BABY FOODS!!

Taking a look at what our children eat is probably one the most important things we can do for them. Grocery shopping with a blind-eye for our kids' food only promotes childhood obesity and future serious health problems. Teaching them good eating habits right off the bat is a great way to help them develop into health and happy adults.

For infants, baby foods are the first solid foods they will ever encountered. Why not start them on a diet of pure and organic foods? Sure, everyone would love to do this but the organic jarred baby food is more expensive than the non-organic options. So lets go back to our roots and cook for our babies (like we would others in our family).

Making your own baby food really isn't that hard and is SO MUCH CHEAPER!

Cooking Steps:
1. Buy the frozen version of the food you want to make for the baby (ex: frozen peas, broccoli, etc)
      *You can also do fresh (clean foods good) but some foods are easier frozen (esp. broccoli)
2. Cook the whole bag of frozen (or fresh) until the food falls apart easily.
      *Use a steamer or boil.
3. Take any skins off and place in food processor/grinder
4. Puree food until baby food consistence


Storage Steps:
1. Spoon pureed food into a clean ice-tray
2. Cover ice-tray with plastic rap/foil and freeze
3. Once frozen, pop "food cubes" in a freezer bag and store in freezer
4. Label bag with food and date made
5. To serve, heat a cube (about 1 tablespoon) on stove or in microwave until thawed and warm
       ** Be careful of heating in microwaves because "hot spots" can burn baby.  

Enjoy!

Frigthful Foods Week 2: Chips Ahoy! Cookies and Pizza

This week we will be looking at Chips Ahoy! Cookies and pizza. According to CalorieCount.com Chips Ahoy! cookies got either a D+ or C. We can find a healthier cookie out there or make our own. Also delivery and frozen pizzas got a range of scores from A- to D+. So lets look at the healthier options for our pizza cravings!


Take action and eat healthy today!

Healthy Chef Boyardee

So what's wrong with good o' fashion spaghetti and meatballs? Nothing, if it made with actual food and not chemically processed goo! This Chef Boyardee is very high in sodium (like many processed foods) and is high in fat and bad carbs!

Another thing to always think about when eating meat is where did the meat come from? If you want a good reason to take a second look at where your meat products are coming from, just type in "Meat Recall" into Google/Bing. Remember the 2007 E.Coli meat scare! In my opinion, over the last 3 years the FDA has not completely fixed the problem regarding food regulation, especially in light of the recent egg recall.

But why is E.Coli such a problem? Well, currently most cattle feed on corn mill just like nature intended. You remember learning about how cow's have evolved to pick and shuck their corn in grade school, right? Yeah, I don't remember that either because cows EAT GRASS! Corn is much cheaper, though; so cows just tolerate eating it. These corn-eating-cows are more susceptible to getting disease because they aren't getting the nutrition they need; so a highly contagious disease called E.Coli spreads. In the slaughter houses, the E.Coli can contaminate the meat via feces that get on the meat (amongst other ways)! That's a great mental picture, huh?

So where can we find grass-fed-cows? Eatwild.com is a website I found that will help you find local farms that grass-feed their cows (and don't inject them with steroids). They also have ways to get poultry, pork, and other farm fresh foods! AND there are some that will deliver to you! How easy! Now you can't make excuses. :)

Now that we have an education on beef. 

Let's make a healthier version of the Chef Boyardee.

RECIPE

-Lean ground beef (grass-fed) or turkey ground meat (lower in fats)

-1-2 Eggs

-Bread Crumbs 

       (Take bread and crumble it or use what is at the bottom of the bag. No need to buy over-salted pre-packaged bread crumbs)

-Wheat Noodles

-Low Sodium Tomato Sauce*

       (Many healthy options: Prego, Classico, Del Monte; *skip the ones with cheese flavorings)

-1 Can Tomato Paste

-Parmesan Cheese (Organic Valley Brand is USDA Organic- no pesticides/hormones/etc)

1.Cook noodles as instructed on package

2. Fold eggs and bread crumbs into meat until mixture is sticking together

3.Use ice cream scoop to form small balls of meat

4.Brown meatballs in a pan with a dab of e.v.o.o., season with salt/pepper

       *Sacrifice one meatball to make sure they are done in the middle.

