Healthy Reading

One thing I've been focusing on personally this spring is getting our eating habits back on track. It seems like we always indulge during the holidays and then it is hard to get back to what we were doing before. With the kids involved in various activities and homeschooling taking quite a bit of our day, it has been challenging this year to make wholesome meals. And, I'm not just talking about variety of food groups. I'm talking the least amount of calories but the greatest amount of taste. Meals that will actually improve our health, give energy to our bodies, and provide us with the nutrition we need. I've been doing this in the past, but really wanted to take it to the next level, meaning there is ALWAYS room for improvement!

This has been somewhat of a challenge because our "I'll eat anything" little girl has suddenly become picky, only wanting to eat cereal! Okay, so that is an exaggeration, but she definitely isn't going for those veggies!

Some of the books that I've been reading to help in this area of healthy eating are:

Chef MD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine by John La Puma, M.D.

and

The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue, 101 All-New Recipes and "Sneaky" Tricks for Creating Healthy Meals Kids Will Love by Missy Chase Lapine

One of my old stand bys that I've gotten out again has been:

Portion Savvy by Carrie Latt Wiatt

Now, eating healthy is VERY important to me, and yet I still find myself overwhelmed with doing this on a daily basis! We have never been fast food junkies or ones who eat out all the time, but the day to day task of creating up to 3 wholesome meals a day that EVERYONE will enjoy is daunting!

All three of these books give shortcuts on making healthy eating easier for a busy family. But, some of them aren't quite attainable for us. We don't have Whole Foods or even Trader Joe's in the vicinity and we just can't buy all organic or even the more expensive healthier convenience alternatives to cooking from scratch. So, it has been my personal goal to sift through these books and do what I can. Some things I've enjoyed trying this spring are:

*Making regular oatmeal with a green tea base and adding crystallized ginger.

*Discovering that chocolate soy milk and frozen blackberries make a very satisfying smoothie!

*Sneaking spinach and blueberries into brownies through a puree.

*Adding carrots and sweet potatoes puree to pancakes and mac-n-cheese.

*Discovering that Irish Brown Bread really doesn't take too much time to make.

I've also learned how to pair up foods to get the most out of the nutrients they offer and that I don't have to go fat-free with salad dressings! The key is to not "over-dress" a salad. One of my favorite dressings for a salad is: 1 tsp. olive oil and 1 tsp. balsamic vinegar.

I still have so much to learn and it has taken me all spring to experiment with recipes. I've spent more time than I've wanted to in the kitchen, but since creating healthy eating habits is important to me, I can't say it hasn't been worth it!