Kids, eating, and health

My brother in law and his 7 year old grandson Scotty came for a visit this weekend from another province. Knowing that the weekend was planned full of activities I ensured that the fridge was packed full of healthy foods, including snacks that could be easily grabbed and eaten, as well as 100% fruit juices. I even baked a couple of loaves of my favorite healthy breads for breakfast and sandwiches.

Scotty was full of energy and probably the least picky child that I have ever met. He joyously ate whatever was put in front of him including eggplant, zucchini, peppers, avocado, hummus, carrots, olives, chickpeas, and every kind of luncheon meat. This impressed me since I have encountered so many picky children who would rather say no as a rule before ever considering trying any new food. What amazed me the most about Scotty though was not just his openness to trying new foods, but the volume in which he consumed them. Scotty could not only match my brother in law bite for bite at the dinner table, but he also continuously snacked on handfuls of veggies, fruits, and grab ‘n go foods like crackers, nuts, popcorn, granola bars etc. There is no question in my mind that little Scotty was more active than all of us combined, since he didn’t stop moving for a second except to sleep the whole weekend. But what amazed me was the sheer caloric volume that seems to be needed for a growing boy to thrive.

Being fairly ignorant in the area of childhood nutrition I referred to various sites on the web to get the scoop on what the experts were saying and to get some tips for myself for when my time comes. It would seem that the advice is applicable not only to children but to ourselves as well. Here's the best of what I found:

• Children’s appetites are an indicator of what their bodies need and this should be respected (even if it is more than what you may eat). If a child is eating well-balanced meals in sufficient amounts as well as healthy snacks, yet is still hungry all the time, make sure you supply a variety of healthy alternatives to nibble as needed.


• Sometimes hunger can be confused for thirst and dehydration. Have your child drink a glass of water first and then check to see if the hunger is still present.


• A hungry child will often appear cranky, restless, and uncomfortable.


• Children should be put on a regular schedule of snacking and eating meals so that they are hungry at predictable times.


• Children who are active in sports or always on the go need more calories than a sedentary child. So on busier, more active days, let your child eat when he says he's hungry. Offer an extra snack, and make sure you have him choose from a selection of nutritious food rather than processed snacks.


• Avoid eating close to mealtime. A child who nibbles throughout the day simply won't be hungry when lunch or dinner rolls around. So try to limit snacking in the hour or two before a meal.


• Focus on healthy snacking. Since snacks likely make up a major part of your child's intake, make sure that you offer nutritious snack choices. Use the food pyramid as your guide and offer plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and dairy products.


• Talk to your child about the importance of eating healthy foods and learning the difference between a healthy and non-healthy snack. Then model what you teach!


• Involve your child in meal and snack preparation as well as menu planning to build healthy lifelong skills and habits.


• Sit down at the table for meals. This benefits your child both socially and developmentally. It gives you time to talk about your day, and it lets you set a good example by eating healthy food. So even if your child says he's not hungry, invite him to join you at the table. Don't harp on what he is or isn't eating; just enjoy being together as a family.


• If you notice that your child seems to be snacking out of boredom, engage him in an activity that doesn't center around food. Using food as a pacifier can lead to long-term problems with food.


• Ensure that your child has regular medical check ups. Ensure that the hunger is not due to medical reasons such as worms.

I can only hope that when I have kids that they are as good eaters as Scotty was. Cooking for anyone who enjoys what you make for them is a pleasure. But there is something fulfilling and neat about watching a child happy munch on grilled eggplant and zucchini that you have prepared and ask for seconds. Gee, I must be a pretty good cook after all!

Information sources: http://www.healthychild.org/ , http://www.en.allexperts.com/, http://www.raisingkids.co/, http://www.kidsandnutrition.co.uk/, http://www.babycenter.com/ , http://www.whattoexpect.com/

Photo source: http://www.growingkids.co.uk/

Moroccan inspired veggie pie (vegan).

