Avoiding Food Waste

I don't know about you, but I am a little apprehensive about recent reports that food prices will continue to rise in the next year.  I have a certain amount of money budgeted for food every month and I am sure many of you do too. So, I am not really thrilled about having to stretch my budget even more.   I do try very hard not to waste food and use up what I buy, but unfortunately most weeks I do end up throwing a little rotten food in the compost pile.  So, my new goal is to try and use up all of the leftovers in my fridge before they go bad!

My kids love the macaroni and cheese recipe from the Wildwood website recipe section.  This recipe calls for cottage cheese, which is something I don't use very often, and I always have about a cup leftover after I make the recipe.  My family doesn't like to eat cottage cheese by itself, so I am always looking for ways to use it up.  I went looking for a recipe this week to finish off the cottage cheese sitting in my fridge and I found a great one!  My family loved this recipe.  I love the fact that it contains nutrient-rich brown rice and is quick and easy to make!  This is also a great way to get some  whole grains in your childrens' diets so that they can "make half of their grains whole".  

Note: The cheapest place I have found to buy brown rice is in the bulk bins at Sunflower Market. 

Cheesy Brown Rice Casserole (adapted from Potpourri magazine)
2 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
4 green onions, chopped
1 cup lowfat cottage cheese
1/2 teaspoon dillweed

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Stir gently until well mixed.  Pour into a 2 quart casserole dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Crediting information: Makes 10 servings.  Each serving creditable for 1 bread/bread alternate at any meal or snack for 1-5 year old children. 


How do you use up leftovers?

Blast From the Past!

I recently had a provider email me to say that she had lost one of her kids' favorite muffin recipes that was published long ago in a Wildwood newsletter.  I was so happy to be able to dig up the recipe and send it to her.  Turns out it was originally published in 2001! 

I thought that I would share the recipe with all of you today.  You will have some leftover pumpkin after you make this recipe.  I like to use our pumpkin "leftovers" to stir into oatmeal for breakfast or for adding to soup or sauces.  These muffins would make a great snack, and they contain nutrient-rich pumpkin and "good" fats. 

Pumpkin Muffins (Wildwood newsletter October 2001)
1 1/2 cups enriched all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup lowfat or skim milk
1/2 cup pumpkin
3 Tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
1 large egg
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly grease the bottom of 10 muffin cups.  In a large bowl, combine all ingredients until moistened.  The batter will be lumpy.  Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.  Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes.  Remove muffins from pan to cool.

Crediting information: Makes 20 servings (10 muffins).  1/2 of a muffin is creditable as one bread/bread alternate for 1-5 year olds at any meal or snack. 

Enjoy!

One Important Way Home Child Care Providers Make a Difference

I love working for Wildwood because it is so rewarding to work with home child care providers!  One big reason for this is that home child care providers have such a great impact on the eating habits and diet of the children in their care.  They can help children learn about nutrition, and expose them to a wide variety of nutrient-rich foods that they might not have the opportunity to try at home.  Providers on our program teach children to have healthy eating habits that last a lifetime!

A couple of years ago we did a workshop addressing the influence of a child's diet on brain development in early childhood.  We know that a child's brain is growing the fastest in the first three years of life.  That is why what a child eats during this time is so important!   A new study that was recently published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health  gives more evidence to support just how important a healthy diet is.  The researchers found that if a child's diet was high in processed food (high in fats and sugars) at the age of 3 it caused a lower IQ later on in that child's life.  Surprisingly, even if a child's diet improved after age 3, there was no benefit to the IQ score (dietary patterns between the ages of 4 and 7 had no impact on the IQ).   The authors of the study suggest that these findings were due to the fact  that "good nutrition during the first three years of life may encourage optimal brain growth".

I just wanted to share this article and congratulate all of our providers who are participating in the Wildwood Child and Adult Care Food Program.  It helps to remind ourselves that while it may take a little more effort sometimes to prepare a healthy snack or meal rather than just serving more processed choices,  it is worth it for our kids' health and quality of life.  You are making a difference every day!

Quick Snack

I know that when I was a home child care provider, a quick snack was handy to have on a busy day.  If that snack also allowed the kids to be creative, even better!

Here is a quick snack idea that doubles as an art project.  I got the idea for these "egg heads" from Family Fun magazine:

These are super easy to make!  Simply slice a hard boiled egg and place each slice on a round cracker.  (We didn't have any round crackers so I used a cookie cutter to cut shapes from a whole wheat tortilla).  Then, allow the children to decorate their egg slices with eyes, noses, mouths, etc. made from whatever you have handy.  We used olives, chives, carrot bits, cherry tomatoes, celery leaves, and nuts. 

Use whole grain crackers if possible for a nutrient-rich snack!

Crediting information:  This snack is creditable for 1 meat/meat alternate and 1 bread/bread alternate at snack.  (using at least 1/4 of an egg and 10 grams (0.4 ounce) of crackers for 1-5 year old children).

