My Favorite Posts from 2012

I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight three of my favorite posts from last year, one for each of the main themes I cover in the blog: liturgical lessons, healthy eating, and my poetry.  These themes are highlighted in the blog button I created last summer:

Feel free to hang my button on your blog!  I would be happy to hang yours in exchange, so contact me if you want to do that.  I also have a square button highlighting the healthy eating theme (pictured below).  Someday, I’ll make square versions of the other two themes.

My favorite liturgical post of the year is “Tabletop Shrine for Mary” from April 29^th. 

 

Here I share my idea for a table dedicated to Mary.  As I stated in the post, we continue to update our shrine, changing out the items we display there as we move through the liturgical calendar.  Right now, our accordion books about the Magi are standing there keeping our Mary statuette company.

For my favorite healthy eating post of the year, I choose “Healthy Eating: How to Get Started” from June 18^th.

Sharing what I learn and the recipes I try during our healthy eating quest is one of my passions, so I believe this post is a good introduction to how I incorporate healthy whole foods into our family diet.  This post offers suggestions for easy and quick healthy breakfasts as well as information about the detriments of sugar.

My favorite post of the year about poetry is “National Poetry Month” from April 10^th.

Another of my passions is promoting poetry, particularly from the angle of changing its reputation for being “too difficult” to understand or “irrelevant” to contemporary life.  Of course, I believe neither of those things!  In this post, I shamelessly promote my own poetry, and unsuccessfully tried to start a conversation about the relevance of National Poetry Month.  Try, try again on both accounts.

I hope you enjoy (re)visiting my favorite posts!  Feel free to tell me about your favorite posts from last year, or to offer suggestions for upcoming post topics.  I am still spending my writing time revising my book manuscript, but hope to return to regular posting in a month or so.

Linked with: Catholic Bloggers Link up Blitz, Best of 2012, Top Posts of 2012

The Healthier School Day Lunch

My daughter returns to school in two weeks, so I am starting to think about packing her lunch box.  Even if you homeschool, a busy day might leave you short on prep time for the midday meal.  Below, I list a week’s worth of lunch ideas, for the lunch box, or the busy family at home.

As you know from reading other posts, I make most of our meals from fresh whole foods.  My daughter attends public school, and even though our school district makes an effort to include whole grains and fresh foods on the menu, much of the offerings are processed and/or overcooked, often with lots of added sugar and salt.  So, I try to limit her school lunch purchases to once a week.  Even though her school lunch is inexpensive, buying often can add up, so bringing lunch from home saves money.

One way to stock the lunch box with something besides sandwiches is to make use of leftovers from dinner or weekend lunch (another great way to save money on lunch instead of making something special).  My kids won’t always eat something a second time, but there are some things they really like.  In the plan below, I share some of our go to leftovers (and suggest some from recipes I have posted on this blog).  In particular, I list the things my daughter likes to eat cold, because she doesn’t have time to wait in line for the microwave (she is a slow eater).  Plus, our ceramic food containers (no plastic in the microwave) are too heavy for her to carry back and forth.

The key to packing a varied lunch is to have a good set of plastic containers.  Just a note: I am not a big user of plastic containers.  I use glass as much as I can, but glass is not practical for carrying to school (or anywhere). 

I was planning to recommend the plastic jars we use, but apparently they have been discontinued.  I suggest a set of round or jar shaped plastic containers with screw-on lids that your child can easily operate.  Unfortunately, screw-on lids are not spill proof, but jars that seal well are difficult for children to open.  If you plan to send liquids, try a soup thermos.  Whatever you use, make sure you get something that is made without BPA.

Also, don’t neglect the safety of the lunch box or bag that you buy.  Look for ones that are lead free, BPA free, and PVC free to avoid exposure to dangerous substances.

If your children are not in the habit of drinking water at lunch, try sending it one or two times a week, or dilute juice with water to cut back on sugar.  Get a BPA free water bottle and send a non-sweetened drink along with the usual to start a healthier habit.  Sometimes, I send chamomile tea, and this year, I may try sending naturally flavored water.

In addition to the protein choices I list below, I send fruit every day.  Most days, I send the fresh fruit that is in season (we cut up big fruits like pineapple and keep them in the refrigerator so they are ready to go).  Occasionally, I pack dried fruit.

5 Healthy Lunch Ideas

Monday = Sandwich day.

Peanut or other nut butter and jelly or fruit sandwich, with cut up veggies on side (carrots, cucumber, jicama).  See my post about the healthier version of this sandwich.

Tuesday = Pasta day. 

Leftovers, such as pasta with sauce, pesto, or fresh tomatoes and sunflower seeds, plus salad on the side.  Boil vermicelli or angel hair quickly in the morning if you don’t have leftovers.  Pour sauce or pesto from a jar or pull it from the freezer.  Or, pack leftover Sesame Noodles.  Add a cheese stick or grate cheese on the pasta for more protein.

