Loving My Family, Feeding Their Future

Day 11- Too Cute!

2011-03-10T03:09:01Z

Lunch was just a spinach salad. Since we didn't try the bean and cheese enchiladas for lunch yesterday we tried those too. I gave it a smiley face. Kurt just gave it a straight face as he thought it could have used salsa and some onion. Ella's response was the best! She was excited to eat it. She took a big bite, spit it out and said, "Oh, gross!!" I think that was the first time I've heard her refer to a food as being gross and there is no way to describe the look on her face. It was hard not to laugh. I guess we'll say Ella gave it a sad face!

I have really found the lunches to be a struggle as I don't always have access to a microwave. Nearly all the lunch menus have an item that needs to be baked or heated.

Kurt's mom took us out for supper tonight so we didn't have the chicken and noodles.

Day 10 - Doing Our Best

2011-03-10T02:46:48Z

You've probably noticed that we haven't been following the menu too closely. We've mainly been doing the main entree and either lunch or dinner. It seems like our schedule has been hectic lately. It would be fun to try the menu when I have nothing else going on, but that won't happen.

Tonight the recipe was Beef Stir Fry. We used fresh vegetables instead of frozen. We all gave it a smiley face. Again, we liked the stir fry from week one a bit better as it had more sauce. Like I mentioned yesterday, Sarah is growing out of her "picky" stage. It was so fun when she was eating the stir fry and told Ella, "Try the carrots there really good and taste the onions." Colleen Gengler, Family Development, shared a slide on how children's willingness to try foods changes with age. There is a big drop in their willingness to try foods between 2 and 6. After 6, they are more willing to try foods again. Sarah sure is following the graph.

Day 9 - Mixed reviews

2011-03-10T02:33:03Z

I admire people who are able to keep up with a daily blog. As you can tell, I'm not doing very good at it. So here are my catch up entries.
Tonight was baked fish, Cuban bean, and brown rice. Kurt and I had looked at the menu before I left for work. We decided just to do the brown rice and not the Cuban beans as it seemed a bit much to have the beans and the rice. I was starving when I got home, only to discover Kurt forgot brown rice takes longer to cook. We usually try and keep some instant brown rice on hand, but didn't have any tonight. We did have instant white rice. The fish was baked fish with lemon, garlic, salt and pepper. Needless to say the rice and fish were both very white!
Kurt and I gave the fish a smiley face. We did prefer the Baked Spicy Fish from last week better. Sarah gave it a straight face. She ate it, but thought it was rather tasteless. Ella didn't try it. If you haven't figured it out, Ella is at the stage of not trying new foods. She used to eat anything and everything. Sarah is now growing out of this phase so I know this too shall pass.
The recipe for Cuban Beans looks good so I will have to give it a try in the future. The main ingredients are black beans and green peppers.

Week 2 - Day 8 - Peppers were great

2011-03-07T02:57:14Z

There was a fundraiser at church today so that is where we had lunch. I wasn't looking forward to making supper, but Kurt said we should stick with the pork chops on the menu. I'm very glad we did as it got a smiley face from everyone! It was quick and easy to make (which I loved). Basically it was just pork chops topped with sliced onions and red peppers and baked in the oven...super easy! Red peppers were on sale yesterday for $1.00 a piece so that made it even better.

Day 7 - Out and about

2011-03-07T02:47:36Z

We were out and about on Saturday, so didn't follow the menu. This was the end of week one. Overall it went well. We didn't follow the menu exactly or try every recipe, but we did enough to give us a good idea. The recipes are basic, and most are good. We will continue to use several of them. I do miss some of my favorite meals and am looking forward to adding them back at the end of next week. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to calculate the cost of the menus. I still have the reciepts so hope to do at least a few of them.

Day 6 - Pizza Meatloaf???

2011-03-07T02:39:59Z

As I looked through the menus, todays entrée, "Pizza meatloaf" was the one I was looking forward to trying the least. Luckily it was better than I anticipated, but I doubt I would make it again. Instead I would change it to pizza burgers: make a hamburgers and top with pizza sauce and a small amount of mozzarella cheese. All of us gave it a straight face. Both Kurt and I wanted something super easy for supper so we did leftovers. It worked well and was a good way to prevent throwing out leftovers.

Day 5- Thursday...Back on Track

2011-03-04T04:30:05Z

The baked spicy fish was very good. The title is a bit misleading as when one hears "spicy" most think hot. This dish, however, was a nice variety of mild spices. I liked it because it added a lot of flavor to baked fish. For low income families, this could be an expensive meal. Two fillets cost $14.00. Luckily the girls weren't very hungry as there was really only enough fish for 2 or 3. I had a hard time finding fish at our store. Maybe larger metro areas have more of an option. The recipe called for cod, but I'm sure tilapia could be used instead as this is often on sale. I prefer to purchase only USA and Canadian seafood so that limits my options.

