Week in Review-Food for Thought…Saving Your Friend on the School Bus

Father Holding Daughter's Hand

Eating together as a family is recommended in many, many articles.

In some families, it is a sacred time, when they share food, and their thoughts with each other without the interruption of screens, phones, television or computers. Some families can manage dinner together several times a week others not so much.

With so many schedules competing for our time and that of our children, perhaps we need to assess how stressful it is for everyone to sit down and eat any meal together.

Maybe, we should re-evaluate how we spend time together and whether it has to be all together at a dinner table?

Perhaps, we can do other things together and use car rides  bike rides, or even walks to share precious moments with each other.

Julie Cole discusses her take on family dinner time…as a mom of six she has some suggestions, all of us might find helpful. Her expectations are realistic for her family.

What expectations are realistic for yours?

Parenting is a tough gig these days. There are a lot of studies and research directing us. While I think it’s important to consider the information that we are bombarded with, I like to integrate that with my experiences, some common sense, and the knowledge that I’m the one best fit to make the decisions for my family. The dinner table is not going to make or break my family. I’m quite capable of doing that all on my own, thank you. Check back with me in a few years though – if no one is using three syllable words, I may reconsider.

via The MabelhoodFeeding Time at the Zoo » The Mabelhood.

 

Another post this week from one of my favorite bloggers was inspired by Julie Cole’s article, it also deals with family dinner time and meaningful family time.

I have found that family dinners are difficult these days…my husband has a very long day and I am hungry way before he arrives home from work and so is my granddaughter.

When my own kids were young, we managed dinner together most evenings. It was hectic, but everyone looked forward to sitting down and eating a home cooked meal.

They may not have liked all the food that was served and there may have been many heated discussions along side the usual sibling issues but it was a family get together at the end of the day. I can say with certainty, It was definitely not  the Cosbys  but it was three generations sitting together talking or arguing about something or another.

Over the years, dinner time has morphed and now the weekend is when we enjoy calmer meals together, some at home and some out.

I have to admit when we eat out…it is much more relaxing for me and I actually enjoy what I am eating. This is not always the case when I am the one cooking, serving and cleaning up.

With age, I have learned that the dinner time togetherness can be forfeited for other meaningful moments of togetherness that are both relaxing and enjoyable.

For this reason, I love getting older and wiser and I love being able to read about how mom’s today like Annie and Julie have adapted togetherness time to include other enjoyable activities with their kids along with occasional dinners.

 

It’s not news – families that eat together regularly are better and the rest of us suck. Time Magazine reports that the more often families eat together, the less likely kids are to smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, develop eating disorders and consider suicide. They have a better chance of doing well in school, delaying having sex, eating their vegetables, learning big words and knowing which fork to use.

 

 

What would your child do if his school bus peer told him he just took a handful of pills and hoped he would die? Here is what Drew did…kids have to make decisions all the time and some of these decisions have far reaching consequences…how do we help them navigate their world?

 

Red-headed Drew Carlson of Woodland Middle School saved a life. He saved a family from the loss of a child. He listened to the hushed voice of his peer and he did not hesitate to call 911.

via 6th Grader Calls 911 Overdose From Bus | Elaine Pawlowski.

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

A WIC Shutdown: Here is Where You Can Get Baby Formula

Bottle Feeding

We all know that the government shutdown has caused problems for those parents receiving formula and baby food from WIC.

Jessica Lawson, the feminist mom has compiled a list by state of where to get WIC aid. It is not a complete list but it is a good resource for those in need.

Lisa Belkin published this information on Huffington Post earlier today.

I hope it is helpful!

Where To Find Formula And Baby Food During A WIC Shutdown.

Monday Farmers’ Market

Our village’s Farmers’ Market Monday has been a weekly ritual ever since mid May.

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Next week is the last market day until Spring 2014…

It will mark the end of a plentiful season of fresh flowers, tomatoes, berries, lettuces, carrots, beets, squash, and endless apples and pumpkins.

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We are lucky to have several Michigan farms from which to choose and a smaller farm visits town on Thursdays and Sundays so that there is no excuse to not have fresh produce.

Today, there was a bounty of Fall foods…zucchinis, apples, pumpkins…there were even a few quarts of strawberries and raspberries, which beckoned me to hoard them.

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I love to make just a few jars of raspberry and strawberry jam along with a couple of apple crisps.

By the dead of winter I will be longing for the freshness of real berries and tasty tomatoes and will settle for the good looking ones at our local fruit store or succumb to the flat taste of the fruit at the supermarket or worse yet the pesticide laden fruit at our local “big box” store.

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Do you long for fresh produce all winter like I do?

 

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Weekend Reads: October We Save Breasts, Pregnancy Weight Gain, Easy Meals

 

Friday…

the end of a busy week.

some reads that came across my screen this week.

have a great weekend everyone!

what are your plans?

