*Feed your family high quality, nutritional food challenge*

[LuckyMamaInDE]

I do have a question about cooking the brown rice. I use a rice cooker and it always gets either too sticky or sticks to the bottom. Not really light and fluffy. What is your secret to brown rice cooking??

Well, I don't use a rice cooker but----in cooking brown rice in just a pot, you need to 2.5 c of water for every cup of rice (it's 2:1 for white rice). Bring the rice and water to a boil, stir well, cover and simmer on super-low for 45 minutes (with white rice, it's bring to a boil and keep on super-low for about 30 minutes.)

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

Do you mean that you're going to start growing black/turtle beans when you commented about expanding your garden? I don't grow drying beans right now but I'm totally curious about the process. How much space do you need to plant to get a worthwhile crop?

Black (turtle) beans are a bush bean type. I've found that bush beans produce less per garden space than pole beans. (I garden intensively in raised beds, btw.) I grew black beans once, years ago when dd12 was bitty, and I really didn't get a good harvest compared to the pole green beans I always grown.

I'd hate to think about how much garden space I'd need to grown all the black beans (and pinto beans) we eat in one year. We eat at least 1 lb of dried beans a week in the summer. In the winter, I think we eat 2 lb of dried beans a week

 

[MaMa3Princess]

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...

We go through about 3 gallon as well I use a lot to make yogurt. I drank raw milk through my last pregnancy. I trust my farmer and I have seen how clean his facility. The baby that has been on raw milk since birth has never had one ear infection and rarely gets sick.

 

[mrs.beast]

today:
kids: 365 organic cereal (each had a different kind)
365 organic strawberry yogurt
water
yellow honeydew
DS- milk(at every meal)

snack: zbar and water

lunch: lazy and went to whole foods-salad bar w/kidney beans and chicken, wheat bagel, stoneyfield organic yogurt smoothie

snack: organic juice, 365 strawberry granola bar, pineapple

dinner: tomato soup, grilled cheese (wheat bread/cheddar cheese), edemame (Sp?), milk, cherries.

almost everything we eat is organic, but all is free of preservatives, bht, tbhq, artificial flavors/colors.
you can get coke slurpees and avoid all these and also whole foods sells all natural doughnuts.
we can also get the horizon and soy milk boxes at our costco for about 12 a case.

on school lunches, my son's school just went organic this year, so we will see how it goes. my school i teach at is all natural/50%organic this year too. it seemes to be the trend in our area to have really healthy school lunches. they are expensive though, $5.00 each for entree, fruit, veggie, and drink. well worth it though for my kid to not beg for the gross stuff.

 

[Juliah]

LisaR, that recipe sounds awesome. I've bookmarked it--have to try that one!

 

[Juliah]

Thanks to everyone who's been posting. This has been very inspirational.

Here was our day today.

Breakfast:
Fried egg
Sausage patty
Low-carb whole grain toast
O.J.
Coffee

Lunch:
Whole wheat pasta tossed with herbs, butter, parmesan cheese, and a little half and half
Water

Snack:
Watermelon

Dinner:
Crockpot Spiced Pepper Steak http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotroundsteak/r/cpweekly5.htm?terms=spiced+pepper steak
Brown rice
Steamed broccoli with a little shredded cheddar cheese
Strawberries with whipped cream or all-natural vanilla ice cream
Water or unsweetened ice tea

 

[grlpwrd]

This thread is definitely something I can relate to ... thanks for sharing those wonderful recipes, too.

I try to stay away from pork, cow's milk (do some reading on what it really does to you ), and soy milk for my son. I also stay away from Trader Joe's. lol

I shop at farmer's markets, I use pickyourown.org, and I shop at ethnic stores. I also have a collection of cookbooks, like the Vegan Lunchbox, Mennonite and Amish cookbooks, and my ethnic cookbook collection. Homemade is really the best.

I used to bake my own bread, but I find it cheaper and faster when I buy from the bread thrift store. I also make our own yogurt.

Some link to share:

Lowcarb vegetarian recipes: http://www.immuneweb.org/lowcarb/

Dixie Diner Club (soy based foods) www.dixiediner.com

www.vegsource.com

 

[peanutt0512]

dont have time tonight to write all the yummy meals so I am subscribing...thanks

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

That butternut French toast sounds delicious! I'll have to give it a try next weekend. LisaR, did you use actual vanilla bean in yours? I always try to follow a recipe verbatim when I do it the first time but vanilla beans are so expensive. I was wondering if vanilla extract would be a suitable substitute?

grlpwrd, thanks for the vegetarian links. I'm always looking for new meatless recipes to try on DD17. She's an adventurous eater but won't touch anything that even hints at meat. So, no Bocca burgers or soy bacon for her!

