An attempt to document my progress in bringing up a healthy eater! Tyler is now a 2 year old but I will try to go back and document the entire progress of his diet. I will try to include recipes, meal ideas, and how to incorporate a child's diet into a family's lifestyle.
Eat this with some chips, on a tortilla, on vegetable sticks, or on a taco!
1 can of refried black beans (use organic, no fat added, lard free)
½ can of black beans
1 pack of taco spice (reduced sodium)
6 strips of turkey bacon
1 jalapeno (minced small) use less if needed
1/3 c red onion, diced very small
1/3c green pepper, diced very small
1/2c fat free sour cream
Black pepper
Salt
Handful of cheddar cheese
Heat pan non stick pan to medium
Cut up turkey bacon into small squares
Cook turkey bacon until crispy, this should only take a few min.
Cool turkey bacon on a paper towel
Mix up beans, spice, pepper, onion, jalapeno, salt and sour cream
Fold in turkey bacon
Top with cheese, enjoy!
Turkey Bacon
Turkey bacon would be good if they did not call it bacon. I have yet to find a turkey bacon that has the texture and crispness of pork bacon. The reason: Turkey bacon does not have all that yummy fat. It is a little tougher than normal bacon and has a slight flavor of turkey jerky.
When buying turkey bacon make sure you look for the usual: organic/free range/no antibiotics, and nitrate/nitrite free!
Wrap up
Sick of beef, want something new, go turkey! Cook turkey breast cutlets like you would chicken. Replace ground beef with turkey. Just substitute turkey in for your regular meats. Super lean and full of vitamins (and cheap!) turkey is a great choice for changing things up in the kitchen.
My Weight Loss:
Down again this week! I lost the exact amount of weight that I wanted to!
I will be out of town for the next two weeks starting on Thursday. I am not sure how many posts I will have next week but I will be back!
Add this to your favorite pasta and tomato sauce, serve as an appetizer, or form into patties for breakfast! I would use dried herbs in this, or cut down the amounts if you use fresh.
Ingredients
1lb ground turkey
1t each of sage, fennel seed, thyme, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, salt
1 egg
1c of bread crumbs
1/3c Parmesan cheese
Heat oven to 350
Heat a non stick skillet to medium high with 1T EVOO into pan
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and form into 1in balls
Cook in pan a few at a time until brown on the outside
Place in glass cook pan (one layer) and bake until cooked through
Enjoy!
Turkey Tip
You can use turkey in place of pretty much any ground meat there is only one kicker: it is dry as heck! So when using ground turkey make sure you are using it you add some sort of sauce or extra fat (turkey is very lean, so sometimes adding fat helps).
When making turkey meatloaf add some bbq sauce and a few slices of bacon on top
Turkey is excellent in chili because of the sauce
Turkey is great with pasta sauce. Cook it up in a pan and add your favorite jar sauce
Turkey sausage from the store is good because it has fairly fatty turkey meat in it and the juices are kept in the casing. If you can find "free" or uncased turkey sausage it tastes great in lasagna. You can also remove the turkey from the casing before cooking!
Turkey is great in shepherds pie! Put it on the bottom of the pot so the juices from the vegetables coat it
Make sure you season turkey well or it turns out very bland!
1/3c apple cider vinegar (I would actually use this type of vinegar in this recipe)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, cut into thin strips
Dash of red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
1 lg pack of white button mushrooms, sliced (optional)
Heat up a non stick skillet on medium-high heat
Cook turkey in broth until cooked through
Add mushrooms, pepper, vinegar, onion, garlic, salt, pepper until peppers reach your preferred softness
Serve!
Mushroom Preparation
I know that you are just supposed to lightly brush the dirt/poop off the top of the mushrooms before you cook them but I have issues eating poop. Instead I very quickly wash them off just before I chop and cook them. Because they are not sitting around in water or sitting wet they don’t have a lot of time to soak up all the extra water.
I also don’t really like the woody stems of mushrooms. It is your choice when cooking with mushrooms if you want to use them or not.
Don’t like mushrooms? Give them another try! Cook them long and slow to get rid of the raw mushroom texture (something else I don’t like!).
Apple cider vinegar
Don’t buy into the old folk tales of this “cure all.” Apple cider vinegar is probably just another food. Although some studies have show that acv can actually lower glucose levels, control hunger, and decrease some cancer risks, other medicines and products work better in every case. Acv in large doses has actually been shown to increase certain cancers (as does everything, so don’t knock it out of your diet yet). The truth with this product (as of now), is that it is a food. Use in moderation to add flavor and a zesty kick to salads or recipes.
Broth
I am so sick of hearing professional chefs on tv telling me to make my own broth because it freezes and does not take that long. The truth is, it takes all day, requires many ingredients, and honestly can be replicated with a high quality broth or bouillon.