Wednesday = Bean day.

Refried beans and veggies wrapped in a tortilla or a pita pocket filled with hummus and veggies.  Or, leftover Curry Lentils or Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad.

Thursday = Yogurt day.

Plain yogurt with fruit and granola and a trail mix of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit on the side.

Trail mix of pecans, peanuts, raisins, & sunflower seeds.

Friday = Egg day.

Leftovers, or boiled eggs with a salad (boil extra eggs at breakfast earlier in the week), or buy from the cafeteria.

Of course, there are many other healthy things to pack for lunch.  I hope you’ll leave your favorite lunch ideas in the comments.

Need ideas for healthy breakfasts?  Find them here.

In 2013 I am linking with: Motivational Monday, Better Mom Monday, Welcome Home, Try a New Recipe Tuesday, Back to School, Weekly Kids Co-op

 
In 2012 I linked with: Catholic Bloggers Network, Menu Plan Monday, My Favorite Things, Tiny Tip Tuesday, Your Green Resource, Frugal Friday, Tea with Saint Anne, For the Kids Friday, and Food on Fridays.

The Healthier Flavored Water

For those who are accustomed to sweet drinks, but are trying to drink water instead, commercially flavored water and vitamin water can be enticing.  So, what are these liquid water enhancers made of?  I researched the most visible brand of water flavoring by visiting their website, where I discovered that each flavor contains two artificial sweeteners, at least one preservative, and several artificial colors, depending on the flavor.  In addition, nearly all of the flavors list propylene glycol as the second or third ingredient.  

I have been trying to avoid propylene glycol in my family’s food and cosmetic products for years (not an easy task―it’s everywhere) since a friend told me it is a possible carcinogen.  According to my old copy of The Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives, propylene glycol is used in food industry and RV anti-freezes.  It’s also widely used in processed foods, over the counter children’s medicines, and cosmetic products.  Don’t believe me?  Go check a sampling of products that your family uses; I’ll wait.

According to this article, the main function of propylene glycol, besides providing moisture and acting as a solvent, is to penetrate the skin so other chemicals can reach the bloodstream.  Even though most studies suggest it is safe in small quantities, I’m not a fan of putting chemicals on or into my body, so I try to avoid propylene glycol.  The article linked above also suggests avoiding it, and if you consider that the artificial colors and preservatives in most foods that contain propylene glycol (such as water flavors) can interfere with children’s sleep, this makes sense.

I avoid sweet drinks, so I drink a lot of water, but sometimes I want a little something to flavor it.  My children are learning to drink plain water, but they are not always cooperative.  Homemade lemonade is wonderful, but sometimes I want to avoid the sugar in the lemonade, and I definitely don’t want my children drinking the sugar, artificial colors, and artificial flavors of other drinks.  Sometimes, I just squeeze some lemon or lime into our water.  Other times, I splash some juice into it.

Recently, I ran across Fork’s post about Sassy Water on her blog Fork fabrications (via Karri’s My Favorite Things Link up).  I have tried a similar water flavoring before, using only a cucumber, so I just had to try this recipe.  As Fork explains, you just slice up your citrus and cucumber, toss it with mint into the water and let it sit in the fridge a few hours.  She found this recipe at Prevention Magazine, and when I clicked over there I learned that their recipe uses grated ginger.  I used a few thin slices of ginger root instead.  I pulled the mint right out of our garden.

This beverage is indeed a yummy sugar free homemade flavored water.  Even my kids liked drinking it.  They especially liked putting slices of cucumber and orange in their glasses, and they liked the yellow tint the orange gave to the water.  You can tell by their excitement over over such a pale color that we don’t drink artificially colored stuff that often!  We will definitely be drinking this regularly!

Because I have made flavored water before with just a cucumber (you can try that too), I know you can refill the pitcher and get a second batch, although the flavor is not as strong. Also, you can vary the citrus and the type of mint, and leave the ginger in or out, creating different flavors.

By the way, the glass pitcher in my photo belonged to my parents; they received it as a wedding gift.  I also have all eight of the matching goblets.  I just love the heavy green glass look of the set; it’s so 1960s!  

I also have bowls and other kitchen items that belonged to my grandparents.  I am overjoyed to have a direct connection to the women who taught me how to cook; using these items reminds me of the many hours I spent with these two women, along with many other aunts and cousins, in the kitchen preparing daily meals and food for family gatherings.

Linked with Catholic Bloggers Network, Welcome Home, Farm Fresh Friday, Making it Count, Your Green Resource, Food on Fridays, Better Mom Mondays, Try a New Recipe Tuesday, and Healthy 2Day Wednesday.