No, I haven't forgotten about my weekly challenges

It's just that these posts about my weekly challenges aren't very interesting to write. But I don't want to be accused of not following through, so here it is.

I did get a week's reprieve while we were away on our ski trip, (although I did bring and play my ukulele one night!) but back on track this week with both a kale and a crock-pot meal in one night.

I'm trying to avoid basic stews in the crock-pot because, although convenient, they usually aren't very good.  But I thought maybe soup would be okay, so I tried this Old-Fashioned Beef and Noodle Soup recipe from my Slow Cooker Revolution cookbook.  

 

I didn't use blade steak, as suggested.  I used plain ol' stewing beef instead.  Turns out, I should've used the blade steak.  I thought long, slow cooking in the crock-pot with lots of liquid was supposed to mean that tougher, less expensive cuts of meat could be used and end up tasting moist and tender.  But no, it still tasted like tough, tasteless stewing meat to me.  The kids too, apparently.  But they did eat the noodles and most of the vegetables. Maybe next time, I'll dredge the meat in flour and brown it first.

The kale was even less exciting.  Pressed for time and stuck for ideas, I thought I'd try sautéing it again, but this time with bacon.  Like in this yummy Brussels sprouts recipe from Dinner: A Love Story which I reviewed here a while back.  But kale isn't as yummy as Brussels sprouts. Of course it was good - it had bacon in it!  But it felt a little like cheating.  And entirely counter-productive to pair a nutritional superstar like kale with the guilty goodness of bacon.  Oh well.

As the storm whirls away outside, I realize that there are still many winter weeks of kale and crock-pot meals to go... Who can help me with some recommendations?  

Please!

Crock-pot Challenge - Weeks 2 and 3

This will be quick, since I want to start getting ready for our ski trip to Smuggler's Notch (we leave tomorrow :o) !!!), but I wanted to remain accountable to my challenge.  So here's the update on my crock-pot activities for the past two weeks.

Pulled Pork
I'd never made it before, but it's the one thing that is consistently recommended to make whenever I ask for crock-pot recipe recommendations.  I'm sure there are more complicated recipes, but I went for quick and simple: 

• pork tenderloin
• can of root beer
• cook on low all day
• shred the pork
• drain the excess liquid
• mix in some barbeque sauce
• serve on toasted buns

Couldn't be easier!  And it tasted good too.  We served it with some cut up vegetables for the kids, and coleslaw made from the cabbage I picked up at the local CSA winter market box.

I understand now why it is always recommended as a go-to crock-pot meal.   Quick, easy and yummy.   Sold.

Sausages, Potatoes and Cabbage
When looking for a crock-pot meal for this week, I found this one here.  It seemed perfect.  I had everything on hand: yummy sweet Italian sausages from our favourite local butcher, the Sausage Partners in the freezer, and of course, potatoes, onions and still more cabbage from our winter market box.  All I needed to do was chop it up, add some water, and cook it on low all day. 

Unfortunately, we were disappointed.

Our house smelled like cabbage.  Which was overcooked.  The potatoes were soggy, and the meal did nothing for the sausages.

I only had three sausages on hand.  Not really enough for our family.  But I was actually quite glad that we had sacrificed more of the most delicious sausages we've ever eaten to this disappointing meal.

Fortunately, I had also made applesauce.   The applesauce saved  the meal.


I think I agree with the recipe author, it might have been improved by adding some tomatoes and turning it more into a stew.  But as it stands, we won't be making this one again. 

No crock-pot next week - HOLIDAY!!!

Kale Challenge - weeks 2 and 3

I wasn't feeling very inspired in week 2, but I did make good on my challenge. 

As suggested by many, we tried kale chips.  I used this recipe from allrecipes.com.  However, based on a previous experience which resulted in burnt kale edges, I lowered the temperature to 250 degrees and increased the cooking time.  

They turned out perfectly!

However, my oldest daughter refused to even try them.  The 4 year-old ate them somewhat reluctantly, while my youngest munched away happily.  I enjoyed them too.  They have a very satisfying crunch that then kind of melts in your mouth.  But I can't eat very much at once before I feel like I'm just noshing on overpoweringly green health.  Perhaps it's the slight aftertaste.  I'm not entirely sure.

