The Kids Are Home, Hide the Veggies!

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Time for a mid-week rant.

NPR did a story about what a great idea it is to get kids to eat vegetables at school by adding vegetable puree to the school lunch cheese sauce at lunch time.  There’s a whole movement, including cookbooks, on how to get your child to eat vegetables by hiding them in brownies, cakes, cheese sauces, etc.  I can’t even begin to express how much I loathe this entire idea. It’s faulty from it’s toes to it’s nose, it’s destructive, and it’s just stupid.

What, exactly, does this teach children about healthy eating? Nothing. They don’t learn to make appropriate food choices, they don’t learn to like healthy food. In fact, they don’t even learn what “healthy food” actually is, because as far as they’re concerned, they’re not eating it. It does teach them, however, that they don’t have to ever eat anything green. It teaches them that yes, “healthy” foods must taste crappy or why would we have to hide them? It also teaches them that they are correct when they assume they should get everything they want, that they should be catered to.

Here’s a radical thought: don’t hide children’s vegetables. Instead, let’s serve them well-cooked, healthy vegetables and then, like adults, make sure they eat them.

This is going to get really controversial, and it’s not going to be sugar coated. I am tired of all the namby-pamby advice about how to get kids to eat well. It’s not that complicated.

-Be a parent. We need to stop pandering to children. Parents get to control your child’s diet, the child does not.  Do parents let kids control the finances simply because they want to? Do parents let kids skip school because “they don’t like it?” So why in the world do they let their children control their food. Look, kids are NOT going to starve themselves to death because they’re not fed their three favorite foods every night. They CAN go to bed without dinner and not wake up emaciated and ready to die, no matter how big a fit they throw to the contrary. No one should starve their child, obviously, but unless a child has an emotional or intellectual disability, they aren’t going to starve to death because they are only presented with healthy options for dinner every night.

-Children are smart, and will manipulate you if you let them. Most of the kids who are “picky eaters” have learned that if they say “I don’t like this food,” someone will get up and make them a favorite food instead.  They have adults trained. This is a great racket, right?  This has got to stop. It’s not appropriate parenting, and it’s not doing the child any favors in the long run.

-There is a difference in “don’t like” and “not favorite.” Everyone has things they don’t like. Most people have 3-5 general things they don’t like. A child who *only* likes 3-5 thing and “doesn’t like” everything else knows how to get what they want.  Most of the time, when a child says they don’t like something, what they actually mean is they prefer something else. Time for a valuable life lesson: Too Darn Bad. We Don’t Always Get What We Want In Life.

-Kids learn to like what they’re fed. As I’ve said a thousand times, children in India are not born liking curry, children in Japan do not come from the womb craving udon,  and kids from Louisiana aren’t genetically predisposed to loving jambalaya. Children like their ethnic/cultural cuisine because it’s what they’re fed when young (and, if a child of one ethnicity/culture is adopted as a baby someone from another culture, that child does not grow up craving it’s birth-parents home cooking). A child isn’t going to learn to like legumes if they never eat them.

-Kids eat what their parents eat. Simple as that.  Just like smoking or drinking, parents need to look at what they’re eating in front of their children.

There are other things, such as it’s been proven that children who help grow and cook vegetables are far more likely to choose to eat them. Or, that children who are taught to cook tend to eat a wider variety of healthy foods. But, the main point is this: Children are children. They do not get to make the decision on whether or not they eat their vegetables. That is what parents are for. Hiding healthy food in “unhealthy” food teaches children bad eating habits, poor decision making skills, and that they don’t have to do anything they’d rather not do.

2/3 of the children in the US are obese. Most of these children will grow up to be obese adults, with all the health issues and concerns that go along with that.  This problem will not be solved by hiding vegetables in cheese sauce.

Related Articles

• 5 ways to get your kids to eat their veggies (sfgate.com)
• Kerry Trueman: Let’s Ask Marion Nestle: Is Stealth The Way To Healthy Eating for Kids? (huffingtonpost.com)
• 5 Simple Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat Vegetables (thehappyhousewife.com)
• Children’s Veggie Intake Doubles with Education, Role-Modelling and Popeye (diet-blog.com)

Monday Healthy Eating, Oct. 25, 2010

Today’s healthy eating tip:  Make convenience foods yourself ahead of time, so there’s no excuses!