I suggest using organic when ever possible and either freezing or using the rest of it within a week. Many stores, such as Trader Joe’s, now offer a more condensed form of stock in order to save on bulky packaging.
My absolute favorite broth is Better Than Bouillon. It is condensed, comes in a recyclable jar, and tastes great!
This week I want to explore the wonderful world of Turkey. It’s not just for Thanksgiving anymore! Turkey is an inexpensive way to get your protein and B vitamins without eating a lot of fat.
Turkey Parts and what they are good for!
The whole enchilada: I really only like whole turkey once or twice a year at the holidays. I find preparing and cooking a whole turkey to be time consuming, and unless your brother and husband deep fry it, dry and tasteless (except with gravy).
Breast: At the grocery you will probably find turkey breast or turkey breast cutlets without a problem. These are white meat, so healthier, and easy to manage and cook with if they are cut to a reasonable size.
Drumsticks: Giant and hard to find, just pass
Ground Turkey: A wonderful and healthy alternative to ground beef and many times cheaper than ground chicken
Deli Turkey: Unless you are buying actual sliced breast, with no preservatives, nitrates, nitrites, antibiotics, ect. stay away from deli meat. It is surprisingly high in sodium and fat and can be highly processed. That said, I love real sliced turkey breast and so does Ty. He eats if for lunch by itself or rolled around a little cream cheese and vegetables.
Sausage: Turkey sausage is almost always lower in fat then pork sausage and can be spiced just the same. It is great by itself or in pasta!
Just a note to my vegetarian reader :) I will be putting up at least one vegetarian recipe every week and there WILL be a vegetarian week coming up (as well as tofu!).
DijonTurkey Breast
Easy and simple this is a great light recipe for any time of the year! Serve with a green veggie and your choice of healthy starch!
4 Turkey breast slices/cutlets (found in your meat case at the grocery)
4T of your favorite Dijon mustard (honey Dijon is great on this!)
2T fresh parsley (or dried)
2 cloves of garlic, mashed
1c bread crumbs (watch out for hydrogenated fat in these, making your own is easy too…see note below)
Chicken broth
Salt and pepper
Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat
Dredge cutlets in mustard of parsley, mustard, garlic, salt, pepper
Coat in bread crumbs (use some chicken broth or more mustard to get them to stick)
Cook over medium heat until done, about 3 min per side
Bread crumbs
Because many store brand bread crumbs are not really bread crumbs and instead are very fine crap filled with hydrogenated oils, make your own!
Toast up your favorite ww bread, put it in a food processor and go to town. You can also put it in a plastic bag (ONCE COOL) and mash it up! Make sure you toast them low and slow!
Bonus Recipes!
I made my husband a welcome home meal. After much thought, and way too much produce being produced in our garden, I figured I should make something with zucchini, squash and tomatoes.
Vegetable Chicken Soup (leave out the chicken if you are a vegetarian!)
Ingredients (remember to use organic where you can!)
2 cans tomato sauce, no salt (or use your own!)
2 cans chicken broth, one salt, one without salt
1 can of kidney beans (use fresh soaked if you are cooking all day, I only used one can but you could easily put in 2 or 3)
4 large carrots (sliced)
1 large onion (diced)
2 medium sized zucchinis (Diced)
2 medium sized yellow squash (diced)
4 large tomatoes (diced)
1/2c barley (pearled)
Handful of fresh basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary (chopped)
3c of fresh spinach
2 large chicken breasts (I would add more next time)
To cook (just like everything from last week)
Brown chicken in pot
Add sauce, broth, beans, carrots, onions
Cook for a long time, until chicken is cooked
Add everything else, cook until barley is cooked and soft (about 45min)
Add more water, spice, salt, pepper as needed
Tomato Tart (take out the bacon if you are a vegetarian)
2lbs tomatoes sliced and cored (meaning scoop out the seeds and take of the stem)
handful of fresh basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme chopped
1T cornsctarch
1c flour
1c cornmeal
1 1/2t baking powder
1/4t baking soda
3T cold butter cut into small pieces
1 egg
½ c buttermilk, plus more for kneeding
6 slices bacon cooked and broken into pieces
Handful of cheese (I did not use this but I should have!)
1 clove garlic mashed
Salt and pepper
Prepare tomatoes, mix in all your herbs and garlic (reserve about 2T)
Toss in bowl with cornstarch, salt and pepper
In another bowl mix cornmeal, baking powder/soda
Place butter in bowl, and working quickly smash butter with fingers into flour. Do not heat up the butter too much. If you do place bowl back in fridge.
