When Daddy is away on business it gives me a chance to serve some things for dinner that maybe I wouldn't otherwise. No offense to my Beloved, but he's a little more picky in his dietary requirements, and something that I and the girls would be fine eating for dinner just wouldn't have enough protein and substance necessary for a grown man. I'm not talking mac'n'cheese & hot dogs for dinner or even cereal for dinner - no, I'm talking plain gourmet pasta and green beans.
I admit, I bought it solely for its looks. How shallow is that? Well, it was fairly healthy as food goes, boasting an ingredient list of just 5 items (including spinach, beetroot & turmeric), but despite that fact, the truth is that I can pay less than $1 for a package of pasta and still I plunked down $4. Why? Because it was beautiful.
See what I mean? Even through cellophane, raffia and a tag sporting an old Italian man, I could see the potential. And oh the teaching opportunities...
"So girls, do you think the red pasta tastes different from the green? Or does the striped bow-tie pasta taste stripey?"
All I know is that we three girls happily munched on our multi-colored pasta seasoned with just a bit of olive oil, butter, salt & pepper and fresh grated Parmesan cheese with a side of blanched green beans this evening and felt we had experienced a 5-star meal.
After all, it really is the simple things in life, isn't it?
Please tell me I am not the only one who does silly stuff like this?
I cleaned out my kitchen drawers, well, maybe not all, but a select few. In one drawer I found a whole cache of chili pepper flakes and Parmesan cheese packets from our semi-regular movie nights. At least once every-other-week we set out a big tablecloth on the bonus room floor, eat pizza and watch a movie together. From old Disney movies to present day movies like the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the movies are just part of the fun. We all love our little family tradition...and well, Costco pizza is $10 and it's gigantic.
Needless to say they hand us a stack of pepper and cheese each time we partake of this little ritual, and we don't use all of it. I don't have the heart to throw it out because it's just seems wasteful. So as my husband sat watching me with raised eyebrows (trying not to laugh and shake his head each time I sneezed) I cut the top off of all the pepper packets and put it into an empty spice jar I had.
Would you believe I filled the whole thing?! I had no idea that they would and now I am even more glad that I didn't just throw it all into the trash.
I didn't have as much luck with the Parmesan cheese since the girls would happily put a whole packet on every single piece of pizza they ate - and let me tell you, they can put some pizza away - nevertheless it still filled the cheese container up an extra inch.
Please tell me that you have done something that crazy so that I know that I am not alone...
Our family is not a health-nut family, though I do like to make sure we stay on the healthier side of the curve. We are conscious about the money we spend on food and I like to keep my budget around $50-100 a week for a family of 4 products that are healthy/organic/natural or less processed. I've not really found the coupon programs to work for me because there aren't many things that I need in the coupon section. We shop at Costco and do a bit of stock-piling on items like toilet paper and paper towels, but outside of chicken or fresh vegetables we don't do a lot of food stockpiling because I don't have an extra freezer or a lot of extra space in the house.
That said, I try to find bargains when I can, even in the most unlikely of places. Surprisingly, Big Lots has been a great source of healthy foods. This week I picked up the following:
1. Larabar Pistachio - $8 for a pack of 16/ARP $25 if bulk/ARP $2 a single bar
2. Larabar Jam Frakas box of 18 for $8/ARP $25, single bar/ARP $1.75
3. Naturade Soy Protein Shake - $4 for 2lbs/ARP $20
4. Kashi 3-boxes of cereal - $5 /ARP $3.75 a box
Grand Total: $25
Approximate Retail Price: $81 for bulk/$95 buying single items
Savvy Savings: $56 /$70
If anything this should be a testimony to buying things in bulk packages instead of a single bar here and there when you're on the run.
Now I realize that some adults and kids don't like this kind of stuff, but I've always used health bars as a snack item for my kids figuring that it was a quick easy thing to stuff into my pocket that would keep us from making bad choices when we were out and about and hungry. I also used bars like these when I was pregnant to keep my blood-sugar up and my nausea at bay. For now these are the bars that I stuff into my bag when we head to the gym so that we have something to snack on because they (and I) are always so hungry when we're finished playing!
Per the company - LARABAR is a delicious blend of unsweetened fruits nuts and spices - energy in its purest form. Made from 100 raw whole food each flavor contains no more than six ingredients. Pure and simple just as nature intended. As a celiac, my mother in law eats a gluten-free diet and she loves these bars. If you do a Google search on it you may find that there was a recall earlier this year, but that was for the peanut butter versions of both brands.
The Naturade shake mix is for my husband and what I use to make him a quick breakfast to go. We use frozen fruit from Costco (or whatever fruit is getting overripe in our house), water and a scoop of dahi yogurt (Indian yogurt) from our local Indian market or Kefir when it's on sale. We usually spent the $19 for a months supply of protein powder at Whole Foods, so this was a change for us, but at $4 I was willing to try it. Our oldest loves protein shakes and though our youngest doesn't as much, she seems to like this Strawberry Creme flavor.