5.Mix tomato sauce and tomato paste in a pan; warm over stove

6.Fold in cooked meatballs and noodles gently

7. Serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

*You can make this meal in bulk one weekend and store it in the freezer in portioned out containers. This will make it easy to pull one out, warm, and feed the kids.

Enjoy!

Healthy Hot Pockets

Lets talk a little about why these Hot Pockets are not very healthy. According to the nutritional facts of the Flatbread Sausage Egg and Country Gravy Hot Pocket, it has 55% of your DAILY recommended Saturated Fat (the fat the causes high cholesterol, amongst other things). If you are not good with numbers, that's more than half of what you should be having in a day. Saturated fats are mostly in dairy (cheese), animal fat (processed sausage), and oils (gravy).

Also it has 610mg of sodium (salt)! And don't think that too much salt just makes you swell up... excessive salt intake can lead to stroke and high blood pressure (hypertension).

OK! So why do we need so much salt and fat in a meal that looks like it could be good carbs and protein.

Lets create a healthier version.

RECIPE

-Whole Wheat Flatbread or Pita Bread

-Low Fat Cheese

-Turkey Sausage-Cooked

-Egg (or just the Whites)- Cooked

-Low-Sodium Cream of Mushroom Soup

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Lay out flatbread or pita bread on a cookie sheet

3. Spread some cream of mushroom soup on the bread

4. Top with egg, cheese and turkey sausage

5. Season with pinch of salt/pepper

6. Bake until cheese is melted and gooey

***You can also do this in the microwave.

This alternate meal is much lower is salt and fat. 

It also has REAL FOOD in it!! 

Enjoy!

Egg Recall

There has been a shelled egg recall due to possible Salmonella contamination. To find out if your eggs might make you green. Here is a CBS News article listing the eggs that should not be eaten! 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20013938-10391704.html

Some great egg substitutes in baking: 

1/2 -1 banana = 1 egg

1/4 cup apple sauce = 1 egg

These are also healthier and a great vegan option!

Frightful Foods Week 1: Hot Pockets & Chef Boyardee

This is the first week of revitalizing the way you eat. We are going to tackle Hot Pockets and Chef Boyardee Brand foods!

So I found a great website that rates the nutritional value of foods we eat all the time. Calorie Count is a website for those looking for tools to manage their weight. It also has a great rating scale from A-F (like in school) that they apply to all types of food. 

The website lists all types of Hotpckets and the grades range from B- to F. The Flatbread Sausage Egg and Country Style Gravy is the only one to recieve an F. So that will be the first food to find a healthy substitute for. 

As for Chef Boyardee, Spaghetti and Meatballs in Tomato Sauce received a D (which was the worst grade). This kid friendly food claims to be nutritional however the highest grade was C+. Lets find something better for our kids!

Im excited lets do it!!  

Welcome to Grassroots Food!

Everyone knows that some foods are less healthy than others. But we still eat them! Why? Because they taste good! Sometimes I think "Ok, I know I shouldn't eat this, but what else is there? Is there a healthy pop-tart?" Inspired by the documentary Food, Inc., I have decided to take a stand against processed and unnatural foods. My goal is find healthy foods amongst all the unhealthy options at the grocery store and transform our favorite sinful foods into tasty, health treats! 

I will pick two unhealthy food items each week and research similar healthier options that are available at the store or that can be easily made. Keep in mind I'm not a nutritionist; but finding simple, pure food shouldn't be rocket science. 




So take a stand with me against an unhealthy life. It is time to get back to real, natural, pure food. Start by checking out some good tips given on the Food, Inc. website.




http://www.takepart.com/foodinc




Enjoy!