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month…but do you really know how to prevent breast cancer…it is not eating foods with “pink ribbons” on it. Jessica’s points are well taken in her post on Broadcast

I dread October. I dread the pink ribbons that will adorn everything from known carcinogens to rifles to football gloves and shoes. I detest the three day walks, the tales of survivorship from breast cancer including an estimated 25% who had DCIS.

via October: The Month Where We Save Breasts (But Not Women) | Broadscast.

 

One of the big questions…how much weight should you gain when you are pregnant? It varies but gaining too much weight is not a good thing.

 

So how much weight is a woman supposed to gain while growing a baby in her belly? According to the Mayo Clinic a “normal” sized woman should gain about 25 to 35 pounds and an overweight woman should gain about 15 to 25 pounds.

via Study Confirms: Gaining Too Much Weight During Pregnancy Could Be Bad for Your Kid | Babble.

 

 

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One of my easy meals…

How important are quick and easy dinners during your week? I personally love ideas for fast foods that are homemade…do you?

 

The goal on weeknights is to get dinner on the table in under 30 minutes. The trick is to be sure it is healthy, tasty, and something my whole family will enjoy. It starts with a well-stocked pantry — a shelf full of canned goods so vegetables are always at the ready, a variety of spices to compliment any recipe, and staples like potatoes and rice to round out the meal.

via Easy Meal Ideas in 30-Minutes or Less.

Book review: ‘Apron Strings’

 

 

 

 Anyone who knows me, knows that I love my Irish heritage,

and

I fell in love with Ireland on my first visit there about 15 years ago.

I thought my grandmother was in the kitchen when I visited Dublin and shared my first Irish breakfast with my family.

It was like I was a little girl again, sitting at the dining room table watching my grandmother cook breakfast in our small NY kitchen.

My husband and I have visited Ireland several times and have especially enjoyed the warm Irish hospitality and Irish cooking.

So when I came upon Nessa Robin’s blog, I was in heaven.

I baked her Easter cake for my family.

Again, I was treated to a taste from my childhood when my Nana used to bake a cake from “scratch” and frost it with chocolate glaze.

Now, Nessa has published a cookbook, ‘Apron Strings‘. She has successfully shared her family recipes along with her personal and professional remedies.

A nurse, Nessa currently is a SAHM raising her family and blogging about her life as a wife, mother, daughter, and now a cookbook author.

Apron Strings‘ is beautifully written and Nessa’s photos make me feel like I am in the kitchen with her and her family.

I love a cookbook that is personal and that shares the stories behind the recipes, Nessa does just this.

She feels like a friend giving me a recipe.

Nessa has made me want to travel back to Ireland and visit the Irish countryside that has inspired her.

See for yourself…have a look at ‘Apron Strings‘.

Apron Strings - Nessa Robins_0

Disclousre: I was given a copy of ‘Apron Strings‘ for purposes of this review.

 

Book Reviews:

 

A few of my favourite things | Carolanne’s Kitchen.

 

 

One of our absolute favourite blogger’s kitchens to visit is the warm and inviting ‘Nessa’s Family Kitchen’ which is lovingly filled with beautifully taken photographs of family and food, delectable yet doable recipes and best of all is as a busy mum to four children, Nessa knows the limitations and demands placed on a mum’s kitchen.

Book review: ‘Apron Strings’ by Nessa Robins | MummyPages.ie – mummypages.ie.

Do Your Kids Eat Everything?…Tell theTruth!

IMG_4193Cooking for kids…always a challenge

I love to cook…but over the years my “go to meals” have changed…

and

become somewhat boring…

enter

Jennie Perillo, InJenniesKitchen and her book Homemade with Love.

I was losing my edge especially now…

that I very often am cooking for three generations in one house.

This morning, I read this piece from Jennie’s recipes in Relish Magazine

and

I  smiled…as I adore pesto…

I have decided to try using parsley instead of my usual basil, omit the pistachios since….

there is a “nut allergy” in our family

I will add cheese to liven up the flavor.

 

I’ll be the first to admit that when I think about cooking for kids, pesto isn’t the first recipe that comes to mind. Yes, there are adventurous eaters out there, you know, those kids whose parents’ claim they eat everything. To that, I say spill the beans. No one likes everything, including myself, a professional food writer and recipe developer—and that’s okay. This is perhaps the most important tidbit of advice to remember when you approach feeding your children.

via

Relish Blogs – Fresh Homemade Summer Pesto.

DIY__Allergy-Friendly, Healthy Ice Cream Treat for Kids

bananas

Every month is another one dedicated to a cause…

this month is …

National Nutrition Month!

Ice cream is one my family’s favorites and…

what better way to celebrate than

to make your own with ONE ingredient

BANANAS!

It’s easy and incredibly delicious…

did you know that if you peel a banana from the opposite end

all the “stringy” stuff comes off with the skin?

monkeys do know something we don’t know…

and they don’t like the “stringies” either!

 

 

It’s National Nutrition Month!  When you think of “healthy”, you don’t normally think of ice cream. This one-ingredient recipe is free of all allergens (except banana) and is free of added sugar and fat. This recipe is great for children with multiple food allergies and/or eosinophilic disorders (if bananas are safe for your child).  We’ve asked Meg Falciani to make the recipe and photograph it for you:

 

A Mother’s Day Wish!

