Kids Cooking and Cookbook Blog

It’s inspiring to hear how books still change lives. Here are uplifting stories from student’s viewpoints http://bit.ly/L0aydU Reading does make a difference in people’s lives.

For the beginning of the week, I thought it would be good to take a look at how jobs can be simplified or changed in order to better manage time. Are you getting as much done as you could, or want to, get done? Here is a short self examination on time management and how it can affect productivity and goal setting.

Is this the best time to do this job?
Can this work or operation be eliminated?
What would happen if I didn’t do it?
Can my order of work be re-arranged to make it handier, less stressful?
How can I reduce the time to do this task?
Can I use a different/better tool for this job?
Can I change the work flow?
Can I change the places where things are kept?
What task could I accomplish now in five minutes or less?

Time is a valuable resource used to attain goals. Most people find that planning and following a schedule helps them get the most out of their time. Evaluating current ways of working can often lead to increased productivity and reaching goals more quickly.

Promoting more balance in home and family living,

Lee Jackson, CFCS
Home and Family Life Studies

http://www.ImagesUnlimitedpub.com

In the May newsletter you’ll find lots of info about being an empowered mom. Some of the topics covered in this newsletter include:

The Secret to Becoming a Better Cook
Helping Kids with Their Self-Esteem
Staying Healthy
Special book offer
as well as many other timely subjects.

If you have not already done so, hurry and sign in here on the right-hand side of this page to get your May issue.

Best to you,

Lee Jackson, CFCS
Food, Nutrition, and Effective Parenting Advocate

Dr. Terry Wahls, a professor of medicine and clinical research, survived progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) through therapeutic use of a nutrient rich food plan, outlined here http://youtu.be/KLjgBLwH3Wc

After traditional medicine failed to help her, Dr. Wahls researched everything she could get her hands on about the disease, and was led to this diet plan. She attributes her remarkable progress to this way of eating and neuromuscular electrical stimulation, which uses an electrical current to promote muscle growth.

Dr. Wahls is now educating others about food as medicine and is studying whether this treatment could work for others with MS or Parkinson’s disease.

I think you will find much association here between food and health.

As stated by others, “Yes, we’d like to have a donut and coffee for breakfast and pop a vitamin pill“, but she’s advocating going back to our hunter-gatherer days. How does this resonate with you?

To your health,

Lee Jackson
Nutrition Advocate

Going to the grocery store with a plan will save time and impact the health of your family. In order to eat healthier, spend less

veggies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

time in the store, and possibly save more money, you need to have a market plan.

A good place to start your list is with vegetables and fruits. The emphasis here should be on green and yellow vegetables and citrus fruits. Five or more servings per day are the recommended amounts.

These are often the very foods we choose to skip while adding the snacks, soda pop, and sweets to our shopping carts. Not good. If we are to live healthier lives, the emphasis should be on real food.

Here are tips for shopping healthier when going to the grocery store:

1. Do most of your shopping along the outer perimeter of the store. This is where you’ll find the fresh produce and other fresh foods.

2. First, stock up on plant-based foods such as yams, squash, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, onions and garlic.

3. Choose a good variety of salad vegetables, such as raw spinach, romaine lettuce, radishes, peppers, green onions.

4. Select fruits that are in season. These will be the choicest and generally the least expensive. If you can preserve seasonal fruits through canning or freezing, this may be a good way to incorporate fruits into your family meals later in the year.

5. Add rice and beans unless they are already in your pantry or food storage area. You may want to even pick up prepackaged (not canned) bean soups. Choose brown rice over white. (Yes, here you may have to use an “inside aisle”).

6. If possible, buy local and organic. This is not always possible, but if this is available in your area, more power to you.

Before you go to the store you have checked your cupboard for needed items and have checked the ads to see if any of the specials are what you need. Armed with your list of healthy foods and suggestions, doing your grocery shopping should be a breeze.

Here’s to your health,

Lee Jackson
Nutrition Advocate
http://healthykidseatingtips.com

Related articles

Do your children like to help in the kitchen? Have you asked them and encouraged them?

Most children love to “help” in the kitchen. This help may not always be appreciated but their enthusiasm should be encouraged. Being excited about working in the kitchen is a good trait for any child.

