt okay buying the overpriced organic options, after all, they had been certified and followed the rules of untarnished, un-poisioned (my own word) food right? Apparently not!

Eden Foods seems to be in the small minority of companies that actually care about providing truly organic products in non-toxic cans and packaging. I strongly suggest all those who can afford it, buy many shares in that company now!

But what of us Joe Shmo’s who just want to feed our children healthy food without going bankrupt? When big companies buy up smaller organic companies, the prices might can come down a little. Of course now I know why. And what about meat? I eat meat, but cannot afford the cost of organic meat too often…which can be a good thing as I’m forced to eat more veggies 🙂 However, it makes finding restaurants that serve organic meats very hard to come by!

So, super-companies are reducing our ability to buy real organic food…they have the majority share of the food industry and are manipulating the way food is deemed to be considered organic. What can we do about this?

Many people are shouting out that we should skip the stores altogether and buy locally grown produce from our Farmer’s Markets. Others suggest being careful but not overly dramatic about the issue. I am sure that there are also many who have just thrown in the towel, as time and money are just too limited to cook from scratch everyday or buy the more expensive goods.

Personally, I’d like to focus more on asking why this is allowed in the first place. This has become public and a major paper has written about it. We all need to shout out and be heard…write to our member of congress, respond to the article, petition stores, boycott products.

How should we, as a nation of consumers, win back our rights to real food?

Food for the Fourth!

This morning has been quite fun. I had my tush kicked in a game of Stratego with Button who definitely had the upper hand being that it was my first time. I thought I had laid out all my players in a strategic order and hidden my flag well. Nope! Button scooted around every bomb I’d placed, managed to scoop up my spy, and take all my high numbered men within about five minutes. Luckily, I’m a quick learner and now have my own set of plans for the next game! I did not miss the irony that my American kid beat his English mommy on this historic day 🙂

Yesterday the Fourth of July festivities began. We had the first party and Peanut’s first Friendship League game. Naturally both occurred at the same time so we decided to divide and conquer: Daddy and Peanut went to game first them party; Nana, Button, and myself went to the party from the beginning.

Today we were invited to two parties and decided which one to attend based on the fact we had just spent a lot of time with one group of friends and felt we should see the other group. Thankfully, all my friends are very easy going and there are no hard feelings. (We are also going camping with the group we are not seeing so we have plenty together time soon.)

Naturally I needed to prepare dishes for the parties. The weather is hot and I really didn’t feel like my usual heavy sides of Stilton and creme fraise mashed potatoes, or roasted carrots and parsnips. Instead I opted for lighter faire.

My first dish was Greek Spinach-Pasta Salad with Feta and Beans. For this I used the following:

Baby spinach
I can of great Northern Beans
Feta Cheese
Dried tomatoes (I like Sundried)
Green onions
Garlic
Lemon for lemon peel and lemon juice
Extra virgin olive oil
Fresh oregano
Fresh lemon thyme or thyme
Kosher salt or sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Dried farfalle pasta (I used the gluten free organic type but not my usual whole grain as I was not sure many people would go for it…my kids remarked at how pale the pasta was and turned their noses up at it!!!)
Shaved Parmesan cheese

In a large serving bowl I combined 5-6 ounces of spinach, 15 ounces beans, 4 ounces of the Feta cheese, 1/4 cup of the dried tomatoes (not oil packed), 2 chopped green onions, 2 minced cloves of garlic, 1 tsp of finely shredded lemon peel, 2 tbsp of the lemon juice and oil, 1 tbsp of oregano or thyme, followed by a pinch of salt and pepper. Once all ingredients were added and stirred in, they were covered and left to stand for just over two hours at room temperature.

Once it was almost time to leave for the party, I cooked the pasta until it was al dente (about 7 minutes), then drained reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water. I then tossed the cooked pasta and pasta water with spinach salad mixture. Shaved Parmesan cheese topped the dish and the results were delicious.

For the second party, later today, I will make a delicious Three Bean Salad

Ingredients

1 15-ounce can cannellini beans
1 15-ounce can chickpeas
1 15-ounce can kidney beans
2 celery stalks
1/2 red onion
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation

After draining and rinsing the beans, I will combine them all in a large bowel and add the chopped celery, onion, parsley, and rosemary. I like to make these really finely chopped as my kids prefer the texture.

I will then whisk together the lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper in a small bowel. I’ll drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad and toss. This dish is best served at room temperature.

Such easy dishee which taste delicious. The kids can help too. Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Summer Food List

One of the first things I like to do before spending a fortune on food shopping is take inventory of what I already have. Being that it is the first week of summer vacation, I actually have a lot of items in the freezer and dry goods stocked to go. My list generally contains foods that do not last or that we just go through each week. Here is an overview of what I consider things I need for the week:

Don’t think I’m crazy here, I just need a few ingredients for the many versions of the BellyFULL pops by The HopeFULL Company my kids love making.

• Strawberries
• Vanilla soy milk
• Cashew butter
• Infant rice cereal

I am not going to wait until Friday for one of the best Farmer’s Markets to roll around, but I am going to visit and stock up once it is here. Until then, I go to a smaller supermarket with unreasonable prices for fresh, locally grown organic produce.

