Happy New Year!

I was born in an even year and have always thought that those were the best years. The odds, well, they just came and went. Sometimes with frustrations and sometimes with accomplishments. As 2009 is wrapping up tonight, I look back and see a change happening. Our family has had disappointments and frustrations but we have had so much more! We have been able to make some positive changes around our house. I have finally gone public with my obession about my kitchen and the crazy meals I cook for My McDonald family! Finding my niche in the kitchen and being able to share my hidden passion with others has been wonderful. I want to be a resource for other through this blog.

My hopes are that 2010 will be a good year for all! A year that we can find our family through the complexities of our lives. How do you see 2010? Do you and your family have any goals?

Let's let 2010 be the year our health and the health of our family top priority! With the beginning of the year I plan on providing recipes for you from my kitchen and others around me. Let's try to learn from each other. What will you cook up for your family this coming year? Send me some recipes and pictures so I can share your great ideas too!

Ring in the New Year with joy, hope and good health!

Are you up for a challenge?

Are you stuck in a rut with your meals? Have you been cooking the same thing over and over each month having your family sigh each time they see the meal approach the table? If this is the case or even if you are trying to expand your cooking reportoire and find more variety than I have the challenge for you!

Join me starting January 4th and commit to cooking at least ONE new recipe a week for TEN weeks! Pick a recipe that is healthy, meaning lower fat, calorie and sodium content. Find one that even has some extra vegeatables included. Once you pick the recipe find the best day to prepare. Find one where nothing will stand in the way to your success. Remember that you may pick one that after cooking, you don't enjoy. That's okay- it's part of the process! Post your recipe in the comment section below along with your email or blog and I'll highlight it along with way. Hopefully you will be able to gain lots of new ideas from your searching and from the recipes I highlight each week.

Don't worry, I will be doing this along with you!

Let's have fun cooking! Oh yeah, and eating!

Just a little won't hurt

I have a confession to make to all my readers who believe I am nothing but healthy. Sometimes I eat very un-healthy foods. Most of these foods come in the form of sweets. This has been a weakness of mine since childhood. I remember many times when my mom, whom bakes from scratch using the most fine ingredients, would make a cake with caramel icing for my dad and I would sneak in and carefully wipe the edges clean of icing. Of course I would try my hardest not to let my mom see my fingerprints on the cake. You see I enjoy icing, cookies, and brownies hence why this post is a move away from my typical posts. I'll just blame it on the cookie exchange I went to today.

Peppermint Cake Balls

You can either make your own cake from scratch or use a box cake mix. I've done this both ways but went with the box this weekend. There are so many variations of this recipe online but I played around to make it a little festive by doing peppermint.

1 white cake recipe or box mix
10 peppermints crushed (add to mix before baking)

Bake cake following directions and allow to cool completely. Once cool crumble the cake with a fork. Then add icing, recipe below, mix with crumbled cake. Take spoonfuls of gooey mix and form into balls. Allow balls to chill in fridge for about 2 hours. Once balls have chilled roll in chocolate and sprinkle with crushed peppermints.

Peppermint icing
4 squares of bakers chocolate
1 stick of butter
16 oz. powdered sugar
1/3 cup of milk
1/4 tsp of pure peppermint oil (food grade)
Melt chocolate and butter in microwave until melted. Add sugar, milk and peppermint.

Chocolate coating
1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp of butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Melt chocolate, add butter, vanilla extract and mix well. Roll each ball in coating and sprinkle with additional crushed peppermints. Decorate with any additional personal touches and enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

School Snacks

I have always been used to packing a “snack” for my daughter to take to school, but this year is a little different. During preschool I was only responsible for packing my daughter's snack which had to be packed in a disposable bag, don't worry I did comment to the school about the waste issues. I understand snacks and fully take advantage of them myself. But when you are to send a snack for a class of 24 kids once a month, what do you do? First, I cheered, finally a chance for me to cook up something healthy for my daughters friends to enjoy. This might be the only time they taste real whole wheat or even get a hint of ground flax seed. But reality set in as I read the parameters. “Please provide a snack for 24 children in individual pre-wrapped package”. Yes, I did work at the health department and shared the hallway with the environmental health gang. And I have heard the stories of contaminated homemade goodies. But come on, we have to have trust somewhere right? I mean look at the stories of food borne illnesses from packaged foods!

Anyway, I could go on and on about the above issues but I won’t. Instead our first time to provide snack I gave in and bought small baggies of pretzels. No sugar, some fiber and small servings. After a full month of parents providing snacks, the families are on a rotating schedule to bring in snack so we each get about one time per month, I learned about all the options. Of course I am the parent who asks, “what did you have for snack today?” I think it’s fun to get the full rundown of the day. My daughter likes to rate the snacks with her own nutrition rating. So cute!

There have been cereal bars, goldfish, cheese sticks, and peanut butter and crackers (there is one food allergy in her class but they have their own snacks) Not bad. But when she started reporting the sugary, no health value at all snacks is when I started to worry. No, I was not going to send a letter. I was going to wait. I’ll pack healthy options on my turn and then see what happens. Finally I started hearing reports of homemade snacks. One parent even made small ham and turkey sandwiches and another brought muffins. I started to realize maybe I could get away with my way as long as they were pre-wrapped at home. COOL! Then I got the report of her FAVORITE snack…baggies of grapes, orange slice and carrots!! She said the kids loved this snack!!! Isn’t this proof that when given a healthy option kids will eat it and usually like it? Why do parents keep thinking that it has to be “kid friendly”? In my mind that usually means, sugar, artificial colors, or greasy. Kids really do deserve the best food! SO many kids go hungry everyday and school is sometimes the only place they get any nutrition.

I bet you can already guess what we packed our next time to provide snack! Yep, you guessed it grapes and oranges. Look how cute they look all packed up ready to go.



Another snack I recently provided (sorry no picture):

Blueberry Flax Muffins

1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup Agave Nectar (or honey)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp ground flax seeds
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (can use 1 cup of applesauce as substitute)
1 cup fat free plain yogurt
2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries, washed and stems removed

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix dry ingredients, except flax seeds- together in separate bowl. Whisk eggs and ground flax seeds together in bowl until blended. Add nectar, sugar, vanilla and butter together until creamy then add yogurt and whisk. Gradually add dry ingredients and fold in with blueberries. It is very important NOT to over stir or mix all ingredients. Muffins will turn out stiff.
Makes 12 large or 24 smaller muffins. Bake for 8-10 minutes.