My friend Jim pleased me with the news that he was coming to town this week to visit friends and run some errands. Loving to entertain, and wanting to catch up on what's going on in his life, I invited him to dinner. As I mentioned in a previous blog, Jim is pretty much vegan and doesn’t eat refined foods or sugar. I found that when he was up at the cottage that I not only ate really well, but I was also inspired to invent and cook meals that I hadn’t had before. So here is a new recipe that I created in his honour. I was inspired by Susan Jackson’s vegan recipe for spinach and artichoke pie and the yummy looking picture that she posted. I wanted to move more toward middle eastern flavors for this recipe so here is my version. I made the filling the night before and kept it in the refrigerator until the next day to make assembly easier. It may look a little labour intensive up front but I guarantee you it is very worth it. For those who are "veggie resistant", or think that your spouse/partner won't eat something that is entirely made from vegetables, I challenge you to try this recipe. It really does have a hearty mouth feel and there is no one predominant vegetable that shines through. Not to mention that your palate might be pleasantly surprised by the unusual flavour notes of cinnamon and cumin :)

Ingredients:

1-2 Tbs olive oil for sautéing vegetables

3-4 small potatoes cubed into 1 inch cubes
½ butternut squash cubed into 1 inch cubes
1 pepper diced (red, yellow, or orange)
3 large bunches of spinach
2 onions diced
2-3 Tbs kalamata olives diced
1 large handful of cilantro washed and diced
1 jar of artichoke hearts drained rinsed and cubed
1 can of chickpeas drained and rinsed
¾ cup of tomato sauce
1-2 garlic cloves minced
2 Tbs almond butter
1 ½ tsp cumin
1 ¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp ground ginger
¼ - ½ tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you like your food)
1 tsp sea salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
13 sheets of phyllo dough thawed
Approximately 2 TBS of olive oil for brushing phyllo dough

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Wash the spinach several times, changing the water in between. Drain lightly and place into a large saucepan (I used my wok). Heat on high until wilted. Drain and squeeze out as much of the water as possible. Set aside in a large bowl.

Sauté the onions, potatoes, butternut squash, garlic, and peppers in the olive oil until the potatoes and squash are tender. Dump into the bowl with the spinach. Add in the chickpeas, tomato sauce, olives, almond butter, cilantro, and herbs and spices. Stir until combined. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your taste. Add in a bit more cayenne if you like it spicier, a bit more salt if it seems a touch bland. Set aside.

Line a shallow baking pan (circular or square) with some parchment paper. Lay two sheets of phyllo on the parchment and brush lightly with olive oil. Take two more sheets of phyllo and place then perpendicular to the other sheets. Brush with olive oil. Continue in this pattern with the remaining sheets two at a time until twelve of the sheets have been used.

Heap the spinach veggie mixture into the centre of the sheets. Take the single phyllo sheet that is left and fold in two. Place in the centre of the heaped mixture and brush with olive oil. This will ensure that your “package” will be sealed at the top. Now fold up each of the corners and sides of the other phyllo sheets essentially forming a circular package around the filling. Believe it or not, the less perfect that you do this the more attractive the package in the end. Brush all exposed surfaces lightly with olive oil.

Place on the center oven rack and bake in a preheated oven at 375 for approximately 45 minutes until lightly browned all over. Serve in slices with fluffy cous cous and a wedge of lemon.

Summer time means BBQ time!

I love summer for many reasons. I am very fortunate to have a terrific cottage north of the city to which I can escape the fog and noise pollution of the city. I spend my time reading, napping, gardening, burning stuff, and of course barbequing.

One of the recipes that is most requested by all of my guests is my beer can chicken. It is not only gives you chicken that is so moist that you won’t believe it, but it also is one of the few items that you can put on the barbeque and just leave alone. Over the years I have simplified the recipe greatly and no one has noticed any difference in taste, so I am sharing with you my simplified recipe.

Here's what you need:

- 1 medium size chicken
- A couple of tablespoons of your favorite rub that may include any combination of the following: salt, paprika (smoked, regular, or hot), garlic powder, onion salt, seasoning salt, poultry seasoning, lemon pepper, regular pepper, mixed grilling spices, steak seasoning etc. Note: All spices and herbs should be finely ground – Do not use loose herbs or they will burn.
- 1 can of whatever beer you have on hand.

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Instructions:

The morning that you plan to BBQ, take the chicken and cover it inside out with the spices. It may look like it is going on a little thickly – Don’t worry – It all works out. Return the chicken to the fridge until you are ready to put it on the BBQ. Short on time? No worries. The recipe still works even if the chicken doesn't marinade in the fridge with the spices.

One hour and fifteen minutes before you plan to eat, turn on the BBQ to high on all burners. You now have fifteen minutes to get the chicken ready. Take the seasoned chicken from the fridge and impale it on an open can of your favorite beer. Place it on a pie plate upright. Take a small amount of foil and cover the ends of the chicken legs that are resting on the pie plate – This helps them not to burn. Take another piece of foil and stuff it in the neck of the chicken to stop the steam from coming up through the neck. The ball of foil that you use will depend on the cavity. Take any extra skin around the neck and cover the foil.

