Posts from — May 2009

Come sample all your favorite Indigo Rabbit cookies at Whole Foods Market, Newtonville, 647 Washington St., Saturday, May 9 from 2:00-4:00!

Great gift ideas for all the moms in your life (and dads and kids and grandparents and graduates…)

I am blessed with two lovelies, each with a strong mind of her own.

I doubt I am alone in the following mommy-dom statement: My children are completely not alike!  They are dissimilar in so many wonderful ways, but one biggie is in their taste in food!

One daughter will gladly eat tuna fish sandwiches until she and/or I are blue in the face, but wouldn’t consider touching a tuna steak.  My other little one, however, feels the combo of such a lovely fish and mayo, and slapped upon bread for that matter, is a culinary travesty.

One will eat spinach when it’s hidden in a cookie (read  “Indigo Rabbit“), but the thought of poking such a fetching green with her fork and bringing it to lips makes her swoon.

Tonight was an exciting divergence from the familiar dinner time challenge – thrilling at least part of everyone’s pallet while certainly not appearing to do any such thing.

One of my children is out for the evening.  That means that for this dinnertime, the remaining family members (read “those with less compelling social calendars”) have an opportunity to venture into unexplored, and perhaps more “risky” culinary waters.

My youngest and I decided to make use of the sole I found in the freezer and make fish cakes.  Go figure.  On a Monday night!

I will say now (and make myself reread many times in the future) that I wish I did more of this – cooking with one child at a time.  What a divine experience.  It was exhilarating to really touch, smell, question every ingredient.  Really.

The biggest fun of the prep was when I asked my little companion to add the egg to our bowl of softly pillowed fish and diced celery.  She loves to crack those suckers so I figured I knew her next move.  What I looked up to see, however, was a large brown egg sitting nestled in its bed in the bowl.  I hope I never forget her expression and pride at such a gaffe.

The fish cakes were fantastic, the accompanying broccoli slaw salad a bit too spicy for a little pallet, but truly an excellent meal.  We’ll be sure to share all the details with our absent member and laugh at the expressions of disgust she’ll undoubtedly share as she considers our audacity at mixing more than 4 ingredients together at the same time!

All of us need sodium for our bodies to function well.   It regulates blood pressure and fluid balance.  Overdoing it, however, can be dangerous with regard to high blood pressure and heart disease.

The daily recommended daily intake of sodium is just over 2000mg (ONE TEASPOON).  The next time you go shopping, look through the pasta sauce and soup options, for example, and surprise yourself by noting how much sodium is in one serving (keeping in mind, once again, that you need to take a look at the serving size line on the label – one can of soup might contain 2 servings).

I’ve recently started making my own pasta sauce at home…

One can of crushed tomatoes (no sodium)

Garlic

Diced onions

Italian seasonings of my choosing

Red pepper flakes

A bit of salt and pepper to taste, which I can control. 

Not only do I feel more confident about what I’m serving the folks around my table, but it takes about as long to prepare as unscrewing a jar of the store bought variety and heating it up.  AND it’s a heck of a lot cheaper.

A brilliant mom entrepreneur friend of mine has just launched an on-line and email publication for moms.  She calls it “Momicillin” (penicillin for moms).  The writers are extraordinary and every post leaves me laughing out loud at my desk (and not at all embarrassed about it!).

You’ve got to read Lisa’s latest post to meet yourself through her words.  Really – a must read!  And let the laughs be loud.

Easter has come and gone and I am relieved to confess that I am finally turning into a regular mom.

As you may have read in the “About Sandy” section (or will now if you’re so inclined), I am the proud daughter of the leader (at least  in my mind) of the nutty-crunchy parade of Southern California circa 1970’s-ish.  However it happened, I am a duplicate of her in some of those “crunchy” ways.

Until now, I have whispered to our local Easter Bunny to surprise our kiddos with healthy holiday treats – my husband is really such a good sport.

This Easter, however, I joined the club of normal people who enjoy watching my kids chow on jelly beans and chocolate eggs.  And more importantly, I’ll admit it’s way more fun to secretly munch from an Easter basket filled with sugary treats than it is from a basket full of lollipops colored by elderberries and all-natural yogurt-covered raisins.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love all those things (again, husband a hero), but for Easter 2009 my family became “normal” for the holidays.

I’ve just launched Indigo Rabbit sales in CT today with a live in-store demo at Whole Foods Market in West Hartford.  I sold out in 90 minutes!

I think it’s important to sit down and put all this nutritional info into realistic context.

I had a conversation the other morning with a group of women I hold in very high regard.  They are a compassionate, ambitious, and discerning group and they had an excellent point to make.

These women have been eager to learn more and more about decoding nutrition labels and making healthful decisions about the foods they bring into their homes.  They described recent shopping visits (now as avid label reading consumers) as empowering, eye-opening, disheartening, sometimes disgusting, and, in the end, totally depressing.  They were, it seemed, dismayed that so many of their favorite foods were downright harmful to their health.  The chant – “Ignorance is Bliss”.

Once you know what to look for – the rotten stuff on food labels – and you can’t  pretend you don’t see it, there’s no turning back.  It’s just like being a committed recycler and then visiting a location that doesn’t facilitate recycling of your morning paper.  You can’t simply throw it in the trash.  You’re tempted to put it in your suitcase and cart it back to your hometown for proper disposal!

Food label reading is the same thing.  Now that the high fructose corn syrup, the hydrogenated oils and trans fats alerts are in your head, you simply can’t shake them out.

The reality is – for the new label reader, it does get easier.  Grocery shopping becomes an adventure, an expedition perhaps?  My kids get a kick out of correcting  me and/or my husband when we inadvertently place a “non-okay” (kiddo term) item in the cart during a shopping excursion.  Taking charge over what we CHOOSE to take in can make you feel refreshingly capable, no matter what your age.