Cooling summer treats

Well yesterday I was talking about eating healthy snacks that keep you cool on a hot day.  Here are some of the regular snacks I like to make.  Hopefully there will be something here you haven't tried before that sounds good to you.  Most of these items contain fruits and veggies, so maybe one of these recipes will be a way to get a picky eater to eat healthier.

Waters
First things first, we all need water to live so why not mix it up and make water fun?  Sometimes just changing the ice can make it fun.  Used crushed ice and make it a water slushy.  You can also basically add any fruit or veggie to water to give it a flavor.  Let your kids pick what flavors they want to mix up and make.  Here are some of the foods to consider using: mint, watermelon, cucumber, strawberry, lemon, lime, blueberries and blackberries. 

Frozen fruit
This is so simple, but making fruit just a few degrees colder than just your fridge can make it yummy.  This works great for teething babies too, because not only does it soothe gums, but also gives them a serving of fruit.  My brother loved frozen grapes when he was little, but play around and try different fruits, they can make a yummy, healthy treat for those that are already sick of normal fruit.  You can freeze the fruit yourself either for the day or by the season, or you can buy frozen fruit at almost any supermarket. 

You can also throw the frozen fruit in a blender, add juice, yogurt and/or ice and blend it together making a smoothie.  Kids love cooling drinks and they are packed with vitamins.  They taste so good your kids usually don't even know they are eating something that's also good for them.  You can also slip in a veggie or two to the mix to add a little fiber and pack it full of even more vitamins. 

Popsicles
Take any kind of fruit or juice you want.  If it's fruit you're going to have to turn it into a juice first.  Then pour into a cup or Popsicle maker and put a stick in the cup.  Freeze the mixture and you have a Popsicle that has only ingredients you can pronounce.  You get to know exactly what your kids are eating and your kids get to eat dessert.  I used to love making these with the neighbor kids growing up.  You can also use an ice cream maker and make sorbet for a more mature dessert.  This way you can serve it to guests without having to peel off a cup first.  There is nothing I love to eat more than my home made strawberry sorbet in the summer. 

Fruit shapes
Using a cookie cutter, slice out shapes from a slice of melon.  Sometimes all it takes is putting fruit into a different shape to get kids to eat it.  Stars can be served for adults and kids alike.  You can even put them on a stick to make a "fancy" edible centerpiece at your summer bbq.  Honestly you can use any cookie cutter you want to make fun shapes.  Let your kids pick the shape, or even better let them cut the watermelon for you! 

Getting Your Kids to Eat Healthy

I, like everyone else in the world, am a huge believer in making sure kids get the proper nutrition.  Nothing is more sad than kids living in a country that can provide everything they need, yet they still aren't getting the proper nutrition.  Getting your kids to eat the right food can be a battle, but trust me it's a battle worth fighting for as a parent. 

Vitamins
Pick a multivitamin for your child.  It can be chewable, though as they get old enough to swallow pills, the pill form is preferable.  I'll admit I hate swallowing pills, so even I take adult gummy vitamins.  You'd be surprised how much better they taste than those chalky chewable ones you had as a kid.  You don't have to worry about getting your child 300% of their daily vitamin a intake, you just need to find something that has about 100% of the basic vitamins and minerals.  If your child particularly hates milk or has low iron you might consider one with more calcium or iron, but otherwise 100% across the board is a good start. 

Sugar
Cut it out of your child's diet.  There is no reason you need to feed your child anything with sugar added to it.  They get enough natural sugars from the fruits that they eat.  Cut out the juice.  Children should only have about 4oz worth of juice in a day.  Try drinks like water and milk instead.  If you want a special treat, try carbonated water with your kids.  Juices fill kids up with sugars instead of eating the proper food and don't give the kids the proper nutrition that they need. Besides that, most juices or worse juice drinks can have up to 16 grams of sugar in that one little serving. 

Food
Feed them the food you want them to eat.  Stock the house with the good, nutritious foods they should be eating instead of fatty snacks.  You might have to play the waiting game but eventually they are going to get hungry enough to want to eat the meals you are providing.  Let them go to the store with you and pick veggies and fruits that they want to try and eat.  Make food fun!  There are tons of websites dedicated to turning healthy snacks into cute looking things that your children will want to eat.  Have your children help cook with you, they might be more willing to eat food that they made themselves. 

Lead by Example
Flashbacks to that smoking commercial that aired in the U.S. in the early 90's where the kid says "I learned it from you!"  Set a good example for your kids.  If you are drinking milk with dinner, your kids are going to be more likely to want to drink milk too.  Your kids idolize you and watch you more than you might think, so don't let them catch you with a bag of chips munch raw veggies instead.  Do fun, family activities that gets everyone getting some exercise.  Set good habits now so when your children are in school and influenced by others, they still choose to eat right and make the right choices. 

