A Practical Guide To Healthy Living

Have you seen all those articles that say that if you get your kid(s) in the kitchen, they’ll be more invested in trying the foods they make?  That they’ll suddenly become more adventurous and maybe even like to eat <gasp!> a wide variety of foods? 

Well, in my case, it’s hogwash.  My daughter has been cooking with me since she was 2-years-old, and since then, she probably eats fewer foods.  This is a child that used to eat EVERYTHING with gusto.  Then at 2, the list of foods she’d eat got progressively smaller and smaller.  I used to scoff at picky kids and figure that it was nurture, but we are living proof that it’s not always the case.  She was, for a period, on that dreaded American “beige diet” – it’s mortifying, I know.  It’s interesting that all this time, she has clamored to be cooking with me, yet she has no interest in tasting the final product.  I keep at it though.  I’m stubborn.

But I digress. 

There are some things she loves to make and eat.  They’re all in the dessert category, surprisingly enough.  Yesterday we made a great and easy s’mores bar cookie recipe.  The Brownie troop leaders (of which I’m one – no snickering) and their kids got together to plan some meetings, and I offered to bring dessert.  What’s more Girl Scouty than s’mores?  This is a nice recipe for a 6-year-old because there are no electronics involved in the preparation, save for the oven.  It’s just a smash, stir, dump, press, spread, sprinkle operation. 

Enjoy!

Smore’s Cookie Bars

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Put several whole graham crackers (approximately 7) in a large zip-top bag and squeeze the air out.  Pulverize the crackers with a rolling pin/meat mallet until they form a fine crumb.  In a large bowl, stir together cookie mix and crumbs. Stir in melted butter until a soft, crumbly dough forms. Press into a 13×9-inch pan that’s been coated with cooking spray.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until set. Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Let stand 3 to 5 minutes or until chocolate begins to melt. Spread chocolate evenly over crust.

Set oven to broil. Sprinkle the marshmallows over the melted chocolate. Broil 4 to 5 inches from heat for 20 to 30 seconds or until the marshmallows are toasted. (Watch closely; marshmallows will brown quickly.) Cool 10 minutes or longer.

Serve warm or room temp, and store any remaining bars tightly covered – those marshmallows will get hard & chewy if you don’t.

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From the Epicurious Blog – ways to doctor up prepared foods.  Sometimes, you gotta take shortcuts.

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It’s not over ’til it’s over, right guys?  There is still more time to grill, enjoy eating alfresco and to savor some summery weather.  This menu has been top-of-mind lately because I made it for a family celebration of my daughter’s August birthday last year.  My husband, in particular, found it mind-blowing – in fact, the salad here is what turned him into a fresh fig lover.  Serve it up to people you love, and treat them to a last, fresh taste of summer.

For a main course, this Rosemary Chicken Skewers With Berry Sauce recipe from Simply Recipes is simple to prepare, but looks and tastes like it took much more effort.  The sauce is very delicious.

For starch, this Couscous Salad with Dates and Almonds, from Bon Appetit has a nice sweet/savory thing going on.   I use whole wheat couscous to amp up the nutrition and protein and I also make double the dressing – I find I need more than the amount called for in the recipe (but not the entire doubled amount) to dress the salad.

For greens, this Late Summer Salad is an adaptation of a recipe from the Fields Of Greens Cookbook by Annie Somerville.  It is a beautiful composed salad that makes a striking presentation for your guests.

Late Summer Salad 

Wash the spinach and dry it in a salad spinner.  Arrange it on a serving platter.  Make the vinaigrette. 

Cut the melon in half and scoop out the seeeds, then thinly slice and peel, following the contour of the rind.  Rinse the figs and pat dry.  Cut them into halves or quarters.

Arrange the melon and figs atop the spinach.  Drizzle the vinaigrette over the fruit and sprinkle with pine nuts.

Serves 4 – this can easily be doubled – just use a medium cantaloupe.

Orange Vinaigrette

Combine everything but the oil in a small bowl, then whisk in the oil.  Makes 1/3 cup, but again, can be easily doubled.

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This recipe for tomato, white bean & bacon soup from the Simply Recipes site looks so delicious . . . and although it’s not been a good year for tomatoes, there are still a bunch at the farmers’ market every week.  Might have to try this for Friday. 

