*Feed your family high quality, nutritional food challenge*

[aka-mad4themouse]

MaMa3Princess,
Could you share those bread machine recipes when you have the chance? I think it would be great to wake up to the smell of freshly-baked cinnamon bread. I love being able to set up the bread machine the night before and do a delayed start so that the bread is still warm when I wake up.

 

[GlennandAnn]

Chicagodisneyfan,
How do you make the lemon orzo? I love both of those things, and would love to eat them together!! We're in Orland Park, where are you?

Ann

 

[casjen72]

from the veganlunchbox blog that someone else posted. I also got a Laptop lunch box. I know, not very budget friendly but DH and I have a thing about healthy food for our kids. My nephews are always sick and subsist on cocoa puffs, chips, soda, and fluff. It's awful.

The pumpkin muffins and vegan fudge are wonderful! I tried the cream cheese pinwheels but they were very salty. I think I misread the recipe or added too much salt. I also slip omega 3 eggs and ground flax seed in wherever I can.

My ds is a very picky eater but will happily eat almost any fruit. So he eats alot of fruit salad and organic yogurt for snack in the summer. We always drink hormone free milk as well. Organic when it is on sale (more than $7 a gallon here right now)

Another favorite "dessert" of his is banana and peanut butter snadwiches. I use natural peanut butter and spread a dab between 2 banana slices. I think it' a good compromise for dessert.

Dinner last night was grilled chicken marinated in lowfat caeser dressing, a medly of summer squashes (3 kinds) sauteed in a dab of olive oil with parmesan cheese for flavor, and corn. I belong to a CSA so we have at least 2 veggies a night which were fresh picked hours before I got them. YUM!

I also recommend the Barilla Pasta that is enriched with omega 3 etc (not the new wheat one). My boys will eat this up and it is high in fiber and protein. They are suspicious of the wheat pasta and often refuse to eat it.

 

[HayGan]

I also recommend the Barilla Pasta that is enriched with omega 3 etc (not the new wheat one). My boys will eat this up and it is high in fiber and protein. They are suspicious of the wheat pasta and often refuse to eat it.

We are a BIG fan of the Barilla Pasta as well. No one can tell the difference between that and the regular stuff (except for my grocery bill!)

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

So, what's for dinner tommorrow? It's just going to be me at home (DH and DD17 will be working, DS15 will be at footbal practice). No one in my house ears fish except me, so I think I'll treat myself to

Pineapple Teriyaki Salmon​

2 Tbls. Brown sugar
2 Tbls. Low-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp. finely grated orange zest
1 (6-oz.) can of pineapple juice (3/4 cup)
½ tsp. salt, divided
2 tsp. canola oil
4 (6-oz.) salmon fillets (about 1” thick)
¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper
grated orange rind (garnish)​

1. Combine first 4 ingredients and ¼ tsp.of the salt in a small saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer until reduced to ¼ cup (approx. 15 minutes).

2. Preheat oven to 400°.

3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet (I use cast iron) over medium-high heat. Sprinkle both sides of salmon with remaining ¼ tsp. of the salt and pepper. Add fish to pan and cook 3 minutes.

4. Turn fish over and place in oven. Bake at 400° for 3 minutes.

5. Remove from oven. Brush each fillet with 1 Tbl. of the sauce. Return to oven and cook for an additional 1 minute or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

6. Plate fish and sprinkle with orange rind if desired.

Yield: 4 servings.

Calories:339 (41% from fat)
Fat: 15.4 g (sat. 3.3g, mono 7g, poly 3.9g)
Protein: 36.8g
Carbs: 11.2g (0.2g fiber)
Cholesterol: 87mg
Iron: 1 mg
Sodium: 644mg
Calcium: 34mg

I'll plate it with some couscous w/garlic and olive oil and some steamed greens beans (fresh from my FIL's garden).

 

[4bugzinarug]

A good friend of mine taught me how to make this soup. Her husband is Hispanic ... and their family showed her how to make all kinds of delicious recipes! This is actually fairly healthy... no dairy at all, and vegetables for garnishes. You can make it "mild" or "way hot spicy" depending on how much green chile you add:

Pozole

Ingredients needed:

1 - 2 pounds pork stew meat, or chopped pork of any grade (adjust amt of meat to your preference)
One regular sized can of chicken broth (8 ounces … add more if you like)
4-6 large garlic cloves, crushed
One small onion, finely chopped
One enormously huge can of white hominy, NOT Mexican style. Bush brand is best, it runs about $3 at Walmart.
16 oz can of Las Palmas green enchilada sauce
2-3 small cans of chopped green chiles (add more/less to your taste)

For topping:

Cabbage, chopped
Avocado, diced
Corn chips, broken up
Lemon Wedges

Brown garlic, onion, green chiles. Rinse & add pork to be lightly browned. Once browned, cover with chicken broth + just enough water to completely cover the meat, then simmer until *almost* fully cooked. Remove foam.