Right now, I have apple-pomegranate-nut granola bars whipping themselves up in my dehydrator.  They took me a grand total of about 2 minutes to mix up, another 30 seconds to spread on the dehydrator sheet, and now I do nothing with them for the next 4 or so hours when I turn them off to cool down.  They’ve got very little sugar, tons of fiber, protein, and omega fatty acids, and no additional fat or preservatives. And they cost pennies each. Which makes them pretty much the antithesis of store-bought granola bars, which are loaded with empty calories from sugar, unhealthy fats, and things you can’t pronounce.

What’s this got to do with anything? Well, we’re all busy. Most people these days work at least one job (those lucky enough to have jobs in this economy), usually all adults in the house need to work, kids have school and a bazillion activities, and things sometimes get out of hand. This is when you’re likely to stop by McDonalds to get the kids (or yourself) a quick snack, or grab some mac-and-cheese out of a box. If that’s rare treat, then that’s totally okay. If it happens a few times a week, it’s a problem. So, this has to do with avoiding that problem.

One way I stay on track is to take a few minutes to set up conveniences foods when I have the time. The granola bars happened today both because I need them for my clients and because I had 5 minutes to spare. I keep a list of recipes on-hand, and some basic ingredients, and whip up some easy, healthy food for the pantry of freezer whenever I can squeeze it in, and it means I don’t have to resort to fast or processed foods.

You do have the time. Watching TV for an hour tonight? Take 5 minutes before your show or on a commercial to pop up some stove-top popcorn (don’t use microwave–it’s expensive, and it’s awful for you, even the “low-fat” stuff), toss it with some spritzed olive oil and your choice of spices (favorite combo of our are garlic, salt, and smoked paprika) and let it cook while you watch your show (eat some if you like, of course). Toss it into individual serving bags, and you’ve got a crunchy, low-cal, high-fiber snack for the week.  Sitting at the computer playing on Facebook? While you’re waiting for your updates, mix up a healthy meatloaf (black beans, lean ground beef, oats, an egg, spices, red & green pepper, onion, and whatever chopped veggies you want to toss in) and toss it in the oven. If you want, you can divide it up into individual serving sizes in small pyrex dishes to make lunches easier. Some of my favorite conveniences foods to whip up in a jiffy:

-Mini meatloafs

-Mini healthy muffins (there are even some decent mixes out there, and I add fruit and nuts if I use them)

-Mini frittatas

-Seasoned popcorn, pumpkin seeds, or nuts in individual packages

-Boiled eggs

-Dehydrator granola bars

-Cheese cubes (way cheaper to make these yourself than buy the pre-cuts)

-Homemade hot pockets (I use leftovers for filling), with a fat-free, whole wheat dough. You can even buy fairly healthy whole wheat pizza dough at some stores, and use that.

-Soup in the crockpot. There’s nothing faster: just throw in some beans, some broth, and a some veggies. If you want fancy soup, throw in some spices and canned tomatoes. Let it cook for a few hours, and you’ve got something easy for the week, or to throw in individual portions in the freezer for those lunches or dinners you just don’t have time to cook.

There’s more, I’m sure, but these are what I can think of off the top of my head. None of them takes more than a few minutes, and those few minutes save me hundreds of calories (and preservatives) every day.

To get started, just get a piece of paper and write down out what you tend to need convenience foods for: breakfasts, snacks, lunches, etc., and what kinds of things you’d like to have on-hand. Make a list and stick it up somewhere you can see it, and next time you have a couple of minutes, use those to help you make good food choices when it would otherwise be inconvenient.  There are tons of recipes on the internet for fast convenience foods, including some great whole-grain cookies (these are my current obsession)!

Planning is everything in making healthful choices, but you have to start in small steps. You’ve already started meal planning (right?), and this is just an extension of that, really. We’re all busy, and we all want those few extra minutes to do something else; but, it’s about priorities. “Convenience foods,” many of which aren’t food at all, are one of the biggest culprits behind obesity in this country, especially childhood obesity. You’ll feel better eating better food, and it only take a few times making healthy items for later before you have a nice little stash to choose from. Once that happens, you have to take those few minutes less often to replenish it.

