A Beginning

I am starting a new blogging series for my friends have asked for cooking assistance. I know from the experience that is as equally as hard to work all day as it is to chase around your little ones as a stay at home mom - then comes dinner time.  Both working moms and stay at home moms (and dads too) want to provide their growing families with a nutritious meal that isn't going to take a lot of time or energy - as if by this time you have either.  The meals that you find in the supermarket that are designed for this purpose are usually filled with mediocre ingredients and only compensates with additives and preservatives. That isn’t what you want to give your little ones or yourself for that matter. 

There are a few rules you want to remember for feeding your families. The first thing to remember is that you need your meals to be rounded.  Too much protein in your meal makes you feel bloated and sleepy and it’s usually higher in fat.  Too much carbohydrates and you get an initial rush and then you crash, this hold especially true for complex carbohydrates.  A balance of the two and you feel satisfied for much longer and you don’t have to ride the protein/ carbohydrate rollercoaster. Grandma had it right, go figure, without all the input from modern science (although she did try to fry everything!). A small piece of protein, two or so veggies and a starch usually is a good rule of thumb.

The second thing you need to remember is all things in moderation.  You may like Italian style food, but that does not mean pasta every day.  You may like Mexican style food but that does not mean tortilla chips and salsa at every meal.  You will get bored and your body will feel the effects of not having a variety of foods.

The third thing is it really does take a few tries to gain a taste for something out of the ordinary, and that is OK.  The trick is to keep trying and stop being so darned hardheaded.  If you frown when you eat, you are less likely to have an open mind because you are telling yourself right off the bat that you don’t like it and that you are not going to like it. Tell your children and your spouses if you must, “You’re frowning. You’re not even giving it a chance.” This works really well for kids. Adults however, well, to put it delicately, sometimes act like spoiled kids, and they dig their heels in harder than your children will.  But just like children, if they are hungry, they will eat.

I will post recipes with ingredients that you may not be familiar with.  That’s OK.  We are expanding our horizons here just email me and ask me about it and I will let you know if there are substitutions that I can offer up. If the spice level is too high in something, reduce it. If you need more salt, add it. Food is about what you like to eat along beside what is good for you.  Just because it’s good doesn’t mean that it’s bad for you and vice versa. You feedback is welcomed.

You will need very few investments.  I will be putting a lot of things up here that are make-and-freeze in quantities because freezing replaces preservatives.  You will need to invest in a bunch of Glad Oven Ware style freezer to oven disposable dishes unless you have a lot of oven safe bake ware with lids. They are phthalate, polycarbonate and BPA  free. The 8x8 size are perfect for a family of four and run about $3.00 for 2. And they also make a 9x12 size for larger famlies or if you pack lunches out of leftovers.

You will also need a slow cooker,

a sharpie marker $2.00,

 Post-it labels $3.00 for 100,

And good quality freezer bags in various sizes.