Cooking with kids

I believe it is very important to let your children help you in the kitchen. Letting your children be more involved in cooking and baking gives them a sense of accomplishment and makes them feel  good about themselves. It is so important that children learn about nutrition and how to take care of themselves and others by cooking healthy meals. I am grateful to my mother who always let my sister and I help her in the kitchen, she is an amazing cook! I am also thankful for how she raised us on healthy foods so that we learned to like vegetables at an early age. My sister and see comfort food as being what our mom gave us growing up like bran muffins, cucumber buns, Beet soup and lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. We love those foods now because we learned to like them very young. It is really good that kids get used to those foods from the very start. My sister is doing that now with my niece, she has  introduced her to a lot of variety of fruits and vegetables and other nutritious foods and my niece  loves them. I am trying very hard to add as much healthy ingredients to my baking and cooking for the children at the kindergarten I work for. I love adding grated carrot, zucchini, Quinoa, Flax and lots of fresh vegetables in wherever I can. I love vegetables and fruit!! I think the more you add to your baking and cooking the better! Not only are they so good for you but they bring such nice color to whatever you are making. If you are making salad I think it is fun to add  as much vegetables as possible for color flavor, texture and most of all so you and your family can be healthy!!

Soup 101 Chop-Boil-Saute-Puree-Season-Serve-enjoy!

Soup is a great way to add lots of nutrition into your diet and it doesn't have to be difficult.

I always us this same method of making soup and then I just change up the ingredients like I do with my baking. If you have a good base you can be creative with whatever you are making.  I don't like to use flours in my soup too thicken them. I use potatoes, yams, lentils and squashes to make my pureed soups instead of the gluten.


Soup Base

Fill a large pot 1/2 way full of potatoes, you don't even need to peel them or cut them, you can use any kind you like. fill the pot up with 3/4 full of chicken stock or vegetable stock. Boil for about 30 minutes on high until potatoes are soft. You can add lentils right in the pot with potatoes if you are using lentils. In a pan add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil, add diced celery, onion and 1 tsp of grated garlic. In the pan is where you add your seasoning, tsp of salt and pepper, a couple teaspoons of sugar helps to balance the flavors. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add whatever spices you want if you are making the soup too have curry flavor add 1 tbsp of curry powder. If you are making a Autumn soup like a pumpkin spice soup, you would add your chopped pumpkin to the pot of potatoes and cinnamon and nut meg to the pan, with vegetables. Add your seasoned vegetables to the pot of potatoes and lentils, continue to boil. Once everything is soft get your hand held blender and puree until smooth. adjust seasoning, add chopped herbs if you like.

Recap
All soups start with boiling potatoes, yams, squashes and other hard vegetables like carrots in a pot
of stock, vegetable or chicken. Low sodium!
Lentils take time to break down, so they should be cooked with the potatoes.
A pan of sauteed vegetables, onion celery as well as the spices you want to use.

Once potatoes become soft add your vegetables and seasoning.

Puree, until nice and smooth, serve and enjoy! 

  Use this base for all your pureed soups and be as creative as you like!

 Try using sweet potatoes chopped carrots and grated ginger    Carrot Ginger Soup

 Use white potatoes, corn and dried chickpeas                           Potato Corn Chowder

 Yams, squash and carrots with a hint of cinnamon                   Autumn Spice Yam

 White potato, broccoli and dried peas and grated carrot           Creamy Potato Broccoli

  Add coconut milk if you like to the carrot curry soups.
  Add Cheese to the broccoli and the chowders to make the extra tasty!

 No matter how you make your soup, have fun, be creative and add lots of vegetables!!!

Gluten Free Vegan Molasass Muffins

I am looking for lots of gluten free recipes so I can make them at the school I work for, so the children who have a gluten intolerance will have something that tastes and looks similar to what their friends are eating. I have been experimenting with being gluten free and I honestly feel so much better! I have been making this recipe for a good part of my life and I thought instead of looking for a new recipe just use the one you have and love, just change up the whole wheat four and use a gluten free , example, rice, spelt, tapioca four instead. I have also been looking for some good vegan baking recipes. In my muffin recipe I use one egg and milk, instead of using those ingredients I mashed up a banana, the banana acts like a binder instead of the egg. You can mix 1 Tbsp of ground flax as well with 1 tbsp of water, mix it around and it will have the same texture as an egg. For the milk I used almond milk to make it lactose free. You can use, coconut milk, rice milk whatever you like. I am really realizing how easy it is to make all of these allergy friendly baked goods. I baked these muffins yesterday and froze them for the week. I really enjoyed the muffin I hope you do as well!