 

Related Articles

• Make healthy lunches kids will want to eat (canada.com)
• Healthy back to school snacking (thismamacooks.com)
• The Minimalist: Granola Bars, Unwrapped (nytimes.com)
• Quick Healthy Meals for Busy Families (webmd.com)
• How Food Affects Your Brain 10 Facts We Now Know (losethattyre.co.uk)

Monday Healthy Eating

Plan your lunches.

Step away from the deli, get out of the drive-thru line, and put down that processed frozen lunch entree. Lunches are incredibly easy meals to plan, and doing so will save you calories and money while gaining nutrition and flavor.

Your lunch options will depend on your lunch facilities, so take a minute to think about it: do you have  access to a refrigerator? A microwave? Toaster oven?  Can you use a cooler if no refrigerator is available, or store a hot-bag or thermos? Once you’ve got that figured out, the rest is pretty easy.

Make a list of foods you like that fit those needs. Obviously, if you are completely without the ability to keep items cold at all (and aren’t allowed a cooler), your options are the most limited; but, their are still options. Nut butters sandwiches or wraps, fruit, nuts, baked goods,  and many more foods keep just fine for several hours without refrigeration. If you can’t heat things up and can’t carry a thermos or warm bag, you can still take many things that are great cold.

Some of my favorite lunches, not including leftovers:

• Black bean burger wraps (pictured). I make up bean patties and toss them in the freezer, so I can just pull one out and crumble it into a wrap with whatever toppings I feel like!
• Home made hot pockets, stuffed with everything from fresh fruit to turkey and swiss with fig jam, from meatloaf to mac and cheese! The crust recipe I use is below, adapted from this recipe in Vegetarian Magazine.
• Miso chicken & shitake soup.
• Boiled egg, sliced with heirloom tomatoes.
• Pineapple tuna salad on baby spinach.
• Miso noodles, with shredded chicken (canned works fine) and some veggies.

There are all kinds of things you can use to fill out your lunch, too. Roasted almonds (which release leptin,  the “full” hormone) sliced fruit, a side salad, homemade granola and yogurt…you get the idea. The list is endless, you just need to add a bit of creativity.

Planning your lunches for the week will help keep you on the healthy-eating track, and it’ll make you the envy of the office!

Hot Pocket Crust Recipe

• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 4 Tbs. cold butter or trans-fat free margarine (or soy margarine)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 Tbs. apple cider or white wine vinegar

Get the mixing directions here, and while you’re at it, you should really try the empanadas. They’re amazing.

Macaroni & Cheese..with Wine?

Absolutely. I was shocked, too, but when some friends and I hit Hickory Hill winery on a recent wine tour that is exactly what their Country Red screamed out: “Drink me with some really good mac & cheese!” So, we bought a bottle, and at the very first ripe opportunity I busted out a mac & cheese recipe recommended by both the owner of the winery and the friends who’d accompanied us on the tour.

It all starts out simple enough, with some cheese and noodles.

It ends up all goey and yummy like this:

I had to make some changes from Jaime Olliver’s recipe. I couldn’t find any decent fontina, let alone marscapone, and I needed to add some protein to it for The Boys.

• 1lb 2oz good-quality macaroni
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• a knob of butter
• a small bunch of fresh marjoram or oregano, leaves picked (I used dried oregano, because I had it on hand)

• 3½oz Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus extra for grating
• 3½oz grated sharp cheddar

• 3½oz Muenster
• 3½oz cream cheese
• ¼ of a nutmeg

• 1/2 lb. smoked sausage, diced small

•  1/2 med. red pepper, small
An additional bit grated cheddar (or fresh mozzarella) and Parmesan cheeses reserved.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. On stove top, cook the macaroni, and drain, reserving 1/2 c. of cooking water. In pan, heat butter and herbs until herbs are crispy. Add macaroni and all cheeses except the reserved grated cheddar, and several tablespoons of the starch water. Stir until creamy. Stir in sausage and pepper. Pour macaroni into a lightly greased casserole, and sprinkle grated cheddar over top, then Parmesan. Put in oven, uncovered, for 10 minutes until cheese on top is bubbly. Serve warm, with a red wine, and enjoy!

Related Articles

• Who invented macaroni and cheese? (holykaw.alltop.com)

It’s Personal!

