The Low-Key Holiday It’s the 2008 holiday season, and the collective sound of groaning schedules, busting banks and cynical comments is heavy in the air. I’m all for dressing up the dining table and putting in the hair ribbons, but it all seems to have gotten a bit out of control. ...MORE Recipe: Holliday Cookies
Thankful Kids: It's Not Just About the Food My early memories of Thanksgiving preparations involve a felt-tip pen and a stack of place cards. … Looking back, I know my grandmother really did love place cards. But she also had a knack for getting people involved, especially children ...MORE Recipe: Native Blend Popcorn Balls
Tricks Are for Parents … By the time my daughter could walk, her older brother was a seasoned trick-or-treater, and she quickly followed in his footsteps. Now the week after Halloween is spent managing my children’s candy intake. Recipe:Apple Sammies
Lunch Basics for Less Stressful Mornings What I don’t love so much about back to school is one of my least favorite morning chores: packing lunches. So, to put together a great lunch that is healthy, not too expensive, easy to pack – and meet my kids’ requirements – delicious, familiar, but not boring – I’ve come up with some guidelines to make the morning scramble a little smoother. Recipe: Grown-Up Fish Sticks
For Quick, Cool Meals, Look to the North When I was 13, I spent the month of August in Norway visiting my pen pal. It was my first trip abroad, my first solo flight, my first taste summer travel ... but it was the food that turned my world upside down. Recipe: Bahn Mi (Vietnamese Sandwiches)
The Return of the American Dinner! Now the food world has switched its focus to local ingredients, and it only makes sense to take another look at local traditions and local meals. So, with this in mind, and especially in this season bursting with fresh produce, I’m all for revisiting the favorite foods of my childhood. Family taco night is the first stop. Recipe:Family Taco Night
Kitchen Dads When it comes to the kitchen, my husband is second in command. This is exactly how I want it. I love to cook, and I love having such a willing helper. He appreciates everything I make, and will take over any task I hand him, whether it's running out for more lemons, making the salad, chopping onions or just opening the wine. Recipes: Father's Day Cinnamon Rolls
Putting Fear (of Fat) in Its Place The low-fat push continues, and to this day the saturated fat in steak, eggs and bacon is widely seen as a direct route to a heart attack. But some researchers are questioning this logic, saying it’s a hypothesis that was never proven. Recipes:Tapenades and Pestos
Spring Cleaning Once again, eating seasonally and locally makes sense. Visit your farmers' market for the first harbingers of spring. Choose what looks good, and then plan your menu. (Better yet, ask the vendor for tips.) Recipes:Beet-Fennel-Orange Salad - Daikon-Parsley Salad
Food Fights Kids and food are always a touchy subject. But when you add holiday dinners, strange dishes and, well, overly-indulgent grandparents, mealtimes can get pretty dicey around this time of year. What’s a health-minded mom to do? Recipe: 'Beautiful' Roasted Vegetables
Living Large I am going macrobiotic. Not in the traditional sense of the word, of course. The standard macrobiotic diet – with its prescription for brown rice, seaweed and not much else – left me shaky and starving the one time I seriously tried it. But, as it turns out, there is more to macrobiotic than just vegan Japanese food... Recipes: Baked Veggie Tempura, Honey Mustard Sauce, Japanese Dipping Sauce
What You Can Do to Improve School Food Are you disturbed by the food your child is encountering in school? Whether you want to join in the national movement to overhaul the school lunch program, or just make sure your kindergartner doesn't come home with a newfound taste for orange cheez-puffs and chocolate milk, there are many things you can do. Here are 10 ideas to get you started... Recipes: Healthy Lunch-Box Ideas
Keeping Your Cool I envy the southern matrons of generations ago. Come the dog days of August, they simply moved their kitchen work from their stately but un-air-conditioned homes to an outbuilding, where the heat of the baking pies and frying chicken wouldn't add to the heat of the house. Of course, I don't envy the cooks who were out there in the stifling, annexed kitchens, actually doing the cooking. But the idea has its appeal. Now that I am both matron and cook in my own house, with not even a modern approximation of the outdoor kitchen, I have to make do with the best kitchen tool of all... Recipes: Gazpacho, Quesadillas, Guacamole
The Beefetarian Blues I have to admit, I am a complete failure when it comes to vegetarianism. I have tried to quit meat since I was a teenager, when my older sister first brought home this cool new idea about food. We both promptly quit meat - with different results. What was effortless for my sister was torture for me.... Recipes: Vietnamese Salad Rolls, Meat marinade (beef or pork), Dipping Sauce
Welcome to the Juice Wars! We have a problem in my house. It comes in a rainbow of colors and flavors, goes by a seemingly limitless number of names, and is available on almost every street corner in town. It’s juice, and no matter what kind it is, my children will drink it by the gallon. Recipes: Watermelon Slush,Palm Berry Smoothie,Lemon Soda,Blueberry Pie
Garden Magic: For Kids & Adults When I was a child, I thought my grandparents were so boring. All they wanted to talk about was gardening. They used to write me letters at camp about their garden! We would drive 15 hours to see my grandfather, and the first thing we’d have to do was go look at his garden. Back then, I didn’t want to talk about gardening, and I certainly didn’t want to pull weeds. But I sure did love spending time among the plants. Gardens are magical places for children... Recipes: Tabouli with Feta, Arugula with Lentils and Bacon
The Last Days of Diets Some people just like to eat. Like me, for example. As far back as I can remember, I was the kid who wanted seconds, who yelled the loudest for ice cream, who asked for a third or fourth or fifth piece of bacon. Recipe: Pasta Primavera
The Empty Cupboard Syndrome In our times of plenty, most Americans don't worry about starving. We don't have to scrape the flour drawer and save bacon drippings to make biscuits for our hungry children. But that doesn't mean we aren't challenged... Recipe: Tortilla Español
For Healthy Hearts... Stay away from trans fats, but for protection against heart disease - and for an enjoyable diet - replace processed foods and animal fats with fish, whole grains, olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds. Your heart (and your waistline) will thank you. Recipe: Breaded Tilapia Fillets
The Power of Pie Thanksgiving dinner is a tough one for families with young children. It's like this terrible obstacle course. Never is a small child expected to sit at the table for so long, eat so many new foods, all the while posing for pictures meant to go down for the ages...
A Pack of Picky Eaters I'm sure there's a family or two out there whose members share identical taste buds, but most families with kids possess wildly disparate appetites. In my family of four, we all like one thing: steak. Regarding every other dish in the universe, at least one of us differs.
Reading, Writing … and Eating! My son learned two incredible things in school last year. One was how to read. The other was that he loved salad.
The Organic Panic: You Needn't Bust Your Budget to Avoid Pesticides - Now that Wal-Mart is selling organic foods, pesticide-free meals should become the norm on every family's table, right? Well, maybe not. Even with the nation's leading food retailer getting in on the game, a 100-percent organic diet will most likely remain out of the financial reach of most families.
Feeding Your Family: Gimme Some (Real) Sugar! If your kids are going to eat sweets (and what kid isn't?), avoid high fructose corn syrup, and opt for desserts and candies with nuts or seeds in them. Their fiber helps slow down the absorption of sugar into the blood. Plus, the fat (omegas 3 and 6 - the good kind) helps the body absorb nutrients. Recipes: Plum Crisp - Scrumptious Strawberry Shortcake - Real Whipped Cream
Making a Morning Meal That Works I love breakfast - just not the minute I wake up. It's a good hour or two before my body wants anything to do with pancakes or fried eggs or even oatmeal, my favorite meal in the morning. Recipe: Apple Oatmeal Bars
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