Being Healthy

I mentioned recently that I've been attempting to modify our diet to eliminate harmful substances and be as healthy as we can stand to be. I've been thinking along these lines for awhile, but thanks to some posts by Laura over at HeavenlyHomemakers, I've been inspired to make more dramatic changes.

Some of her recommendations included avoiding the following: high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, artificial colors/dyes, MSG, and basically anything you read in the ingredient list that isn't real food. There are numerous websites out there with information about how these things are made and why they're destructive to your body.....needless to say, I'm convinced that she's right and that making good decisions about the food I put the bodies of myself and my family is imperative to our long term health.

Now, I've been pretty diligent about avoiding MSG for years, thanks to my mom, and in the past couple of years I've tried to avoid trans fats (except for needing Oreos for a cheesecake crust once in a great while), but those other things were completely off my radar.

Being aware makes food choices more complicated, I'm discovering. Nearly everything you buy in a box, bottle or package at the grocery store has one or more of those things in it. Almost all crackers, cookies, pre-packaged doughs, etc. have hydrogenated oils in them. Most cereals, peanut butter, ketchup, salad dressings, spaghetti sauces, and even ice cream have high fructose corn syrup polluting them. Many of those things have more than one bad ingredient.

My food shopping is taking a bit longer these days, as I scour ingredient lists for offending items and then look for reasonably priced alternatives. For all of those things I listed above, the only way you're gonna get them "pure" is to buy organic (or sometimes "all natural") or to make them yourself. No more canned spaghetti sauce for me. I can't make cereal, but I can at least make that!

My kids love cereal for breakfast, so I am continuing that for 1 day a week, but it must be a cereal with no junk.....so that leaves us with few choices. Corn Chex and Cherrios seem to be okay, and of course the Kashi whole grain stuff, but only Grant will eat that.

Kinda funny how life comes full circle.....I remember vividly as a child being upset that my mom refused to let us buy/eat sugary cereal (ahhh, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, how I adore thee!) and thinking that when I became a mom, I would let my kids eat whatever cereal their little hearts desired. Now look at me. I won't even buy them Raisin Bran anymore.

One thing I'm really not wanting to give up is regular peanut butter. I grew up eating the all- natural stuff, and I do have a jar of it in my fridge, but I just hate the thought of giving up my soft, easily spreadable and incredibly smooth peanut butter. I don't know if I can do it.

And what are you supposed to use for a crust for cheesecake if you can't use graham crackers or vanilla wafers? Don't even suggest leaving the crust out....not an option. I Love crust.

All that to say, we're on a journey here. We're not remotely close to being the most healthy eaters out there, but I'm taking steps to make positive changes and hopefully create lifelong habits of good quality eating for my family.

Happy Birthday, Monty

Today is the 7th birthday of our good and loyal lab/boxer, Montana. This picture is more than a year old and he now has many more gray whiskers around his face, but he's still a cutie.

Cheers for Sarah

My sister Sarah has done it again. Cooking creativity specialist that she is, as well as frequent contest enterer, she has won the Grand Prize in a Kraft contest and will be awarded $5,000 cash and a $5,200 gift card to Publix, her local grocery store!!! How do you like that?

I'm pretty proud, myself. And more than a little inspired to get my own creative juices flowing and enter some contests also! What have I got to lose? I better get to the kitchen right away. Time's a-wastin'!

Overheard at the Dinner Table

We've been doing family Bible reading after dinner for a few weeks now and it's always interesting to see how the kids will respond or what they understand.
Last night Corban stopped Grant while he was reading and said, "Something that you just read was good and bad".
Wanting to explore his thoughts further, I probed, "What did you think was good, and what was bad?"
Marissa got a devious grin on her face and immediately pointed to herself, saying, "This is good...." then pointed at Corban....."This is bad."

Grant and I did a lousy job of disguising our amusement, I'm afraid, and Marissa positively cackled in response. What do you do with that?

Homemade Chili Seasoning

My tip for the day is a recipe I just found last week for homemade chili seasoning. I'm making a genuine effort to clean up our diet and eliminate certain preservatives, sweeteners, etc (more in another post later), plus it's just cheaper to make your own seasoning mixes. I found this on Allrecipes (called Chili Seasoning Mix II), but modified it based on what I had. This is my version.