Mix in egg, buttermilk, cheese, rest of herbs and garlic, a little salt and pepper. Add more buttermilk if dough is not sticking together
Mix bacon into tomatoes
Place tomatoes into greased deep dish pie plate
Top with spoonful of biscuit dough (make sure there are air holes)
Cook at 375 until golden on top and bubbling on the bottom
Place on a cookie sheet if you want to avoid a mess in your oven!
Lauren’s Veggie Soup This is a vegetable packed soup that freezes well. I use a giant pot and cook a ton, freeze half in pint containers and enjoy for months!
1small bag of carrots, peeled (optional) and sliced
1 bunch of celery, chunked
2 medium onions, chunked
1 small head of cabbage
1 15oz can of low sodium normal diced tomatoes
8c of vegetable stock
3/4c barley, 1c of lentils and/or egg noodles (whole wheat ones are yummy)
Spices (throw in some dill, parsley, rosemary, oregano, thyme, whatever! A store brand "zesty" blend is also REALLY good in this)
Chop veggies (except cabbage)
Place everything but cabbage and barley/lentils/egg noodles in pot
Bring to a boil
Reduce to simmer, cover, cook all day
1 hr before you want to eat cut cabbage into 1 in strips and add to soup
30-45min before you want to eat add in barley and/or lentils
If you want noodles pre cook and add in before eating
Wrap up This week has been about basics. Those homemade recipes that fill you up on a cool day or that you want when you are feeling ill. Although easy, the foods in the past week have layers of flavor and can be changed and added too easily.
When feeding any of these to a baby or toddler make sure to decrease the salt, cut up and/or puree the food, and let it cool down. I would skip the broth unless your child is a bit older.
Ty loves beef, but only if it is tender, has a lot of flavor, and cold. I usually cook a dish like the ones listed above, take out some beef and veggies an hour before, chop the bits really small and then cool it in the refrigerator. Although Ty has tried broth I never give it to him because of the mess :)
My Weight Loss This week I lost more than my goal (which is 2lbs a week). Last week I lost, but not as much as I wanted to :( I think it was because we went out to dinner and ordered out (for our anniversary) and had a lot of yummy leftovers which lasted for a while. I am finding it easy to snack at this time of year because of all the fruit available. The farmers market, as well as larger grocery chains, have so much local fruit that tastes wonderful!
Yet another prep in minutes cook for hours recipe. This is a basic in any household and a good dish for cold days or when you are feeling sick. It freezes well too! Add in cooked noodles, barley, matzo balls, or rice at the end if you want some starch! A from scratch chicken soup recipe will appear at a later date.
Easy Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
4 chicken breasts, diced
3c diced carrot
2c diced celery
1 large diced onion
1T or more of: dill, parsley (I use a lot more), rosemary, thyme, bay leaf
2 cloves diced garlic
EVOO
8c chicken broth (you may need less)
Salt and pepper to taste
Brown chicken breasts in EVOO in a large heavy bottomed pot
Add in veggies, onion, herbs, garlic, and pepper.
Sautee until fragrant
Cover everything with broth and then add about 1 inch more
Bring to boil
Cover, reduce to simmer, and cook for a loooooong time!
This recipe is easy peasy and freezes well. It is another takes minutes to prepare but cooks all day recipe.
You will need:
1lb (or more) of stew meat cut into 1cm cubes (or larger if you like)
1lb carrots peeled (optional) and sliced
1 bunch of celery sliced
1lg onion diced
2lg potatoes, peeled and diced (add more if you would like)
4c beef broth
1 bay leaf
Any desired spices (garlic, black pepper, rosemary, thyme, oregano, bay leaf)
EVOO
Cornstarch and water
Directions
Heat EVOO to medium high in a heavy bottomed pan
Add meat and brown evenly on both sides
Add veggies and spices
Add broth, bring to boil
Reduce to simmer, cover, and cook all day
Add more broth if it dry out add more broth
Once dinner time rolls around add mixture of cornstarch and water to thicken (take out the bay leaf!)
Serve with warm rolls, rice, noodles or barley!
Other tips:
You can also add 1/2 c of sour cream for a little fo- stroganoff flavor. Put on top of egg noodles for a little more!
Make sure you decrease the liquid if you are cooking in a slow cooker
Add more broth and barley for beef soup!
Product of the day:
The Ergo Baby Carrier
This product is why I can bring Ty to work with me. Since he was 9lbs I have strapped him in this to sleep, look over my shoulder while I work, and shop. Now at over 22lbs Ty is still easy to carry and I can do almost anything with him being held close to my back, side or front. The ergonomic design makes it easy to carry Ty even though I have lower back problems. This carrier is worth the extra cost and will not wear out quickly.
I am awife, mother, and Daycare Director who lives in Delaware, Ohio. I love all kinds of animals (dogs, chickens, turtles, fish, goats...pretty much everything), music, crafting and reading.
