We just returned home from a visit to children and grandchildren in the midwest.
I gained weight.
That's to be expected - these trips invariably involve doing an awful lot of NOTHING. When I'm home, I have my Wii Fit to do, and I guess I do a lot more moving around than I realize. I know this, because when visiting family, I end up in pain from sitting. It's the arthritis - lack of movement causes everything to stiffen up. I sit so much on these trips, that sometimes I end up in tears at night, at just the thought of laying in bed for several hours.
Sleep is out of the question. And the plane ride home is a nightmare.
We did take a walk one day, but with snow, and temps in the teens or lower, outside activities didn't happen much.
But it's over, and I'm on the road to recovery. And back to eating vegetables and other Real Food. I did have some vegetables on this trip, because I ordered a veggie omelet for breakfast twice. That was my vegetable allotment for the day, except for the day I cooked spaghetti for everyone, and steamed a big batch of spinach. When we got home yesterday, we had a bowl of homemade potato soup loaded with greens: spinach and kale torn into little pieces and simmered in the soup.
Then we celebrated a late Valentine's Day by having a bit of chocolate cheesecake, followed by a glass of absinthe, properly diluted with ice water until it was cloudy.
It all works out.
Showing posts with label Kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kids. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
A Pretty Meal
Brunch with my girls before we went to see "Wicked":
That's Melon Soup with Sour Cream in the glass, and the plate holds a summer salad with Butter Lettuce, Raspberries, and Walnuts (I forgot the crumbled goat cheese). We also had Salmon en croute, which didn't make it into the picture, but was a delicious golden brown.
And: a Peach Dutch Baby. So good!
That's Melon Soup with Sour Cream in the glass, and the plate holds a summer salad with Butter Lettuce, Raspberries, and Walnuts (I forgot the crumbled goat cheese). We also had Salmon en croute, which didn't make it into the picture, but was a delicious golden brown.
And: a Peach Dutch Baby. So good!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Family dinners II
The hectic weekend is behind us and I can concentrate on getting caught up: filing, bookkeeping, writing, menu planning. Very slowly, my desk is becoming visible. At least, parts of it are.
Grandkids staying over always means more food than we usually eat and this weekend was no exception. I started with that lovely roast on Friday night, with the blue potatoes and white beets and celery and onion. I steamed the beet tops, too and I assure you, there was not one word of complaint from those 11 and 12 year old boys. They ate everything in sight and I had to finish filling them up with pumpkin ice cream layered with chocolate sauce and nuts.
Why yes, I did have some, too. Thank you for asking.
Friday night was sleepless and disturbing for Rick and I, because our 14 year Australian Shepherd had several coughing spells throughout the night. AND, my shoulder was killing me, probably from the yard work I'd done earlier. Around five a.m., we finally doped the dog and me, and we all got some sleep. The result of all this is that I slept late and awoke to find Rick halfway through cooking the pancakes. Tea was ready, and he poured me a cup while I threw some bacon on the griddle and started chopping up the leftover potatoes for sauteeing.
So that was our breakfast, along with lots of good butter and real maple syrup. The pancakes were amazingly fluffy and light. The bacon was turkey, which I consider cheating, but I had only a few slices of the Real Stuff, so I didn't get it out. I don't care for turkey bacon, so I had just 1 piece, but I made up for it by pouring maple syrup on my potatoes.
I love that.
Since breakfast was late and big, we all ate oranges for lunch and then went out for an early dinner. We let the kids choose, which is how we ended up at Chevy's and rest assured, there was not one healthy thing about the meal, except maybe for the black beans. I know. I should have had a salad, but I didn't want to. I get like that sometimes.
Things got worse on Sunday, when I made biscuits for breakfast, along with scrambled eggs, the rest of the potatoes and a few slices of bacon chopped up with the potatoes. I don't mean to honk my own horn, but the biscuits were GOOD. I used my low-gluten mix with a little sugar and baking powder, butter, and raw milk. I had three. I know better. But I had three. With butter and honey. I put organic blueberry preserves on one.
You can imagine that by now, I'm desperate. We were taking walks - a long one on Saturday and a slightly less long one on Sunday, but nothing even close to the calories I was consuming. Around 2:00, we all seemed peckish, so I made us each a large salad with lots of CSA greens, some olives, scarlet turnips, tuna fish and homemade croutons. Better. Not great. But better.
No dinner was needed. But we did have a martini.