Recipe:
2 T. flour (I used whole wheat)
2 T. chili powder
1 T. crushed red pepper
1 T. dried minced onion
1 t. garlic powder
2 t. white sugar
2 t. ground cumin
2 t. dried parsley
2 t. salt
1 t. dried basil
1/4 t. ground black pepper

Stir all together. Store in an airtight container. I used 2 T. of the mix to season 1 lb of meat for our chili. (quick chili recipe: 1 lb ground turkey, browned with a chopped onion, add seasoning and 2 cans of chili beans and 2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes or chili-ready diced tomatoes. Add a little water or a small can of tomato sauce if you want it thinner. Simmer as long as you want!)

I was very pleased with how tasty it was and will definitely keep it on hand.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is the 60th birthday of my Dad, officially known around here as Grandaddy. (He caught up with ya again, Mom!) The kids have been very excited that today is Grandaddy's birthday and even told strangers about it at Wal-Mart this morning.

Marissa is especially fond of my dad, which is touching for me to watch because I was very attached to my Grandad (mom's dad) as a child. In fact, I remember as a 3 or 4 year old very proudly declaring, "Grandad is my BEST FRIEND". And I really meant it. But I digress.

Marissa will say things like "Grandaddy's CUTE!" and "I love Grandaddy so much" whenever we talk about him and Nonny (my mom).

This picture was taken of the two of them last Thanksgiving, at my sister's house in Tennessee. That's the last time we saw my family. We just can't wait for their visit in just a month!

So back to my dad. He's an amazing father and grandfather (even with his almost disturbing attachment to Buicks - Ha!) and has such a gentle and kind spirit. I can't imagine anyone not liking him, and truthfully, he likes just about everybody too. He's always looking for the good in people and focusing on that. He's a peacemaker, a prayer warrior, an excellent preacher (when he gets the chance), and an enthusiastic player of games with the family.

Oh, and I have to mention that he adores holding his grandbabies.
This is him with Annika (and the glasses he's owned for the last 30 years) when she was just a couple of days old. And believe me, he wanted to cuddle her every single chance he could.
She looks so tiny on him....probably because he's about 6'4". Yeah, I get my height from him....unfortunately I didn't inherit the perpetual thinness also. Ya can't have everything, I suppose.

I hate to cut it short, but the kids are up from naps now and it's impossible to get much typing done when they're awake....so I'll just end with saying, "I LOVE YOU, DAD!"

Happy Birthday!

First Day of School

Today was Corban's first day of kindergarten. Whew, let's take a moment and let that sink in a little. This little guy who really was "just born yesterday" is officially in school. (Not according to the state, mind you, because we don't have to actually let the state know anything about his schooling until August 2010! Ahhh, the benefits of having an October birthday. Not to worry, next year I do plan on declaring him homeschooled...but for kindergarten, it doesn't matter anyways.) It's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that he's growing up so fast.

I've been trying to get him excited about it, but not too successfully. He's not thrilled about reading or sitting still for much. And since he is still only four, after all, I don't feel it necessary to force him into long periods of arduous study. But he is very smart and definitely ready to learn.

We cracked open his new workbooks this morning and he was delighted to see that it was extremely easy.....much easier than what he was doing at the end of his PreK curriculum.
Having a brand new box of crayons helped the situation as well.

The only problem was little Annika, who was determined to crawl over to his desk and pester him no matter how I tried to distract her. I'm thinking we might have to employ the use of the good old Pack and Play to contain her for awhile during school time.

Marissa is also thrilled to have her own workbooks, a three-year-old curriculum by Abeka that is very cute. She'll be learning the letters and numbers 1-15 this year.

We started school early because I wanted to get into a good routine before we got into the busyness of the coming year, including MOPS every other week, field trips with other homeschoolers, visits from family, gymnastics classes, hopefully swim lessons, and who knows what else! Plus, when kids are this young, I think that year-round schooling is best anyways, because they forget stuff so quickly.
I'm ashamed to admit that I was neglectful about keeping Corban practicing reading this summer. We did a few things, but not nearly often enough. I can tell he's forgotten a bit. I'm hoping he'll pick it up again quickly.

I think it will be a fun year, and certainly a very busy year.