Food Storage Friday: Shepherd's Pie

 This is Thing 1's "favorite non-sugary food". And I love that it is super easy to make. I could probably get her to make it next time, if I cook the meat first, it's that easy. This is the way that my mom made shepherd's pie growing up and I love it, but I have since learned that shepherd's pie traditionally has green beans and some sort of tomato-based sauce. I really don't think that I could get my kids to eat something like that, but this way works for us. And when I take the leftovers to work I always get comments about how great it smells.


Shepherd's Pie
Food Storage Ingredients:
2 cans corn, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 Tablespoon dried minced onions
3-4 cups prepared mashed potatoes

Fresh Ingredients:
1 lb cooked extra lean ground beef, drained
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

1. For bottom layer mix beef, onions and soup in a casserole dish. 2. Spread canned corn over meat mixture for second layer. 3 Spread mashed potatoes over corn. 4. Sprinkle with cheese. Cook until cheese is melted.

Usually I bake this in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes, but I'm trying not to turn the oven on these days. The dish I used was small enough that I cooked this in the microwave for a few minutes without any ill effects. Once I tried using half wheatberries to half ground beef. It was not a winner. The texture was just wrong. I also swear that I took a picture of this when I made it last, but it is MIA. I'm sure that you guys can use your imaginations to conjure it up in your minds.

Food Storage Friday: For The Little Ones

As I have mentioned before, my kids are picky eaters. Ridiculously picky eaters. And just because I feel I have found something that is delicious, healthy and uses my food storage doesn't mean that my kids will try it. I would say that most of my greatest food storage recipes are for things that my kids won't eat. And how useful is my food storage if half my family won't eat it? So we make adjustments. You have to store things that your family is going to eat, or it isn't that useful. I generally make things far less spicy than I would like, in hopes that my kids will try it and then pour the Tabasco on mine. I also have several recipes that call for some kind of meat, sauce and vegetables over rice. My kids turn their nose up at meat, sauce and veggies (unless it's modified Hawaiian Haystacks). So I use this simple recipe to at least get them used to eating rice and let them have fruit on the side. Yes, I know it's not really a complete meal, but it's a starting place for the ridiculously picky and it gets my children familiar with food storage without me having to make a completely separate meal for them. If we're having sweet and sour chicken, this is what they are having.

Cheesy Rice for Kids
1/2 cup prepared rice
1 heaping tablespoon of shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon of chicken broth

1. Mix ingredients together in a bowl. 2. Microwave until cheese is melted. (Approximately 30 seconds) Serves 1.

Other food storage items that I have found to be winners with my kids:

1. Craisins (For Thing 2, but not Thing 1)
2. Popcorn (It's a grain, stores for a long time and if you prepare it right, it doesn't have to be bad for you.)
3. Canned mandarin oranges (which I store anyway for Hawaiian Haystacks)
4. Canned pineapple (Haystacks and smoothies)
5. Canned peaches
6. Canned pears
7. Canned corn (store it anyway for Wheatberry Salsa and Taco Soup, Thing 1 loves it, but not Thing 2)
8. Macaroni and cheese (My favorite is the homemade variety with pureed cauliflower mixed in, but I can only get them to eat that on occasion. They prefer the box variety. I have also come to the conclusion that it is worth the extra money to get the Kraft variety, it just tastes so much better.)
9. Annie's shells and white cheddar cheese. (I generally see organic and think expensive, but these are decently price and everyone in my family loves them.)
10. Ramen noodles (I'm not sure why they love this so much, but they do and it's super cheap and easy.)
11. Cookies made with oatmeal 
12. Muffins made with oatmeal (which I can also sneak powdered milk, dried carrots and dried apples into.)
13. Fresh bread with jam
14. Pancakes/waffles (Recently I made a whole wheat and orange variety that was a hit, I'll have to make it again so I can take pictures and post them.)

What food storage items (or recipes) have you found to be the most effective for you and your little ones?

6 Healthy Junk Food Alternatives for Kids

Joy Paley is a guest blogger for An Apple a Day and a writer on earning your nursing degree  for the Guide to Health Education.

Sure, we all want our kids to eat healthier. But where do you even start, when their main dietary staples are hot dogs and chips? It’s hard enough to get adventurous eaters to try anything labeled “healthy,” much less a kid who lives off two main food groups that weren’t even invented a hundred years ago. The key to keeping your kid feeling well, however, is to make sure they get a variety of foods. Try out this list of sneakily healthy alternatives on your kid---you may just end up with a few more foods that they’ll actually ask to eat.

Junk food kids love: Chips

A healthy alternative: Bagel Chips

• Why kids will love them: While pita chips might be a good “adult” alternative to potato chips, the taste is a little bland in comparison. Bagel chips have the same satisfying crunch and crispiness of potato chips, to pass a kid’s taste test. Stacy’s brand comes in yummy varieties like garlic and everything bagel. They’re not fried, and they have less fat and sodium than regular chips.

Junk food kids love: Hot Dogs

A healthy alternative: Turkey Dogs

• Why kids will love them: While it’s probably impossible to sneak a tofu dog passed your kid’s taste buds, turkey dogs mimic the flavor and texture of traditional dogs quite well. The upside? They have a lot less fat than regular hot dogs, and you can easily find brands that promise organic meat and no nitrates or fillers. 