Grandkids staying over always means more food than we usually eat and this weekend was no exception. I started with that lovely roast on Friday night, with the blue potatoes and white beets and celery and onion. I steamed the beet tops, too and I assure you, there was not one word of complaint from those 11 and 12 year old boys. They ate everything in sight and I had to finish filling them up with pumpkin ice cream layered with chocolate sauce and nuts.
Why yes, I did have some, too. Thank you for asking.
Friday night was sleepless and disturbing for Rick and I, because our 14 year Australian Shepherd had several coughing spells throughout the night. AND, my shoulder was killing me, probably from the yard work I'd done earlier. Around five a.m., we finally doped the dog and me, and we all got some sleep. The result of all this is that I slept late and awoke to find Rick halfway through cooking the pancakes. Tea was ready, and he poured me a cup while I threw some bacon on the griddle and started chopping up the leftover potatoes for sauteeing.
So that was our breakfast, along with lots of good butter and real maple syrup. The pancakes were amazingly fluffy and light. The bacon was turkey, which I consider cheating, but I had only a few slices of the Real Stuff, so I didn't get it out. I don't care for turkey bacon, so I had just 1 piece, but I made up for it by pouring maple syrup on my potatoes.
I love that.
Since breakfast was late and big, we all ate oranges for lunch and then went out for an early dinner. We let the kids choose, which is how we ended up at Chevy's and rest assured, there was not one healthy thing about the meal, except maybe for the black beans. I know. I should have had a salad, but I didn't want to. I get like that sometimes.
Things got worse on Sunday, when I made biscuits for breakfast, along with scrambled eggs, the rest of the potatoes and a few slices of bacon chopped up with the potatoes. I don't mean to honk my own horn, but the biscuits were GOOD. I used my low-gluten mix with a little sugar and baking powder, butter, and raw milk. I had three. I know better. But I had three. With butter and honey. I put organic blueberry preserves on one.
You can imagine that by now, I'm desperate. We were taking walks - a long one on Saturday and a slightly less long one on Sunday, but nothing even close to the calories I was consuming. Around 2:00, we all seemed peckish, so I made us each a large salad with lots of CSA greens, some olives, scarlet turnips, tuna fish and homemade croutons. Better. Not great. But better.
No dinner was needed. But we did have a martini.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Getting Your Children to Eat Vegetables
Let me warn you up front: this post may piss you off. Honest, I'm more subtle when dealing with clients, but since this is my blog, the gloves are off.
Everyone's heard about the cookbook debate. Did Jerry Seinfeld's wife rip off a nutritionist's cookbook? For the record, I doubt it. She's got kids, someone advised to "try this," it worked and since she's married to a celebrity, she had an in for getting a book published. End of story.
That's not what bothers me.
It's the whole idea of catering to our kids. THAT bothers me. Seriously, I've met people who always feed their kids separate meals, because the little tykes don't like "grown-up" food. This seems to be a big thing with the current crop of American parents, especially the middle/upper-income, educated group. I cringe every time I hear about it. What do these people think they're doing?
I can imagine how it gets started. New Mom home from the hospital has very little help or support and can't get the hang of breastfeeding. Maybe she has to go back to work. The hospital gave her formula, so why not use it? So Mom starts feeding the baby it's own special food, made bulk in a factory someplace and shipped in a cardboard or plastic container. When baby gets older, Mom and Dad buy the little jars of "baby food." Because it's a baby, right? Babies can't eat Real Food, can they? The parents never learned they could start with things like mashed potatoes, applesauce or bananas, rice cereal, etc., and as baby gets older they could just mash or blend up the food they eat and feed it to the kid. Graduate to cutting the real food into tiny pieces so an older baby can eat those. They don't NEED THOSE JARS OF BABY FOOD!
But Mom and Dad are now well convinced that the child must have special food. It's always had special food. So they never actually give the child the food that Mom and Dad are eating. And suddenly, we have an incredibly picky child who won't try anything except quesadillas and boxed macaroni & cheese, or pizza. With just cheese. Along with anything from McDonald's or Taco Bell, of course.
Look. If you're serving fresh, homemade meals with lots variety and vegetables, you're kids are not going to starve if they don't like something! Even if they don't like lots of things and at every meal, they're hiding something under the plate or surreptitiously feeding the dog under the table. It's OKAY.
Just keep feeding them. Don't make a special meal. Heck, don't even argue with them. Just serve the food, eat it yourself, clean up the kitchen (or have the kids do it) and get on with your life. Don't give them snacks later. They should have no other options except what you prepared for dinner.