The Kashi cereal is for me, and while the kids may eat it from time to time, it's a good way to grab a quick breakfast and or midday snack.
Overall I do love finding deals like this at Big Lots, which happens more often than not, and while I may save a lot doing this, I realize that people who like specific brands may not be able to find these type of savings consistently. I have found for us, the flexibility of trying a new product from time to time does help the bottom line for our family.
A Note to My Local Savvy Shoppers - This deal was found at the Franklin Big Lots store.
I realize that as a mother of a 6 and 4 year old, I'm still very new to this parenting journey. I'm beginning to think that we will only truly know what good parents we were when the kids are 30. Till then I waiver between wondering what power we really have to help the Superstars become upstanding human beings and what things really have nothing to do with our "failures" in parenting, but are battles they will fight in some form or fashion for the rest of their lives by virtue of their personality. One of the battles that I hope we help them win is the one of good healthful eating habits.
I talked with my Mom the other night about the phenomenon of kids eating habits. My kids pretty much eat whatever we eat. They love raw veggies including broccoli, bell peppers and cauliflower, all types of fruits, baked fish, clams, beef, chicken, pretty much anything we put before them. They eat Indian food, sushi (they love smoked eel), Italian, German, Korean, Thai, and will try most things at least once - the catch being, if Mom and Dad eat it too.
And it's with that I had an "AHA" moment, because if we've heard it once, we've heard it a thousand times, "It's not what you say but what you do." When I searched on line about how to fixing food for kids I see tons of lists suggesting WHAT to feed them, HOW TO disguise good foods in "fun" foods and WHAT a balanced diet looks like. What I rarely see is the kids' point of view - and I don't mean "How does your kid FEEL about what they are eating?" but "What do your kids see YOU do?"
Do you fix your kids macaroni and cheese for dinner and eat something totally different with your spouse? Do you ask them to eat their veggies because "it's good for you" then push your own vegetables to the side? Guess what? They totally notice (yeah, that's a throw back to my So. Cal. upbringing...totally, Dude!).
Kids seek the approval of their parents. Goodness, at 40 I still want to know that my Mom & Dad think I'm smart, a good parent and a self-assured woman! How much more do our children look to us to help us make sense of this crazy world we live in?
What you as a parent think about food, defined by what you fix for your meals and theirs, how you serve it (on the fly or sit down meals), and the choices you make when you eat out, are viewed by your children as "the food laws" or "that's just what we do when it comes to food in our lives."
The other day when Daddy was out of town we ate sushi. I watched Superstar #1 close her eyes and relish the taste of the sushi she ate with a sigh. What 6 year old does that? Uh, mine, because I realized that I often do the same thing when I eat something I love. She was just mimicking me. Now just because my daughter enjoys sushi does not make me a better mom by ANY stretch of the imagination, it just shows the power we have as parents to help mold our children's view of food.
And for that I have MY parents to thank. My Dad, a Japanese-American soldier, met my Mom in a disco in a small fishing village in northern Germany back in the sixties and was the first to introduce her to Habachi-grilled steak and prime rib. My Dad, in turn, ate my Oma's (grandmother's) traditional German food with gusto and asked for seconds. A few short years later my Mom & Dad moved back to my Dad's hometown, the colorful and diverse melting pot of Honolulu, Hawaii.
My Mom dove into the various ethnic cuisines with relish learning how to prepare Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Korean and Hawaiian dishes from the numerous family potlucks that define much of Island life. If the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, my Mom came, saw and conquered so proficiently that she earned "props" from my Dad's side of the family as well. Food has always been an adventure, a way to get to know people and cultures better, and I hope we are teaching the Superstars the same.
If you're not there and don't want to be, well, then there's not a whole lot I can say to convince you that eating healthy, even small choices to be healthier (choosing the apple dippers without the caramel versus fries with the McDonald's kid meals) and helping your kids make those decisions has a long term positive outcome on the longevity of your child's life (and yours!). Your children are less likely to deal with excessive weight or tiredness. They will be healthier, and you're less likely to deal with drama of sugar highs and crashes.
If you want to be there, but it's overwhelming, don't worry! It's not an overnight thing, but each little decision you make and talk to them about "No, Mommy/Daddy doesn't like spinach, but hey, Popeye did and it seemed to help him. Let's just try this together because it's good for us" is a step in the right direction. Because, let's face it, nothing is more endearing to a child when a parent shows that LIFE IS A JOURNEY and it's not about being right all the time, or doing the right thing all the time, but being willing to learn and grow.
The key is to find what works for YOU, your family and your shopping habits. Everyone has parameters within which they work. Maybe your child has food allergies, maybe your child hates everything but bread, maybe you don't have time to start something new because you're so overwhelmed with what you already have - just start where you are with baby steps.