Turn all of the BBQ burners down to low and place the chicken on the pie plate on the front part of the grill with the back facing toward the front of the BBQ. Rotate the chicken after it has been on for a half hour. Be careful when closing the BBQ lid as the chicken might fall over.

Chicken will be cooked at one hour. Resist the urge to keep opening the BBQ door several times during the cooking as it will only slow down the cooking time.

Oh and here are a couple of lessons learned by my sister:

1) Place the chicken toward the very front of the grill. It helps the chicken not to burn.

2) Do not use pie plates with holes in them. As you can see the chicken on the left is almost perfectly cooked except the breast is a little too dark as a result of the pie plate being placed at the back of the grill as opposed to the front. You will notice that the chicken on the right however is so char grilled and looks like it is trying to escape from the BBQ as a result of the chicken fat dripping through the holes and igniting on the grill setting the poor bird aflame!

In terms of serving, I'm pretty lazy when it comes to "carving" a chicken. I have found that the best way to disassemble the bird is with kitchen shears. Simply cut at each joint and pile the pieces happily on a serving platter. No fuss, no muss. Happy grilling!

Can bread ever really taste so bad that no one will eat it? YES!

Baking tip of the day: Make sure you label your flours immediately when you get home from the bulk store.

Ok this was a tough lesson for me yesterday folks. I went to the bulk store a couple of days ago to buy a plethora of flours, nuts, and seeds for my bread baking. I have been religiously using my bread machine lately in an attempt to bring more fiber in our diet as well as really control the amount of salt and chemicals in what we eat.

So yesterday I baked a loaf of Boston brown bread as well as a loaf of cheese bread to use up some of the three year old cheddar in my crisper that was just beginning to turn fuzzy. The Boston brown turned out delightful. It rose nicely and although a denser loaf, was everything I had hoped it would be. The cheese bread, on the other hand, emerged as a deflated hockey puck with a terrible sour taste and a doughy, chewy, almost a not-cooked nasty consistency. I couldn't figure it out. What had I done wrong? Once cooled I put it in a large ziplock bag and figured that toasting it for breakfast in the morning might help the situation.

During the night I dreamt of bread. I baked a lot of it apparently during my sleep, trying the recipe over and over again, since when I awoke my brain had solved the problem. What had I done? Unknowingly, I had mixed up the bags of sourdough flour for bread flour. Of course! That would totally explain the really chewy texture, the sour taste, and the hockey puck like appearance. It all makes sense now.

Well I tried toasting the bread this morning for breakfast, and I have to tell you it was still a dunce. Even my spouse who will pretty much consume anything baked took one bite and spat it out. I tried to choke mine down too, but the sourness left a biley taste in my mouth, and I just couldn't seem to chew through the doughy mess. So sadly the remainder of the loaf went into the garbage. I don't think that I could have even fed it to the dogs. And so, my lesson for today is that I need to remember to label all of my bulk bags either in store or immediately when I get home or risk more nasty disasters. I suppose I should count my blessings that I have had many bread baking successes to date. Since those who know me well know that I am in fact not a baker, but a burner, albeit an enthusiastic one!

Finding ways to stretch a dollar and make our lives easier: Shopping the advertised specials, & buying in bulk

It seems that everyone is trying to be more economical in these tough times and find easy ways to stretch a dollar. For me, this usually begins on Friday afternoon when the local store flyers are delivered to my apartment building. I scan through all of the flyers and make note of the stores that are having great specials on meat and fish as well as my core pantry and personal care items. This helps me set my menu for the upcoming week, as well gives me the opportunity to stock up on any of my core essentials like toilet paper, tissues, coffee, re-sealable bags, canned pantry basics such as crushed tomatoes, pasta, cleaning supplies, toothpaste and shampoo. Let’s face it – no matter how much we try to squeeze and eliminate out non-essentials, there will always remain a core number of items that we can’t just manage without.

