I didn’t think it was neccesary to cut the stem off of a strawberry for my children. They are old enough to do something like that themselves!   Then I found this bowl of FINISHED strawberry garbage:

Seriouly kids? You might as well put your bath towel in the laundry after you dry your face with it each time… Oh yeah, you do that too! 

Guess I will continue to chop apples (I’ve found a few with only a bite or two in the garbage too ) Cut crust off of your toast, and cut your strawberries too. 

Should you buy organic Strawberries?  I don’t buy much of our fruit organic, however, out of any of the produce, strawberries are the most treated with chemicals.  After they are picked they begin to go bad so quickly, the chemicals are necessary for them to make it to your store and last awhile.

However, frozen strawberries need not be purchased organic. They are flash frozen at the point of picking, and preserved through freezing rather than chemically.

We love STRAWBERRIES!!  Putting strawberries on top any muffin, angel food cake, or of course shortcake is delicious for any child!!  Your kids will love helping you prepare these.

On a personal note: We were having an awesome weekend with my dad in town until my husband’s 03 Corolla got totalled on Friday by a 21 yr old uninsured motorist!  The max we’ll get from our policy is $3500 because I put liability only on that car. Pretty stinky, huh!

Today’s GET ACTIVE Tip:

Get involved in all the activities your city has to offer!  Every summer each city around Utah designates a week of honoring the city through activities and fun stuff.  Last week was Pleasant Grove Strawberry Days.  This week is Lehi’s Round-Up Days.

Originally I was going to write about how we signed up for the HALF mile race.  (Which was GREAT fun)!  Two of my kids ran it in less than 4 1/2 minutes.  The flip flopper came in 2nd in her age group, and cereal boy 4th.  It wasn’t competitive, just good wholesome community fun.

But now we are in the middle of Lehi’s round-up week.  Among the awesome activities planned, we are participating in the History Quest.  We are literally RUNNING all over Lehi looking for clues.  That kind of activity hardly feels like exercise, yet we are exhausted. 

So, find out what your community has planned, and sign-up to participate as a family.  (Tomorrow my sister, my dad and I are doing the 5K in Lehi).

Thank you for entering the GoRed BetterU contest! random.org chose Mindy who said:

I recently found out that I have extremely high cholesterol. As a new mom (my son just turned 1 last week), we are doing everything we can to get healthy…this looks like a great idea! THANKS!

I didn’t realize when buying these silicone muffin cups I would use them for so many different things. They make a perfect little portion for kids of many foods.

Dinner idea:  A few nights ago, I chopped up some potatoes and let the kids put the raw potatoes into the muffin cups.  Then I simmered some white sauce and poured them into the muffin cups and baked until the potatoes were tender.  They were delicious!  The middle was quite hot however, so we dumped the contents of each onto our plates so it would cool off more quickly.

I don’t want to hear any potato trash talk! I hate that potatoes have a bad reputation. I hate that most potatoes consumed in the US are in the form of french fries.  Potatoes are a whole, plant food, straight from mother earth! We love potatoes!!

I also like those silicone muffins cups for muffins better than paper. The muffins pop out of the cups without leaving half of the muffin behind.  Here are some other things we have done with our silicone muffin cups.
Oat/ Apple Cups

And These spinach quiche cups.

Perfect Size for Kids!!! And if you were wondering, I bought 12 silicone cups at Target and they were $10. But I have not purchased any paper muffin cups since I bought them.

And I’m not talking about produce.  I’m talking about local meat.  As opposed to purchasing meat at your grocery store, knowing the meat your family is getting, where it came from, and what the animals ate is extremely important in ensuring the health of your family.   We buy local because:

We recently purchased some pork from Christensens Hog Farm.  If you live in Utah, I highly recommend getting on their list for some pork.  Their pigs are

• grass fed,
• antibiotic and hormone free,
• cheaper, and
• tastes WAY BETTER than factory farm ham.

After years of processed, crappy lunch meat, I was so releived to find these guys.  Ever wondered what all the fuss is about considering hormones and anti-biotics that your factory farmed meats contains?  There is a big problem!