I love these personal frittatas. Farm fresh eggs, local greens and tomatoes,  fresh milk, and grated Parmesan. They’re also incredibly impressive coming out of the oven, and don’t take much to prepare to perfection. Did I mention they freeze well? What’s not to love?

There’s no set recipe, and I change them up a lot depending on the ingredients I have to hand and the seasons; but, the basics are:

-A small, personal tart pan

-Baking spray

-2 farm fresh eggs

-2-3 tbs. fresh milk, cream, or sour cream.

-Salt, pepper, ground mustard, cayenne. Other spices, like thyme, basil, oregano, etc. can also be added to compliment your fillings.

- Fillings of your choice. Meats should be cooked.

-2 tbs. hard cheese, finely grated (I like Parmesan or Sharp Cheddar)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray pan liberally with baking spray and place pan on cookie sheet,  then spoon in about 4 tbs. filling ingredients. In separate bowl, beat together eggs, cream, and a pinch of each spice with a whisk. Stir in all but 1 tsp. of your cheese, and pour into tart pan. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of egg mixture, and place tart pan (still on the cookie tray) into oven. Bake for 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into center. Allow to cool completely in tart pan, then gently run a butter knife around the edge of the frittata and remove from pan.

You’re likely to be seeing more “individual” foods here, as Thadd’s back in school and needs things he can toss into a cooler and I have clients that need something they can carry to work easily. If you’ve got favorite “individual” foods, share with us! Or, if there’s something you’d like to see, just ask and I’ll see what I can do!

Food Photos!

I’d like to think you come here for my wit and food politics, but we all know you’re here for the food. Since I’ve been a bit light on food porn these last weeks, I’m going to throw a bunch at you today to catch up!

Above: You all know we eat from local sources as much as possible, and I just found a new source for amazing chicken: Davis Creek Farms. Their 100% pastured, free-range, better-than-organic chickens are slaughtered on the farm by the family, and they’re delicious. The bird above came trussed just as you see it–ready for roasting. His prices, which was about $3.40/lb for whole birds, are totally worth it for the flavor and the good farming practices. The carcass will, of course, go into stock later this week.  Below: These freshly-dug potatoes and carrots were roasted with Herbs de Provence for a wonderful side dish. Fresh potatoes have a richness that store-bought just can’t match, because store-bought potatoes are stored in warehouses just above freezing. These temperatures change the starches in the potatoes, rendering them less creamy and muting the flavor. The baby carrots tasted like carrots, not like sugar. Yum! The leftovers will be mixed with beets and beet greens in a homemade chicken stock base for a wonderful soup. The carrot tops will be used in pesto (thanks to the farm for this idea!).

Below: Falafel is hard to come by in this area, and we’ve been craving it. I finally had time to whip up a batch a few days ago:

Below: Summer brings cold fare to the table, in part because I tend to lose my appetite in the heat. For lunches, I’ve really gotten into savory smoothies, which are essentially gazpacho every day! They’re healthy, full of vitamins and fiber, and fill me up while cooling me down. I side them with some protein (usually an egg, cheese, and/or nuts), and it’s a light, filling lunch that is also full of what I need to keep up my active lifestyle.

Now that market season is here and our CSA has started, we’re looking forward to a lot of produce and a lot of new recipes. We’ll also be doing, as usual, a lot of preservation via canning, freezing, and drying. All this means lots of new pics, so if you’re just here for the food porn, you’ve got something to look forward to. If you’re here for the politics, don’t worry, that’s coming, too!

Healthy Eating Tip of the Day/Week/Whatever & What I’m Doing

One of my biggest “tricks” to staying healthy is to eat a really diverse diet. Science has proven that people who eat a wide variety of foods are generally much healthier than those who eat a limited diet for a few reasons: 1)  it provides a wider variety of vitamins, minerals, and micro-nutrients,  2) your metabolism is kept off balance, so your body works harder and burns more calories, and 3) your body, especially your tastebuds, feel more satisfied, so you eat less overall.

If you’re having a hard time getting in some diversity because of time, just make some small changes. Take a new fruit for lunch, or toss a different vegetable on the grill tonight.  Add some sharp cheese and red pepper to your salad.  Looking for bigger changes? Consider trying some different cuisines, like Indian, or switch to a vegetarian meal once or twice a week.

