Hello...Again!

It's been quite a while since I last wrote, so: Hello! I'm sitting here with a cup of tea (much like Adele in her video). Since my last post, we've moved half way across the world, to Europe. We're still getting acclimated to life here, but there are many perks (or so I've been told).

For one, I'm very excited to try to shop mostly on the local economy for fruits and veggies that are fresher and hopefully with less pesticides. I plan on doing an investigation on this and posting it on the blog after the holidays. I'm also starting to work out again, this time a stricter plan and also incorporating yoga and yoga poses. I plan on posting the pictures of the yoga poses on the blog as well.

2016 promises to be a year of many milestones for me. So I plan on making it all very grand (in my very modest way).

So, hello, again and I hope you grab a cup of tea, coffee, water, and stay a while.

Turn off the computer and turn to your kid

Don't mean to sound preachy. But really, what a gift we have when we are parents. It's not something I realize every waking day. Believe me, there are some days that I truly need to be separated by many miles from my kids so that I can be sane. More recently, I've started to really search for what this great big motherhood thing means to me. And to me, it really is a gift. To enjoy my children and all the things great and small that they are capable of. It's a rare opportunity for me as an adult to bask in a slower, yet hectic, pace of life. One that is filled with homework, nap times, diapers, cuddles, lots of hugs and kisses. Yes, there's temper tantrums, scattered toys--everyday, wild hair--both mine and theirs. Yes, sometimes I do long to look put together and chic. Yes, sometimes I do wonder were that great looking twenty something went and how fast I've turned into the "mam" who's in her mid to late thirties. No longer do I get to bask in being young and careless, my routine dictated only by myself and my needs and desires. I have bigger, but simpler things to do. I wonder how working moms do this--or single moms. Do they get to enjoy their little ones in the same ways? I hope that they do get those rare moments of talking with their children late into the night or reading them a book and tucking them in for the night. I hope they don't rush those hugs and kisses as they have to get themselves ready for work. I also realize that I can't say I'll enjoy my kids later. This is it. Some people say they get to enjoy their grandkids. I really believe that the grandparent grandchild relationship is very different. Sure, it's nice to not have to be the disciplinarian as a grandparent. But I know that I will not have the energy as a grandparent that I do now with my own children. And even more importantly, I don't want to give up those precious moments with my children. So my goal for May, in the midst of so many things happening around our family, is to slow down and enjoy my children and the life I have with my husband. And a little thank you to my kids, for yet again, making me realize all the treasures that life has to offer.

The "No Sugar Added" Challenge

So, the hubby and I watched a documentary about food. We've done this many times, and are very aware of the decline of the quality of our food here in the United States. It's a big problem, but after watching most documentaries, I feel that I can rationalize my actions to continue eating the way I do. It seems that you can argue for and against eating meat, for and against having some dairy, for and against eating all organic or going Paleo or Gluten-free. But after watching the documentary "FED UP" http://fedupmovie.com I really did feel fed up with the abundance of unhealthy food. Fed up with how the food industry is making us sick. Fed up with how government has yet to take a serious stance against the powerful food lobby (and they are very powerful). But very glad that I watched the movie. It talks about a number of issues with our food, but deducts that the most pressing one is the amount of sugar we consume as a society. Sugar that is not just in sweets, candies and breads, but in things that shouldn't have sugar, like TOMATO SAUCE. Sugar in canned tomatoes with flavor additives. Sugar in flavored waters, in yogurt, in baby food and baby formulas. After watching the movie, hubby and I couldn't just go to bed as if we had watched another episode of "Modern Family". Instead, we went to our pantry and threw out the left-over candy from easter. We know that as a family our crux has always been our addiction to sweets. We've always justified that having dessert every day after dinner is fine because we eat fairly healthy and stay away from sodas and fruit juices. But we didn't realize that we were so dependent on high amounts of sugar. So we've taken up a 10-day "no sugar added" challenge. And it is a big challenge. I will be posting what we've eaten every day for the next 10 days--a food diary of sorts. The whole family is involved, although we've come to realize that the children may not stick to the "no sugar added" verbatum. But they will not be having desserts or sugary snacks. So what is off limits? Any processed food with sugar added. This means: breads, cereals, anything that has had sugar added to it. We can eat fruits, vegetables, proteins. legumes and starches, like rice and potatoes. It doesn't sound too dificult but I can tell you that giving up sugar will be difficult for our family.