Another suggestion was to throw some kale into a smoothie.  So I did.  To our traditional smoothie of milk, yogourt, frozen banana and berries, I tossed in some chopped up kale.  Maybe I tossed in a little too much.   Again, my oldest daughter refused to even try it.  But the other two didn't seem to mind the little green bits in their smoothie.  I  was a little put off by the chewy green blobs.  I'll try less kale next time. 

I froze the leftovers into smoothie popsicles which all of the girls have enjoyed without any concern about the kale at all.

For week 3, I tried this recipe for kale with hazelnuts and cranberries.  Except I used walnuts.  And I served it, as suggested, with quinoa and dressing as a warm salad. 

It went mostly untouched by my children, but my husband and I thought it was delicious.  And, it was even better the next day for lunch!

Sadly, there was no kale in my winter market mix this week, so my stock has been depleted for now.   Plus, I'll be away next week so kale probably won't make it into my meals. 

But keep posted - I hope there's more kale to come!

Kale, a crock-pot and a ukulele

Week one of my challenge and I’d say I faired pretty well. Three for three, actually.

The kale is the challenge to which I feel most accountable. We’ve been getting a bunch of kale each week from our local winter farmer’s market, and knowing that I’ll be getting another bunch each Sunday challenges me to use it up by the end of the week.

 

 On Tuesday, I simply sautéed some kale with mushrooms. It was alright. But nothing special. I know, I know… it’s kale. How exciting can it get? We’re eating it for its nutritional benefits, not its taste.

On the recommendation of another market volunteer, I used up the rest of this week’s ration but chopping it thinly and adding it to our chili con carne. I was also inspired to add some thinly sliced radishes which worked well, but next time I’ll skip the thinly sliced parsnip. As for the kale, it was picked out by the girls, but enjoyed by me.  My husband was a little less convinced and suggested blanching it first.  Maybe.

Using the slow cooker is an amazing dinnertime saviour during the work week. All day long, I pat myself on the back, knowing that dinner is preparing itself at home while I am at the office. I’ve received a few new slow cooker cook books lately, and since my husband professes that all crock-pot meals taste the same, I’ve been both limited to using the crock-pot more than once a week, and challenged to find some good recipes.

This week I chose Chicken with Baby Portobello Stroganoff:

Of course, I adapted the recipe.  I rarely follow a recipe exactly.  I used normal mushrooms instead of portobellos. Chopped fresh onion instead of frozen pearl onions.  And since I couldn’t find cream of onion soup, I used cream of mushroom. Plus, I only had half as many chicken thighs as the recipe required.

But it turned out fine. Tasted decent. Definitely acceptable for a weeknight crock-pot meal. Although, as far as crock-pot meals go, I prefer the ones that require little, if any, last minute preparations before eating. For this recipe, I had to cook the egg noodles, of course, but it also required about 20 minutes of thickening with the flour and butter mixture, and then with the sour cream.

However, the girls mostly ate it. There was some mushroom- and onion-picking out, needless to say.  I ate everything.

Finally.  I did it! I played and practised my ukulele at least twice this week. And it reminded me how much I enjoy it. Enough to make me want to do it more.

And maybe learn some new chords.  I think I'm ready to graduate from "Skip to my Lou" and "You are my sunshine".  

Suggestions for kale and crock pot recipes and ukulele songs welcome.

Little Challenges

I'm not really big on New Year's Resolutions.  

After several years of resolving (and failing): to work out more, to take the stairs at work, to cut out sugar, to abstain from chocolate, to spend less money, to lose 5, 10, 15 pounds... I've decided to change my approach.  

I'd rather feel proud of little incremental accomplishments throughout the year instead of suffering the defeat of a failing to achieve some larger goal. I'd prefer to set myself small goals and challenges to meet little-by-little, rather than trying to commit myself to some lofty ambition for the year. 

I've also learned that I'm usually more successful at goals to do or add something to my life, than goals in which I try to give something up.