Reasons to Support Your Local Farmers Market

I have been counting the days until my local farmers market starts.  I love farmers markets and go to my local one every week spring through fall.  I can find everything from organic meat to artwork at the market.  Why would I shop in a freezing store with artificial light when I could be walking around in the sunshine?  There are hundreds of reasons to shop at a farmers market but here are some of the few I find most important. 

1. Know where your food is coming from
Shopping at a farmers market allows you to actually meet the people that are growing and making your food.  They can tell you exactly what the difference is between different types of plums are and most likely allow you to sample all of the different types.  When I buy meat they can tell me exactly what the animal ate so I know what I'm getting. 

2. Supporting local businesses
Stores only pay a few cents per pound to the farmers for their produce.  When you buy from a farmers market all of that money goes to the farmer so the prices are normally cheaper for you and the farmer still gets more money per pound for produce.  Farmers markets also have a ton of local artists, restaurants and other local businesses.  Shopping from them is supporting your local economy, in addition you get to meet the people in your community. 

3. Eating seasonally and locally
There have been many articles on the benefits of eating seasonally.  When you shop at farmers markets you are only eating fruits that have been grown locally and are in season.  When you eat locally the food is fresher.  The produced sold at the market has normally been picked that day, as opposed to the grocery store where it's picked before it's ripe and sits in the store for days.  There has been some recent controversy over which is actually more eco-friendly, but the produce traveling less of a distance to the market means less energy used to get the food to you.  Why pay to have something shipped 2,000 miles when you can buy the same food locally?  Eating seasonally and locally is a more sustainable way of eating and living. 

4. It's fun
Going to the farmers market is an afternoon or evening out for me.  I walk around, shop, catch up with friends, listen to music and have dinner all at the market.  When I leave I have bread, meat, produce and maybe a few other things I need for the week.  You would never get that kind of experience from a grocery store, even those that are organic or offer locally grown produce.  Take your entire family and make it a fun experience for everyone! 

There are a ton of websites dedicated to helping you find a farmers market in your area.  Find one to go to this week.  Feel free to post in the comments the local farmers markets you visit and share with the rest of us!

Further reading
http://www.sustainabletable.org/shop/seasonal/
10 reasons to shop are your local farmers market

Going Above and Beyond for Overnight Guests

This is part two of cleaning for guests.  You will have lots house guests over the course of your married life.  There are your in-laws, kids' friends and many other guests that will enjoy nights in your house if you are lucky.  In addition to just cleaning the house, there are a few special things you can do and provide for overnight guests to make sure they are comfortable and will stay with you again and again.

Before they come or right after they get there depending on how long they will be staying, ask them if they have any allergies or any special dietary needs.  It's polite to go shopping and stock your fridge and house with food and drink that the guests enjoy, especially if they will be staying for a couple of nights.  A small gesture like the brand of water they like to drink will make your guests feel more welcome than anything you can say. 

Review the guest bathroom.  Is there soap?  Extra tp?  Does your toilet have a tendency to clog?  If it does consider subtly adding a plunger somewhere in the bathroom.  Nothing is more humiliating than having to ask for a plunger when you're a guest.  Clean towels for body, hands and face?  Are all of the surfaces clean?  Make sure the shower/tub is clean too in case your guests would like to shower. I use an electric toothbrush so I store all of my freebies from the dentist in the guest bathroom just in case someone forgot a toothbrush and needs to borrow one. 

Freshen up the guest room.  I put clean sheets on the bed, open the windows and just dust all of the surfaces.  We don't use our guest room a lot so though it doesn't get too dirty, it's probably the stalest of the rooms.  If you can, invest in a comfortable guest bed.  You don't have to spend a lot of money since it doesn't have to be heavy duty, but find a bed that's comfortable.  I don't know how many times I've been miserable and exhausted while visiting people because my bed was so uncomfortable.  Make sure the sheets are comfortable too.  I like the jersey cotton ones on a guest bed because they work for summer and winter.  They are also only 20 dollars for a set, so they feel amazing considering you only dropped 20 dollars on the guest bed.  I also store an extra blanket in the room and a fan in the summer so the guests can pick the temperature of the room. 

Doing these things don't take much time, but you will be surprised what a little effort will do to make guests feel comfortable.  When your guests feel welcome they will visit again and again. 

Saving Money on Your Grocery Bill

My husband will tell you and I'll admit, I am a grocery snob.  I like to buy organic and natural foods and I buy a lot of produce in a week.  We also live in an area that doesn't do any double-couponing or any special discounts like that.  My husband and I have decided to finally put our feet down and save money on our grocery bill.  We know we could save more if we made a cut in our brands and favorite things, but we manage to save money every week while still buying everything we normally buy with a few small changes.