I want to add even more diversity to my diet, and get some more raw fruits and veggies in. I do fairly well with my daily veggie intake since I love them, but there are days like today when I’ll be working from 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM, and eating a salad in the car is a recipe for disaster. So, next week (I’ve already been grocery shopping this week), I’ll be adding savory smoothies to the “superfood” smoothies I’m already doing. While the fruity ones keep my sweet tooth at bay, I don’t always want sweet.  I’d love to hear your recipes, and I’ll be sharing mine here as I experiment.

I also think these will work out well for me when it gets really hot out. I tend to not eat in the heat, and a savory smoothie might just be the perfect way for me to get in the foods I need!

Two Week Menu Plan

Sunday I got out of bed all by my lonesome, so to speak, and reveled in a perfect morning. The other half was off on an overnight lab-work trip (which I’d been supposed to go on, but had to back out due to work, unfortunately), and I had the morning to myself.  One of the tasks of the day was to start a grocery list and food plan for the upcoming weeks, which UC would help with when he got home. To do that, I felt, I needed more than my usual light breakfast. Since I work out fairly early each morning, my breakfast is usually protein & some fiber, and I eat a heavier snack when I get home. Sunday,I had the freedom to indulge!

In the picture: 0% Fat Fage Greek Yogurt (I prefer TJ brand, but we don’t have one close by), topped with fresh melon, blackberries & strawberries we put up earlier this year in the freezer, chopped walnuts, and a 1/2 tsp. local honey. Eggs, scrambled with leftover seared broccoli (the nutty flavor is deep and rich), mushrooms (mushrooms, in addition to being tasty, have recently been shown to decrease the risk of breast cancer by up to 35%), garden-fresh green pepper, tomato, basil, and thyme. Sided with clementines and a cup of Yoga detoxifying tea. YUM!

Eating breakfast, I started the menu plan, which was finished last night with UC. As we get ready to move, we’re concentrating on making some meals that leave excellent freezable leftovers. The idea is to get things we can heat up quickly in the microwave the week before and the week after the move, so we can avoid eating out (and eating unhealthy foods, too). So, you’ll see some heavier fare here pretty regularly for the next couple of weeks.

DINNERS

Week 1

Monday: Shrimp Enchilada bake with salad and crusty bread. This recipe is from this month’s Shape magazine, and is an experiment. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Tuesday: Pork piccata with golden acorn squash, salad, and broccoli. UC loves my pork piccata, which I make with a slightly lighter sauce than some restaurants. It’s important to use flat leaf, also called “Italian”, parsley in this recipe. Actually, I never use curly-leaf parsley other than for garnish, and rarely even then. It just doesn’t have enough flavor. Aldi had great broccoli this week!

Wednesday: Baked whole chicken with baked sweet potatoes and long beans. I’ll slide some lemon and rosemary under the chicken’s skin, rub it with a mixture of herbs (lemon thyme, sage, oregano, black smoked sea salt, pepper, and paprika) and stuff it with a quinoa and grape stuffing. The potatoes take about the same time to bake in foil, and the long beans will be seared (they’re from our garden this year).

Thursday: Rustic Cabbage soup with crusty bread. UC will be cooking this night, as I have an evening activity.  He makes wonderful cabbage soup that’s replete with butter beans and chunks of vegges. We serve it with a hunk of crusty bread (his ciabatta, in this case) to make a wonderfu meal on cold days.

Friday: Leftovers. I’ll be gone all day, and late into the evening working. So, it’s a great time to clean out the refrigerator. Some leftovers will be packed by me for lunch and dinner, some will be eaten by UC for his dinner, and the rest will be packed and frozen for the move.

Saturday: We’re out of town this day to deal with move stuff, so we’ll be eating out from necessity.

Sunday: Pumpkin Bisque with grilled cheese on artisan bread.  ‘Tis the season for pumpkin, one of my favorite things! Since we’ll be coming home late, we needed a fast dinner. We’ve got an amazing bisque recipe from a fabulous restaurant, L’etoile in Charlottesville, at the market last year. The restaurant uses a lot of local products, and the food is amazing. We’ll be serving this up and freezing some for the move. The grilled cheese will be on some of Thadd’s bread, with an-as-yet-undetermined cheese, and smokey chipotle mustard I’ll be whipping up.