4 weeks of Homemade Meals- Recap

We met our challenge of 4 weeks of homemade meals and surpassed it by one day!! We ate at home 26 of the 29 days. The nights we ate out were two dinner invitations to our neighbors and a neighborhood Halloween party where we had homemade chili. The little princess was allowed to eat a cafeteria lunch once a week as she usually does. And the hubby ate out for lunch only once--with his boss for a business lunch. It was definitely one of the better ideas I've had for a while. Eating at home made sense not only because we ended up eating healthier meals, but it also saved us a few bucks. This included eliminating our trips to fast food places like Chic-Fil-A; Starbucks pit stops; and lunches out for Joe. We are also used to ordering Pizza or going out for Chinese/Thai food on Fridays. I compared our grocery bill from September and October and, by eliminating our usual dine-outs we were able to save $105 this month. Sure, our grocery bill in October was higher than Septembers but only by $53. Although the first couple of weeks were hard, especially when I was tempted to go through the drive-thru as a way to reward the kids and myself. Instead I baked banana bread, brownies and other goodies to stave off the sweet tooth. I also realized that our family eats way too much sugar--so we're working on eliminating some of the desserts we typically have after dinner and substituting some of those with fruit or yogurt.

A few tips or advice for those of you who are interested in taking on a similar challenge. Plan, plan, plan. I usually sit down the week ahead and write down the menu for the week on an index card. On the back of my index card I write down my grocery list. Once I'm done grocery shopping, I stick the index card on the refrigerator door so that the family can see what's going to be for dinner. This is helpful in two ways: It helps the family (in my case, my husband) know what's for dinner and also holds me accountable to fix the meals I planned on fixing. There's always enough flexibility where you can switch Tuesday and Wednesday meals for whatever reason. But it also helped to prevent me from being tempted to make some other meal. Leave that meal you recently saw on Pinterest for the next week. Speaking of Pinterest, there's a ton of great recipes there and this is how I've found some of the best food blogs that I now follow. When you're reading recipes, make sure you read the entire recipe and allot for the time it may take you to prep and cook the meal. Another thing that helped tremendously is prepping the meals. Chopping, peeling and dicing things ahead of time saves so much time, especially when you have a toddler grabbing your leg while you're trying to cook! So a lot of my time saving was done by chopping and prepping the meal the day before or in the morning before making the meal in the afternoon. If you're really organized and have time, you can even chop vegetables after grocery shopping--that's if you're really organized though. It also helps to cook 2-3 meals at a time. You can do this on the weekend or any time you feel you have a bigger chunk of time in your schedule. I decided to cook 3 meals on Sunday--one for that night's dinner and the other two for Monday and Tuesday. If you fix a casserole or soup as one of your meals, you can even freeze it and have it handy for an emergency night when you're in a bind and can't get to cooking dinner. Now, I was only able to do this on 2 Sundays because life, as we all know, gets hectic. So another tip--don't beat yourself up if you're not able to do things exactly as you planned. Try to still stick with the main objective--eating homemade meals. It also helps to keep things simple. Go with recipes that you've fixed in the past and have been easy to fix and popular with your family. This is not the time to introduce crazy ingredients, unless your family is the adventurous eater type. I will post the 4-week challenge menu at the bottom of this post, along with some of my favorite food blogs/websites. 

I encourage everyone to try this, it's definitely eye opening and a great way to encourage the whole family towards eating more whole foods.

4-week challenge menu:

Week 1
Roasted Chicken and Tortellini Salad
Cauliflower Pizzas (1 mushroom; 1 pepperoni)
Fish tacos with grilled peppers and whole grain cilantro lime rice
Invite to friends house- had pork chops with Spaetzle (German noodles)
Crock Pot Chicken Curry with Rice and Peas
Shrimp with Acorn Squash and Ceasar Salad
Chicken Noodle Soup

Week 2
Spinach Rollups and Salad
Crock Pot Chicken Tacos
Butternut Squash Pasta with goat cheese, topped with parmessan and pecans
Beef Fajitas with Corn Salsa
Thanksgiving Dinner invite at neighbors- Smoked turkey, dressing and all the fixings!
Crock Pot Pork with Rice and Ceasar Salad
leftovers

Week 3
Turkey Picadillo with black beans and fried plantains
Chicken Enchiladas, Cheesey Rice and Salad
Butternut Squash Soup with Tortellini and Peas
Greek Chicken Kabobs and quinoa with sun dried tomatoes and pinenuts
Sausage, kale and potato soup served with French bread
Spring Rolls -- veggie and chicken
leftovers- spring rolls and butternut squash soup

Week 4
Roasted chicken with lentils and spinach
Chicken pot pies and salad
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Tomato Soup
Chicken with Lemon Caper Sauce and Mashed Potatoes
Turkey Chili
Neighborhood Halloween Party- Sampled different homemade chilis
Leftovers

Desserts
Banana Bread
Mexican Brownies
Pumpkin Ice Cream
Caramel Apples for Halloween

Favorite Food Blogs-
The Iron You
What's Gaby Cooking
Eat Good For Life
The Weekly Bite (easy recipes and a lot of kid snack ideas)
Skinny Kitchen (some of the kids favorite recipes are from here; a lot of good crock pot recipes)
Sprouted Kitchen (more of an aspirational food
blog, if I could be any food blogger, I would love to be her)
Food Network (anything by Ina Garten is great, I also make Tyler Florence's Chicken Noodle Soup)

Some of the highlights:

1st week of the challenge: A recap and lessons learned...so far

This first week of the 4-week eating at home challenge went by fast and furious. There's always so much to do at home and with the children, it can get a little crazy at times. So, some of you may be wondering why I seem to be complicating my life even more by adding this new goal of no eating out for a whole month? There's the most obvious answer, for our health, to try to eliminate some of the preservatives that fast-foods and some restaurants serve. But I also did it to show my children that we do not need to have a frozen yogurt or fro-yo as a reward and more importantly, to feel happy and satisfied. We have still have plenty of treats at home, but they are more of a dessert, not a reward for a job well done or as a I'm sorry you had a bad day, let's go have a milk shake type of thing.

