What is summer?  Wikipedia breaks it into categories, timing, weather, holidays, and activities.  Wait, what about food?  Summer for me is strawberries, raspberries, spinach, lettuce, bing cherries, green beans, peas, watermelon and an old fashioned picnic.  It is many things, timing, weather, holidays and activities but food, oh the food from the garden, traditional things like lemonade on a warm day and a picnic with fried chicken, potato salad, baked beans and don't forget the chips!  Let's take a look at some fast and fun foods for the summer and take a look at food safety so we all stay nice and healthy while enjoying summer festivities. 

Summer is for simple things because the activities are in full swing!  Sandwiches, wraps and keeping it simple is my motto for summer food.  The idea of cooking once and eating twice means half of the prep time and more time to play.

Memorial Day weekend found us in the yard and garden preparing for the upcoming months.  We had a lot on our to do list, but I didn't want to forget about the food, the wonderful, mouth watering and nutritious food.  I found that our local store had Pork Shoulder Roast for $1.88 a pound.  I chose to fix this for Sunday dinner.  I found this lovely rub on-line and cooked it at 300 degrees fahrenheit for about 4 hours.  http://bbq.about.com/od/rubrecipes/r/bln0224a.htm  My roast was 10 pounds, I used about 1/2 of the rub on the roast.  Along with summer at our house is the sacred grill, a good meat rub is nice to keep on hand.  I personally like a rub that has a mix of spice and sweet, so I enjoy a good North Carolina Rub.  Sunday dinner found a roast meal with potatoes and gravy, green beans and an apple cobbler for dessert.  Monday, found the roast turned into pulled pork sandwiches, the roast was slow cooked and fell apart, I then covered it with barbecue sauce.  This is a great time of year to stock up on bottles of barbecue sauce.  You can find great home made sauce on line as well.  Check out this sight, http://bbq.about.com/od/barbecuesaucerecipes/tp/10barbecuesauce.htm.  I have a family favorite that we use, it comes from the Better Homes and Garden recipe book that I have had for many years!

Ranae's Barbecue Sauce

In a sauce pan, stir together 1/2 cup catsup, 1/4 cup chopped onion, 2 tbs. brown sugar, 1 tbls. prepared mustard, 1 tbs. water, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1/4 tsp. garlic powder and 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper.  Cook 2 minutes or until onion is tender.  Makes 3/4 cup (6 servings).

Recap: Sunday, roast dinner with potatoes and vegetable, Monday, pulled pork sandwiches, served with potato salad and baked beans. Leftovers, frozen into portions for sandwiches for lunches in a week or so.  Never let anything go to waste!  It is typical for a family to grow tired of leftovers, they can be easily frozen for a quick and easy meal at a later time.

Wraps:  Anything wraps up in a tortilla!  The shredded pork could have been put in a tortilla with peppers, onion, tomatoes and lettuce topped with taco sauce for a twist.  Our family likes to make Quesadillas, we cover the tortilla shell with shredded low fat cheddar jack cheese, place under broiler for just a few minutes, top it with tomatoes, lettuce and salsa, and you have a healthy snack or it can be a main entrée.  For a grab and go breakfast, scramble eggs and add cheese and salsa, great quick breakfast on the go, or a great lunch item.  My favorite snack is a small tortilla, spread 1 tbs. of nuetella, or peanut butter, place a banana in the middle, roll up the tortilla and eat, makes me smile thinking about it!

Tortillas are so very easy to make.  The ingredients are flour, baking powder, salt, oil and water.  They are a bit labor intense, but you will get your physical activity in for the day!  This link is a wonderful recipe, you will notice videos on the right hand side to get you started!  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/authentic-mexican-tortillas/.  We make the tortillas as a family. Typically, we double the batch and freeze some for later.  In the summer, we go through a lot of tortillas because you can have a quick and easy meal or snack.

Picnics in the Summer Time!  Who does not love a good old fashioned picnic?  My motto is still to keep it simple.  Summer always brings hot weather and bacteria just loves a picnic! With a few tips, you can be sure that your summer fun is not ruined by a food borne illness.   http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/UCM239489.pdf  This tip sheet will help you to be sure your food is safe for your summer picnic.  To sum up safe practices, keep the hot food hot and the cold food cold.  As soon as you have completed your picnic lunch, be sure to place food in a cooler if you want to serve the food at a later time.  Always play it safe and when in doubt, throw it out!

Fruit in the summer is just absolutely the best!  What an easy snack, fresh berries, sliced water melon and cantaloupe.  One of my favorite things to put on the table is a fruit salad.  At my house, that means whatever fruit is in the frig, sliced and eaten fresh, yum!  The fruit is endless, grapes, strawberries, bananas, blueberries and the list just goes on!  Vary the colors and you get a variety of vitamins and minerals to improve your health.

