Weekly Meal Planning for Aug 30 - Sept 5

To me, this upcoming week is the true last week of summer. The week before Labor Day. After that, BRING ON FALL. In my farm box, I'm getting three different kinds of squash, lettuce, slicing tomatoes, cucumbers, mixed sweet peppers, and peaches. Those items all scream "summer!!" to me. So I'm going to plan a lighter fare menu.

Sunday: Dinner at my mom's
Monday: Dinner at my sister's (my oldest daughter and nephew have back-to-back soccer practices)
Tuesday: Greek tacos
Wednesday: Grilled salmon with peach and avocado salsa, roasted squash and potatoes
Thursday: leftovers 
Friday: BLTs
Saturday: not sure yet…we may be at a football game

Fall Vegetable Gardening

While we have grown summer vegetables for several years, we haven't ever planted a fall garden. This year, it's on the agenda. I'm in the process of researching how to go from late summer blooms to early fall seedlings. I don't want to get rid of everything yet but I will need to start seeds for fall vegetables soon! 

I still have peppers, some sort of squash plant (that has flowered but has not produced fruit yet...), very few green tomatoes, string beans, and herbs growing. The melons are dead. The zucchini and yellow squash plants died before giving us anything we could eat. And the cucumber plants have pretty much shriveled up. 

On my list for a fall garden are Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, beets, carrots, and different lettuce varieties. I need to start sowing seeds soon for an October harvest! 

Have you ever grown vegetables in the fall? What's on your fall gardening to-do list? Share tips and tricks!

ALL THINGS PUMPKIN…or just pancakes

My youngest found a can of pumpkin in my pantry the other morning and she asked for pumpkin muffins and pancakes. A lover of all things pumpkin, I happily obliged (after a quick hesitation because it's not even September!). Not having a ton of flour left after the batch of pumpkin muffins, I quickly mixed together a mini batch of pancakes to add to her breakfast of yogurt and fruit, and maybe one or two other breakfasts this week.

Here's what I did:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour 
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1/4-1/2 cup milk (or half & half…I had run out of milk)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1/8 cup maple syrup

Whisk all ingredients together, add more flour or milk to get desired consistency
Heat butter or coconut oil over medium heat in a pan until sizzling
Using a ladle, pour some pancake batter into the pan
Cook until bubbles form or edges are dry, 2-3 minutes
Flip once and cook 1 minute longer
Remove from heat, plate in oven safe dish (and place in oven heated to 200 to keep warm)
Repeat with remaining batter

Serve warm!

Weekly Meal Planning for Aug 23-29

We are still in the middle of figuring out afterschool schedules so this may change this week. But so far, here's what's on our menu:

Sunday: ribs and things at my FIL's

Monday: kale + tomato egg scramble

Tuesday: chicken fajita salad, refried black beans

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: grilled italian sausage and andouille, eggplant, carrots, and potatoes 

Friday: grilled salmon and lemon garlic shrimp skewers over pesto zoodles and linguine, green salad

Saturday: out to eat

Here we go…soccer (and other sports) snacks

As the beginning of soccer season looms over us, I'm reminded of the anxiety of being the "healthy" snack provider for the team. I was told the other day that a big highlight for the 4-5 year old teams (on which my younger daughter will be playing) is the donuts that show up after their 30 minute practice/30 minute "game" every week, during which they maybe get 15 minutes of vigorous activity. And I cringed. Yes, many will say "but it's just ONCE a week!" and "one donut won't hurt" but is it really just that occasional? Not for my kids, it seems. Everywhere they (we) turn, there is yet another offer of junky food, junk food used as a reward, or in my case, another reason to amp up the healthy offerings at home to make up for the junk they get elsewhere. 

So what can we do? We can try to change the culture, change it back to when we were kids and there were no "Here's a capri sun, a bag of oreos, and a bag of cheetos!" after sports (or any) activities. We can start small, and set an example. We can bring fruit, bottles of water, and throw some yogurt in there if you feel strongly about having more than just fruit. We can ask the coach, the athletic director, the team parent (or volunteer for one of those roles!) to send out a "please bring fresh fruit and water as snacks". I have emailed a coach and received no response. None whatsoever. It was a bit disheartening but I moved on. And I still brought the fruit-and-water when it was my turn.

This season, at my oldest daughter's school, I sent an email to the athletic director asking that the snack policy be changed. The end-of-the-year survey showed that parents weren't happy with the lunch food offered in the school cafeteria. I'm serving on the lunch committee to revamp the cafeteria food offerings. And since we are doing that, I thought it would be a great time to re-vamp the snack policy after sports activities. I'm hoping for a positive change. If nothing else, I will ask the same of the coach, and of course, at the very least, bring my fresh-fruit-and-water snack when it's my turn. 

Does your league or team have a healthier snack policy? 

Examples of school lunches

Now that school is back in session for many of us, I've had some questions about what to pack for lunch. So, I decided to do a post of several days' worth of lunches.

Day One:

Slice of deli turkey 

Piece of cheddar cheese

Yogurt squeeze

Cucumber and yellow bell pepper slices

Figs and peach slices

Hummus

A few bunny cookies 

Day Two:

Two slices of sausage/bell pepper pizza 

Cucumber slices

Papaya cubes

Day Three:

Rice cake

Yogurt squeeze

Baby carrots

Cantaloupe cubes 

Two slices of deli ham 

Day Four:

Rice cake

Raspberries

Frozen peas

Three small pieces of Gouda 

Olives

Day Five:
Pineapple chunks
Sliced cucumbers
Two boiled eggs
Crackers

Day Six: 

Pita pocket with lebni (kefir spread) and olives

Sliced cucumbers 

A slice of deli turkey 

Blueberries and peach slices 

A few mini bunny cookies 

Day Seven: 
Leftover zucchini enchilada topped with chopped tomatoes
Pineapple cubes and peach slices
Blue corn tortilla chips

What are your kids' favorite lunches?