So, I've given some thought to some small projects I might be able to work into my life this year:

1.  Eat more kale.  
2.  Use my slow-cooker more often.
3.  Go to the hair-dresser more than once a year.

And, oh yeah,
4.  Play my ukulele more often.

And since all goals should be SMART goals, I'll aim to eat kale, use the crock-pot and play my uke (not necessarily all together) once a week, and to keep me accountable, post my recipes and experiences here.   


As for the hairdresser, since I obviously need some help in this department: does every three months sound right?

Suppertime with Shirley Bassey

I've found another terrific parenting/cookbook!  

(Actually, my sister discovered it.  She had borrowed it from the library then loaned it to me.  I've since signed it out again in my name and renewed it twice... I'm just not ready to give it up yet!  This statement may be interpreted as a suggestion for a Christmas/birthday gift.)

Dinner: A Love Story, evolved from a website, written by former magazine food writer and editor, and mom of two, Jenny Rosenstrach, and it is a pure pleasure to read.

Although it is filled with simple, healthy, quick family dinner recipes, what I really love about this book is that it's not so much a cookbook, but a working mom's memoir about her commitment to preparing healthy meals and have dinner together as a family.

I knew right away that I could relate to Jenny Rosenstrach when she wrote about her meal log - her 'dinner diary'.  She has faithfully recorded every dinner cooked and/or eaten since 1998!   A little obsessive, perhaps, but definitely organised.  As many working moms have learned, she further proves that being organised about meal planning is very helpful in conserving whatever shred of  sanity that we can save.

Her story begins in the pre-children phase, when she and her husband began establishing their "rituals, relationships, and repertoires".   Learning recipes; supplying the cupboards, shelves and drawers with the essential tools and cookbooks; gaining appreciation for quality ingredients;  hosting easy and inexpensive dinner parties, and all-in-all, getting comfortable in the kitchen and laying the ground work for the soon-to-be family love affair with dinner.  

Some great 'back-pocket' recipes are introduced here, such as pasta with herbs and bread crumbs, black bean burritos, and oh, the wonderful chicken pot pie.   I wish I had taken a photo of the chicken pot pie... it was not only scrumptious, but beautiful.  (Note to self: put this on the meal plan again for next week.)

The story continues with discussions of her techniques and strategies for surviving new parenthood while still having decent and healthy meals. Her talk about having 2 children under 2 obviously resonated strongly with me (I even got to extend this crazy period of life to having 3 under 3 1/2... a lot of which is a blur) and brought back many memories: 

• eating meals in shifts
• trips to the grocery store being a special outing
• walking through the day caring for young kids in a foggy, sleep-deprived haze, and
• the extreme importance of successfully dividing and conquering the roles and responsibilities involved in running a household while parenting little children

Reading this chapter also made me recall how proud I felt on those days when we successfully prepared a decent meal and had all the clean up done before I collapsed into bed.   It was always such an accomplishment.  I have no real recollection of the meals that we ate.  Alas, I didn't keep a dinner diary.

I chuckled out loud reading about her 'onion trick'.  My mom always used to say the same thing... as soon as you start sauteing an onion, the kitchen smells like something good is cooking.

From this section, I tried the apricot-mustard baked chicken, chicken with bacon-y brussel sprouts, spinach tomato and feta frittata, and fish presents.  All delicious and well-received!

Spinach, tomato and feta fritatta

Apricot-mustard baked chicken with roasted vegetables

Chicken with bacon-y brussel sprouts

(My photographs do not do the meals any real justice; the photographs in the book , both of the meals and of everyday life, are outstanding.)

As her children grew from being toddlers to little kids, the author promises that there is a light at the end of the tunnel - the milestone of preparing and sitting down to family dinners without too much stress, fuss or fighting is upon us.   That glorious moment when you realise that your children are playing happily and you can sneak away to start preparing dinner.   I am coming to really appreciate the kids programming on TV after we get home from school so that I can have a few moments of relative peace to pour myself a glass of wine and start cooking.
With wine in hand is how I found myself preparing the recipes for royal salmon with yogurt-mustard dill sauce, and mustardy pork chops with apples and onions. 