Here are three excellent ways to get kids cooking:

1. The #1 way to get kids cooking is to encourage and involve them in the work of the kitchen.  Give them simple chores to do, depending on the age of the child. Setting the table, mixing ingredients, and washing food, such as lettuce in a colander are jobs even preschoolers can do. It may take a little more time and patience sharing your kitchen with young ones, but the smiles on their faces will more than compensate for a little flour on the floor or other spills.

2. Give children choices. The #2 way of getting kids in the kitchen is to give them choices in what they can do. For example, “Do you want to grease the pan or measure the sugar?  Or you can ask “Would you like to put the napkins on the table or the silverware?” Eventually you may get them interested in doing both chores. Just make it sound interesting! Let them know this is a special job just for them. You may say: “You’re the only one in this family who knows where the knives, forks, and spoons go.”

3. Prepare simple foods with them and let them sample when it’s ready. Children feel good about the food they prepare and want to taste it. This is a good time to give them a little more information about the food. You can tell them where it is grown and some of the processes it went through to get to the stage it is now. Let them feel the food and talk about the color and the shape. What else do they know that is that color or that shape? How does it smell?  Is it hot or is it cold? When they taste it, is it salty? Is it sweet? Have them describe how it looks and tastes.

By following these suggestions you will have excited and willing help in the kitchen  -  perhaps even promising young chefs. Many great cooks attribute their skill and interest in cooking to their earlier years when they were encouraged to help their parents or other adults prepare food.

For help in selecting recipes to prepare with children, check out the children’s cookbook, Cooking Around the Country With Kids: USA Regional Recipes and Fun Activities by Amy Houts. This cookbook helps parents and children work together in celebrating America’s cultural diversity through foods from different regions of the country and shows where food is grown or harvested.

To your health and that of your family,

Lee Jackson
Nutrition Advocate
http://www.healthykidseatingtips.com

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Copyright (C) 2012 www.cookingandkids.com Lee Jackson, CFCS  All rights reserved.

Here is a another book I want to share with you – although it is not a cookbook. Listening to the Mukies and Their Character Building Adventures, by Bob Bohlken is an insightful book for kids which received the Mom’s Choice Award from The Just for Mom Foundation. It is a story about the lives of Mukies living in the land of Mukies and how they overcome obstacles through patience, cooperation, and understanding.

In the story, The Happy but Unhappy Mukie there lived a Mukie farmer named Marvin. He and his wife and three children lived comfortably farming and harvesting melilot, the Mukies’ favorite food. One night a wondering Mukie, the Old One, came along and was invited to share a meal and spend the night.

The Old One told of far away places of gentle streams and rolling hills where everyone was truly happy all the time. It was a place of real contentment and happiness, free from cares and responsibilities. This got the farmer thinking that his life wasn’t as good as he thought it was. He now viewed himself as a poor, unfortunate person who had missed his opportunity for “true happiness”.

Throughout the trials of Marvin seeking true happiness, children can discuss how “grass always appears greener on the other side of the fence” and other influences. They can discuss what makes the greatest difference in a person’s happiness and even role play what might happen in Marvin’s home if he decides to leave and search for happiness. This might even lead to a discussion on the rights and responsibilities of family members in making a happy home.

This is but one of the eight short stories in the book, Listening to the Mukies and Their Character Building Adventures. Parents and teachers have told us it is a good way to begin an exchange of thoughts, feelings and ideas about values and other issues.

This book can be ordered from Snaptail Press or through Amazon.

Feel free to forward and share this email with your friends and family.

WANT TO USE MY ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE?
You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it.
Copyright (C) 2012 www.cookingandkids.com Lee Jackson, CFCS  All rights reserved.

Say “chicken salad” and immediately a soggy chicken salad comes to mind. People have the notion that this is a way to use up left-over chicken by just adding some mayo.

Well, chicken salad can be anything but soggy when you add in a few veggies that not only add nutrients but increase the crunchiness and fiber.

Kids can help with the chopping and grating of vegetables and become part of the kitchen crew – which might also tempt them to try something new.

Here is a recipe for Crunchy Chicken Salad taken from Cooking Around the Calendar with Kids by Amy Houts. It is a perfect spring-time recipe, especially if using new green onions and lettuce just out of the garden.