And you might know my motto:  “everything’s better with bacon!”

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There is an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about how the American Heart Association is recommending that people limit their sugar intake.  In a statement issued last Monday, the organization recommends that most women limit their sugar intake to 100 calories, or about six teaspoons, a day; and for men, the recommendation is 150 calories, or nine teaspoons daily.

The issue is that on the nutrition labels we see, sugar is listed in grams – a unit of weight, not volume like teaspoons . . . from what I can find, a teaspoon of sugar is equivalent to approximately 4.2 grams – so now you can do some division and see how many teaspoons are in your favorite food or beverage.   You might be shocked!

A lot of health-conscious folks I know eschew soda, but do eat things like fruit-flavored yogurts and/or packaged juices, which usually do have a lot of sugar.  Add to that ice cream, cookies, sugared cereals – well, by the end of the day you have yourself (in the words of some advertisement) “a sugar situation.”

What to do?  I don’t like artificial sweeteners as an alternative – they’re dubious in terms of long-term safety and to me, they’re just another chemical to add to the soup that’s already in our bodies (although, remember, I do love me a diet Coke once in a while – so moderation here too, friends!).  I have noticed over the years that when I limit my sugar consumption, fruits, etc. taste sweeter to me.  That is, when I wean myself off the hooch that is Halloween Candy, or Christmas cookies, or just a weekend bender involving Nabisco® Pinwheel® cookies and get back to fruits, I notice how sweet a peach can be, or a nice apple, or some strawberries or my other BFF of the summer, cantaloupe.

Don’t get me wrong, I love sweets.  Unless I had to for some extreme health reason, I’d never cut sugar completely out of my diet.  I do, however, limit my consumption of foods with added sugars – keeps my empty calorie consumption down and makes more room for foods with nutritional value.

Do you have a “sugar situation” going on?  Have you tried eliminating added sugars from your diet?   Why?  How long did you keep it up? 

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Are you all familiar with these?  A campaign by the EWG to give top-level, usable information to families to maximize their environmental health.  I know I sing the EWG’s praises so often – I just feel that they most often represent a balanced, logical approach to all this toxics madness.  After all, you could really make yourself nuts trying to follow the latest this-n-that, right?    You can subscribe by email and get updates every time they publish a new tip. 

Today’s is on chemical flame retardants in the home – something I’m sure our microfiber-ballistic-cheepie-kidproof sofa is full of . . . but at least I’ll know more for the next purchase, right? 

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Grub Street (NYMagazine.com’s food news) has released its Where And What To Eat in Boston for Fall ’09.  I really need to get to Olecito, period.  Haven’t been to the Inman location, and here they are, opening an outpost.  I’m feeling skeptical about Todd English’s new venture, Curly Cupcakes . . . but maybe Todd has what it takes to change my mind about cupcake boutiques?

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I don’t think this is going to get me any fan press out on the ‘net, but I have been completely digging cantaloupes this year – so much so that I have been eating about 1 entire melon per day, on average.  Cantaloupes are a nutritional powerhouse, with very few calories.  A cup of cubed fruit has more than a day’s worth of vitamin A, nearly a day’s allowance of vitamin C, 12% of your daily potassium needs, and 9% of a day’s folate.  And all this for the low-low price of 50 calories, folks!  Even bestsellers like apples, pears, and bananas have at least 100 calories.

I have been just cubing these super-sweeties up and eating them for dessert or a juicy snack, maybe combining them with some fat-free Fage, but there are some creative ideas in the latest issue of CSPI’s Nutrition Action Health Letter:

• Spritz the chunks with lemon or lime juice, and eat as-is.  Lime sounds particularly good to me.
• I never would’ve thought of this - top the ‘loupe with shaved Parmesan and drizzle it with balsamic vinegar.  That sounds really interesting – I’m going to try that one today. 
• Another one with cheese – fill half a melon with low-fat cottage cheese and a sprinkle of toasted sunflower seeds – yum! 
• Cube it and serve it over a bed of mixed greens and some goat cheese, tossed with a red wine vinaigrette.  Another fruity salad – you know I’ve been lovin’ up on those this summer.

Are you loving cantaloupe?  How are you eating it?

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