Week 2

Monday: Roasted turkey, stuffed with apple, chicken sausage, & cornbread stuffing. Served with whipped sweet potatoes and seasonal veggie. Turkey is a good price right now, and while I’d love to buy our turkey locally, we just can’t spend $70 a bird or more. This is one of the few things we haven’t tried to work into our budget, but hope to possibly next year. With the move so close, it’s just not reasonable this year. What we will be doing is roasting the turkey and eating on it for a day or two. The remaining meat will be ground and frozen, to be pulled out after the move and mixed with mayo, pickles, and a few other things to make a wonderful sandwich spread. The bones will be made into stock, which will also be frozen for later use. I’ll make the cornbread for the stuffing this week, break it up and let it dry out, then store it in a plastic bag until next week. It’s fantastic with local tart apples and a good quality chicken sausage!

Tuesday:  Tofu & Chickpea Indian Curry over Brown Scented Rice. This is one of my specialties.  I don’t do it often for just the two of us because there’s no way to not make a mountain of it, but it freezes fairly well so long as you freeze the tofu separately, which we’ll be doing. My curries are spicy, but in slow-heat, forhead-sweating kind of way. The brown rice is scented with star anise, cardamom, coriander, and saffron. The curry itself has tofu, chickpeas, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, green peppers, onions, ginger, bananas (no, that’s not a typo), and some other veggies (whatever I find that looks fresh and tasty). This is a wet curry, made with yogurt and coconut milk, so it’s perfect over rice.  It’s topped with chopped peanuts,  green pepper, and raisin.

Wednesday: Veggie Lasagna, Shawn-Style, served with salad and garlic bread. There’s a trick to this lasagna that I just can’t give up yet. It’s one of my most asked-for recipes, and even meat eaters dive in for seconds (and thirds, and fourths, if I let them). It’s also got about half the calories of regular veggie lasagna! And nope, there’s no tofu or soy involved.  This will be served with a huge green salad and crusty, homemade garlic bread. I’ll be making two pans so we have enough to freeze.

Thursday: Zirva, with brown rice and seasonal veggie. Zirva is chicken roasted with plums and apricots, and it’s incredible. The recipe is from my mentor, Chef Channon, in her book “Celebration at the Sarayi,” which takes a look at 1500′s Turkish Ottoman Empire cooking. The recipes in this book are just mouthwater (hint: you can buy the interactive book at her website!).

Friday: We’re eating out for the second time in two weeks, which is pretty unusual for us. But, we’re trying to spend time with friends before we leave (yes, we’ll see them again, but not nearly as often), and this is a chance to meet our friend Dave’s mom!  Dave’s creativity is inspiring, and his commitment to environmentally-friendly landscape design is pretty fantastic, so we want to see where he gets it from! Dave and his wife, Mindy, have invited us to the Bavarian Chef for dinner with his mom. This restaurant is it’s very own experience. Go hungry, that’s all I am saying.

Saturday: Venison and Wild Mushsroom straganoof, served over spaghetti squash “noodles.” Another specialty of mine. The trick is in the fresh-ground nutmeg. The venison is from my nephew (my older nepher, though I suspect I’ll be getting some from my younger nephew in November, since he just got his first deer. Congratulations, Josh!!!). The Chicken-of-the-Woods mushrooms were collected and frozen earlier this year, and hopefully I can collect–rather than buy–some oyster mushrooms next week. Courtesy of an idea from UC, this will be served over spaghetti squash “noodles”, which he did with something else a while ago. It was spectacular, so it’s becoming a standard part of our menu.

LUNCHES (mix-n-match)

Leftovers. Tuna salad on whole grain bread. Salad. Probably some things I am forgetting.

BREAKFASTS (mix-n-match)

Steel-cut oats. Greek yogurt with fruit. Whole Grain toast. Scrambled/fried/poached eggs. Fruit. Homemade healthy muffins.

SNACKS

Hard boiled, farm-fresh eggs. Nuts. Cheese. Fruit (pomegranates are in season, yummy!). Fresh salsa & corn chips. Raw Veggies. Steamed artichoke. etc. Homemade healthy muffins.