Junk food kids love: Oreos

A healthy alternative: Bananas and Raw Chocolate Spread

• Why kids will love it: You’re not skimping on taste, when you choose a chocolate spread made with real cacao and sweetened with a low glycemic index sweetener like agave nectar. Instead of eating Oreos that are full of fat, processed sugar, and an array of artificial flavors, you’ll be feeding them something that’s actually real food. Love street is one brand to check out.

Junk food kids love: French Fries

A healthy alternative: Cheese Straws

• Why kids will love them: Kids can’t get enough French fries, not only because they quell a hunger for something salty, fatty, and fried, but also because they’re fun and easy to eat. Baked cheddar cheese straws are a kid friendly shape, and they’re great for on the go. Pack some in a Ziploc instead of stopping at a fast food joint. While they’re not exactly as healthy as carrot sticks, they’ll keep you out of that drive through window.

Junk food kids love: Sugar Cereal

A healthy alternative: Organic Cereal

• Why kids will love it: While you can’t really find the day-glo colors of Lucky Charms anywhere else, you can find cereals that have real wholesome ingredients, less sugar, and even better taste. Most kids cereals are fortified with vitamins, but that’s no good reason to get your kid hooked on a bowl of sugar for breakfast. Nature’s Path Envirokidz line includes some great kid friendly cereals, like the peanut butter Panda Puffs, which are high on taste but low on sugar and other processed ingredients.

Junk food kids love: Ketchup and Ranch Dip

A healthy alternative: Hummus

• Why kids will love it: You may have trouble getting your kids to try hummus for the first time, but after they have taken the initial plunge, I bet they’ll love this snack. It’s delicious, and the protein will have them hooked—the hummus will satisfy in a way that those other low-nutrient spreads won’t. It’s fun to eat, and if you pair it with bagel chips, you’ve replaced a former high-calorie junk food pair with a delicious alternative. It’s great for kids’ lunches or on-the-go after sports practice, and it comes in tasty flavors like garlic and red pepper.

Food Storage Friday: Apple & Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes with Cider Sauce

I find that breakfast is the easiest meal to incorporate food storage into and it's a good way to use your food storage on a regular basis. Awhile ago I tried a recipe for Blender Wheat Pancakes that I found in I Dare You To Eat It. It was good, but I couldn't get my kids to try it. Recently I tried another recipe for Spicy Apple Pancakes with Cider Sauce from Skinny Bovine's Kitchen. My kids would eat them, but they left me thinking that there must be a healthier way to make these pancakes. Last week I had the epiphany to combine the recipes. Voila! A simple delicious food storage recipe that my family is willing to eat. I love that it's a way to use your wheat without any advance preparation. Enjoy.

Apple Wheat Pancakes
Food Storage Ingredients
1 cup raw wheat kernels
1 Tablespoon cornmeal
1 Tablespoon of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves

Fresh Ingredients
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups large apple chunks (cored, but not peeled)

1. Pour buttermilk and wheat into a blender. Blend until mixture smooth. (About 10 minutes.) 2. Add apple chunks and blend again. 3. Stir remaining ingredients into wheat mixture and make into pancakes over medium/ medium low heat. Makes about one dozen medium pancakes.

The cider sauce is the best part, and I love that everything except the butter are things that I keep in my food storage.

Cider Sauce

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

2 cups apple cider or apple juice

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

2 Tablespoons butter 

1.Put in dry ingredients then add lemon juice & apple cider/juice. 2 Stir on medium/hot, boiling for one minute while stirring. 3.Take off the stove and add butter. Stir until melted.

My kids actually don't like this syrup, they prefer the ordinary pancake variety. I think it is FANTASTIC. It also makes enough for two batches of pancakes.

Feeding Your Family Healthy Meals When You're Out of Energy

When I come home after being at work for 13 hours (sometimes longer), I generally do not have the energy to make a healthy balanced meal that my family is also interested in eating. Unfortunately when I get home from work is when my family is hungry and they've gotten to the point where they're impatient and irritable. If I don't act fast they'll have popsicles and popcorn for dinner, or worse, fast food. Here's some things that I do to prevent this, and I would really love to hear what everyone else does for those evenings when you're rushed.

• Have a plan. I know that at least a few nights a week I'll be working or otherwise rushed, so I try to plan something when I do my grocery shopping.
• Make a few freezer meals. You can just make a double batch of a family favorite and freeze half.
• Breakfast for dinner. This is what we had last night. Waffles with fresh fruit. Another one I like to do is "omelets". Scrambled eggs with mushrooms, peppers, onions, cheese and chopped bits of whatever meat I have in the fridge. Quick, easy and relatively healthy.
• Salads! (Of course my kids won't eat these.) Lettuce, cottage cheese, dressing, chopped cooked meat, a few chopped veggies, and croutons can make for a fairly quick and a very satisfying meal.
• Have a few meals that you always have all of the ingredients for. For my family, it's Hawaiian Haystacks. I cook and freeze brown rice ahead of time so that dinner can be made in the time it takes me to open a few cans and make some chicken gravy from a mix. (Using food storage really can make your life easier.)
• Soup and sandwiches
• Burritos- Refried beans, cheese, tortillas and enchilada sauce (This one is pretty much a staple at my in-laws.)
• Here are a few more recipes that I use that can be prepared double quick if you have all of the ingredients ready: Hippie Tacos, Spicy Pasta with Broccoli, Mac and Cheese with Cauliflower and Thai Chicken Spinach Wraps
• Here's a few that I haven't tried, but look like they will make my life easier when I do: Strawberry Poppyseed Salad, Chipotle Chicken Salad Sandwich and Potato Leek soup

What do you do?