I'm also learning that I cannot see food or cooking as something that I do alone--it has to become a family affair. The kids have been helping fix pancakes and cookies for a couple of years now. Mostly mixing and of course, licking the spoon and bowl clean! But now, I think they're ready for helping pick out fruits and veggies from the store and farmer's market and helping with dinner. I want it to become part of their life. I never really took an interest in cooking when I was a kid. My father loves cooking, but boy, he does keep a tight kitchen. He had so many rules and places where things HAD to be placed, that I think, I quickly became turned off by the whole thing. It wasn't until a few years ago, that I really started getting interested in cooking. More recently, a close family member, stayed with us and really sparked an interest for cooking. I want the children to understand why veggies are important and that they are good by themselves, you don't always have to smear them in sauce, but once in a while it's OK!

So one big change to my cooking plan is to fix 3 to 4 meals on Sundays, with all family members, except baby, involved. Sounds like a big challenge, and at first I'm sure it will be. I had hoped that we would be able to do this on Sunday, but unfortunately, Allen was sick with a cold. Instead, I cooked on my own. The goal is to fix a soup; casserole and one meal to freeze as well as Sunday dinner. The other two meals will be Monday and Tuesday dinners, alleviating some of the cooking I do on the weekend. Wednesday can be an easy meat and veggie meal and Thursdays will be a crock-pot meal. Fridays, I will try to fix fish and a salad or a vegetable and Saturdays, the hubby will do the cooking--I do need a day off from the kitchen.

Here's some pictures recapping the dinners we had for the week.

4-weeks of homemade meals: Day 2

Yesterday was Day 2 of my 4 weeks of homemade meals challenge. Although a big part of my energy goes into fixing flavorful, healthy dinners, I have to also make sure we have breakfast, lunch and snacks that are homemade as well. Yesterday was a busy day of hospital appointments and errands. In my rush to get to our appointment on time, I forgot to take snacks with me for my 1-year old daughter. Of course, Starbuck's is conveniently located inside the hospital. It was very difficult not to cave in and buy a small snack for my daughter to keep her happy as we waited, and waited, and waited for our medicine. But I managed to keep her entertained long enough and then made a rush back home. Note to self--always have snacks handy, no matter how short or long your trip away from home will be. Once back home, I

proceeded to get dinner ready. It was fairly simple, since I dedicated part of Monday to meal prep--cutting vegetables and making sure I had all the other ingredients for all of the weeknight meals. I roasted a chicken with garlic and lemon and some fennel seeds and then took my chopped bell peppers and zuchinni to the grill and cooked those for about 10-12 minutes, enough so that they weren't charred but were soft. I cheated a little and used frozen tortellinis as part of my pasta salad. You could easily use plain pasta or couscous with the veggies and toss in some shredded parmessan for extra flavor. I tossed the tortellini and vegetable salad with a homemade lemon and garlic vinaigrette that was super delicious. Want to give this meal a try? Just go to www.foodnetwork.com for Ina Garten's Perfect Roast Chicken recipe. I got the idea of a tortellini and veggie salad from Southern Living magazine--the October 2014 issue.

Buen provecho,
Gaby

The 4 week challenge- Day 1

Day 1 of the 4-week challenge came and went with a bang and of course, lots of learning on how to improve cooking healthy meals for 4 weeks straight. I decided to make cauliflower crust pizza. I had fixed the recipe before and the kids seemed to have liked it so I gave it another shot. I ended up making two pizzas, a large one with hams and mushrooms and a homemade spaghetti sauce. I made a smaller "white" pizza for my son who does not like tomatoes in any shape or form. No big surprise: the mushroom and ham was much more flavorful than the white. As my older daughter said: Mom I like the pizza, but I wouldn't eat it everyday. She then said the top was much better than the bottom. So this will not be a staple at our household, but I would definitely make this tasty pizza again. My thoughts for next time are to try to boost the flavor of the cauliflower crust with a little more garlic in the egg, cheese and cauliflower mix. The crust itself held up pretty nicely, much better than on my first try. Just make sure you strain the water from the cauliflower after cooking it in the microwave. If you're interested, you can find this recipe at www.theironyou.com .

Buen provecho,
Gaby