10 ingredients or less: Delight the kids’ palates, maintain your sanity

Posted by Tracy Ilene Miller on January 21, 2011 under Balanced Eating, Parenting, Recipes

My daughter turned to me the other night while eating her dinner: “Mama, our pizza tastes better than the pizza in the store.”

Simple statement, but I nearly cried for joy. But as many experienced parents know, if you make the reaction too big, it can backfire: Children freeze when they smell a situation where it seems they’ve inadvertently done exactly what their parents wanted — they note it and do the complete opposite the next time. Just for the heck of it. It’s developmentally ensured.

So, I modulated my reaction, kept it to a “thank-you” and a hug, and asked her why: not so cheesy and salty, she said, followed by the simple declarative of a six year old, “It just tastes better, Mama.”

For me, this represented a triumph for my need to cook with basics (and with less cheese), and fast, but still feed my daughter well. Read More | Comment

Live simple, relax — and create change at your own pace

Posted by Christina Pirello on January 13, 2011 under Healthy Living, Lifestyle, Making choices, Recipes

It’s that time of year again when we say: I’m going to get fit, eat well and live greener!

But what to do? People get confused and scared by grim statistics and dire predictions about health and our diets. Organic, non-organic, local, commercial, GMOs, farm fresh, natural — it’s like you need to be a rocket scientist to grocery shop. And after all that, after doing “all the right things,” the food is less than yummy, and you’ve given up all the “fun stuff.”

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