• Antibiotics: Antibiotics are given to cattle and other HEALTHY farm animals to prevent disease and infection.  The fact they are given to the healthy animals when they don’t need it contributes to our resistance to antibiotics.  They are already overprescribed in humans, and when we eat animals treated with antibiotics, new strains of bacteria that RESIST antibiotics are created and spread.  This is BAD NEWS for our children who constantly get ear infections and other things that current antibiotics are not helping.
• HORMONES: Need I say more! Do you really want your 8 year old daughter (or younger) taking hormone supplements?   No dietary hormone levels are safe for children.  When children consume animal flesh that has been treated with hormones, hormone levels rise.  Children naturally have low levels of hormones, why mess with that?

It took me a while to find some beef and pork that was locally raised and grass fed.  But I’m glad I did. Hopefully the meat will last us a long time considering we are ”less meatatarians now!”

TUESDAY: Lunch Idea

Forget about processed, pressed, and gross deli meat.  Do your family a favor and make ham sandwiches with local, tasty, inexpensive, REAL ham!

Looking for some meat?

• Go to your local farmers market and ask around, or the farmers may be there themselves.
• Ask friends or let them know you are looking for some local meat.
• Make a comment if you have contact information for local meat for SHK readers from other states (or even Utah). 

Lets share our resources!  Do you think local meat is important?  I know I have a lot of vegetarian readers, so this may not even apply.

Monday: Breakfast

Yesterday, Erica watched Trading Spaces; Boys vs. Girls.  Now my kids are determined to “makeover” eachother’s rooms.  I’m stuck in that place of trying not to discourage their creativity and dreams, yet not assisting with money or resources to make it happen.  Poor kids, literally.

Anyway, A few weeks ago my bishop made the comment that if they had to live on their food storage, they wouldn’t know what to do with the pounds and pounds of wheat they have.  While I know many people share their concern, we’ve actually used almost 40 lbs of wheat in one year.   The way we use it, and the most common ways of using wheat are:

• Ground up into whole wheat flour.  And of course used in baking breads, cookies, muffins, etc.
• Boiled or soaked for Wheat berry salad
• Boiled or soaked for a hot breakfast.
• Boiled or soaked for a meat extender
• Added to soups or stews (much like you would do with rice)
• Used as a warm side to dinner (like rice)
• Sprouting them! for sprouted wheat.

But today, I was trying a cold cereal.  The only difference I told the kids was that it was going to be chewy instead of crunchy like their other cereals.  I boiled the wheat yesterday and kept it all in the fridge. I pulled out 1/2 cup of wheat berries.  I added milk and sugar.  But I also had a bowl that I added yogurt to.  We love cereal with yogurt on it.

Can't I just have Cheerios?

I have to be honest. My wheat berry cereal didn’t go over very well.  They liked the wheat with yogurt on top better than the milk and sugar. And they were good sports to even try it.   But I am determined to keep trying.  I of course liked it!    And I’m posting it because I KNOW there are some of your kids that will like it.  And if your kids are really young, they will for sure develop a liking to it.

WHEAT TIPS:

• To prepare wheat for eating in salads and cereals, rinse wheat and boil.  Simmer for 1 hour. Refrigerate the leftovers for 1 week, or freeze for up to 3 months.  Don’t get concerned with the amounts of water vs. wheat. Overdo it on the water, and simmer.  When the wheat is chewy or tender, drain the water. Done!
• Not sure where to purchase whole wheat?  We get ours from three places.  The health food store will often sell hard wheat in their bulk bins.  We also go to Lehi Roller Mills (a flour mill).  There are LDS Cannery’s sprinkled all over the country where you can purchase wheat.  Go here for locations.

Here are some other whole wheat recipes I have found around the web and love:

• Saleetah: A cinnamon sweet treat that is delicious and healthy.
• Wheat Berry Waldorf Salad.
• KERF Triple Berry Salad:  I can’t WAIT to make this one!!

I know this is a long blog post. Do you hate long posts?

Friday: Exercise Ideas

Can you think of any better exercise than farming?  Our poor kids don’t get the opportunity to take part in such rigorous hard work.  Sometimes I wish we lived on a farm, just to teach my kids some good life working skills.   

And then came the opportunity!   Just west of us, our church owns 3000 acres, where they grow wheat, corn, and hay (I think).  On Saturday morning (it was a little rainy), but we got our medical gloves (we don’t have gardening gloves, but we have lots of medical gloves) and our rain jackets and headed over there.

For two hours we piled sage brush for burning, and moved rocks.  There was kids from 1 years old, to probably 80 years old there helping.  Even a wheel chair bound guy came.  There was something for everyone to do.  And it was HARD WORK.  I can run 12 miles and feel great, but bending over and throwing sticks made me exhausted.  The kids did great though. They never complained once. In fact they had so much fun doing it, they weren’t even asking to go home.