They'll figure it out. You can encourage them, you can dress up the veggies with sauces or seasonings or cheese or anyway that you like to eat them. Serve them plain once in a while, but make things look attractive on the plate. Place a slice of lemon on the broccoli. A tiny pat of butter on the peas. Let the kids use the salt and pepper shakers. And if they turn up their noses and only eat the meat and potatoes, so what? I promise, if you keep serving them, if you cook them skillfully, and make them look nice, someday the kid will surprise you and start eating it.
Maybe they'll try it at a friend's house or at a restaurant and decide it's okay. After all, you're just Mom, what do you know? But somebody else's mom, or a chef somewhere, can give them something and they'll go for it. It's the nature of the beast.
Expose them to food. Let them watch the Food Network or those silly chef competitions. Take them to the farmer's market. Take them to a "pick your own" orchard. Have them flip through the cookbooks and choose a meal for you to cook. Let them help cook. Plant a garden. Get their school to plant a garden. Make food fun. Enjoy it yourself.
But DON'T cook them special meals. You'll still be doing it when they're teenagers and they will not be grateful. They'll think they deserve it and you're the one to provide it. Makes me shudder.
Everyone's heard about the cookbook debate. Did Jerry Seinfeld's wife rip off a nutritionist's cookbook? For the record, I doubt it. She's got kids, someone advised to "try this," it worked and since she's married to a celebrity, she had an in for getting a book published. End of story.
That's not what bothers me.
It's the whole idea of catering to our kids. THAT bothers me. Seriously, I've met people who always feed their kids separate meals, because the little tykes don't like "grown-up" food. This seems to be a big thing with the current crop of American parents, especially the middle/upper-income, educated group. I cringe every time I hear about it. What do these people think they're doing?
I can imagine how it gets started. New Mom home from the hospital has very little help or support and can't get the hang of breastfeeding. Maybe she has to go back to work. The hospital gave her formula, so why not use it? So Mom starts feeding the baby it's own special food, made bulk in a factory someplace and shipped in a cardboard or plastic container. When baby gets older, Mom and Dad buy the little jars of "baby food." Because it's a baby, right? Babies can't eat Real Food, can they? The parents never learned they could start with things like mashed potatoes, applesauce or bananas, rice cereal, etc., and as baby gets older they could just mash or blend up the food they eat and feed it to the kid. Graduate to cutting the real food into tiny pieces so an older baby can eat those. They don't NEED THOSE JARS OF BABY FOOD!
But Mom and Dad are now well convinced that the child must have special food. It's always had special food. So they never actually give the child the food that Mom and Dad are eating. And suddenly, we have an incredibly picky child who won't try anything except quesadillas and boxed macaroni & cheese, or pizza. With just cheese. Along with anything from McDonald's or Taco Bell, of course.
Look. If you're serving fresh, homemade meals with lots variety and vegetables, you're kids are not going to starve if they don't like something! Even if they don't like lots of things and at every meal, they're hiding something under the plate or surreptitiously feeding the dog under the table. It's OKAY.
Just keep feeding them. Don't make a special meal. Heck, don't even argue with them. Just serve the food, eat it yourself, clean up the kitchen (or have the kids do it) and get on with your life. Don't give them snacks later. They should have no other options except what you prepared for dinner.
They'll figure it out. You can encourage them, you can dress up the veggies with sauces or seasonings or cheese or anyway that you like to eat them. Serve them plain once in a while, but make things look attractive on the plate. Place a slice of lemon on the broccoli. A tiny pat of butter on the peas. Let the kids use the salt and pepper shakers. And if they turn up their noses and only eat the meat and potatoes, so what? I promise, if you keep serving them, if you cook them skillfully, and make them look nice, someday the kid will surprise you and start eating it.
Maybe they'll try it at a friend's house or at a restaurant and decide it's okay. After all, you're just Mom, what do you know? But somebody else's mom, or a chef somewhere, can give them something and they'll go for it. It's the nature of the beast.
Expose them to food. Let them watch the Food Network or those silly chef competitions. Take them to the farmer's market. Take them to a "pick your own" orchard. Have them flip through the cookbooks and choose a meal for you to cook. Let them help cook. Plant a garden. Get their school to plant a garden. Make food fun. Enjoy it yourself.
But DON'T cook them special meals. You'll still be doing it when they're teenagers and they will not be grateful. They'll think they deserve it and you're the one to provide it. Makes me shudder.
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