Taters!

Potatoes get a bad reputation as empty carbs and an unhealthy vegetable, when in fact the opposite is true! In fact, 1 potato has DOUBLE the potassium of a banana, 70% of your daily Vitamin C, 30% of your daily B vitamins, AND 4 grams of protein! 

They're also incredibly versatile. From warm and hearty potato leek soup, to mashed potatoes, or even morning home fries, there are a million ways to eat these healthy, delicious tubers. The trouble comes in choosing the RIGHT potato, so we've made a quick little guide. 


Starchy: Russets or Idahos are starchier potatoes, which means they have lots of starch but tend to be drier. This results in a fluffy texture that is perfect for baking or frying or even boiling like for mashed potatoes or a baked potato bar. It also means this is not a potato that will hold it's shape very well once it's cooked, so skip it for potato salads or a potato gratin.

Waxy: Fingerling, Red, or New potatoes are waxy potatoes, with a very low starch content but a lot of moisture. They are great when you want to retain the creamy texture of a potato, as in a gratin, or home fries, or a potato salad. If you're making a soup, however, skip these ones.

All-Purpose: Yukon Golds are a good example of an all purpose potato that balances starch and moisture. They can be used in any variety of soups, gratins, mashes, or roasting, and even make pretty good fries! 


Now that you know your potato types, simply look up any heirloom variety of potato you might find at your market as starchy, waxy, or all purpose, and you'll know how to best use it! Pro Tip: If you're not sure what kind of potato you've got, slice into it. If milky white juices seep onto your knife and cutting board, it's a starchy variety. If it slices easily with no liquid coming out, it's waxy! 

Hot and Cold Lunches!

We all face different temperature issues when packing lunches for our kiddos. Sometimes it's how to keep everything cool, other times we try to find ways for them to eat a hot, home-cooked lunch.

Hot lunches are a great way to avoid sandwich fatigue and repurpose leftovers so we aren't always making something new. Some schools, especially for the younger tots, will heat up packed lunches for them. But as our kids have gotten older, it's a bit more of a free-for-all! Our best solution so far has been using a thermos, but here are a couple of our lunch packing tips!

For keeping cold:

Freeze your bread! Freezing the sliced bread for sandwiches keeps it fresher longer, and also ensures that the sandwich filling (like chicken or egg salad) stays cooler longer. The bread will be perfectly defrosted by lunch time!

Freeze yogurt! Yogurt can last longer than you think without strong refrigeration because it's bacteria cultures fight off anything hazardous, but freezing a yogurt is an easy way to add an "ice pack" without taking up a lot of extra space in a lunch.

Freeze a water bottle! Even a small water bottle or juice pack will keep lunches nice and cool in a backpack until lunch time.

Freeze the thermos! In the morning while you're packing a lunch and mainlining coffee, fill the thermos with ice water and let it sit in the freezer for 10 minutes. Pour out the ice water, put in your cold items, and be amazed at how long they stay chilly! This is perfect for packing a smoothie or milkshake for their lunches!

For keeping warm: 

Boil the (wide mouthed) thermos! Simply boil a small pot of water and pour it directly into the empty thermos, screw on the lid, and let it sit for 10 minutes. Remove the water and put in your favorite hot lunch! We love everything from an omelet, to chili, to meatball or mac n cheese. Even potstickers or shepherds' pie make great options!

Separate! Put napkins with utensils, a pack of crackers, or a banana in between the hot thermos and any sort of cold food you might be packing.

What are your lunchbox hacks? And how in the world do you get your kids to bring home the ice packs and all the containers?! :)

Up and Out the door!

Baked Oatmeal!

  

This month we’re coming to you with an easy summer breakfast reci-pea! Our Baked Oatmeal can be quickly prepped at night and baked in the morning for a warm healthy breakfast to fuel the family for all their daytime activities!

We decided to use quinoa flakes in our reci-pea to add more protein and fiber. When then replaced the butter, normally found in an oatmeal bake, with pumpkin puree! Lastly, this reci-pea is a great way to use up any aging fruit on your counter like bananas, nectarines and/or strawberries! Enjoy making this dish. Your kitchen will smell divine and you will have breakfast set for a few days.