Vegetables are at a premium too.  Try something you have not tried before!  One of my favorite things to do is to make pasta salad, I include a variety of vegetables in my salads.  My favorite pasta to use is rainbow pasta with dried spinach and dried tomato.  Slices of fresh cucumber, squash, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, onion, black olives and cherry tomatoes are a spectacular colorful combination as well as a mixture of great tastes!  You could use a variety of dressings for your salad.  I keep on hand our favorite salad dressings, creamy italian, ranch and oil and vinegar.  I am most fond of my home made oil and vinegar, You will find this in my previous post on gardening.  The best part of making a home made oil and vinegar dressing, is that you can decide on the herbs and this alters the taste of the salad.  In the spice section of your grocery store, you will find a blend of spices and it is labeled for salads, this adds a nice flare to your pasta salad.  Once you make your first pasta salad, you will not go back to the box version!

What is summer without a dessert?  Again, fruit is in abundance, so a lot of times, we will call the water melon a dessert.  We also enjoy fruit cobblers.  My favorite cobbler comes from my Aunt.  So simple!

Apple Cobbler

Sliced Apples tossed with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon.  Spread in bottom of 9X13 pan (approximately 4 to 6 cups)
Combine 3/4 c. flour, 3/4 c. oatmeal, 1/2 c. brown sugar and 1/2 c. butter.  Mix together till crumbly.  Spread evenly over top of apples.  Bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit until apples are tender and top is slightly brown.  Approximately 30 minutes.

One thing I have learned about summer, this is a time that I do need to work on planning.  Healthy snacks and easy meals are a must.  Get your kids involved, no time like the present to visit your local farmer's market or super market and check your produce section to see what is in season.  Give your kids the chance to try something new or be creative with a food you have had before.  As your kids get a bit older, it is a good thing to help them learn to cook easy and healthy meals and snacks.  This will help prepare them for good habits when they are grown-up.

Summer is all about timing, weather, holidays and activities.  Don't forget the exercise!  Check out your local parks and exercise trails, you will be glad you did!  Our family enjoys a local hiking trail.  Add a picnic lunch and you will have summertime memories to last a lifetime!

Yanney Park, One of our favorite places to ride bicycles, walk and enjoy the outdoors!  Find your local parks and trails and enjoy!  Make this a part of your summer tradition!

I leave you with this fun video, "Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen".   As school comes to a close and summertime begins, be mindful that the habits with regard to food and having a healthy lifestyle will be of great benefit to you, your family and generations to come!   Happy summer!

What About a Garden to Eat Healthy On A Tight Budget?

 

As I think about spring and summer and gardening, I get a bit hysterical because it means less attention to the goings on in my house.  How will I play cook, chief bottle washer, cleaning lady, mom, gardener and all of those things in between?  The key is to keep it simple!  Mainstream your life a bit.  My first action step is to get the family on board.  1.  Pick up after yourself. 2. Enlist help with planting, weeding the garden and with harvest.3. Prioritize, oh this is the toughie!  My mind wonders to a bible verse and a song written for it, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens."

Spring and summer for me is a time to clean out the old and bring in the new!  The new being that of my garden.  The thought of fresh salad and fruit from my garden coming to my kitchen and finding its way to the plate is so very exciting!  With a bit of planning, you can have a small garden in just about any circumstance.

 

Your local nursery will have varieties that do well in pots.  This is a great way if you have a lot of time constraints and perhaps issues with space.  In the beginning, it is good to start small and then each year, add to it. 

 

One of my favorite things is my salad garden area.  I plant it in close proximity to my kitchen.  You will find spinach, lettuce, arugula, radishes and onion.  I find that the closer it is to my kitchen, the more I fit it in to my meal plan.  There is nothing more nutritional and easy than a chef's salad on the table in the summer.  A mix of greens, meat if desired, cheese and I even love to add berries to the salad.  Let your creative juices flow when it comes to the salad.  I also can't stress enough how wonderful it is to have herbs as a part of your garden.  I have a new favorite recipe for my oil and vinegar dressing and the best part is that I use my fresh oregano!  It has the best flavor.

Ranae's Favorite Vinaigrette Dressing

 1/3 c. apple cider vinegar (white works too!)

1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil (canola oil works too!)

1tbs. sugar

1 tsp. fresh oregano, basil,rosemary or thyme ( my favorite is oregano and thyme)

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

Mix all ingredients.  Just lovely!  If you use olive oil, keep it at room temperature or you will find it hard to mix and pour.

 

 

my lovely oregano



We are working on establishing more perennial fruits and vegetables in our garden.  Rhubarb is a wonderful plant to establish!  I love to make desserts with Rhubarb and strawberries.  The latest Cook it Quick Newsletter from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has a great recipe for a Strawberry Rhubarb dessert.  http://food.unl.edu/web/fnh/cook-it-quick-newsletter-may-2013 You will find this website to be of a lot of help when cooking in your kitchen.  Other perennials we are establishing are asparagus, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, apples, peaches, cherries, and pears.  A lot of the perennials I speak of will take a few years to establish, so don't delay!  This is a great way to have produce for generations to come without replanting every year.

 

Looking ahead to harvesting your garden, there is a lot of help with food preservation at this link http://food.unl.edu/web/preservation/home. 