Recipe;

2 cups spelt flour
1 cup oats
1/4 cup help hearts
2 tsp of baking soda
2 tsp of baking powder
1 1/4 tsp of salt

mix dry ingredients in a bowl


2 cups almond milk or whatever dairy free milk you like
1 banana mashed up
1 cup of grated carrot
3/4 cup of molasass
2/3 cup of honey

Measure wet into a separate bowl

Add all together, stir until smooth and everything is well incorporated. Pour into muffin cups, bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. I think these muffins are really good with peanut butter on top, but you can top it with whatever you like.

One thing is to remember baking doesn't always have to be done just the way a recipe says it has too. You can experiment and be creative, as long as you have a good base, you can add pretty much anything you want. Quinoa would be great  in these muffins. You could even make them with coco powder and make them chocolatey. I never used to like baking because I didn't like to follow a recipe but now I actually like it because I can add whatever I like to my baking and I can be as creative as I want and you can as well!

My favorite health food and some facts about them

I love Silver Hills bread! Ever sense I have cut gluten out of my diet I feel a whole lot better! I don't think being gluten free is that difficult for any of us considering how much gluten free products are out there right now. One thing is to realize though is don't just buy everything just because it says gluten free on it, just because it says it's gluten free doesn't mean it's good for you. For example a box of gluten free granola bars can sometimes have more sugar or other things you don't need but it will be marketed as something you think you need because it says gluten free on it. My tip is when shopping for groceries try to pick items out that are one ingredient foods, you shouldn't have to read any list of ingredients on it. For example, oats, fish, oranges, apples, rice, blueberries, nuts. Most of best things for our bodies are just one ingredient.

Oats, extremely good for you and your brain function

Oranges, so good for your immune system, believe it or not the skin on an orange can kill cancer cells in your stomach. The little burn you taste from the skin of an orange peel it what our bodies need to burn cancer cells and protect us from letting cancer cells grow.
  
Chocolate, my favorite thing!!!
I love chocolate I always have ever sense I was little it has been my favorite thing! I have always loved dark chocolate because I really love that bitter taste! I love hearing how good dark chocolate is for you and that just a few pieces a day can really help protect your heart and satisfy your sweet tooth without feeling guilty.  It has to be at least 70 % dark though, I like 85-90 %, the darker the better!   

Natural fats, avocados, nuts, extra virgin olive oil, banana, tuna
 they are all good for you! Natural fat will help you burn more fat and satisfy you so you won't have as many cravings. The next time you make a salad add some tuna, chop up some avocado on it sprinkle some nuts on top and make a dressing out of extra virgin olive oil. You won't believe how satisfied you will feel after you eating your salad.

Ginger, cinnamon and turmeric, my favorite spices!
I love to grate ginger into my tea, it not only helps digestion it builds your immune system and we can all use that going into the fall and winter season!   

Cinnamon helps regulate your blood sugar and contributes to fighting caner cells.

Turmeric, it helps reduce inflammation in your body and is extremely  high in antioxidants. 

Gogi berries,
I absolutely love them! They are know for treating diabetes, hypertension, malaria, fever, cancer and other ailments. They have more beta carton than carrots do. I love putting them on my oatmeal, they taste like a raisin but they more bitter.

Anything coconut! You see coconut every where these days. You can now have coconut water anywhere you go! I have seen a lot more coconut advertised in store more than ever! I just tried coconut yogurt and I love it! I was really enjoying Greek yogurt but until I tried this I don't think I will ever go back to dairy yogurt.  Coconut is packed with potassium, fiber and lots of nutrients are bodies need.

I hope I was able to offer some insight on how simple it is to be healthy just by adding some of these healthy foods and spices to your diet each day.  

Sincerely Andrea
 

Great site for kid friendly recipes

 

http://pickyeating.ca/Home.html

Great Gluten Free Recipes

 

http://www.livingwithout.com/