Bug Bites

Little bites with a little mouth with two little tiny teeth. Howie recently fell in love with food. This is a very big deal in our world. We tried for months to get him to eat and all we got in return was a closed mouth and averting eyes. Parents can only play it cool for so long. I google searched every online forum looking for a solution. There were serious fears that I would have to drive down to Howie's elementary school every day so that he could nurse because he wouldn't want to eat his packed lunch.

 One of my close girlfriends has a son that is about four weeks older than Howie and she gave me some great advice. She basically told me to chill out. She told me that as long as he was gaining weight as expected then to just let him develop his curiosity naturally. So we waited.

Howie was bumped up to to the older kids room where all the kids eat lunch and snacks. Well, the day he moved to that class he started eating. Just like that. On Sunday he refused food and on Monday he loved it. So ultimately the lesson of this story is that peer pressure is real.

On Sunday's I make Howie's "lunch" for the week. Here are a few of our favorite combos:

• Carrots and Sweet Potatoes
• Sweet Potatoes and Bananas
• Green Beans and Apples
• Green Beans and Pears
• Yogurt and Strawberries
• Apple and Pear

The green beans and apples are by far his favorite foods so far. I'm excited to see what combos he likes in the future.

Meal Planning

I think we have covered me the topic of me being a greed monster before, so I am going to work with the assumption that this is common knowledge. I can't imagine coming home without knowing what we're having for dinner. I'm too hungry for that nonsense. I started meal planning just after college when I was working two jobs and had no time to spare. Cooking my family a good meal is pretty high on my list of priorities. Meal planning streamlined my kitchen and helped me make smarter decisions about food. When you cook your own meal you know exactly what you are eating. No hidden chemicals and fillers – unless of course you’re into that sort of thing. Recently I have noticed a lot of friends on facebook commenting that they have begun or are having trouble meal planning so I thought I'd share some tips that I have found useful over the years. Most of this stuff is obvious as hell, but hopefully you will find a few things that make the process easier.

1.       Identify how many days a week you want to cook and be realistic. Some people hate leftovers, some people love them. My husband enjoys leftovers more than any person I have ever met (EVER). My father, on the other hand, will not eat a meal more than once. So, figure out where you stand on the issue. I only cook three times during the week, two if I am doing it correctly. Sunday and Wednesdays are usually my cooking days. My mom thinks I'm disgusting for eating the same meal day after day, but it works for us. It may not work for you.  

2.       Once you have decided on which days you want to cook, pick out your meals. I have a ton of cook books that I flip through but usually I end up finding something awesome on Pinterest. I am also addicted to food blogs. It's my porn. I email pictures of meals to B when he as at work and we vote on which foods we would like to bathe in. I pick two meals for dinner and one for my lunch. I eat oatmeal every day for breakfast so I don’t need to make a plan for that. I suggest you plan your breakfasts and snacks the same as your dinners.

3.       This is something that probably doesn't apply to everyone but it's a really big deal to me. I know it sounds like I will shovel almost anything in my mouth (gross), but I actually really care about having a well-balanced meal. I try to eat a low carb and low sodium diet. I also try to maximize my vegetable intake and minimize my sugars. When I decided to make more conscious food choices I had no idea what exactly I should eat. I read that I should have x servings of grains and so many of diary, blah blah blah. I found a website called Calorie Count and it changed everything! It takes a while setting everything up, but it's totally worth it. First you plug in your weight, your dietary goals, and your goal weight if you have one. The site will automatically populate your daily intake goals in various categories like carbs, proteins, fats, cholesterol, sodium, fiber, etc. You will have to enter your meals onto the website and it will track the nutrient levels. This really helped me to reach my daily targets for carbs, proteins, and the big vitamins. The website also taught me accurate portion sizes. I learned that calories aren’t the end of the conversation, but it’s rather the ratio of carbs to EVERYTHING ELSE. I don't use it all the time but when I do it’s telling me to put my second helping of mashed potatoes back. The website also taught me that yogurt is full of shit. It's all sugar. Check it out. So tip 3 ultimately is double check that the meals you choose fit into your health goals.

4.       Make a list of all ingredients - for all the meals. Make sure that you check your pantry so that you don't buy duplicates. I don't think you really need too much explanation on this step so we'll move right along. If you do need further explanation of this step please refer to step #12.

5.       Go shop. I get really excited at the grocery store. Never go hungry or you will buy everything. I try to limit myself to the perimeter of the store and away from the aisles as much as possible. When I have my meals planned I don't have to worry about buying snack food or things to "hold me over." It also cuts down on my grocery bill because I'm not buying random things. Seriously, how did I make it before meal planning?? Oh that's right; I ate ramen noodles and hot dogs.

6.       Get a food processor. Seriously. More time is spent at my house chopping onions than is spent actually cooking the meals. A food processor cuts down on the prep work and let's be honest the prep work discourages a lot of people.

7.      Be realistic about your meals. Don’t go selecting a meal that will take 45 pots and 6 hours if you know you don’t get home from work until 8 at night. Set yourself up for success not failure.