Adding a dash of cinnamon to the sweet potatoes was a nice twist. We just served romaine lettuce instead of turnip greens. We would make the fish and sweet potatoes again.

Day 4- Wednesday...A Snow Day

2011-03-04T04:26:02Z

Today was a hectic day. I drove the rest of the way home, only to get less than a fourth of a mile from the house and discover drifts the car would not go through. I had to teach a class in the cities later that day so Kurt drove out in the truck to meet me with what I needed. I neglected to give him the recipes I had taken along in my work bag for him to make while I was gone. So we all did our own thing today.

Day 3-Tuesday

2011-03-04T04:20:06Z

Lunch was quick and easy with ham sandwiches. We didn't get homemade beans made, but canned baked beans worked well. Due to icy roads, I ended up staying at my mother-in-law's on Tuesday night so did not get to try the Chicken and Vegetables, and scalloped potatoes. Kurt and I have never been big fans of frozen green beans so I wasn't sure if we should substitute a different vegetable. Kurt used the green beans and he said they were really good heating them up in the skillet. The chicken (cooked in the frying pan) and scalloped potatoes were good, but nothing special.

Kurt and Sarah gave the dishes a smiley face. I'm looking forward to trying the green beans for myself.

Day 2

2011-03-01T02:50:45Z

Last night, as I was looking ahead to today (Monday), I realized I didn't take out a beef roast in enough time to thaw. My plans were to flip flop the Tuesday and Monday dinner menus. I got home from work late and Kurt and the girls had been in town running errands so walked in the door just a few minutes before I got home. Since it was already past our regular meal time and everyone was hungry and tired, I took the easy way out and made mac and cheese. I made it from scratch so I like to think it is a little healthier than the boxed version. The next two days are really hectic too so I'm thinking I should have started this another week, but the reality is most families are busy.

Since I didn't do the evening menu as listed, the only item I needed to prepare was the potato soup. I made it on Sunday evening. I thought it tasted good. I did add some salt and pepper though as the recipe didn't call for either. It is a very basic potato soup. The one from the Iowa Calendar tastes better. Here are the ratings for the potato soup:

Sarah = ate school lunch
Ella = smiley face
Mary = smiley face
Kurt = sad face. Kurt didn't think it had any flavor.

The next two days will probably stray from the menu. Hopefully, I'll get back on track the rest of the week.

Shopping Day

2011-02-27T02:46:59Z

Today was shopping day for Week One. The bill came to $112.00. If time allows, I plan to calculate the cost per meal as some of the items I purchased (such as cornflakes) I only need to use half a cup. It was interesting the family checking out in the next aisle had a bill of $116.00 and way more groceries, most of which were highly processed. I will say it is nice to have the shopping done and know what we will be eating for the next week.

A Two Week Adventure in Feeding Their Future

2011-02-25T21:12:13Z

For years I have thought I should try out the two week menu in the back of the "Loving Your Family, Feeding Their Future" booklet. I don't know exactly why, but this week I was really inspired to give it a try. I also thought it would be a good opportunity to improve my blogging skills. Thus, here I am with a "Loving My Family, Feeding Their Future" blog.

Here's the plan. Starting on Sunday, I'm going to implement the two week menu found at the back of the Loving Your Family, Feeding Their Future Guidebook. http://www.nal.usda.gov/fsn/Loving/HealthyFamilyGuidebookEnglish.pdf

For those of you who aren't familiar with Loving Your Family, Feeding Their Future, it is a curriculum for SNAP-Ed educators to use to help people on food support make healthy food choices on a limited budget. It has good information and easy to follow recipes...and a two week menu. I work with the SNAP-Ed program in Minnesota

My husband, Kurt, does a lot of the meal preparation and is willing to take on the challenge. Sarah (6) and Ella (3) will be official taste testers by rating the foods with smiling, straight or sad faces.

Here are my guidelines:

· We will follow the menu as closely as possible.

· We can make adjustments for fruit/vegetables depending on what is in season or on sale.

· Several of the meals have lemonade or unsweetened ice tea with meals, but we will be serving milk.

· If our schedule has us out and about, we aren't going to hurry home just so we can make what is on the menu.

· Since this is just a fun experiment and not a scientific research project, these guidelines are subject to change on a whim!

Here is what I'm interested in learning:

How easy are the meals to prepare?

How much time does it take to prepare?

Are the meals good?

Will we be hungry, satisfied or overly fuel?

How much will it cost?

One thing I know is that for the next 14 days I won't have to wonder what is for supper!

Here are the futures I will be feeding:

Ella and Sarah