Rinse & drain the white hominy, add to the pork. Cover with enchilada sauce + 3-4 cans full of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let the soup simmer for one hour. Garnish bowls of soup with above toppings.

Y U M !!

 

[briannesmom]

Breakfast:
Hard boiled eggs and toast
same as every other day this week - DD is on a hard boiled egg kick, I think it is just because she likes to peel them herself
Lunch:
left over chicken wrapped in tortillas w/shredded cheddar
honeydew melon
Dinner:
beef shoulder filets
garlic lemon broccoli
grillled balsamic onions
salad - finally got my first cucumber out of the garden

DH had cereal for breakfast and I packed him chicken sandwiches for lunch

Snacks:
Mini Nilla Wafers
yogurt

I found a giant zucchini hiding under the leaves in the garden. Anyone have a good zucchini bread or muffin recipe?

 

[MaMa3Princess]

This is my favorite all time bread cook book. The authors measurements are right on the money and I do not have to tweek the recipe. It is called the "The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cook Book" by Beth Hensperger.

I like to put all my dry ingredients together and just add wet ingredients and dump pre mixed dry ingredients in before bed. And abracadabra bread in the morning.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

1 cup water
2 tablespoon unsalted butter,cut into pieces

1/4 cup sugar
3 cups of bread flour (King Auther has this organic artisan bread flour that rocks)
1/3 cup of dry buttermilk powder
1 tablespoon of gluten (I dont use it)
1 1/4 tsp of salt
2 Tablespoon of SAF yeast or 2 1/2 tspo bread machine yeast

For the cinnamon swirl
2 tablespoon of butter, melted for brushing
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon

1) Place all the ingredients in the pan according to machine instruction. I usually set on dough cycle and remove dough and roll out, brush with the melted butter and cinnamon and sugar mixture. I roll the dough like a jelly roll. Place in a bread pan. Let rise for 30 minutes . Place in oven and bake in oven for 35 to 40 minutes at 350.


Bread is yummy toasted with butter as well.

 

[jennyf917]

our current pediatrician is very anti cows milk also. She says she alternates between a goat milk, rice milk, and soy for her children.

I worry about enough calcium for the kids though -- all my boys are very tall and in any given month one of them is sure to be in a growth spurt.

I was really worried about that too, with DS's milk allergy, but according to our doctor (who is also fairly anti-milk anyway) the calcium in milk isn't nearly as bio-available (available for use by the body) as the calcium found in vegetables. So I try to make sure to offer plenty of dark green veggies to him and pray for the best.

 

[Imzadi]

There are also a couple of past DIS threads I bookmarked about this same subject. There are some great ideas in these threads too:
How to eat heart healthy and stay on a budget?

Eating healthy without breaking the bank?

our current pediatrician is very anti cows milk also. She says she alternates between a goat milk, rice milk, and soy for her children.

I worry about enough calcium for the kids though -- all my boys are very tall and in any given month one of them is sure to be in a growth spurt.

There is also Almond milk. Just as soybeans are pressed and olives are pressed for oil, almonds are pressed for almond milk. It tastes like milk at the bottom of cereal bowl, once you've finshed Grape Nuts or a high wheat cereal. It is very high in calcium.

We are a BIG fan of the Barilla Pasta as well. No one can tell the difference between that and the regular stuff (except for my grocery bill!)

Clarifying, it is actually called Barilla PLUS pasta. Not only is it high in fiber & protein, it's loaded with omega 3s. I love it too. It is the ONLY pasta I eat now. I've posted about it a few times, but it's worth repeating.

Barilla Plus Pasta.

Barilla Plus is made with chick peas & other high protein, fiber & Omega 3 ingredients. Yet it tastes like regular pasta. It does NOT taste like boiled cardboard the way "whole wheat" pastas do. You do have to cook it a bit longer than regular pasta. It is a better choice for anyone who would still like to eat pasta, but not all the carbs. And the extra fiber & Omega 3's are an added healthy bonus.