Since dinner preparation is usually only begins at about 5:45 at our house, the primary criteria for recipe selection is preparation time.  Besides being made from fresh ingredients, it's important to point out that most of the recipes in this book take less than 40 minutes to prepare.  And most importantly - the preparation time written for the recipe is accurate!  Including vegetable chopping-, and trip-upstairs-to-help-the-2-year-old-wipe-her-bum-and-wash-hands time!

Whether fictitious or not, I laughed at the correspondence between husband and wife about barbecuing fears and responsibilities; I too, am not only fearful of the using grill itself, but afraid of stepping into my husband's territory!

I also loved Jenny's parenting philosophies and her interpretation of creating habits and routines as an example of laziness.  But in a good way.   When rituals are in place for getting ready for school, dinnertime, bedtime, etc., we as parents don't need to think too much.  We can resort to autopilot, which is kind of what we need at the end of a long day.

Aside from some great recipes, there are also many gems of ideas in this book:

• chalkboard painting of tried and true family recipes to the inside of a kitchen cupboard
• a make-shift miniature 'dollhouse' created with magazine photographs on the inside of a kitchen cupboard
• a list of essential items and cookbooks for every kitchen
• the 'conversation starters' for children at the dinner table
• an exact schedule and menu for hosting a grown-up dinner party with children 'underfoot'

I don't read a lot of cookbooks, so I don't know whether her approach is unique or not.  But I certainly enjoyed the way that the recipes were interspersed with little explanations and personal stories of their relevance in her life.  It was the personal anecdotes of familiar situtations which made the book so enjoyable, and also encouraged me to believe that creating healthy family meals with young children is possible.  Definitely not easy, but certainly doable.

Now you can see why I've been so reluctant to return Dinner: A Love Story to the library.   It's due back on Friday.  I promise to return it so someone else can enjoy it as much as me.

How can we have a Healthier Halloween ?

When it comes to Halloween, I’m pretty sure what it is that kids enjoy most. When I asked my kids “What’s your favourite thing about Halloween?”, they confirmed my suspicions. “Candy!” was their enthusiastic response.


We all know that the power of candy at Halloween is pretty strong. Case in point: the Halloween when I was 7 months pregnant and my middle daughter was about 18-months-old, she was initially pretty terrified about trick-or-treating. In fact, I seem to remember that she didn’t want to go out at all. But we got her dressed up and out went, her 3-year-old sister leading the way. At first, our toddler was very timid about going up the stairs to our neighbours’ houses, and would only go if I was carrying her. But if I recall correctly, it only took two houses and two handfuls of candy to encourage her to do all the other houses of our route on her own!

The whole concept of Halloween seems a little off to me. I know that it’s lots of fun, but it also seems so greedy and gluttonous. I must have bothered me, at least subconsciously, even when I was a child: I actually remember having dream one year in early November in which all the kids were required to go back to all the houses they had visited on Halloween and give back the treats they received!

And ironically, no one really seems to want all that candy anyway. Well, except the kids, of course, but then the parents don’t want them to have it. So everyone buys oodles of candy to dole out to the trick-or-treaters, and then tries to pawn it off on all the kids and families that come to their door so that they won’t have any left. Then the parents go through the trick-or-treat stash that’s been collected and try to get rid of as much as they can to the late-night kids who come to the door, or take it in to the office the next day. And I confess to immediately throwing out all the toffee, gummy candy and gum.

Which leads me to ask: why do we bother?

And as I try to stress healthy eating to my family, and limit their exposure to sugars and treats, Halloween becomes very tricky indeed.

Fortunately, my daughter’s school teacher is on board. Along with the information about the Halloween class party came the request for healthy treats. While this might require a little more resourcefulness or imagination than sending traditional cookies or cupcakes, I give kudos to the school for putting nutrition ahead of sugar.

A little Internet searching turned up a number of great ideas, including these Healthy Halloween Snacks from Spoonful:

I really like the crudités shaped into a skeleton or cat or witch, but since I won’t there to set it up in her classroom for the party, I can’t see how I can make it work.

