the healthy way of living

...It is a challenge to eat right, stay active and have a healthy state of mind. I say this only because for the last month, when I was not feeling well, I did not do any of those things. I was too tired to cook good meals for my family, so we mostly had quick (i.e. frozen or take-out) meals. I did not feel good enough to work out or do yoga or anything for that matter. And when you don't feel good, you obviously don't have a healthy state of mind.

Last week though, I had had enough. I ordered a cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry's wife) called Deceptively Delicious and I love the idea of it. Basically, you puree vegetables and then put them into recipes that your kids already love. But it makes those things really good for you. So I decided to try it. Friday morning, Noah and I went to the grocery store and bought all kinds of vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, squash, spinach and sweet potatoes) and then came home and started steaming, roasting and pureeing. Noah thought everything was smelly and gross and just wanted to make banana bread. So after I got everything pureed, including some fruits as well, we made the banana bread recipe from the book. I snuck in some cauliflower puree in with the banana so Noah would not know. Let me tell you, he licked the spatula clean. Loved the batter. The bread is wonderful, especially with peanut butter.

I also made the brownies (with spinach and carrot puree). Seth thought they weren't sweet enough, but I really love them. I especially love them because they are low-fat, have some nutritional value and they taste good. The boys loved them as well. I am excited by this point.

Now some of the recipes the boys haven't gone for. The sloppy joes weren't as good as the ones I usually make and they didn't like the mac and cheese but I have found that you can add these purees to a lot of your own recipes.

Mom's famous meatballs: I added butternut squash in the meatball mix and carrot in the barbeque sauce.

Barbeque chicken: I added carrot in the barbeque sauce as well.

Tacos: Add crushed tomatoes to your meat instead of just water with the taco mix.

I am very optimistic about this. I love that there are ways to get your kids to eat healthier without forcing them to eat something they normally would never eat. I love that the purees are easy to add to your food. I love that they really make you feel satisfied. (Normally, after I eat a brownie, I want another one. Chocolate is addictive for me. I feel like I can't have enough. One brownie from this book was perfect. I felt satisfied. I didn't need another one.)

I was so excited about this I decided to cook all the meals for the week on Sunday. And I loved that too. Now we have good meals prepared and I won't be rushing around at 5:30 wondering what I could make that is quick.

I am going to keep this going. I want to keep this going. For my family, especially the boys. And I recommend the cook book. It is fun to look at and read and I love when cookbooks are fun. That makes cooking more fun for me.

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Happy Birthday to my dad today! Dad, we love you and hope you have a great day!