If the saving are significant (especially for my core items) I usually plan to buy at least double of my regular quantity. I have a specially designated cupboard just for these essential staples. For any meat servings I will buy anywhere between 2-3 x the required serving for my family. For instance, if you have a family of four, you might plan to buy anywhere from 8-12 pork chops at one time. You may be thinking, “Jen…I only have a small freezer – I can’t store all that meat!” Well, I assure you that if you follow these simple steps that you will be able too, since everything will be frozen flat and be really easy to stack. So here’s what you do:

1. When you get home, chop any meat into the serving portions that you will need for each meal. For instance – A roast may be cut into two different preparations: cubes for a stew or for the crockpot, and steaks for the grill. Hint: Often meat and chicken that is sold as whole pieces is often considerably cheaper. Don’t be intimidated about cutting it up yourself. Check out YouTube for tons of instructional videos on how to cut up a chicken or a roast.

2. Place meat servings into an appropriately sized ziplock freezer bag ( I generally use the medium size which will hold two salmon steaks or two pork chops flat).

3. Pour your favorite marinade into each bag. I usually opt for bottled ones such as Diane's or Kikkoman or Mama Sita's but I have also been know to toss in any combination of soya sauce, honey, garlic, juices (pineapple or orange), wine (red or white), and mustards (grainy, dijon).

4. Take a straw and suck out the air in the bags until the marinade completely engulfs the meat and no air remains. Hint: The key to doing this effectively is to zip the bag up at both sides around the straw before you begin sucking, and if you need to take a breath simply pinch the straw so as not to release any air.

5. Label each bag with the contents as well as the date. That way you can not easily track your inventory easily but you can also instruct your spouse on what to pull out of the freezer when it is their turn to cook :)

6. Place the meat flat in your freezer and stack as high as needed.

7. The morning that you plan on cooking the meat, simply take it out of the freezer and place it in the fridge. When dinner time comes your meat will be nicely marinated and should be defrosted. If your fridge is set particularly cold you might want to take the meat out of the freezer the night before.

Hint: If you are feeling lazy you can also just dump the contents into your slow cooker along with a handful of your favorite veg and an onion, a tin of cream of mushroom soup, about a cup of your favorite liquid (chicken broth, wine, water etc.) as well as any of your favorite seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic, mixed Italian herbs etc. You can then head off to work knowing that you will have a yummy hot meal when you walk in the door from work. For other slow cooker ideas check out my crockpot tips.

Although it may seem like a lot of work up front I assure you that it will be a time saver in the long run as well as a great budget saver. At any given time I usually have one full week’s rotation of our favorite fish, pork chops, chicken breasts, chicken legs, steak, and beef short ribs that my butcher cuts into bite sized pieces for me and are a favorite for my slow cooker. And when supermarkets like T&T (my favorite supermarket of all time) have exceptional specials like chicken wings for $1.58 /lb like they did last week, or pork ribs at $ 1.38/lb like they do this week, I will find myself buying much more.

The best carrot cake ever!

Many in my life boast that I know my way around the kitchen. Those who know me really well though know that I although I can make a mean entrée, that I am generally not a baker, but instead a burner.

In digging through my crisper last night I found a very old bag of carrots – Not yet at the liquefied stage, but definitely past their prime. Never wanting to throw anything away (a trait endowed upon me by my parents) I went in search of a recipe that would use them all up. One of my favorite consistently great sources of recipes has always been Canadian Living Magazine. Their recipes are tested and true, and I have been able to recreate them and have them look as they do in the magazine and online. I made a few modifications that I have posted below to suit my personal taste, as well as to reduce the calorie content but I imagine that the original recipe would be just as delectable. This cake turned out so moist, and really yummy. It has frozen really well too – I just wrapped it in foil and then in a zip lock bag.

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

¼ cup + 2 TBS Splenda Brown Sugar
1 cup Splenda granulated sugar
3 eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 heaped cups grated carrots

1 cup drained canned crushed pineapple

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Icing: 1 pkg brick cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup icing sugar

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Preparation:

Grease and flour a bundt pan or a square or round cake pan and set aside. In a large bowl beat together granulated and brown sugars, eggs, oil and vanilla until smooth. Add in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and stir just until moistened. Stir in carrots, pineapple and walnuts. Spread in prepared pan.

Bake in centre of 350°F (180°C) oven for 30-40 minutes or until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean. (A fully baked cake will spring back when touched in the center. The cake also draws away from the side of the pan, and a cake tester (a toothpick of skewer works well) inserted in the center comes out clean. Also trust your sense of smell: the fresh aroma of butter and sugar wafting out of the oven can be the signal to check the cake.)

Let cool in pan on rack. Ice with cream cheese icing and decorate with whole walnuts.

Icing: In bowl, beat cream cheese with butter until smooth. Beat in vanilla and icing sugar until smooth.