In the coming weeks I hope to spend more time on savvy food savings and healthy (yummy!) eating not just for your Superstars but for you too! I'll be interviewing a sweet woman named Vui whom I met on one my trips to Whole Foods. Vui use to own a restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia and I can't wait to share some of her ideas and tips to cook and eat healthy with lots of flavor and fun.
So, it's been a week! Turns out Superstar #2 had something that caused hives. Nothing major and yet three nights last week, around 9 o'clock she's complained about itching all over and next thing you know, she's breaking out in hives! As the daughter of a nurse, I tend not to freak out right away, and yet it's NEVER fun to see your child in distress, but a dose of Benadryl stopped the itching and allowed her to go back to sleep in each case.
We went to the Dr after having spoken to the on-call physician the first night it happened. I was pretty sure it was an allergic reaction, but wanted to be sure, and hey, that's why we have a Dr, right? I explained that there has been nothing out of the usual with her diet, no new detergents, no new soaps. Nothing except a tiny drop of a new hand lotion I had gotten, which I have since put away and would therefore not account for the other bouts we experienced. The Dr said that it could be a virus and that it could mean the hives cropping up here and there in the next few days but not to worry. Sigh. What can you do but worry a little and pray a lot!
Then Superstar #1, not to be left out, had a Dr's visit (on a separate day) for this crusty yucky stuff in her eyes. It wasn't conjunctivitis, but has since come and gone with no explanation. The Dr said it was probably drainage from her recent cold and since her ears and lungs looked/sounded clear, she was just fine. At any rate, between the mom-on-call and the mom-on-the-go-with-a-meeting and helping my neighbor by watching her 3 children one day, my week was gone before I knew it. During that time, however, I have been plotting and planning my return and so, without any further ado....
Today's topic - SHAKES!
So my husband, while not an unhealthy eater, has never been one for breakfast. And really, when he gets busy at work, he has been known to skip lunch. Of course, I keep telling him that doing that only puts your body into survival mode and can cause your metabolism to slow, but what do I (daughter of a German nurse who use to MAKE plain yogurt and mix it with wheat germ for breakfast as well as roommate & bestfriend to a woman who earned a degree in nutrition in college) know? I'm just his wife.
At any rate, I stopped nagging long ago since it doesn't help anyone, and he really had been trying with breakfast shakes in the morning using some supplements from Whole Foods and frozen fruit. I had used our big blender but found myself getting resentful for cleaning the durn thing every morning. I mean, yes, I want my husband to be healthy but he seemed to "need" my help making the shakes or he wouldn't do them (could it be because cleaning the blender afterward was such a pain????).
I solved that dilemma in savvy style a week ago when I bought a "magic bullet" type of mini-blender at Macy's. Belle Cucina is the brand name, and whereas the Magic Bullet runs around $79 retail, this runs $49 retail. It was on special for $19! The great thing is that I put all the "stuff" into the container at night (powder, fish oil, yogurt, frozen fruit, etc.) and he just pulls that out in the morning and sticks it in the nice small blender and Voila! A healthy, DELICIOUS shake and VERY easy to clean. It has to taste good or my husband will not drink it. He could be dying and he would not drink it. Me, on the other hand, will stomach just about anything if it's good/healthy for me. That's what happens when you are the daughter of a German nurse.
The blender comes with several cups, in 2 different sizes and with different attachments (a rim for easy drinking, a shaker top, a cover, etc.). "A shake top?" you ask. While I didn't buy it for this reason, you can grate things like cheese in this little guy too! In fact, the other night I did use the mini-blender to make a Shrimp & Feta dinner; first to chop the parsley and secondly to dice the diced tomatoes a little smaller. It was easier to use AND clean than my KitchenAide mini-chopper.
From what I understand, this thing makes a MEAN Mudslide too. I'll let you know once it gets warmer outside!
Ahhh the warm rich smell of fresh brewed espresso...even my kids love the smell. Thankfully they don't like the taste. Yes, I let them try it, crossing my fingers the entire time that they wouldn't like it and start bugging me about it for them, but I digress.
Whether it's a daily fix at Starbucks or a counter top high-tech espresso machine, good espresso can be a very expensive habit, but being the savvy sort of coffee-loving chick I am, I found a delightful product called a Bialetti, introduced to me last year by a dear friend.
What was new to me is something the Italians have been using for years. I believe it was invented in the 30's by a gentleman (Bialetti!) who figured you could use the same technology from washing machines for a stove-top espresso maker. He was right, and today it is used by thousands of Italians and has thankfully made it's way to America.
At about $20 this delightful invention will provide you with a wonderful rich dark brew that's about as close to espresso as you can get without buying one of those thousand dollar machines. Or you could get lucky and find one of these, like I did, for $3 at the thrift store!
Here's a quick how-to. It's so easy and tasty that my husband even likes making it!
Now you are ready to sit down and enjoy a great cup of espresso, or at least as close as you're going to get without going to Starbucks or buying one of those expensive machines!
