Healthy Eating on Vacation

As you are reading this post, I am enjoying a family vacation in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. We usually take one big family vacation a year and this year we rented a home in the woods to unplug and get away from it all. I look forward to telling you all about it when I return.

This post however is all about preparing the food for our vacation. Normally wherever we go we find a Costco so we can stock up on food that we can afford to feed our hungry crew. Up in the U.P. however, we didn't think that was going to be an option so I decided we would stock up here and bring it with us.

I headed off to Costco and Whole Foods yesterday and I got all my proteins. I got some ground turkey that I browned and made into taco meat. We will use that to make nachos, quesadillas, or taco salad. I froze it so it could make the trip in the cooler and will last long enough.

I also bought some ground beef and made up some Italian meatballs. Most of my kids love pasta but my 17 year old hates it so I always like to make the meatballs so he can have something he likes too. I baked them and froze them too.

I bought enough chicken for two meals. I made two different marinades, adobo and Margarita and let them marinate in the freezer overnight and then froze them in their raw form. I will be able to thaw them and throw them on the grill.

I also bought some hamburger patties and bison hotdogs that are made with out nitrates, hormones, or antibiotics. Those will be easy to grill up.

For breakfast I made my own pancake mix with whole grain pastry flour and aluminum free baking soda and bought some plain yogurt that I will mix with honey, fruit, and wholesome energy bars I bought at Costco. I also hard boiled some eggs.

For lunch I got some lunchmeat and the standard PB&J for the kids. I will eat leftovers and salads.

For snacks I got some organic popcorn, organic chips and some not so healthy pretzels. It's all about balance.

I will hit a grocery store when we get up there and stock up on veggies to supplement these main meals and to save some room in our cooler. We are borrowing a huge cooler from our friends to make all of this possible.

It was a bit of work but I got it all done in one day and it is going to save us some serious cash and keep us eating a bit healthier while we are out and about.

Cooking Made Easy

Photo by Emily Kovache

I was working with one of my clients last week and we were talking about getting dinner on the table. She is a single, working mom who is stretched thin trying to get everything done and often it is dinner that gets pushed aside.

She is tired of ordering take out or popping a pre-packaged meal in the oven and she really wants to give her son healthy meals but she can't seem to find the time to dig into her cookbooks, find recipes, shop for the long lists of ingredients, and put it all together. I can totally relate!

I gave her some tips on how to make dinner time a little easier and she said she felt like a weight was lifted off of her when we finished up the call. She felt like the pressure to make difficult meals was released and she was excited to start simplifying dinner time.

So what did I tell her? Here are some of the tips I shared with her:

1. Explore the Spice Aisle- There are some great spice mixtures available today that really make cooking so easy. Try out some new flavors, sprinkle them on your meats, veggies, and grains and viola, dinner is done. I just got my Penzey Spice catalog and they have some new summertime mixes that look really good. One of my favorites is Herbs de Provence. I sprinkle that on a piece of white fish with some lemon slices, throw it in the oven to bake and it is delicious!

2. Dust off your Crock-Pot- If you haven't tried slow cooking, you've got to give it a try. It is so easy and can be so good. I love making my pasta sauce in my crock pot and these days I've been just throwing in whatever I have and it's actually good. My current favorite is chicken breast with chopped up veggies like onion, peppers, and mushrooms. I throw in a couple of can of Muir salt free, fire roasted tomatoes and a can of tomatoe sauce and it is so good. I serve it with a veggie and some brown rice.

3. Cook Once, Eat Twice (or Three times)- When I make a pot of rice for a side dish, I make a BIG pot and I use the leftovers for another meal later in the week. You can make a rice salad for lunch, fried rice with loads of veggies, or even a nice breakfast rice porridge with fruit, cinnamon, and milk. I also make extra chicken breast or fish fillets so I can heat them up for lunch or chop them up in a salad. In fact, every meal I make has leftovers!

4. Remember K.I.S.S- Who says dinner has to be some elaborate meal? It is so easy to grill up a chicken breast and make a salad. It's delicious and healthy. You can throw some fish in a baking pan and while it cooks prepare a salad or a side of veggies.

5. Package Your Dinner- I like to make fish packets. I throw some veggies in parchment paper, put a nice piece of fish on top, sprinkle with spices and lemon, fold it up and bake it at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. I let the kids pick what they want on theirs and they get to fold it up. They love opening it up and eating their own package. The best part is it's a one dish meal and there is no clean up. Just throw the paper away!

The Green Monkey

"Is this green?" asks the 7 year old.
"It kinda looks yellow." replies the 9 year old.
"Nope, it's green. Look at it. It's green." insists the 7 year old.
"Yes it's The Green Monkey!" announces the oh so smart Mama!
"The Green what? I'm gonna try it." says the 7 year old... "This is AMAZING Liam! You HAVE to try it!"
A triumphant smile comes over the Mama's face. What a great way to start the day!

The Green Monkey arrived one morning when I was making the usual peanut butter and banana smoothie that my kids enjoy. I decided to add a bit of spinach to it and sneak some vitamins and minerals in. I started with just a bit...no need to freak 'em out too much. Once they were on board with the green color I added more and more and now it is a nice, rich green color.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

The Green Monkey
1 banana
1 Tbl natural peanut butter
1 Tbl ground flax seed
milk of choice (I use rice milk or almond milk)

Add everything into the blender and blend away. Add as much or as little milk to get the desired consistency. You can double it or triple it to feed more little ones (or big ones).

Breakfast When You're Not a Morning Person

I confess! I am not a morning person. I don't jump out of bed with a smile on my face and head off on my merry way. My mom is like that...it always drove me crazy when I was a kid. Of course now that I am a mom, I am sure I seem that way to my children because I make a special point to be as happy and loving as I can as they awake. I want their day to start off great.

But the truth is, it takes me about 30 minutes and sometimes even an hour to get myself moving. Now this is not the best scenario for a mom of hungry boys! They want food! What's a mom to do?

Here are some things I do to make it a bit easier for me to give my kids healthy breakfasts while I am sleep walking:

1. Hard boiled eggs are my friend- Each Monday as I am unpacking my groceries I boil up a big pot of eggs. This way all I have to do is peel them and hand them out. Add a piece of fruit and they are good to go.

2. I cook more than I need- When I make oatmeal I make a double or even triple batch. I add my chopped fruit, dried fruit, nuts, and cinnamon while I am cooking it. It keeps in the refrigerator so all I have to do is heat it up, add some ground flax seed and viola, a warm and hearty breakfast. I do this with other warm cereals like brown rice cereal or quinoa flake cereal too.

3. I keep bananas in my freezer- I slice them up, throw them in a ziploc and freeze them. This makes it so easy to make smoothies in the morning. I don't have cut anything and I don't have to add ice. I just throw the stuff in the blender, flip the switch and breakfast is served.

4. I buy it ready to go- I used to only buy whole flax seeds and grind them to order everytime I used them. That got old so when I saw a bag of ground flax seed I decided to try it out. Now I know that it may lose some of its potency because it is pre-ground but I also know that it is better than no flax seed so I compromise.

5. I made granola in the crockpot- It was so easy to do and I have a big bag of it ready to go. It can be sprinkled over yogurt (I buy the coconut milk yogurt. It's dairy free), or sliced bananas. You can find the recipe for it here.

So there you go. Breakfast for the morning brain dead. What kinds of things do you eat for breakfast? If they're fast and easy, hook me up!