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup quinoa flakes

1 ½ cup milk

1 cup coconut milk

1 egg

1 tsp baking powder

1.5 tsp cinnamon

½ cup pumpkin puree

1/3 cup maple syrup

2 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp brown sugar

3 ripe bananas, sliced

Process:

Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8x8 pan with non-stick cooking spray. Line the bottom of the pan with the banana slices or other fruit, and sprinkle with the brown sugar.

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and mix all the wet ingredients together in a bowl (both can be done the night before, just give the liquid mixture a good whisk in the morning.)

Evenly spread the dry ingredients over the bananas. Next, evenly pour the wet ingredients over the oats. Give the pan a good thwack on the counter to help liquid disperse and remove air. Bake for 45min, or until the center is set. Enjoy warm! Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.  

How we stopped eating off the kids' plates!

When you’re running after the kids, whose list of approved foods seems to change hourly, it’s very easy to end up eating off of the kid plate.

We know, you don’t relish it. It’s often more of a sigh and mindless grazing paired with a well-intentioned desire not to waste food. 

It can be hard to resist! That mac and cheese is pretty tasty! The problem is often that all those little bites of slobbery mashed up nuggets or slices of pizza with only one bite taken out of it add up to a lot of unintentional food (and calories!) instead of real meals.

Parents need healthy and nutritious meals in order keep up with kids, so making full meals a priority is important.

It seems like catch-22, so we decided to try out the two-bin option. We keep an empty food storage container in the fridge, and when the kids have food on their plate, and we are moving on to the next activity, we decide – compost or fridge. The older kids have to put their own uneaten food in compost or fridge as well, which helps them see what they’re wasting and teaches them to perhaps choose smaller portions next time. Half-eaten string cheese? Fridge. Couple of chicken sausage pieces? Fridge. Bread crusts? Compost.

This helps us avoid mindless eating as parents, and our rule for leftover kid food is “put it a veggie on it.” That’s it, pull out the container at the end of the day and you can turn that kid food into adult versions. The cheese stick goes into a grilled cheese with kale pesto on thick crusty bread. We have a big salad for dinner with some leftover nuggets and Caesar dressing, or eat the rest of the mac and cheese atop a big plate of roasted broccoli and mushrooms with some real Parmesan. Now we don’t feel guilty about throwing food away, and we can ensure that as grownups we are eating balanced meals. 

The compost either get’s picked up by your garbage man or you put it into soil in your garden!

Spiced Steeped Milk

A Mom to Mom Tip - Sledding Milk!

This week, we are tackling the age-old problem of kids + milk. While some kids love their milk others have a tough time finishing that glass of nutrition. We often find ourselves negotiating with our tiny Trump-esque titans for two more big sips. The cost-benefit analysis begins to weigh (whey? ) on us.

Try this “Mom to Mom Tip” that had our kids gulping down their milk and asking for more: Spiced Steeped Milk, great for an after school or after dinner treat. The leftover spiced milk is especially tasty in your Monday morning coffee or oatmeal.

To steep milk, simply toast spices in a dry heavy-bottomed small pot on medium heat, then pour in milk (almond, soy, cow, goat, just about any kind works!) and turn the heat down to medium low. Give it a few stirs until the milk is piping hot but not boiling. Once hot, cover with a pot lid and let stand, off the heat, for 45min to an hour. Then pour the milk through a strainer to get rid of any remaining spice pieces. We serve it very warm to the kids and the rest will keep in the fridge for a few days.

A few flavoring options:

Pie Milk – Add a cinnamon stick, a few cloves, and a pinch of nutmeg for a pint of milk and enjoy!

Vanilla Milk – Two fresh vanilla beans, scraped, in a pint of milk tastes heavenly and will make your whole kitchen smell divine.

Creamsicle French Toast Milk – Zest + a quarter of an orange and a heaping spoon of your favorite Vermont maple syrup makes for a delicious orange maple milk treat!

How do you get your choosey kids to drink their milk?