Blueberry Muffins

Baby it's cold outside!  Both of my kids were home today because school was cancelled due to the cold weather.  We keep our house on the colder side, so we decided to warm it up a little by making some muffins.  I had bought some fresh blueberries on sale this week at Sunflower market so we decided that blueberry muffins were in order!

We tried a new recipe for our muffins.  I really like this recipe because it doesn't have a lot of sugar in it, and it has nutrient-rich whole wheat flour in it.  We used whole wheat pastry flour because I find that it makes a more tender muffin, but the original recipe called for regular whole wheat flour so I am sure you can use either.  The recipe also says it makes 1 1/2 dozen regular muffins but we made 12 mini muffins and 12 regular muffins.  *Note: If you make some (or all) of the muffins mini, just remember to check on them sooner, ours were done in about 12 minutes.

The verdict was unanimous.  These muffins were delicious!

Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
sprinkle of ground nutmeg
2 eggs
1 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (if using frozen blueberries do not thaw them)

In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.   In a smaller bowl beat the eggs, buttermilk and oil together.  Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just moistened.  Fold in the blueberries gently.

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full.  Bake at 375 degrees for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to cool on wire racks.  Serve warm.

Crediting information: Makes 38 servings.  Each serving creditable for 1 bread/bread alternate for children 1-5 years old at any meal or snack. 

Next time I will probably try and replace more of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour and see how it works out.

What is your kids' favorite muffin?

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines

The USDA released the 2010 Dietary Guidelines today.  I know, it is 2011, but at least they got them out by the end of January!  The USDA releases the Dietary Guidelines every 5 years.  They are based on the most current scientific knowledge about diet and disease, and they are also the basis for the familiar food guide pyramid (now known as "MyPyramid").  The guidelines are meant to help the American public improve their diets, and the USDA states that this is particularly important now in this "time of rising concern about the health of the American population".   More Americans are overweight and inactive than ever before and we are seeing increases in diabetes and other diseases as a result of poor diets.  These new guidelines are finally addressing the number one nutrition problem in this country which is obesity. 

Two concepts that are key in the new guidelines are that people need to:
1)  maintain calorie balance to achieve and sustain a healthy weight
and
 2) focus on nutrient-dense (also known as nutrient-rich) foods and beverages. (does this sound familiar?  Those of you who read this blog often know that I love to highlight nutrient-rich foods! )

What does this mean?  It means that as a country we need to eat less, and eat foods that are better for us.  We also need to limit foods that are nutrient-poor.


The USDA has also given some tips that people can use to apply the Dietary Guidelines advice to their everyday lives:

• Enjoy your food, but eat less.
• Avoid oversized portions.
• Make half of your plate fruits and vegetables.
• Switch to fat-free (skim) or 1% milk.
• Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals-and choose the foods with lower numbers.
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

These are not all of the recommendations that are included in the new guidelines, but they are a great place to start!  Other recommendations are the same as they were in the 2005 guidelines: limit saturated and trans fats, reduce added sugars, make half of your grains whole, choose lowfat dairy products, eat a variety of vegetables and fruits. 

The new version of "MyPyramid" or whatever means they choose to help portray this message to the American public should be out in a few months.  Let's hope people are listening!   I will continue to highlight nutrient-rich foods on this blog, as well as giving you advice on limiting those foods that should make up only a small part of your diet and your kid's diets = "bad" fats, sodium, added sugars and refined grains!

Marvelous Mangoes!

My children really like fruit and most of the fruits that we eat they liked the first time they tried them.  (One exception to this is bananas, which my daughter liked as a baby but for whatever reason cannot stand now)!  Mangoes, on the other hand, took my kids awhile to take a shine to.  For my family, they definitely fit into the "offer a new food at least 10 times" before your child will like it category.  But now my kids love them and so I buy them often, usually when they are on sale.

Mangoes have been a good deal the last couple of weeks at my neighborhood King Soopers so I have been buying several a week.  I let them sit out on the kitchen cabinet until they are slightly soft to the touch and then add them to a fruit salad which is quite delicious!  If you don't usually buy mangoes because you don't know how to cut them up, give it a try.   It does take a minute to pit them but certainly takes less time than cutting up a fresh pineapple!  Another of our favorite things to do with mangoes is to make smoothies for an after school snack.

Here is my kids' favorite recipe:
Mango smoothie
3 mangoes, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar (or substitute honey for kids over 1 year of age)
1 tray ice cubes

Directions
1.Place the mangoes, lime juice, confectioners' sugar or honey, and ice cubes in a blender. Blend until slushy.

Mangoes are a nutrient-rich food!  One mango has only about 135 calories but supplies 4 grams of fiber and is high in vitamin C (96% of daily needs).  It is also a good source of vitamin A, vitamin B6, potassium and copper.
 
What do you do with mangoes?