Weekly Meal Planning for Aug 16-22

As summer slowly winds down, I am dreaming of cooler evenings and heartier meals. We will still be grilling often, while thinking of simmering soups and chilis on the stove without getting overheated while the temps are still in the 80s-90s! (I *may* toss in a grilled cheese and tomato-bisque in the next few weeks.) I'm also really looking forward to flavorful Sunday roasts and pumpkin EVERYTHING.

Now to next week's menu…I'm getting kale, mushrooms, zucchini, green bell pepper, cucumbers and beets in my farm box. So, here's what I'm thinking, and I'm going to be flexible because we have a cousin from London visiting us. So we will probably eat out once (or twice or three times???).

Sunday: pizza from the pool
Monday: kale and mushroom pasta
Tuesday: zucchini enchiladas (a crowd favorite)
Wednesday: leftover pasta 
Thursday: grilled balsamic chicken breasts, roasted beets, cucumber and feta salad
Friday: out to eat
Saturday: dinner at my mom's

What's on your menu?

Do you drink bone broth?

Arguably the newest old-fashioned "fad" in food, bone broth has been re-gaining popularity in the last few years. Most people probably remember their mothers and/or grandmothers making broth at home instead of buying containers or cans of it from the grocery store. Chicken noodle soup was a staple for many people and made the way it was back then, it did have properties to help you feel better! Studies have shown that it does actually have anti-inflammatory effects. While no studies have looked specifically at bone broth, there are studies that have looked at the ingredients and elements it contains. Gelatin, collagen, and vitamins & minerals all have documented health benefits.

More people are moving away from the store-bought shortcut for several reasons. It's easy! And cheap! I started cooking whole chickens fairly regularly about five years ago. And that's when I began making homemade broth, too. It has more benefits for me. Now, in full disclosure, we aren't a "cup of broth a day" family. But when I make it, I freeze it in either 2 cup jars or 1/2 cup muffin tins (then in large freezer bags). That way, it lasts for a long time, and I almost always have some on hand. 

The key to easily making it at home is to use up whatever you have (carcass/bones, veggies, herbs), add water, and slow cook. I started my slow cooker last night and it's still going. There is some debate on whether or not you should use a little apple cider vinegar to help leach some of the nutrients out of the bones, but it's an easy thing to do if you have that in your pantry. While the mixture simmers, the bones break down. They release gelatin, collagen, and vitamins & minerals into the broth. After 18+ hours simmering, just cool, strain with a fine-mesh strainer, and voila! You have bone broth. The best way to tell whether your bone broth is *good* is to refrigerate it. It should gelatinize in the refrigerator (and then will become liquid again once it's heated).

For people who are struggling with inflammation related issues, regular bone broth consumption is worth trying. It's not so liquid gold with which you need to be replacing your meals, however, adding it in as a supplement is indeed the way to go. Continue eating a healthy, balanced diet.

So, have you tried it? Will you try it? According to Kobe Bryant and his team nutritionist, regular bone broth consumption helped him bounce back from potentially career-ending injuries a couple of years ago. Give it a shot! And let me know what you think. I may try to convince my husband to start drinking a cup a day to try to avoid rotator cuff surgery. 

Happy Simmering!

Weekly Meal Planning for Aug 9-15

Happy last weekend before school starts!! Monday is the first day of school for my oldest (while the youngest has 4+ more weeks of summer!). Next week, we get back to our school year routine. I'm going to plan some easy meals to get me through! The girls have requested a fig pasta, so that will be on the menu. And I'll plan on making a casserole. Fajitas area always easy, and I will plan on making enough of everything to have leftovers. 

Sunday: out to dinner before the first day of school
Monday: Fig and Pancetta Pasta
Tuesday: grilled steak fajita salad
Wednesday: leftover pasta
Thursday: leftover fajitas 
Friday: Chicken and Summer Veggie Casserole
Saturday: leftovers 

What's on your menu for next week?

Fruits and Vegetables

How many servings per day? How much is a serving? This is a great resource for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption for our kids (& us)!

http://foodlets.com/2015/07/29/12-ways-kids-can-get-5-servings-of-fruit-veggies-a-day/

Weekly Meal Planning for Aug 2-8

JI am flying by the seat of my pants getting the next few days planned. We were away enjoying some rejuvenation time at a friend's lake house and came back earlier this evening. It is the last week before school starts so we will transition back to earlier bedtimes and early wake ups. And in the transition will be trying some easier meals for weeknights, and trying to use up herbs from the garden (that haven't dried up from the summer heat!).

Sunday: Greek salad, haloumi and watermelon, figs, boiled eggs 

Monday: salami, prosciutto, figs, cheese board at a concert (kids will have breakfast for dinner)

Tuesday: zucchini and yellow squash enchiladas 

Wednesday: grilled pesto salmon, green salad, pesto pasta 

Thursday: whole chicken in a crockpot, fetti with eggplant 

Friday: out to eat

Saturday: leftover chicken and eggplant 

What's on your weekly menu?