 

I also think the frozen banana ghost pops are a great idea, although I’ve read somewhere else about coating them with yogurt instead of chocolate to make them even healthier. But again, I’m not sure how we can manage the frozen treats at a school party.

The jack-o-lantern oranges filled with fruit salad look fantastic too, but I’m a keep-it-simple kind of mom, so we opted for tangerine pumpkin faces drawn on with marker. Plus, my daughter was able to help with this one.

And what about the hand-out for the trick-or-treaters? Having recently read that eating 9 mini chocolate bars equals 875 calories(!), I knew I had to stay away from candy I liked. But I also decided that somehow, I would avoid contributing to the I saw some great ideas for Halloween Candy Alternatives from Canadian Family, and since my daughter is currently obsessed with stickers, sticker books and sticker trading, stickers seemed an obvious choice.

My husband insisted that we also need to give out some sort of food treat. I decided on potato chips. Maybe because I don’t like them too much, I figure that they won’t be consumed 4 to 5 at a time, like chocolate bars. And at least they’re not chockfull of corn syrup and sugar.

I just hope we don’t get egged.

(However, given that Halloween is predicted to be a cold, windy and wet one this year, I think we should be safe from pranks. In fact, I may end up eating little bags of potato chips and filling my daughters’ sticker books for months to come…)

How do you feel about the sugar grab and rush of Halloween? Are you making any changes to make it a little healthier for your kids?

Homemade Nutella

Who doesn't love Nutella, right?  Lawsuit aside, based on the number of Nutella-based recipes on Pinterest, brand loyalty is pretty strong.  But after reading Michael Pollan's book "In Defence of Food", I started reading labels more.  And although there weren't many words that my grandmother wouldn't recognise on the ingredient list, Nutella seemed to contain too much sugar for me to purchase another jar.

So when I saw this recipe for Chocolate Hazelnut Butter in Chatelaine last winter, I clipped and filed the page (the old-fashioned way) for a weekend project one day.

It's a very simple recipe: hazelnuts, semi-sweet chocolate and honey.  Roast the hazelnuts, melt the chocolate, add the honey and chop, mix, blend it all together.

Except that it didn't really work.  It never got creamy.  Oh, and I didn't have semi-sweet chocolate squares on hand, so I used dark chocolate instead.   I thought it tasted good, but the consistency was wrong, and it wasn't sweet enough for my girls.

It stayed in the fridge for a couple of days, until (as suggested by my sister), I blended it again with some oil.  And I added some maple syrup to try to sweeten it some more.

Much better!  It tasted scrumptious and wholesome on my croissant this morning.  

But the girls still don't like it.  I'll try again.  But next time I'll use semi-sweet chocolate, more honey, and oil right from the start.  They're bound to like it eventually, right?  Maybe after 12 tries...

Á manger comme les Français (To eat like the French)

As you've probably heard, today would have been Julia Child's 100th birthday. I'll be honest, I don't know much about Julia Child beyond what I learned watching Julie & Julia. But since she is credited with bringing French cooking to average families, I thought today I would write about bringing French eating to my average family.

A couple of months ago, my mom showed me a newspaper clipping about a book called “French Kids Eat Everything” by Karen Le Billon. I was mostly intrigued by the ideas that even toddlers don’t need to be snacking between meals and that families really can get through a meal without bribes or power-struggles. So, after returning home, I went to borrow the book from the library.

(It turns out, it’s a popular book. I had to wait almost a month for a copy to come available. And because there were so many holds on it, I couldn’t renew it, so I had to read fast to finish it before it was due. That part wasn’t hard though.)

It’s a great book. In fact, I’m considering purchasing my own copy.

So, what’s the book about? After moving to her husband’s hometown in Northern France, a mom of 2 young girls learns and eventually embraces the “‘food rules’ that help the French foster healthy eating habits and good manners”. Although the book is mostly about a ‘family food revolution’, it also got me thinking about how my role as a parent is more than just raising happy, healthy kids, but also about challenging them so they can become happy, healthy, and thoughtful adults.

In addition to the 10 Food Rules which the author devised for her family, some of the messages that really resonated for me were the following.