• Salad
• Cucumber
• Tomatoes
• Bananas
• Watermelon
• Kiwi
• Sweet potatoes
• Corn
• Carrots
• Broccoli
• Green beans
• Asparagus
• Mushrooms
• Kale
• Oranges

Snacks to go are always useful:

• Almonds
• Hummus

Not all of these will be bought in one day. I prefer to buy the day I am cooking them. The chicken for roasting may seen a little wintery, but I can assure you, roast chicken is delicious with salad and in sandwiches, and I love the soup too much to give it up in the heat!

• Chicken
• Flank steak
• Chicken for roasting
• Salmon

The kids get a treat with some sugary garbage…once in a while and I may as well confess it here 🙂

• Cheerios
• Frosted Flakes

Nothing but organic and always devoured rather quickly:

• Milk
• Creamer
• Yoghurts

• Pancake mix – lazy I know but I’m a realist! Check out this amazing recipe, though, at One Food Guy
• Eggs
• Bagels
• Cream cheese

Most of the fruit and veg will be eaten raw, in shakes, and grilled. Some may be pureed into tomato sauce so I sneak extra into the kids. All of it will be eaten by the end of the week.

My kids are big on desserts, getting that from their daddy not me, and I try to make the summer months really about fun foods that are still nutritious. The BellyFULL pops mentioned above are a perfect snack or dessert but I also make frozen yogurt pie. I crunch up graham crackers into a dish and spoon frozen yogurt into the bits, top with fresh strawberries or raspberries, then freeze. I will add a scoop of ice-cream if no other junk has been eaten that day.

I also have a battle with soda. I won’t buy it for the boys but hubby drinks it constantly. I cannot persuade him to stop despite my “lead by example” protestations. I am opting for more healthy alternatives such as mixing 100 percent juice with seltzer or adding real fruit to plain old water or tonic. When it’s really hot, I have the kids make fruit cubes – basically water frozen with fruit inside.

So now I just have to plan out our schedule – I keep procrastinating about that, so I can plan out meals. Baseball is getting in the way a little as I still don’t know when the practices and games are going to be held….that’s it…I can blame the coach for a whole week of unplanned meals 🙂

Food Labels – What they Don’t Show!

I am constantly learning more about making good choices with food and reading food labels. As my regular readers know, I have been exploring labels for organic foods and looking carefully at what is in the food I buy for my family. I discovered an App for my iPhone that has blown me away…or rather the information I have discovered has!

Is My Food Organic?

Many of you who have read this blog from the start know my son, Button, is a cancer survivor. The fact that I tried my best to be organic, clean with as many green products as possible, and avoid obvious harmful situations such as living next to a gas station did not change the painful news I received about my then five-year old son. I cannot beat myself up about it, however. That would serve no purpose at all. Instead, I can put even more effort into living the non-toxic life.

Lemon Salt Body Scrub

I love the daffodils blooming in the garden, the blossoms bursting forth upon the trees. These are signs that spring is here, not to mention the unusually warm weather! I have been faithfully applying my coconut and olive oil body juice each day, and I’m very pleased with my skin. But now am going to be baring all, at least in terms of showing a little more leg, foot and arm, I want to take my beauty routine up a notch and give my skin some power-washing.

Healthy Furniture

Image via Kids and Baby Design Ideas

Nothing is more fun than making your home look stylish and chic with a touch of you thrown in. Your design ideas come together in an amalgam of creativity and spend-ability; trading designer this, for Ikea that to be able to afford the overall ‘look’ you want. Well feel glad you opted for the Ikea piece instead of one that broke the bank…unless your designer piece was antique or ‘green‘.

Safety has taken priority in the manufacturing of household furniture for many years. Unfortunately, this has meant that, in order to fireproof all that surrounds us in our homes, toxic flame retardants have been used with abandon, lulling us into false security. I agree that fire safety is important, but the plastic and foams used in furniture have been treated with fire-retardant polybrominated diphenylethers or PBDEs which are exceedingly hazardous to your health. These PBDEs can be found in furniture, mattresses and your car too.

Delicious Dish Tuesday: Chicken Soup

Before the cold weather leaves us, I wanted to share my recipe for chicken soup. As with most of my recipes, I make most of it up as I go, depending on the ingredients I have in the fridge. This combination has proven to be extremely popular…I have been asked to share with friends and I cold live off it all week. I have never had the chance to freeze it, which makes me think my culinary dabblings are working on this one!

The Vitamin Debate

In an ideal world, our children would be getting their vitamins directly from the diet they eat. It is possible to provide a balanced diet so rich in essential vitamins and minerals that no supplement is required. However, there are not many children who would actually eat everything you needed them to in order to get all the nutrition they need.

As a working mom, I regrettably fall foul to the pressures of too much to do and head for the instant Mac n’ Cheese or frozen chicken nuggets. While it goes against every bone in my body, I know I have to cut myself some slack and feel good that at least I read the labels and bought the healthiest instant food I could find…organic if possible…and I let it go: I need to stay sane!