You can check the chart for the ratio of protein, fiber & Omega 3's vs. other foods:
Barilla Plus pasta. It is more expensive than regular pasta, but in exchange for buying/adding less of other protein foods, it's probably still less expensive - and more heart healthy & filling.

As a great protein replacement, you can actually use less meats or beans in a dish. You can add cooked chicken to the Rotini (corkscrew) pasta & salad greens to make a chicken pasta salad. The same with a can of tuna.

If you make a simple tomato spaghetti sauce, you can still know you are getting a lot of protein, without making a more expensive meat sauce. Or you can make a pasta primavera (pasta & veggies) drizzled with olive oil, garlic, S&P, and still get a good amount of protein. Same for a nice fresh pesto sauce.

 

[swankybeth]

It's just DH and I. I don't know what he eats for breakfast or lunch, he packs his own food. My breakfast, lunch, snacks are just what I had and dinner is what we both had.

Yesterday

Breakfast: vanilla soy latte and banana

Lunch: turkey, lowfat Swiss, hot & sweet mustard on light 7 grain bread
peach

Snack: grapes and 100 calorie pack of Oreos

Dinner: soy chicken nuggets
quinoa salad made with walnuts, dried cranberries, sundried tomatoes, parsley and scallions
iced green tea w/honey (homemade)

Snack: sugar free ices

 

[mickeyfan2]

Mickeyfan2,
Greek potatoes are potatoes that you peel and cut into quarters. Take about 3/4 cup of water and dissolve a chicken buillion cube in it, pour over potatoes. Pour some olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary and thyme on the potatoes and bake at 350 for 1.5-2 hours. I like to squeeze more lemon juice on them when they come out of the oven.

Thank you. I will need to try them.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

I am so interested in trying the Barillo Plus. I crave pasta so I am hoping this would help me be a little healthier when I eat pasta.

 

[CEDmom]

Hi everyone, this is a great thread.

We're big fans of the Barilla Plus pasta. It's all we eat now. DD7, like most kids, has always been more into carbs than protein so when this hit the shelves a few years ago we switched over. No one can tell the difference and I know that even on a night we're not having any obvious protein it's there.

Another thing I do is add wheat germ to just about everything. DD thinks it's my secret ingredient to make everything taste good . I try to bake from scratch as much as possible but when I don't I even add it plus some oatmeal to mixes (I've even used it in brownies).

For dinner tonight I'm making lazy mom's veggie lasagna (I saw it on Rachel Ray and adapted it a little):

1 bag of large spinach ravioli (DD thinks the spinach is parsley )
1 jar of sauce (we use Classico sweet basil)
shedded italian blend cheese
3 or 4 zucchini
a little olive oil
little bit of chopped garlic (adjust according to taste)

Cook ravioli according to package directions, drain and set aside. While that's cooking chop zucchini into small pieces and saute with a little olive oil and garlic, set aside.

Add a layer of sauce to the bottom of a baking dish. Add 1/3 the raviolis in a single layer. Add 1/3 the zucchini. Sprinkle on a little cheese. Repeat sauce, ravioli, zucchini and cheese in a 2nd and 3rd layer. Pop into oven or microwave until cheese melts and sauce is bubbly.

 

[mjbaby]

With regards to calcium, veggies are the way to go! We do drink some milk at our house - mostly in coffee for my husband and me, about 4 oz. a day for my daughter and none at all for my son as he hates the stuff - and a gallon will last us almost two weeks. But we eat lots of broccoli (fresh in season and home-frozen for the rest of the year), kale, chard, spinach, cabbage and so on, augmented with some high-quality yogurt and cheese. Some nutritionists have speculated (I'll look for citations if anyone wants them) that Americans drink too much milk yet remain calcium deficient.

Oh, also - make sure your kids get some sun! Vitamin D is helps with calcium absorption and is a great benefit of running around outside. Limited exposure to the sun without sunscreen (talk to your doc. about this) is enough. I read a heartbreaking article from the Boston...what's the newspaper? Times? Herald?...about schools seeing more and more broken bones because kids aren't aborbing enough calcium even though they're eating lots of supposedly high-calcium foods with milk solids and so forth. Getting kids outside was presented as a key to the puzzle.

