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By Midlife Army Wife, on January 14th, 2011
I was digging around through one of my newest favorite recipe blogs – Super Healthy Kids – and found this post:
Americanized Kids Sushi
For those kids who DON’T like fish or seaweed, this is a great alternative.
My daughter LOVES sushi – the real kind. She and her Daddy go on “Sushi Dates”, she even requested it for her 5th birthday, but she would love making these at home!
These adorable party wrappers come in several pretty colors with all natural coloring! None of that fake stuff. You can also find several fun recipes on their site as well. Here is a picture from one of their recipe ideas:
Enjoy!
By Midlife Army Wife, on January 14th, 2011
I came across an article in Eating Well magazine from their Nov/Dec 2010 issue discussing food dyes. I already knew that synthetic dyes are scary stuff, as we have been avoiding them in our family for 3.5 years now, but it’s nice to see more studies being done. In some countries, these dyes are banned completely, but that hasn’t happened (yet!) in the United States.
In this particular study mentioned in the article it was found that,
“children who consumed a mixture of common synthetic dyes displayed hyperactive behavior within an hour of consumption”
We’ve seen plenty of evidence of that in our daughter, that’s for sure!
We are talking about the dyes listed in the ingredient list as a color followed by a number such as: Blue 1 and 2, Citrus Red 2, Green 3, Red 3 and 40, Yellow 5 and 6. Do your own research on the ingredients and dangers of these toxins. Did you know they are made from tar and petroleum? Yuck! Who wants to eat crude oil?
One thing to note as you are looking at the labels is that the terms “artificial color,” “artificial color added” or “color added” indicate that nature-derived pigments were used since synthetic dyes must be listed by their names.
Start watching the ingredients of the foods you buy, and I bet you will be surprised how many of them contain these synthetic dyes. Vanilla pudding, and even white marshmallows contain dyes to get it “just the right shade”. M&Ms, cereals, chewing gum, Kool-Aid, Jello, maraschino cherries, Doritos, Sun Chips – it’s everywhere!! Some blueberry waffles don’t even have blueberries in them – just blue colored bits.
Good News! There are healthier alternatives available. We’ve been able to find comparable dye-free substitutes for just about everything (Except candy corn! Someone make an organic version, PLEASE!). If you are looking for some dye-free candy alternatives for your family and you don’t have a Whole Foods Market nearby, check out NaturalCandyStore.com! We shop from them frequently, stocking up on things like candy canes for Christmas and cotton candy before we go to the fair. Right now they have lots of cute natural Valentine Candy available!
If you are looking for other suggestions to replace dye-filled foods in your pantry, let me know and I’ll point you in the right direction. We’ve had no trouble having cupcakes with sprinkles, ice cream sundaes with cherries, or even cereal with marshmallows – it’s just about finding the right products.
Obviously, this isn’t a problem when eating meat, veggies, fruits, and whole grains. That’s why I only focused on all the sweet treats in my suggestions. I find that a lot of parents are afraid to make the change because their kids are used to having these treats and they don’t want to take them away from them. You don’t have to – just switch to a better product. For their sake – and yours!
By Midlife Army Wife, on January 10th, 2011
As we get closer to moving, I’ve been trying to use up the foods that we have on hand in the freezer and pantry. I really don’t want to move much food with us, so I’ve been getting creative with our meals. It’s been a fun challenge, but I’ve also realized that we have way too much food on hand. While I’m thankful it isn’t wasted because most of it is in the freezer or pantry, it still annoys me that we have so much that we aren’t using. I do pride myself on not wasting food – I rarely throw food out because it’s gone bad. We either eat it or freeze it before that has a chance of happening.
I’m looking forward to starting fresh and buying less. Doing this Pantry-Clean-Out has caused me to break away from the rut we can get in of eating the same thing over and over. Also, Lovebug loves her Muffin Tin Meals and while I love doing these for lunch I don’t really want to do them for dinner too often, but sometimes when it’s just the two of us it’s easy to fall back on that. Not exactly a real sit-down dinner!
One of my goals this year is to eat even less processed food and make more of our meals using whole foods. We already avoid artificial food coloring, artificial sweeteners, and high fructose corn syrup. That eliminates a lot of the processed foods, but I’d like to cut back even more on the pre-packaged (more expensive!) products that we use. This also helps our grocery budget, which I’m working on lowering! Buying meat in bulk on sale and pairing it with in-season produce and a side of rice/potatoes/pasta can be pretty cheap. I want to focus on planning our meals around the store sales, and buying less pre-packaged snack foods unless I get them on a good sale!
One of the meals I made this week was this Pork Chops with Sour Cream & Mushroom Sauce. One of the things I love about AllRecipes.com is that you can search by ingredients. You can put in a few things that you have in your pantry and it will give you recipes that use those ingredients. That’s how I found this one. I had a couple cans of soup leftover that I wanted to use up and some pork chops on hand. Perfect! I served it over brown rice (also on hand) and a side of green peas from the freezer.
It’s also how I made yesterday’s chili recipe the first time. I substituted pasta sauce for the plain tomato sauce because it’s what I had on hand. I also used mayo instead of eggs in my cornbread today.
In an attempt to avoid buying much additional food, we’ve also been eating a lot of PB&J sandwiches for lunch. Simple, cheap, and tasty. Serve with some celery & carrot sticks or apple slices and it’s a great meal.
Once we get moved and stop eating-on-the go for a couple weeks, I’ll get back to menu planning. My friend, Brit at Living with 3 Boys is a great inspiration for me. She’s great at this! I look forward to sharing my menu ideas with you as well as how we manage to eat healthy foods and stay frugal while traveling!
Any tips you have for frugal, healthy meals? I’d love to hear them!
By Midlife Army Wife, on January 10th, 2011
I made chili while Hubby was home at Christmas, and since I sent it all with him when he went back to post I’ve been craving it ever since. Yesterday’s SNOW DAY gave me the perfect excuse! Today, I added cornbread to the menu!
I almost had a setback. I had most of the ingredients mixed up for the cornbread, when I realized I used the last of my eggs at breakfast. Oops! A quick Bing search led me to the suggestion of substituting mayo for eggs. 3 Tablespoons for each egg. Hmmm, mayo is made from eggs, so why not? I was a little nervous. I’m comfortable experimenting with cooking, but not with baking – it’s too scientific.
It worked! I used Kraft Mayo made with olive oil and it turned out perfect.
By the way, if you have the chance to get your hands on some freshly ground corn meal (check farmer’s markets) – do so!! Now, I like Jiffy as much as anyone, but this? SO much better!!
Want to make some yourself? Check out these recipes!
* Homesteader Cornbread
* For the chili, if you have plenty of time and ingredients, I encourage you to try this one! It’s deee-licious!
* If you are looking for faster that uses ingredients you likely have on hand, give this Blue Ribbon Chili a try. I’ve made it a few times now and LOVE it! This is what I made yesterday. You can adjust the amount of salsa and chili mix to your own spice preferences. If it ends up too spicy for the kids, just add a sprinkle or two of sugar to their bowl and it cuts the spice factor.
Do you eat chili WITH beans or WITHOUT? In our house, I add extra meat and leave out the beans.
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