“It’s okay to be hungry between meals.”  
This might be life-changing. Really. I’ve always relied on the tactic of feeding my children snacks (albeit usually healthy ones), in order to avoid the inconvenience of an ill-timed tantrum, or the nuisance of nagging, needy whining, or the frustration of attention-seeking mischief-making. After all, they say that hunger can be a trigger for misbehaviour, right? And the quiet that comes when they’re all sitting at the table having a snack can be a sanity saver. Apparently, however, kids can learn to behave properly even when they’re hungry. And being hungry just means they’ll eat more of their next meal. Incredible concept. And not that hard to implement, either. I’m amazed.  I’m applying it to my life too. Along with:

Eat a bigger lunch and you won't need to snack.;
The stomach is a muscle, and must be allowed time to rest.; and
The French don’t eat in their cars, at their desks, in children’s strollers, or on the run.
The personal weigh management tactics I’ve (not very successfully) employed over the years have included eating small meals every 2-3 hours. That might work if you’re eating carrots all day, but it’s certainly not satisfying. If I were to eat just three decent nourishing meals, with maybe a healthy afternoon snack, I’d probably consume just as many calories as smaller meals more often. I’m trying. It helps to internalise the French attitude towards snacking in general: it just isn’t done.

I mean, just think of it. If I could really embrace the no snacking rule, it would abolish absent-minded noshing on sweets and treats while driving and working, and late night ‘rewards’ for surviving the day. Snacking could be a thing of my past. Maybe I could finally get a sensible handle on enjoying treats when appropriate. Maybe I could finally put an end to the year after year weight gain…

(I also want to read “French Women Don’t Get Fat”. I’ll let you know how it turns out.)

Desserts, sweets and treats are acceptable. Just not all the time, and not in large quantities. If you eat them less often, you might just enjoy them more!
I like the idea of adopting the lunch menu criteria set out by the education ministry in France. It’s guidelines are pretty specific, not just about how often fish must be served, or the ratio of raw to cooked vegetables during the week, but also that sweet desserts must be served only once or twice per week. There’s still dessert on the other days, but dessert also includes yogurt and fruit. Dessert doesn’t need to mean cake, chocolate and ice cream. We can totally do that. I mean a treat is supposed to be special, right? So, if we eat it on a regular basis, how special is it, really?

Teaching your children healthy eating habits and good manners is as important as your teaching your children to read, and more important than over-participating in extracurricular activities. 
I sometimes worry about when the kids are bigger and we’ll be super-scheduled with dance classes, gymnastic meets, soccer practice, and swimming lessons. (x3!) Since this seems to be the North American norm, it’s no wonder that families don’t eat dinner together, or when they do, they’re wolfing down fast food in the car. As Karen Le Billon points out, traditionally, the French would never consider sacrificing the family dinner for recreational activities. It’s more important to impart the lessons of what to eat, how to eat properly, and how to socialise at mealtimes.

We should value our food, so it’s okay if it costs more.
After all, our bodies should be nourished with healthy, wholesome food. Granted, we all like (and often need) to save money, but we should appreciate our health enough to choose healthy, real food over processed food products, even if it is more expensive.

Child care centres and schools should also be involved in food education. 
If you accept that food education is as important as any other education, it makes sense to me that it should be taught in schools.  And not just in theory, but in practice. Thankfully, our child care centre has a wonderful food provider, and the school has a breakfast and hot-lunch program. I was appalled to read about some schools who allow children just 10 minutes for eating lunch! My oldest hasn’t even started in the lunch program at school yet, and already I’m ready to launch into action if she isn’t given the chance to sit down and properly eat her meal.

“Children are grown-ups in training.”
I’m not sure why this one hit-home for me so much. I must have recognised it at some level, but reading it in such simple language really emphasised for me that my role as a parent is not just about dressing, feeding, bathing and disciplining. Maybe it’s because my children are starting to be little humans and not so much dependent-babes. But in reading this, I consciously recognised that my role as a parent is most importantly to help my children become healthy, happy, responsible adults. It kind of helps give perspective too.

So, although eating like the French is about more than just baguettes, croissants, fancy cheese, chocolate and wine, that’s okay. Our family is going to be happier and healthier for it!