Crunchy Chicken Salad

1 cup cut-up chicken
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup cut-up onion
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 (1.7 oz.) can shoestring potatoes
Lettuce

Children can help with chopping celery, grating carrots, and perhaps cutting up the onion. Mix vegetables with chicken and mayonnaise.

Just before serving, mix in the shoestring potatoes. Serve on lettuce leaf.
Yield: 4 servings

Need more springtime recipes? Order Cooking Around the Calendar with Kids for more springtime and anytime recipes now.

Best to you,
Lee Jackson

Feel free to forward and share this email with your friends and family.

WANT TO USE MY ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE?

You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it.

Copyright (C) 2012 www.cookingandkids.com Lee Jackson, CFCS  All rights reserved.

Here is a neat idea on getting kids interested in trying different food. Take a look: http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20120408/NEWS01/304080010/Class-gives-children-chance-grow-their-own-pizza-garden-. I think you will be inspired.

Did the Easter bunny come loaded with candy to your house? Or did he have some non-sugar related treats instead, such as

A milk chocolate Easter Bunny. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

new socks, new shirts, or fruits and nuts?

If your bunny was like most bunnies I know, he packed a high sugar load. As parents, how to handle the high influx of sugars into young bodies? As well as, how to get back into a schedule of healthy eating?

Studies have shown that high sugar intake not only can add pounds but plays a role in a wide range of health problems such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and obesity. Long-term sugar addiction can also produce a weakened immune system, chronic fatigue, hormonal problems, and gastrointestinal issues as well as anxiety and depression.

There is conflicting evidence over sugar-producing mood altering swings in children. But many parents have seen the changes in their child from a sweet, fun-loving child to one of a hostile, out-of-control “brat”. Too much sugar causes different reactions in different people.

Some view the never-ending “need” many have for sugar as a powerful addiction not unlike that of alcohol. With sugar addiction, individuals are no longer able to use their body’s natural abilities to control their food intake. Reportedly, some parts of the world still keep sugar under lock and key believing it to be a narcotic.

Just as with any other addiction, sugar craving needs to be controlled. This includes cutting out artificially sweetened foods as well as natural sugar foods. Getting the sugar habit under control is especially important for children for health reasons as well as weight control.

How can parents help their sugar-craving kids?

• Help make Easter candy less readily available. Perhaps making a game out of choosing one piece and then hiding the rest. Often “out of sight, out of mind” helps. Stock cabinets and refrigerator with fruits and vegetables that are within easy reach.

• Start your kids off with a good breakfast. This could consist of a vegetable omelet or oatmeal with chopped almonds or quinoa flakes and fresh fruit. It could also include last night’s meal of chicken or roast beef with veggie sticks.

• If you are the chief meal planner and preparer, eliminate sugars and any sugar derivatives (honey, molasses, corn syrup, high fructose syrup and the like) from the menu. Plan  meals in advance, shop intentionally, based on what you need, and prepare the meals at a set time.

• Pack the meals with plant-based foods from the vegetable group, the fruit group, and high-quality protein sources from animal or plant protein sources such as seafood, poultry and lean meats.

• Set a good example by not eating foods with sugar. This means eliminating any “diet” soft drinks and other processed, sugary foods as well.

• Take your kids shopping and ask them to help you make dinner or prepare their school lunch. Praise them for their good choices.

• Have pitchers of water handy so your kids can drink this anytime. Kids should drink water rather than any soda or other sweetened drink.

• One of the biggest helps is to teach kids the value of staying active and exercising. When they are playing baseball, hiking or biking they are not as apt to want a piece of candy. Then, have some healthy snacks when they are through, such as nuts or peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread, rice cakes and peanut butter, carrot sticks, apples, bananas, grapes, etc.

• Your child may be tempted to eat sweets, just as you, perhaps, are tempted. Try to get past the temptation by focusing on another activity. Perhaps on some hobby you have, or a pleasant experience you had.

• Some like to use visualization when this happens. They imagine and visualize how much healthier they will be without the sugar, or they will see a firm, slender body if they don’t indulge.

Getting past the sugar craving is not easy. Having candy and other sweets out of sight is the first step. Stocking up on healthy foods is the second. What your children eat or don’t eat relates to how they think, act, and feel so it is in everyone’s best interests to help them eat healthy.

To your success,

Lee Jackson
http://healthykidseatingtips.com