Tonight's dinner is Chicken Scallopine with broccoli rabe and roasted new potatoes with Herbs de Provence. DD17 will have the leftover veggie loaf.

 

[Holly]

I copied a bunch of recipes out of this thread.

Thanks everyone.

A healthy snack that my kids and I love is sliced papaya drizzled with fresh lime juice. It's so good!

 

[minniebeth]

My DS LOVES ZBars as a snack...they are only allowed to bring "bar" like snacks to school in class. We have a peanut/tree nut allergy in our family and that eliminates half of all the bar like snacks out there. The ZBars are organinc, nutritious and healthy and they taste good!
Thanks Mrs.Beast for reminding me it's time to stock up...school is right around the corner for us!

 

[Toby'sFriend]

bfast:

Banana Smoothie and oatmeal w/ soy milk
The 4yo was still hungry so he got 1/2 a pbutter sandwich on whole wheat

lunch
homemade chicken fried rice with garden peas and carrots
or
homemade vegetable fried rice with garden peas and carrots
depending on which you chose
Arizona Green Tea

dinner
grilled chicken breasts for carnivores
grilled eggplant for vegans
acorn squash
carrots
new potatoes w/ dill

 

[Toby'sFriend]

My DS LOVES ZBars as a snack

I'll have to look those up. We usually buy either Luna or Clif bars. My oldest son eats 3 or 4 a day so we go through them pretty quick.

 

[mickeyfan2]

grilled chicken breasts for carnivores
grilled eggplant for vegans

TF. Is your vegan friend ok that the chicken and eggplant are on the same grill or do you do his special?

 

[Toby'sFriend]

well my vegan "friend" is my 17 year old son and please nobody mention it to him or next thing I know he'll be making me buy a 2nd grill.

 

[mickeyfan2]

well my vegan "friend" is my 17 year old son and please nobody mention it to him or next thing I know he'll be making me buy a 2nd grill.

I knew it was your vegan son. Why I typed vegan friend is beyond me!!!!

 

[minniebeth]

I'll have to look those up. We usually buy either Luna or Clif bars. My oldest son eats 3 or 4 a day so we go through them pretty quick.

ZBars are made specifically for kids and they cost a little less too. I'm thinking they are made by the same company that does Clif bars, but not positive about that...

 

[MaMa3Princess]

Thanks to everyone who's been posting. This has been very inspirational.

Dinner:
Crockpot Spiced Pepper Steak http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotroundsteak/r/cpweekly5.htm?terms=spiced+pepper steak
Brown rice
Steamed broccoli with a little shredded cheddar cheese
Strawberries with whipped cream or all-natural vanilla ice cream
Water or unsweetened ice tea

Thanks for this recipe I have put this on my menu planner for next week

Brkfast

banna nut muffins and scrambled egg and cheese

Lunch
BLT on buttermilk cheese bread
watermelon slices

Snack
left over bannana nut muffins

Dinner
Herbed Chicken over brown rice
steamed broccoli


This thread is so I have tons of new ideas for my menu planning keep them coming guys.

For those that like Whole Foods they have some really great coupons near the register for back to school kids items. I really like their 365 brand and save alot just from buying the 365 stuff.

 

[t-beri]

Last night I made
Chicken-sauteed in olive oil and Adobo seasoning
Brown rice
Black beans (I follow the recipe on the back of the can of Goya black beans and my entire family thinks I am a cullinary genius!)
top w/ a little shredded 2% cheddar and season w/ hot sauce (for the grown ups) instead of sour cream.

We'e learned that if theres sour cream at dinner it's ALL my 2 yo will eat so we have been using it less, which is probably best.

Not to mention I actually cooked (from scratch- no frozen food...oh wait Mon. I made french fries-I forgot) dinner everyday this week

Which as a working mom is a HUGE feat!


...t.

 

[mjbaby]

Last night I was so tired by the time I got home that I almost punted on dinner. In the end I'm glad I didn't because it was nice to sit together and just relax and enjoy the meal - still, it was tempting there for a while.

Tonight we'll have chorizo made by the "pig lady" (as my three year-old calls her), fried green tomatoes (greens accidentally picked while I was reaching for reds yesterday!), a peach/blackberry/plum fruit salad and maybe some orzo if it's not too humid to boil the water. I'd estimate the total cost for the meal for the five of us around $5.00/6.00 with the most expensive thing being the chorizo at $3.75/pound. Not rock-bottom cheap, but certainly a good value for the quality and a similar meal out and about for all of us would likely run in excess of $50.

Last night I put two gallon bags of husked corn cobs, cut in half to make two "nibblers" for fall lunches, in the freezer and scalded several pounds of tomatoes for canning. It's a good feeling!