Pantry Staples

Lets talk about a go-to meal around our house. It's easy. The ingredients are always in the house and it takes less than 5 minutes to prepare. Boxed Mac N' Cheese takes longer. In fact, Ramen Noodles take longer.

This go to meal saves me from 1. spending too much time driving to fast food. 2. eating fast food or 3. eating boxed, prepared meals in my house that have ingredients I don't recognize and aren't nourishing (aka: "junk"). Food-like substances are not eaten when my go-to meal is around.

I do create a meal plan and any good plan has a plan B. Wahoo! I crammed a lot of planning into that last sentence. The gist is: plan, plan to fail and then your plan won't fail. Got it?

What is your go-to pantry/freezer meal?

Rice and Beans A La Quick

• Cooked brown rice from the freezer (2 cups)
• Black beans (from can or freezer, preferably the freezer) (1 cup)
• Peas and Carrots (frozen - the bag from Whole Foods has carrot slices that are easy to pick up by little hands) (1 cup)
• Salsa (to taste, about 1/4 cup)

• Sour Cream (optional)
• Cheese (optional)
• Chips (optional)

And, yes, my kids LOVE this. Babies get smashed beans and little salsa. Big kids get chips. We all win and clean up is a breeze.

Bonus: it's gluten-free.

*Anti-inflammatory diets: skip the chips and dairy
*Dairy-free: enjoy the salsa and skip the obvious offenders
*Everyone: keep the sodium-filled chips to a minimum or, even better, buy/make low sodium chips.

Why is this healthy?

Rice and beans together create a complete protein. So, they are the perfect pair.

Sugar Plum Fairy

Thank you to Kara Fleck of Simple Kids for giving us this great idea! She posted at the Simple Organic web site about her kids' visits from the Sugar Plum Fairy. 

Our children are young still, so it's a great time to start. Tonight, our son (the trick or treater) took out several pieces of candy he wants to keep and left the rest on his dresser for the Sugar Plum Fairy. We did need to give him a little preview of what toy he might get (apparently, mommy had a chat with Sugar Plum Fairy awhile ago). But, after that it was smooth sailing. 

I don't mind my kids having some treats. But, I would have to regulate the treats from now to February given of the amount of candy received. This haul of sugary sweets is in addition to the coming festivities. We decided it was a good idea to get the stuff out of the house now, while we could. I'm sure there's more to come and we do often have sweets of various, more healthy kinds around. We'd like for our kids to learn to deal with moderation and feel like they are making choices. So, my son had a choice about the toy and "visit". He may choose otherwise another year. That will be fine too. We'll just have to set some limits about where to go from there.

A Few Rules of Thumb

There are a few gems in life that help us remember how to balance what is important. One I find useful is the 80/20 rule. When a well intended friend/family member/babysitter brings something less-than-healthy into our home, I remember this rule. It is that my kids can have 20% of their diet consist of things that are less than I'd prefer. This keeps balance in our lives and, I hope, keeps them from craving forbidden fruit (snacks).

The other heuristic I find helpful is the 60/40 rule. I'll write a lot about this as I find it's a key to introducing vegetables and keeping them going in our family's diet. Veggies and fruit are well mixed at a 60/40 ratio. My favorite example of this is our carrot/apple salad. I made this for my first child and it dropped off my radar screen as he was able to progressively eat more chunky foods. When my second child came along, we welcomed it back. This time it has stayed as a staple side or snack.

Carrot Apple Salad

- 2 peeled, small, sweet apples

- 1 medium peeled carrot

Grate together on the fine side of your grater, mix, add ground flax (optional) and serve.

I try to encourage using forks on this one, but it's most often eaten with clean hands at our house.

The great thing about the 60/40 rule is that it's a starting point. Once family members are used to the taste of the food, they're often more likely to enjoy the vegetable alone or in a more highlighted way. However, sometimes a 90/10 rule may need to be started and progressed to where you want. Start with a little of what you're hoping to incorporate and then gradually add more over time. For example, if you're trying to switch teenagers over to brown rice. Start with a little mixed into their traditional fare of white rice. Keep going until it's half and half and then onward to all brown. Slow and steady... the older the person, the longer it'll take to change their habits and palate.

One of the few instances when the 60/40 is a good idea and a ratio that shouldn't be changed is in the case of green smoothies. More than 40% vegetables makes it unpalatable for my family. Otherwise, go crazy! Keep pushing the envelope to see what works for you and those you love.