Sugar Sugar Everywhere

My friend Jim is coming up to the cottage next week to help my sister and I open the place up, and assist with much of the labour that is required, like extensive raking, gutter cleaning, and gardening. In exchange for his efforts I have agreed to provide some good home cooking and a peaceful place for some meditation.

Over the past year, Jim has been working hard to eat healthily, and so I wasn't suprised when wrote to me last week to let me know of some of his dietary restrictions. Milk & dairy products, eggs, meat, chicken, and sugar were off of his list. My sister is also on a sugar cleanse, but unlike Jim, can't even have sugar substitutes like Agave Nectar. No problem I thought, this can't be that difficult can it? So I began to plan a simple menu that included as many non-processed ingredients as possible. Breakfasts would include a cooked twelve grain cereal with dried fruits, or toasts with some kind of sugar free jams. Lunches would be bean salads, tinned fish, and veggie wraps. I planned the dinner menu as follows:

Monday: Grilled Salmon, mixed veggies, brown rice

Tuesday: Whole Wheat Pasta with Sauce & Salad

Wednesday: Steak (for Liz & I)/Grilled Tofu burger & Grilled Veg & Potatoes

Thurs: Eggplant & TVP tortillas

Friday: Tofu Stir Fry

Saturday: Vegetarian chili

Sunday: Thai Green curry

Monday: Shrimp Stir fry

Tuesday: Indian curried cauliflower/potato/chickpeas/tempeh

Being optimistic, I headed to the grocery store with my list, expecting a quick and easy trip. Tinned tomatoes, some dried fruit & nuts, and some soya products. No problem. Well let me tell you...quick and easy it was not. Much to my surprise, sugar is litereally in EVERYTHING that comes either in a can or is pre-prepared. Most dried fruit is apparently cured with it (!?!). Tinned tomatoes are filled with it. Steak seasonings, salad dressings, and marinades had well more than traces of it. Even soya products contained it. So I read label after label, and went to bulk store after bulk store. I was completely dumbstruck by the amount of processed sugar that is found in what would be considered by most as "healthy" foods.

In the book "The Omnivores Dilemma" by Michael Polan he discusses the insidious inclusion of corn and corn products in over forty-five thousand items, in everything from toothpaste to cosmetics, disposable diaper bags, cleansers, charcoal briquettes, matches and batteries and to thousands of processed foods. Corn appears as many incarnations including high fructose corn syrop, modified or unmodified starch,maltodextrin, ascorbic asid, lecithin, dextrose, lactic acid, lysine, & xanthan gum. Wanting to be prepared I decided to research the variety of sugar incarnations that I should keep an eye out for. Here's the incredible list that I found:

• amazake
• barley malt
• beet sugar
• brown sugar
• buttered syrup
• cane-juice crystals
• cane sugar
• caramel
• carob syrup
• corn syrup
• corn syrup solids
• date sugar
• dextran
• dextrose
• diatase
• diastatic malt
• ethyl maltol
• fructose
• fruit juice
• fruit juice concentrate
• glucose
• glucose solids
• golden sugar
• golden syrup
• grape sugar
• high-fructose corn syrup
• honey
• invert sugar
• lactose
• malt syrup
• maltodextrin
• maltose
• maple sugar
• mannitol
• molasses
• raw sugar
• refiner's syrup
• sorbitol
• sorghum syrup
• sucrose
• sugar
• turbinado sugar
• yellow sugar

Astounding isn't it? The reality is that if you are eating any processed foods, including breads, or tinned anything, chances are you are eating a LOT of sugar. An article published by the CBC argues that even cutting back to 12 teaspoons a day would be difficult. 12 TEASPOONS!!! OMG!

Well I can finally say that what I will serve for breakfast, lunch, and dinner up at the cottage will be completely sugar free. What have I taken away from this experience is that my personal diet needs a complete overhaul, and that I have been kidding myself with the amount of sugar that I have been ingesting in condiments and marinades. I think that over the next little while that I will be going back to basics, and although I have always tended to buy and cook fresh, that I will make a greater effort to do so, as well as read more labels for everything else. To those who have already been doing this on a regular basis, I applaud you. Inspired, I pulled out my really dusty bread machine this morning to bake a loaf of chewy, whole grain sugarless bread. As it turns out, agave nectar replaces sugar and honey really well. And the breaking of the hot, crusty, wonderful smelling bread became symbolic for my new committment to the healthier, reduced sugar meals to come.