Mommy Goes Green

I don’t know about you but sometimes getting dinner on the table every night is the most stressful part of my day.  It’s not the 2 kids, the messy house or the lengthy ‘to do’ list, it’s trying to put together a healthy, quick meal – at the last minute.  I don’t spend enough time planning for our family meals so we usually end up eating late because I spend too much time combing cookbooks looking for something compatible with what’s in the fridge and pantry.

I’m exactly the kind of mom that The Six O’Clock Scramble was created for.  It’s an online menu planner helping you to create a weekly dinner plan.   Once you choose the recipes you want to prepare, a grocery list is generated and you can shop once for all the ingredients you’ll need for the week.  This helps to eliminate multiple trips to the grocery store, pizza deliveries, and trips to the nearest fast food joint.

The creator of The Six O’Clock Scramble, Aviva Goldfarb, has taken meal planning one step further by creating SOS! The Six O’Clock Scramble to the Rescue: Earth-Friendly, Kid-Pleasing Dinners for Busy Families, a cookbook with over 300 recipes that take 30 minutes or less to prepare, with less than 10 ingredients per recipe.  One of my favorite parts of the cookbook is that its organized by season, I was first introduced to this concept when I read the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  At it’s simplest form, you cook with ingredients that are currently in season meaning they are fresh and less expensive.  It encourages you to eat local as you can find in-season ingredients at your local farmer’s market, co-op grocery store or farmstand. 

Each season begins with a 5 week menu and a glossary of recipes with the amount of time it takes to prep and cook the meal.   Individual recipes include nutritional information, flavor boosters (additional spices to add), and side dish suggestions.  There are great tips throughout the cookbook including:

• how to let your kids get their hands dirty in the kitchen
• 20 creative ideas for school lunches
• healthier Halloween snacks
• tips for freezing meals
• 10 best dishes for potlucks
• safest seafood for kids

For simple suggestions to be more eco-friendly in the kitchen, pick up a copy of SOS! The Six O’Clock Scramble to the Rescue!

WIN IT!

We are giving 1 reader the new cookbook by Aviva Goldfarb,  SOS! The Six O’Clock Scramble to the Rescue: Earth-Friendly, Kid-Pleasing Dinners for Busy Families !  You can enter to win in any of the following ways:

• Leave a comment asking the author, Aviva Goldfarb, a question.  Suggestions include: kids in the kitchen, recipes, eating seasonally and locally, planning meals or eating organically.  We’ll compile the questions and she’ll be responding to them in a future post.
• Follow us on twitter @mommygoesgreen.
• Retweet this contest.
• Become a Facebook fan.
• Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link.
• Follow Aviva Goldfarb on twitter.

Leave your comment by Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 11:59pm PST. Contest open to all U.S. residents, ages 18+. We will choose 1 winner, at random, and notify them by email. Privacy Policy.

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.

Last week I caught Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution for the first time.  I was appalled at the lack of basic vegetable knowledge by first graders amongst other poor eating habits displayed by the elementary school Jamie visited.

This week, Jamie visited the local high school.  Their lunches looked like the lunch I ate in high school – pizza, french fries and chocolate milk (which has more sugar than soda, if you can believe it).  Of course, none of the high school students thought anything was wrong with their lunch (and frankly, I probably didn’t when I was that age either).

One of the issues mentioned in the last 2 episodes is the increased cost and time that is needed to make fresh, healthy lunches as processed food comes prepared and tends to be cheaper.  As the grocery shopper in our household, I agree.  Processed food is generally cheaper.  I do spend more money on groceries that I used to because we buy more organic and fresh foods than we used to.  However, I believe our bodies are healthier and that is a money saver, in many ways.  [ tips for saving on organic groceries ]

The one thing that got me fired up last week was that first graders couldn’t identify a tomato!  A TOMATO!   This week, it was that french fries are counted as a vegetable – well that explains a lot about the American obesity problem.  The same thing happened to me this week when I asked my daughter’s preschool why they serve juice during snack time occasionally.  The response?  “I think it counts as a fruit”.  I’m sorry, but JUICE IS NOT A FRUIT.

I really hope this show shakes up parents, teachers and administrators about the food our children are eating.   Moms – we CAN make a difference.  If you have kids in school – find out what they are eating everyday and start asking why?

For 50 of Jamie’s 20 minute recipes along with other great functionality, you can download Jamie’s iPhone app.

If you missed this week’s episode, there are 3 more to go – tune in on Friday evenings!

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.

Last night, I watched Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution with mixed emotions.  Jamie was in Huntington, West Virginia – the city named as the unhealthiest in America because over 50% of the occupants are obese.  During this episode, he visited an elementary school to prepare fresh food lunches and teach the children and parents about healthy eating habits.  

Jamie demonstrated to several children what is in “chicken” patties.  He took a whole chicken and cut off the breasts and wings.  Then he cut up the rest of the chicken – including skin, bones, and all the other yucky stuff – and put it in a food processor.  Once blended, he made a patty out of it and covered it in bread crumbs.  He then asked the children if they wanted to eat it and they all said YES.  It was disturbing.  ( “chicken” patties will never cross the threshhold of this house again )

He showed a classroom of first graders basic vegetables like potatoes and tomatoes and the children could not identify them. I was part angry ( with the parents ) and part sad ( for the kids ).

Jamie was required (by school guidelines) to have both rice and bread with the lunch he was serving the children – I’m not a nutritionist but doesn’t that seem a little unbalanced?

Seriously – these children only had spoons to eat their lunch.  They didn’t even know how to eat with a knife and fork.  Is that unreasonable?  My 3 year old can use a fork and knife to eat.

The bottom line is that these problems are not just with one school, in one city in America.  It’s a problem in every school, in every city in America.  It’s also a problem in our homes.  It’s just easier to cook boxed, canned, and processed food.  Food isn’t given the priority that it should be and it’s making our bodies sick. 

I’m currently reading a book from Dr. Sears titled, ‘Nutrition Deficit Disorder’ (NDD), and it parallels the concepts in this show about the relationship between food and health in children.  It talks about the connection between NDD and all the other ‘D’ diseases like ADD, ADHD, and OCD.  I’m only a couple chapters in but I will definitely be sharing with you what I’m reading as I think you’ll be amazed at how much what you feed your children affects their ability to learn, control their behavior and overall health. 

I absolutely recommend you check out Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution – there are 4 more episodes so tune in Friday, April 2nd for the next one.

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.