 

When I began to be extremely interested in gardening, everything from establishing our fruit orchard to old fashioned sustainable living, a neighbor recommended the book, "Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Resource for Every Gardener."  I found it very reasonably priced at Amazon and it has been used for selecting crops, where to plant them, things to be mindful of etc.  It is just an amazing resource.  I also found a website that is interesting and by Rodale http://www.rodale.com/topic/organic-gardening  I also through the years have learned a lot from the publication, Mother Earth News, you can find them at http://www.motherearthnews.com/ 

 

Gardening in recent years is becoming the cool thing to do, especially if you are a foodie!  Such creativity with the emergence of roof top gardens in the cities, to growing yore items in pots on your patio to full fledged gardening operations.  If I have not convinced you to grow your own, visit your local farmer's market!  Buying local food is such a great way to eat healthy and help your local farmer all at the same time!  So what will it be?  A small container garden, old fashioned garden or seeking out your local farmer's market?  I love this time of year.  The food is being planted and there is nothing sweeter than watching your food grow and preparing it into lovely pieces of healthy art for your family to enjoy! I leave you with this fun video of a remix of Julia Child.  She always said that fresh is better and there is nothing more fresh than food from the garden.  Food is a lot like our favorite things in life, it gives us sustainability and feelings of satisfaction.  For me, gardening just adds more of a happy element to the food that I grow, prepare and consume.  Until next time, how does your garden grow, or does it?  That is your assignment, to grow or not to grow.  If the answer is yes, welcome to a whole new world of learning how to eat healthy on a tight budget, it can be done and it can be fun!

 



Breakfast, Still The Most Important Meal of the Day!

I know what you are thinking, I don't have time in the morning for this!  I am the world's worst morning person.  As a teen, I rebelled and refused breakfast.  As I have gotten older, I find that if I do not eat breakfast, I have issues with concentrating, low-blood sugar symptoms and to top it all off, I get really crabby.  So, breakfast is now one of those must haves for me and I am working hard on instilling this value for everyone in our family.  Breakfast does not need to be difficult, make it as simple as you can.  

For many years, I grabbed various cereal boxes off the shelf and brought them home.  Today, you will find those boxes but I add a few other things in-between.  I found that when reading the labels on cereal, I found all kinds of added ingredients that I did not want in my diet.  For instance, I found Raisin Bran to have 360 mg. of sodium in one bowl!  I have to keep my sodium below 1500mg. on a daily basis due to health issues.  So, in my estimation, this is not a good choice.  A good rule of thumb if you dislike reading labels, choose those that have the WIC seal of approval.  You will find those on the unit shelf display.  One example is frosted mini wheats, one of my favorite choices.

One of the keys to a balanced breakfast and a way to be sure you get all the necessary foods into your diet is to include 3 different foods from 3 different food groups.  Now, I know what you are thinking at this point ( I know I did!), seriously?  I do not have time for this!  It is as simple as cereal, milk and a banana!  It just takes a bit of re-framing one's attitude toward this first meal of the day.  A couple of really economical choices for breakfast are oatmeal and cream of wheat.  The quick oats are still considered a whole grain and they do cook up a bit faster than the old fashioned oats.  We find we like the old fashioned ones the best.  I will cook up enough for two days and this is a great way to be ready and you can just warm up the oatmeal in the microwave and presto, breakfast is served.  There are other things you can do in the microwave as well.  Spray lightly a microwave proof bowl, scramble one egg and place in microwave on high for 30 seconds.  Be sure to beat the egg well and do not ever try to do an over easy egg, the yolk will blow up in the microwave and you will have a lovely mess!  While the egg is cooking, toast bread, a bagel or an english muffin.  Lightly spread butter on the toast, when egg is done, place on one side of the toast, add a slice of cheese (your choice), place slice of toast egg and cheese back in microwave for about 20 seconds, place the other toast on top and you have a breakfast sandwich.  Add a banana or a glass of juice, and you have breakfast!  If you need to, a lot of options can be taken on the run.  I find this does not work real well with my kids.  I do what I have to do to stay away from drive throughs that usually have options that are loaded in fat and calories.  I would rather save my money for other things such as a fine dining experience  not on a soggy breakfast burrito or smashed breakfast sandwich with a side of fried potatoes.

Lately, I have seen a lot of recipes for slow cooking.  I found this one for the slow cooker and I plan to try it soon.  It is a lot like a breakfast casserole that I bake in the oven.  

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe/stephanie-odeas-slow-cooker-hashbrown-breakfast-casserole-15007561

There are so many things in the media today that really make us think about the problems created by obesity.  Believe it or not, breakfast helps us to maintain healthy weight.  Our metabolism is like a car, energy in and energy out.  You need to keep meals on time, exercise (30 minutes most days of the week for adults and 60 minutes for kids), and include foods from all of the food groups.  An article in Today's Dietician will give you even more reasons for why Breakfast is the Most Important Meal of the Day! http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/090111p44.shtml

Morning I have decided is really not too bad, especially if I begin it with a wonderful breakfast and a window with a great view!  Give breakfast a try and you will feel like a million bucks and will be ready to have a fabulous day!