Fat Free Pumpkin Apple Muffins

I've been making these muffins since I was six, although they have evolved quite a bit since then. They started out with a lot more sugar and oil than they have now. And I changed the white flour for oat flour and added some oatmeal and vegetables. They're still easy and satisfying. (And they're a hit with the picky eaters too.) Really, I heart these muffins so much. Trust me they taste better than they look. Plus they're full of Vitamins A and C and fiber.

Pumpkin Apple Oatmeal Muffins

2 1/2 cups oat flour (just throw some oatmeal in your blender)
1 1/4 cup white sugar
1 cup oatmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice
2 Tablespoons non-fat powdered milk**
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
2 Tablespoons pureed carrots**
2 cups chopped apples*
1 cup canned pumpkin

Mix dry ingredients together. Preheat oven to 350. In a separate bowl mix wet ingredients. Mix wet and dry together. Spoon batter into muffin tin. (Spray it, grease, use cupcake liners, whichever you prefer.) Bake for 35 minutes. Makes 18 muffins.

** These items are optional. I just throw them in for added nutritional value.

Also of note, if you freeze your leftover canned pumpkin and use it later, you'll have to add more dry ingredients to get the right consistency. I use 6 tablespoons of flour or oatmeal.

*These are best with granny smith apples, but I've tried them with almost every other kind too. I've even used reconstituted dried Tree Top brand apples and I was surprised at how well that worked.

There is also a streusel topping that you can put on them, which I don't usually bother to do. But it is tasty. (You can kiss your fat-free muffins good-bye if you add the streusel topping.)

Streusel Topping

2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 teaspoons butter

Mix first three ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle on muffins before baking.

Confessions of A Mother of a Picky Eater

I thought that my daughter was picky, until I had my son. That child would not drink formula. The only baby foods I ever got him to eat were bananas, pears and apple sauce. Weaning was a nightmare. Once I did get him weaned I worried about him because he won't eat anything. Really, he lives on fruits, crackers, cheese, chocolate milk and yogurt. He doesn't eat bread, vegetables or meats. (Now he will once in awhile eat a chicken nugget.) Occasionally he'll eat eggs, but never more than once a week. People think I'm kidding when I say that. I wish I were. I've tried all kinds of things. Many work for my daughter, few work for my son. Initially I brought this up with my pediatrician, who told me not to worry. He's healthy and as long as you keep offering him things, eventually he'll start eating them. "Studies have shown that you have to offer a child a food 8-10 times before they show interest." Yeah, well studies weren't looking at my child. Once he went for two days without eating anything but a few glasses of chocolate milk. All day long he demanded fruit snacks. No, you can't have fruit snacks, how about a banana? He refused that and everything else I offered. After two days of me not giving him fruit snacks (ok that's not entirely true, I did cave and give him one pack of fruit snacks) he decided that he wanted Ramen noodles. He ate two entire packages by his little 18 month old self. Not the most nutritious meal, but I was just so grateful that he finally decided to eat something. A few months ago I took him into the pediatrician (a new guy since we have moved) for a well-child check. Since I stopped breast-feeding he's dropped from the 95th percentile to the 16th percentile. Whah! Little boy that I love, please eat something! He hasn't lost any weight, but he hasn't really gained much either. (He's not considered failure to thrive or anything, it's just that this rate he'll end up being 6 to 8" shorter than my husband.)
 My pediatrician suggested that I start putting Carnation Instant Breakfast in his chocolate milk. I did this and he lost all interest in all other foods. Why should he bother with eating when his chocolate milk gives him everything that he needs? (Really, a person can live off of Carnation Instant Breakfast and not need anything else.) After a few days of this I decided that he was only getting supplemented chocolate milk twice a day. Every evening at dinner I give him a few tablespoons of what we are eating in a bowl. He doesn't want to look at it. He just screams "Take it, take it" and ends up eating fruit and cheese for dinner.
 Another way that I have managed to sneak some nutrition to him is muffins. In the past few months he has shown an interest in them, so I pack them full of everything I can: pumpkin, shredded carrots, apples, oatmeal, powdered milk, and orange juice. He loves them. Between these two things he's gained three pounds in as many months. Whoot!
 Today when my daughter requested a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, he wanted one too and he ate it! Or about 1/4th of a sandwich with apple slices and milk (not the chocolate variety either). But for him this is huge progress. I try to serve healthy well-balanced meals and just hope that someday my kids will be interested in eating them.