What can we do in regular old suburbia to teach us the skills of rural life?  I suggest:

• Let your kids help with yard work, no matter how old they are.
• Clean up your parks nad neighborhoods!!
• help an elderly neighbor maintain their yard.
• Walk more often than drive places.
• Watch Little House on The Prarie  

When kids work hard, they feel good about themselves!

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway.

THURSDAY: Healthy Issues

While heart disease is now the #1 killer of women (yet mostly preventable) it is also affecting our children at startling young ages.  But today I want to talk about women! 

As mothers, it is vital to keep ourselves healthy and do everything we can to first, be around for our kids, but also be a positive role model for good health, and have the energy to thrive and enjoy life with them. 

I feel so passionately about heart disease prevention.  Even through small changes we can live long, vibrant, healthy lives….. and look good doing it.

The American Heart Association has launched a program called GoRed BetterU to help women take action to protect their hearts.  It is a free, 12 week online makeover to live healthier lives.   There is a coaching tool below, that I will host on my new food journal blog (because it is too big for my sidebar). You can go to the coaching tool for quick tips, ideas, and daily reminders. 

To kick off this program, the American Heart Association wants to give one lucky reader a start up kit.  Take a look at the loot! Yoga mat, water bottle, gym bag, red dress pin, Craisins, and a grocery guide.

Pretty sweet, huh?  So, leave a comment (till Next Thursday June 25th), and I will choose a winner at random.  Then go sign up for your own free 12 week healthy makeover!!

Need to get organized?? Hop over to my sisters blog . She’s giving away a FRANKLIN COVEY organizing system.  Awesome!  A $90 value.

WEDNESDAY: Dinner

If I post alot about beans, it is because I literally try to think everyday how  I can add beans to our dinner.  I think beans are amazing and taste so delicious (sorry Cathy-who disagrees)! We used to NEVER eat beans.  Then about 2 years ago, knowing what a food powerhouse they were, I’ve been trying to include them more and more. 

So, with my recent love of beans (literally the last few years), I’ve been experimenting with beans.  But this was my first attempt at a Minestrone soup.  I’ll be honest, the kids did pick through their soup and ate the parts they liked.  I could have chopped the zucchini up a bit more.  But Wade (my husband) thought it was literally the best dinner I had ever made!  EVER!  Quite frankly, I was shocked.  Here is the recipe.

To accommodate the carnivore, I browned some ground beef separately from cooking the soup.  When dinner time came, I asked each child, meat or no meat in your soup?  One chose meat and I put it at the bottom of his bowl, and poured the soup on top.  The other two chose no meat, and so did I. 

Kids like having choices, even at dinner. It doesn’t mean you have to cook up a separate meal for them.  But giving them options usually makes meal time less contentious.

TUESDAY: Lunch

Macaroni and cheese made healthier!!

I dare say, I don’t personally know any mother who has not made macaroni and cheese for lunch.  Its like an American Classic.  It may even replace Apple Pie someday.  I have made loads of macaroni and cheese in my 10 years of mothering. I Even bought cases of it for $0.20 a box!  But with the salt, the fat, and the artificial colors (really, I’ve never been able to get any homemade sauce as orange as Kraft can), you are better off making it yourself.

This is my quick lunch version of macaroni and cheese. Certainly I enjoy a good baked version with lots of vegetables and good stuff, but lunch is a different story.  This takes just as long as making Mac and cheese from a mix, although you are at the stove the whole time, rather than walk away.

While the noodles are cooking,  I get the sauce ready.  As I love to make a good cream sauce, this time I used olive oil instead of butter for my rue, and it turned out perfect!  I’m so excited about this switch.  In all three cups of dry noodles, (which I got for 0.60 per lb), there is only 1/2 cup of cheese. I also added some yellow squash (pureed from our garden and frozen last summer).  I’ve pulled these baggies of squash puree all year to use.  They’ve been great.

The verdict?  Everyone loved it and went for seconds.  If your kids don’t love it, they will someday.  It is different than traditional macaroni and cheese.  Much less salty, and as I said prior, a different COLOR, but that is a good thing.  Their taste buds will change to appreciate the milder flavors.  And if your kids are really little, start them eating this version immediately, so they aren’t conned into thinking all macaroni and cheese has to be orange.