The problem with insisting that one's family eat real food (when you're not in Brazil, where we had a full-time, amazing cook) is that you're always in the kitchen. It seems like as soon as I finish cooking one meal, it's time to start the next one.
And believe me, it's nothing fancy. For breakfast, we have eggs, usually with rice, sometimes potatoes or cornbread. (I tried oatmeal, but no one really liked it, except Ju, who thought it made a great finger food.) So we're back to a big omlet, or over-easies when R. and E. have their say. Which means we go through nearly a dozen eggs a day.
For the other two meals, most of the time I make what E. refers to--so appetizingly--as mixed food. Rice (brown or basmati) sautéed in coconut oil in the cast iron skillet with some combination of: greens, squash, frozen green peas, tomatoes, ground beef or sausage from the farmer's market, or cut-up organic beef hot dogs from Trader Joes.
(Lest you think they're all perfect eaters, the older two tend to pick out most of the green things.)
I read one blog that suggests serving deconstructed dinners, where you separate all the parts of the meal so the kids can pick and choose what they want. This seems to me like it would take a lot more effort and dishes, encourage pickiness, and cost a fortune, because the only way I can afford meat (at least the local grass-fed blah blah blah), is to stretch it with some cheap starches.
I have to admit, though, the separate rows of flaked salmon and grilled asparagus and diced tomatoes do make a better photo than a big pile of mixed food.
Seriously, though, any suggestions? What do you feed your kids that's quick, cheap, tasty, and involves no sugar or wheat or processed stuff? Help, please!
11 comments:
I am refusing to cook in this heat.REFUSING. Also, sometimes I feel like my days are (make a meal, serve a meal, clean up a meal)x3+snack+endlesscupfilling
So I have been cutting up all matter of peppers, tomatoes, celery, carrots, cherries, raisins, apples, cucumbers, green beans, spinach etc. putting a little bit of everything on a plate and adding a serving of hummus in the middle and a tortilla on the side.
Also, we eat cheese, do you?
for snack, freezing some grapes and some yogurt. Ohhh! Peanut butter smoothies would be a good and filling snack or meal too! I forgot about those.
or
black beans with cumin and garlic, veggies, sour cream and salsa, and yes, the tj's microwavable brown rice. because have i mentioned I'm not cooking in this heat?
I'm interested to see other people's ideas too!
Ellie! You should look at Whitney's site--she just did a new post with some simple meals, and she does them from time to time (with photos).
For us, the go-to food is rice and beans (whether refried or just plain), ideally with a little cheese or sour cream, sometimes with a corn tortilla and other times just in a bowl. For vegetables, salad on the side or whatever we can eat with our fingers--sliced red pepper, carrots, etc.
I've thought about this alot. On a gut level(no pun intended)I feel that the typical American breakfast gives me a false sugar rush, rather than a real energy boost. I always go back to Israeli meals where they serve a cucumber/tomato/oil and vinegar type salad for breakfast, along with fresh pita, hummus, dairy. There is a diet that has one eat dinner foods for breakfast and vice versa, claiming this is a great way to lose weight.
I don't have kids, but I am so lazy, I don't cook for myself and am trying to figure out how to eat healthy while doing basically nothing. Sometimes separate food works: strips of red pepper along side hard boiled eggs and some slices of cheese.....
Hi, I have been reading your blog for a couple of months now but haven't commented before.
We have a no sugar, no preservative, whole food, home cooked diet for 99% of the time and YES I do feel like I am in the kitchen all day some days but for me it is totally worth it.
A quick meal for me is Vegetable Sausage Rolls. I normally make my own pastry but I have on occasions bought "Butter" Pastry as it doesn't have Canola Oil in it.
So all I do is cook up some vegetables, mash them roughly. Cut the pastry into long strips and place a long line of the mixture down the middle. Roll one side of the pastry over to cover the vegetable mix then the other side over and pinch together. Cook in a hot oven until golden brown.
You can also add rice or other fillers to the vegetable mix.
The other idea is to make up a Mexican Bean mixture. Cut pastry into small triangles. Place bean mixture in the middle of pastry with straight edge facing you. Roll over one side then the other and pinch together the straight side so that you end up with an open pocket parcel. (Hope that makes sense).
Cook in the oven until golden brown.
I always serve every meal with a fresh salad with lots of greens and tomatoes.
Hope these are of some use to you.
Janine
Hey El, when I was a kid my dad would buy in bulk from cattle, pig, and chicken farmers and would freeze the meats in a big chest freezer in the basement. He would buy a half a cow, a whole pig, a bunch of chickens and the farmer would butcher the meats just like at the old A&P's and it would last for months. There may be some cattle, pig, and chicken free range organic fed producers in your area. Understand that 'organic' sometimes may not be the best. For example, hormone free, grass fed beef is way better than hormone free 'organic fed' beef. And it will probably be a whole lot cheaper than the Trader Joe's per pound prices of the same. Welcome back to the States!
And also check out fish farms. You may have to clean what you buy, but it will be cheaper and very fresh.
how about homemade nachos? that's what we had tonight. Hamish goes coo-coo for them. I didn't go so far as to make my own tortillas, but bought whole foods organic ones, quartered them, then fried them in hendricks farm lard, topped with grass-fed ground beef, local cheddar and organic black beans, baked at 320 for about five minutes, then homemade guac, organic sour cream and salsa.
sandwiches on sourdough? smoked salmon and cream cheese? BLT? tuna? almond butter? salad on the side? do they eat lettuce?
roast chicken. I know this means oven time, the nachos too, and if I were better at grilling you know I'd be all over that but it's just one more time-suck as a busy mom and I don't need the aggravation. add a couple sweet potatoes and it all cooks at once. and you can use leftovers for... more nachos! (can you tell I'm obsessed?)
fish is always an easy winner. frozen wild salmon from TJ's is so much cheaper than fresh and tastes amazing marinated and grilled or pan-sauteed. cod, sole. etc. foil baked with garlic and butter for 25 minutes. blammo. do you have the little safe fish brochure from the monterey bay aquarium? http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/download.aspx
what else? yogurt! apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon, homemade raw vanilla ice cream because why not have dessert for dinner once in a while, esp. in the summer. they can have green beans for dessert.
meanwhile I'll bet those kids eat better than you think. and they're so freaking smart they should be cooking you dinner by now. are they interested in cooking? we should have a cooking party. woo!
Wow, thanks for all the suggestions! I agree, Rebel, I can't eat anything sweet for breakfast. Erin, we do a fair amount of rice and beans, too. Sausage rolls sound good.
Jazztech, that's a good idea I'd like to buy a quarter of a cow once we get into our house and get a freezer.
Elise, we did homemade ice cream for dinner yesterday. Except then they were still hungry so I had to feed them again. Definitely up for a cooking party!
pizza? although i heard someone refer to it recently as "glue for your colon." maybe you could find some wheat free crusts? or send them to me, i'll give them frosted flakes and burger king. just kidding :)
Hey, Ellie, I do a twitter feed of our daily meals on my blog. It's called the MealTicker. As Erin said, I post a gallery of photos of meals every few weeks.
http://www.thecoconutgirl.com/?p=1980
Our family's not off processed wheat, but otherwise we're pretty in-line with what you mentioned. Hang in. I often say the Universe is my menu planner. (as in 'dear Lord, what am I going to fix?' I swear, ideas seem to come.) You might also relate to this post, sistah:
http://www.thecoconutgirl.com/?p=1837
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