Make a list of the food you need.  Search the store's ad before you go and figure out what meat and produce is on sale, using this information make a menu for the week and make a grocery list for that menu.  Buy only what you can eat.  Pay attention to how many lbs of meat and veggies you are buying.  Can you eat that amount of food before it spoils?  Like I said I love a lot of fresh produce so I go to the store twice a week to re-supply my fresh foods.  This may take a little extra work, but it also means I'm not throwing money in the trash by wasting food that has rotted. 

Pick a store that has a generic brand that you like.  Personally, I pick Safeway usually because they carry a generic organic brand, and let's face it they are close to my house.  If you like the generic brand you can substitute some of the of the name brands, for the generic.  I usually buy generic when it comes to my canned food and other foods that are going to be used as ingredients in meals.  If there is a taste difference, it's hard to tell when it's mixed in with a bunch of other food.

Buying in bulk isn't always cheaper!  I know this is a hard one to wrap your head around.  My husband and brother still have trouble with this concept.  When you are buying something, look at the price per unit.  It's normally on the price tag on the shelf.  Sometimes when an item is on sale it won't include the unit price.  Just because it's on sale does not mean the item is cheaper.  Take the minute to do your own price per unit calculation in your head or on a calculator.  Basically to do this you divide the price of the item by the weight (either pounds or ounces usually).  The item with the cheaper unit price is the better deal.  Keep in mind if the bulk item IS cheaper make sure it's something you will finish, if it will go back before you finish the item, it's just money going into the trash. 

Use coupons wisely.  Buying a Sunday paper may cost a few dollars, but you will probably save a few dollars in the coupons you use.  I've done the math and almost every week I save more in coupons than I spend on the paper.  Only clip coupons for items you already buy or will use before the item expires.  Clipping coupons for things you don't normally buy is a great way to try new items without paying full price but it won't save you money. 

These tips will save you at least a few dollars every week.  The money saved really adds up over a month and a year.  Even if you just save 5 dollars a week over a year that's $260.  That's an extra $260 for not doing anything differently besides shopping a little bit smarter.  Enjoy your savings!

Reasons and tips to make a roast

For some reason a lot of new cooks are afraid of making a roast.  I'll admit once upon a time I was one of those cooks.  All of my first meals were terribly overcooked in fear of serving raw food (still managed to serve some raw meals) and I never went near anything like a pork roast or a whole chicken because those things seemed advanced.  I left those meals to my parents to make when I'd visit home.

Here is the myth busted on roasts, they are basically the easiest meal to make.  All you do is season them, stick the meat in the oven and take it out after a couple hours.  Throw in a couple quick sides like peas and rolls and you're done.  It looks like you spent hours making an amazing meal but in reality you maybe spent 20 minutes actually standing in the kitchen cooking and the rest of the time you let the oven do the work. 

The price is usually reasonable too, I wait for a buy one get one free meat sale at my grocery store  then stock up on meat, and store it in the freezer until I'm ready to use it. Even if it's not on sale, the roasts are normally pretty reasonable for how impressive the meal will look especially if you are entertaining. 

A few tips:

• Time and temperature: Different roasts need to be cooked to different temperatures.  My advice is search online for the type of meat you have for recipes and even if you don't use the recipe it will have how long and the temperature the roast will need to go in the oven.  Use a meat thermometer to test the temperature of your roast to make sure it has come to Temp.  A good meat thermometer will even have what temperatures all of the different types of meat should come to before they are done. 

• Chickens and turkeys:  Clean them out first!  They have organs stuffed inside of them when your buy the birds.  Some people use these parts to make gravy.  It doesn't matter if you're that type of person or not, you need to remove those parts before the bird goes in the oven.  Unless they are frozen inside, they should pull right out.  I know, gross, but suck it up or put on a pair of gloves it will be worth it in the end. 

• Resting the meat: Resting just means when you pull your beautiful roast out of the oven, let it sit for a few minutes before you cut it.  I suggest setting it on a wood cutting board, tenting it with foil and letting it sit for 15 minutes before you cut into it.  If you cut the roast before you let it rest, all of the juicy goodness will run out on your cutting board and your meat will be dry. 

• Seasoning: Now this is just a basic idea, my seasoning and how much changes from roast to roast, but this will give you a good start to your first roast.  I use garlic, sea salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning on almost every roast I do.  If I want a spicier flavor I might add red pepper flakes, chili powder or Cayenne pepper. 

There you go!  Hopefully any anxiety over making a roast is gone and you're ready to try one.  Remember it might take a couple tries to get right taste you're going for, but it's a process. 

There is a myth that cooking a meal such as a roast for a man you are interested in marrying might actually make him propose.  The reason?  He sees you not as a girlfriend but more like wife/mother material because you made that traditional, complicated meal.  What he doesn't know was it hardly took any time at all!