Graphic MomsNotLovinIt-Graphic-FINAL_for_Parents_and_Allies

 

For Mother’s Day, I would like it if McDonalds’ Corporation would stop targeting children in their marketing campaigns.

I know that I have a choice about whether or not to support McDonalds and to tell the truth,  on occasion, I do patronize our local McDonalds’ drive thru.

In addition, we are shareholders.

We also live in the heart of corporate McDonalds’ land and benefit from the corporate taxes that McDonalds pays in Oak Brook IL.

I also work at a medical center that has a Ronald McDonalds House, which comforts many suffering families.

All of this being said, I continue to wonder, why on one hand, McDonalds Corporation continues to market to children and then turns around and funds children’s healthcare with their mobile services and family care with their Ronald McDonald Houses?

Obviously, their bottom line is profit.

Parents are encouraged by McDonalds marketing campaigns to view McDonalds as inherently good, when it is not.

Perhaps, McDonalds should look at this current generation of parents, who have been exposed to fast food most of their lives, many of whom suffer the ravages of morbid obesity with all of its’ sequelae, diabetes, heart disease, kidney and liver failure.

Maybe McDonalds  should now fund healthcare for these adults or perhaps childcare for the children that these parents will leave behind, when they die prematurely from the effects of being obese most of their lives. I am just saying…

If McDonalds did begin such a healthcare initiative for today’s obese parents, it just might be an acknowledgement of their part, along with other fast food markets, in the cause of this widespread health crisis.

There is really no simple answer here…

One thing for sure is, if McDonalds stops marketing to children, this could be a good thing.

If they continue to develop ways to make healthier choices on their menu, this could also be a good thing.

What could even be better is…

If they decrease their unhealthy menu choices, continue their healthcare initiatives and develop new ones.

Then and only then, we just might see this new generation increase their longevity and the chances that they will outlive their parents.

McDonalds, children should not die before their parents…please stop marketing to kids…

I am a #MomsNotLovinIt and a #GrandmaNotLovinIt

If you want to help…join the movement at MomsNotLovinIt.org 

 

 

Do you need a another Cookbook??? Yes you do!

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Homemade with Love

Yesterday, I went to a really delightful luncheon here in Chicago. It was an impromptu event invitation that I am so grateful to have had the time to attend.

In the last few weeks, I have had the fortune of discovering a new blog, In Jennie’s Kitchen  and a new cookbook, Homemade with Love on Instagram.

Blogging and cooking are both loves of mine! Cooking has been a longtime passion of mine…blogging and reading blogs is a new passion.

Now, I have had the good fortune of meeting the creator of Homemade with Love, Jennifer Perillo.

I now realize that it was also fortunate for me that I missed her Chicago book signing, this past Sunday and that I am not afraid of twitter. To make a long story short, Jennifer extended an invitation to me to attend a very special small luncheon that she was preparing in her hotel here in Chicago.

To say, I was thrilled is definitely an understatement.

Among the invitees were some other bloggers, who are all much more recognizable than I…most were food bloggers, some were also writers, who represent various media and social media here in Chicago. A very nice mix of women and fun for me to meet, as my background is just so different, coming from nursing and social work.

What better way to relax everyone and encourage conversation with each other than to casually serve a delicious made from scratch lunch.

Jennifer did just that!

In the tiniest of working kitchen space Jennie created recipes from her new book Homemade with Love.

Firstly, we had some wine, sparkling water, or still water served with a strawberry compote to add a little bit of sweetness to our drinks…very refreshing.

Next we were treated to ….

Creamy Homemade Ricotta

Slow Roasted Tomatoes with Fresh Mozzarella Panzanella Salad

Chickpea, Parmesan and Fennel Salad

Orecchiette with Bolognese Sauce

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Simple Roasted Chicken

Deep Chocolate Cupcakes with Deep Chocolate Glaze

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It was a lovely marriage of flavors and Jennifer’s ease with preparing and serving made it obvious to me that I could make her recipes at home, as you will be able to do too after you buy her wonderful cookbook.

Jennifer also graciously signed copies of her cookbook for all of us.

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I am impressed with her book, its’ layout, beautiful photos and helpful tips. There are icons on every page to tell you about each recipe. I love her Chapter on “Setting Up a Homemade Kitchen” which is surprisingly easy!

It helps that Jennifer is a warm and engaging mother of two, who understands what it is like to be thrown into single parenthood by the untimely death of her husband, Mikey. You can see her love for her kids and Mikey overflows into her passion for cooking.

She has truly written a delightfully beautiful cookbook that you can use in your kitchen to make your own family meals Homemade With Love.

Thank you Jennifer!

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Jennifer Perillo and me…

Thank you also to Kitchen Aid and the makers of Glad, two companies who helped to make it possible for Jennifer to share her recipes and cookbook with us.

Disclosure:

This post was not sponsored. I did receive a copy of Homemade with Love from Jennifer. All opinions are my own.