Anyway, back to food: posting about the squash and tomato dish yesterday got me thinking about making one for dinner tonight. When I tried to think of what meat to take out and thaw for dinner I decided just to go veggie tonight and serve the casserole with corn on the cob and maybe some more sauteed green beans. These will be the last beans from our current crop, but a farmer friend suggested I plant a couple more in their place - if we have a late frost again this year I very well could get another batch so I'm totally willing to give it a try for the cost of 5 or 6 bean seeds.

The total cost for dinner will be $1.00 for five ears of corn (cobs then composted to create fertilzer for next year's garden, so can I stretch things and count at least *some* money savings? LOL), about $.75 for a half a cup of grated parmesan cheese, a few cents for breadcrumbs (made from stale bread either homemade or bought), a few cents for garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Oh, and butter for the corn. So maybe $2.50 for a (mostly) local and organic dinner for five.

 

[meandtheguys2]

With regards to calcium, veggies are the way to go! We do drink some milk at our house - mostly in coffee for my husband and me, about 4 oz. a day for my daughter and none at all for my son as he hates the stuff - and a gallon will last us almost two weeks. But we eat lots of broccoli (fresh in season and home-frozen for the rest of the year), kale, chard, spinach, cabbage and so on, augmented with some high-quality yogurt and cheese. Some nutritionists have speculated (I'll look for citations if anyone wants them) that Americans drink too much milk yet remain calcium deficient.

I've seen this linked to the pasturization process. All of the milk information is based on milk produced 50 years ago. The cows were not being forced to give abnormal amts. of milk, and the milk was not processed as it is now.

My boys drink about 3 gallons a week. It is raw, whole milk. It also doesn't cause lactaid issues...

 

[mjbaby]

Another thing I do is add wheat germ to just about everything. DD thinks it's my secret ingredient to make everything taste good .

We call wheat germ "sprinkles" - as in, "Mom, don't forget to put sprinkles on my oatmeal/yogurt/ice cream/cream cheese bagel". Now, even I - a dedicated food crank - don't equate wheat germ with my beloved chocolate jimmies but they really do add a nice, nutty flavor to things. I've never thought of adding any to brownies and such, but I'll have to look into that.

 

[mjbaby]

My boys drink about 3 gallons a week. It is raw, whole milk. It also doesn't cause lactaid issues...

I loooove raw milk - it's definitely in the "treat" category for us. I do also use raw cream when I can get it to make ice cream with the kids (also a treat - there's nothing like homemade ice cream from raw milk or cream with fresh eggs and even homemade vanilla). I'd rather have this kind of homemade ice cream just once in a while instead of lots and lots of what passes for commercial ice cream, definitely.

We also have a source for raw cheddar and jack cheeses, which I like. I don't use them for cooking but they're aces for parties.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

today:
breakfast
oatmeal w/ maple and brown sugar
I'm out of blueberries so grapes if anybody wants them
coffee, milk, juice

lunch
I haven't decided yet. Probably ham sandwiches

dinner
oldest son is working - he'll eat his homemade soup before he leaves and take 2 energy bars and an apple with him
Pasta
homemade sauce with garden tomatoes
turkey meatballs
a garden salad
a loaf of French Bread

Teen snacks to add to yesterdays tally~~~
several applesauce snack cups
a bag of corn chips
a entire Jug of Arizona Green Tea
a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat (before dinner because he couldn't wait)
The rest of the box of Triscuits
and it looks like somebody cooked a package of pizza rolls last night after I went to bed.

 

[Lisa_M]

I loooove raw milk - it's definitely in the "treat" category for us. I do also use raw cream when I can get it to make ice cream with the kids (also a treat - there's nothing like homemade ice cream from raw milk or cream with fresh eggs and even homemade vanilla). I'd rather have this kind of homemade ice cream just once in a while instead of lots and lots of what passes for commercial ice cream, definitely.

We also have a source for raw cheddar and jack cheeses, which I like. I don't use them for cooking but they're aces for parties.

For those of you that are consuming unpasteurized dairy, are you afraid of the bacterias that could be in it? My doctor told me no unpasteurized anything due to concerns of listeria. Although I'm pregnant, I'm sure anyone could get this from unprocessed dairy.

I've been trying to eat as healthy as possible, as well. Last night DH and I went out for dinner, I got broiled haddock, mashed potatoes and the salad bar. He is not as in tuned to eating healthy, he ordered a cheesesteak.