8.      Spend a day getting your shit together. Unfortunately it’s going to take much longer than a day to get all my shit together but that’s for another day. Seriously, spend a couple of hours of your weekend to prep for the week. I suggest making your more complex meal on your off day and the easier meal during the week. Pretty simple. I don’t like to commit to anything on Sunday afternoons because it’s my prep day and I like to lay around the house with my lovies afterwards. I also make Howie’s baby food on Sunday’s.

9.      Go cook something already and stop wasting your money on crap. There is no step #12.

Here are a few of my favorite food blogs:

• Skinny Taste
• The Pioneer Woman
• Smitten Kitchen
• The Fearless Homemaker
• A Farmgirl Dabbles

Swiss Chard & Sweet Potato Gratin

Here is the recipe for the gratin that I made for the potluck.  It's perfect for the cold winter nights. It's hearty, it's cheesy, it's good.

 I have experimented a couple of times with the recipe and I think I've got it down. My niece and I made this for Thanksgiving and everyone turned their nose up at the idea of sweet potatoes mingling in with the cheese. The suggestion alone seemed blasphemous as we normally make a kick ass sweet potato recipe every year. But lo and behold the pan quickly emptied itself into hungry mouths and there were plenty of "mmm's" to go around.

I haven't mastered the art of food photography (read: AT ALL) so you will just have to imagine how amazing this dish is. It's fab. Promsies.

Ingredients

3 bunches of swiss chard - chopped into 1 inch portions, stem chopped separately
4 sweet potatoes - peeled, sliced into thin rounds
2 large potatoes  - peeled, sliced into thin rounds
1 finely chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon of chopped thyme
1 tablespoon of chopped Italian Parsley
Salt & Pepper
8 ounces of Gruyere Cheese - shredded
1/2 stick of butter (about 1/4 cup)
Pinch of fresh nutmeg
2 cups of heavy cream
2 tablespoons of flour

**Things to note: You can substitute the swiss chard for spinach leaves in a pinch. You can also swap out the potatoes for other root vegetables like butternut squash and turnips if you'd like. Also, make sure to clean off the veggies very well before adding them to the casserole dish.




Prep Work

I would start off with slicing the potatoes first so that you can soak them in water for a few to soften them up just a bit. Get everything chopped and diced and sitting pretty on your counter top.


The Chard

 In a medium saucepan melt the 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat (medium is the word of the day) and cook down the onions. Add the chard stems, the pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Cook down until just tender then turn the heat up to medium-high. Start adding in a handful of leaves at a time. Cook until wilted. Be sure to keep an eye out because it only takes a few minutes to cook down. You don't want to overcook the chard.
Take off the heat immediately and put the chard in a colander to drain out the water while you work on the bechamel sauce. Use a wooden spoon to press out as much water as possible.



The Sauce

In a small saucepan warm the heavy cream with garlic. Keep the milk warm. Melt the remaining butter on medium heat in a separate saucepan and slowly mix in the flour. Whisk the flour for about a minute to create a roux. Slowly add in the warm milk/garlic and continue whisking for another minute. You don't have to whisk fast, a nice slow whisk is cool as long as it doesn't stick  to the pan.


The Layers

Preheat the oven at 400°F. Begin to layer the potatoes in a buttered, deep baking dish. Put one layer of a combination of sweet & white potatoes, sprinkle with herbs, and 1/4 c of cheese. Add in half of the drained chard to the top. Build two layers before spreading an even layer of half of the bechamel sauce. Build another two layers and pour the remaining sauce on the top. Sprinkle with the last bit of cheese.

Bake for one hour until golden and bubbly. Let the dish cool for a few before serving. You will do a happy food dance after your first bite. 

Promsies.

a tapeworm named harry

Every year for Thanksgiving my family gets together at a beach house and we have every kind of competition you can think of and a few you can't. We started this tradition about ten or eleven years ago and it's been going strong ever since. I have four brothers, so once you add in their families and/or friends you get a house full of crazy in no time at all.

We look forward to Thanksgiving all year long. We start trying to pack our bags by October and can't sit still from excitement for the entire month of November. There is laughter, amazing food, a few curse words, and tons of booze for four straight days. We also have our version of the Olympics. In the past we have played a combination of Monopoly, boccie ball, football, American Idol, limbo, Dance Dance Dance (that's what I call all of the Kinect dance games), soccer, and other video games.

My niece, who is also one of my for real best friends forever, and I use the rest of the family as guinea pigs for our food experiments. This year we tried a sweet potato & swiss chard gratin, orange french toast, naan stuffing, queso fresco mac & cheese, brussels sprouts, mango cranberry sauce, ham, pork smoked in banana leaves, and we can't forget the fried turkey! 

Hi, my name is D and I have a tapeworm. His name is Harry. Harry is the only explanation I have for eating all of that food, but it was fantastic. It always is, unless it isn't. But almost always, it is.


Say hi, harry.

Here are some of the pics from our holiday. Hope everyone is well in your world.