Healthy Recipes

Most people would like to improve their eating habits, but don't have time to devote to a total menu make-over. This will certainly take some planning. Check out my post on meal planning for more on the topic of planning your meals. After you get into the habit of making a plan for healthy meals, recipes become the next hurdle.

There are three basic ways to get healthy foods onto your menu: using recipes, making your own creations, or modifying recipes will all help you incorporate healthy foods into your diet.

Recipes:
Although I still have a few, recipe books are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Every recipe you could ever hope to find is on the Internet. I rely on the Internet quite a bit when I am cooking. In fact, all of my Thanksgiving and Christmas cooking was done from recipes I found on the Internet. Recipe books are useful for specialized foods. I rely heavily on a book called The Miami Mediterranean Diet. This book is about incorporating Mediterranean cooking into your diet and is filled with great recipes.

Making your own creations:
Some people are really good at this, but I am not. Put me in a kitchen with a pile of ingredients, and I need Google to help me make use of them in a creative and edible recipe. My lack of talent in this area is exactly why I bought the book on Mediterranean cooking mentioned above. I knew that I should be incorporating certain foods into my diet, but I did not know how. If you are one of the talented or adventurous individuals who can create meals from a list of ingredients, I envy you. Making your own creations also takes time and practice. There are tons of food blogs on the Internet that tell the stories of people who create their own recipes, and I choose to rely on them instead of my own creations (at least for now).

Modifying Recipes:
This is one of my favorite methods of incorporating healthy food into my family's menu. Most mom's learn to modify recipes out of desperation. How else can we get our children to eat vegetables? I also modify recipes because I want my family eating whole grains, ground flax, and less sugar.

How do I make all of this work in my kitchen?
One weekend, I found myself craving pumpkin muffins. I remembered that I had once made some really good/healthy pumpkin muffins several years ago but had no idea where I would find that recipe (it might have been on the back of the label on the can). I typed "whole wheat pumpkin muffins" into the search box and the fourth entry listed in the results was for whole wheat pumpkin muffins with cranberries and walnuts. This recipe is on a terrific blog called Pinch My Salt. I reviewed the recipe and decided it was perfect for me. I had all of the necessary ingredients or knew I could make adequate substitutions and the ingredient list met with my nutritional goals. I did make some modifications to the recipe, but the basic foundation belongs to the talented chef/blogger at Pinch My Salt. When people ask me for the recipe for my muffins, I give out the link to the blog. I thought I would take the time to walk people through how I modified the recipe. I am putting the exact recipe below. The original can be found at the blog Pinch My Salt.  I will note my changes in parentheses.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins with Cranberries and Walnuts
2 1/2 C. whole wheat flour (I use 2C Wheat Flour, 1/4C Ground Flax, 1/4C Wheat Germ)
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice (I don't have pumpkin pie spice so I use 1 1/2t ground cinnamon, 1/2t ground nutmeg, 1/4t ground cloves, 1/2t ground ginger)
1 C. pumpkin puree (I use canned)
2 T. oil
3/4 C. honey (I use 1 1/4C Splenda + 1/4C water)
2 eggs
2/3 C. buttermilk (I use the powdered substitute that is available in any grocery store)
1 t. vanilla
1/2 C. sweetened dried cranberries (like Craisins)
1/2 C. chopped walnuts
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a standard size 12 cup muffin tin (I use cooking spray).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice; set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, oil, honey, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla.
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir together until just combined. Fold in the cranberries and walnuts.
5. Divide batter evenly between 12 standard sized muffin cups. Bake 20-23 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven. Muffins are done when they spring back lightly to the touch or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Give it a try, add some healthy ingredients to your favorite recipes or find a new recipe. Please share what you do to add healthy food to your diet in the comments.

How About those Routines?

In my last post, I wrote about returning to routines after having them disrupted. In my case, we were just ending winter break. I am 2 weeks into my "regular routine" and some things are going well while some things are not going so well.

What's going well?

• We are eating healthy meals and the meal planning routine seems to be back to normal.
• I have added a new exercise routine and that has been going well.
• I am trying to change my evening routines and that seems to be going well for me and my family. (I hope to write about this soon.)
• Laundry is getting done. Having a plan in place has made that easy.
• I have been working with my daughter to study for some big tests. I had not planned on this, but we are working on making a study plan as we go.
• I am making time to read everyday.
• My children have embraced the idea of turning off the TV, and that has become a new part of our weekends and evenings.

What's not going so well?

• There are still some Christmas decorations out (they are going in the box today).
• We are having trouble getting back to our evening routines that involve picking up around the house.
• I have not had time to write or research for my blog. It seems this routine has disappeared all together.

All in all, I feel fairly successful with our return to "normal" and I feel as if I am able to deal with the areas that are not going well. I can live with the fact that the house is not as clean as I would like because I know we can get back to keeping it clean. I am also aware of the fact that we have added some new routines to our life that will need some time to get settled into.

Preparing to Return to "Normal"

This is it. Today is the last day of my winter break. I return to work and my children return to school tomorrow. Yesterday (Jan 1) was a lazy day. I worked on my scrapbooks, did one load of laundry (see Managing Laundry) planned the meals (see meal planning) for this coming week, and read. How am I going to get my family ready for the coming week and still enjoy my last day of break? A little planning and a little letting go (see Keeping Routines During Non-Routine Times) are my strategies.

Planning:

• As I have planned, the holiday leftovers are gone from the house and we are returning to more healthy eating starting today. All of our bodies will be thankful for that. I have even planned what I will eat for my 3 meals and snacks today.
• I have a plan for the 3 meals I plan to cook today that we will eat next week (see Meal Planning). It is just past 8:00 a.m. and I have already cooked the first meal for next week (chili made with veggies and turkey). I used the food processor (new gift) and had it on the stove while the coffee was brewing. 
• I have written down what each person in my family needs to accomplish today. For me, it includes exercising , scrapbooking and reading along with the chores that need to get done (see Planning your Free Time). 
• We are all going to take time today to make a plan for next week. This will help us return to our routines and not be stressed out.

Letting Go:

• The Christmas tree is still up and the living room is still decorated. That is just going to have to be OK. We have agreed to take it down next weekend when we will have more time.
• I do not plan to do any house cleaning today. The house was just cleaned the other day for an event we hosted, and is in good enough shape to get us into the week. 
• I had hoped to spend time cleaning out my bedroom this break, but I did not get to finish that project. I will work it into my future plans instead of spending today getting my room finished.
• I will only do one load of laundry today. My laundry system only requires that I wash one load per day. It is tempting to wash an extra load, but that would keep me from getting to the other things on my list.  

Wish me luck! I am finished with my morning coffee now (a routine I can never let go) and I am going to exercise. I know what I plan to accomplish today and I hope I get to everything on my list. Are you using planning to get things accomplished? Tell us about your ideas, successes and/or challenges in the comment area below.