BEVERAGES

Milk. Tea, caff and non. Water. Coffee.

I haven’t finished shopping for the whole two weeks yet, so I can’t give a definitive cost.

10 Minute Lunches

This feature is turning out to be very popular. I’m working on a separate page for these, but in the meantime they’ll just be here.

We’ve been eating lots of leftovers for lunches this week, so no need for a lot of 10 Minute Lunches. I did get a a few done, though:

Above: Cheesy veggie grits, farm fresh egg, and spicy zucchini & cucumber salad. The spicy salad was crisp, fresh, and with just enough kick to offset the grits. I made the grits (yes, they’re instant) with just a bit of cheese, some unprocessed wheat bran for fiber, and some leftover veggies. Below: Finished off the grits with lowfat, vegetarian refried beans, grass-fed taco meat, and low-fat yogurt to top it off.

Weekly Frugal

This week is a bit odd in terms of frugal groceries. The market was rained out on Satuday, so we went to Miller’s Farm Market, a “stationary” market. The variety isn’t, of course, as good; but, we do love their products.

We spent $65 there on grociers, including organic whole milk and yogurts. We also picked up some fresh shitakes! The grocery store bill was $37.15. So, we’re under budget.

This week’s menus are also a bit odd because we are incredibly busy. Here goes:

Dinners

-Tonight. Roasted turkey, served with acorn squash, mashed potatoes, and edamame. This is an unuasual dinner for us in that it has starch in it, but we needed to use up some potatoes before they went bad. They’re local and have stored great, but it’s been warm and muggy (and we don’t have the cold storage set up in the apartment yet). To save heating the place up, and to be just generally better on energy, the roast is being done in the spare room in the roaster. The acorn squash will get cut into quarters and tossed in about an hour before the bird is done. UC will make the potatoes, and the edamame will be boiled & seasoned with smoked salt and butter. I realize it’s not a very inventive meal, but it’s tasty and will provide serious leftovers. After dinner, the meat will be stripped, and the carcass set to simmer, along with some sweated onion and spices, on our Kitchen Day this week.

-Tuesday. Leftovers for UC. I’m out for the evening.

-Wednesday. Spicy apricot-marinated chicken, roasted with peaches, green peppers, and onions. I froze the chicken in a red-pepper and apricot marinade (meal-sized portions) several weeks ago when apricots were in. I’ll bake it on a bed of fresh, local, heirloom-varity apricots, green peppers, and onions and serve over rice.

-Thursday. Heirlom tomato gazpacho & veggie quiche. Served with homemade ciabatta, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping. We bought a good amount of tomatoes especially for this soup, which I am patterning after a soup we had at Revolutionary Soup a few weeks ago (hi MJ & Dave!).  I think I’ve got the recipe I want, and if it goes well I’ll post it here. And, I might make up a huge batch to freeze! The quiche will be with the farm fresh eggs, leftover veggies, and some cheese in one of UC’s whole wheat crusts. Thank goodness one of us can bake!

-Friday. Turkey Pot Pie. You had to know this was coming. We’ll use part of the leftover meat to make the pot pie, along with some fun veggies: edamame, roasted corn, onion, cauliflower, edamame. The rest of the meat will be frozen for future use in soup with the stock.

Breakfasts:

-Wheat berry and pearl barley porridge. I made this last night in crock pot, and woke up to a lovely, homey smell this morning. 2 cups each wheat berry and pearl barey, 4 cups apple juice, 4 cups water. Cook on low. You can add dried fruit, as well, but UC prefers his added in the morning with milk, molasses or honey, and butter.

-Oatmeal wheat pancakes with scrambled eggs. UC made this new pancake recipe for Sunday’s breakfast, and we have two left. The eggs and a cup of yogurt should round it out nicely.

-Eggs and toast. Farm fresh eggs and homemade toast. Breakfast of champions.

Snacks:

Peaches, fruit-and-yogurt parfaits, granola, chips & salsa, pretzels, cheese, smoothies.

The actual money spent on food we’ll eat this week was closer to $70, with the rest going for stock up items. The turkey and chicken were both already in the freezer, and we had everything but the apple juice for the porridge.

How’re you eating well and staying frugal this week?