August already? I can’t believe how fast the summer is going. All of July I kept thinking how this has been the best summer with the kids. There are no diapers or major meltdowns. And they seem to get along most of the time. But now that August is here I’m slowly starting to crave more routine. It’ll come fast enough.
This week I’m trying yet another fish taco recipe. We don’t have a regular one yet and that bothers me. I’m also going to be trying some new lunches with the kids (especially Big A) so that we have more options come school time. I’ll be giving away a fabulous cookbook that I’ve been using.
For more meal plan ideas, see Org Junkie.
Monday: Tilapia Fish Tacos with black beans and Mexican rice.
Tuesday: Slow cooker Veggie Lasagna with a salad
Wednesday: Kids’ Choice
Thursday: Chicken and broccoli stir fry with brown rice
Friday: Sliders with roasted veggies and baked fries
More from Cooking Light…
10 Things you didn’t know about me
Remember getting those emails from friends answering questions so you could get to know more about them? Well, I realize some of you have been reading me for a while and don’t know much about me. So here are 10 things about me that may surprise you.
1. Both of my parents were born in the former Yugoslavia – I am 100% of Serbian descent.
2. I’m the youngest of 5 kids (the baby!) — 2 boys and 3 girls.
3. Both of my sisters went through a cooking and cleaning phase. I didn’t.
4. As a kid I remember thinking that I could live off sweets forever and had very little interest in food.
5. I remember my sister loved this stew my mom made with potatoes and meat and I thought she was crazy.
6. I don’t remember being forced to eat anything except when going to a friends’ house where the dad made us eat everything. I put food in a napkin and discarded it. I got knots in my stomach before eating so I was never hungry.
7. I didn’t know what major to select in college and this stressed me out big time. My sister was thinking of nutrition so I took some of the introductory classes. I remember after the first week of classes, I panicked and went to the Physical Education director telling him I wanted to major in PE. He gave me good advice. “Never make a decision when you are in this state. You are young, finish your classes this semester and then decide.” I ended up loving my classes and majored in nutrition.
8. I didn’t discover that I liked to write until I was 29 and worked at Jenny Craig’s corporate office, a big change from my previous outpatient and clinical work.
9. My biggest feeding challenge is still cooking but I have come a long way. My favorite food to cook is Mexican (I know, that’s 2 things).
10. I don’t like trying to change people, but if I can make them think a little differently about something based on something I write, that makes me feel good.
Feel free to share something about you in the comments.
My New York Times Debut
I spend a significant amount of time pitching to various outlets. I have received countless rejections and often don’t hear anything back (hear that Huffington Post!). One of these outlets has been the New York Times Parenting Blog, Motherlode.
So I was very happy to learn they were publishing my essay, which occurred last Friday. I wrote about saying good riddance to the clean plate club, as even I was surprised when a study in Pediatrics revealed that more than half of parents ask their older children eat everything on their plates. In the popular media when obesity prevention is mentioned, it’s always about what people are eating and not how. So I wanted to offer a different perspective.
I’m not naive to think this alone is the answer to obesity in America, but it certainly plays a role. Some of the comments after my essay are interesting, especially one from this man who tells his own story about having to eat everything growing up.
I myself never really thought about hunger and fullness as ways to start and stop eating until I was an adult. I mean, I knew what it felt to be hungry and overstuffed but once I used these signals as a guide it changed everything for me. And I believe it’s an important part of feeding — to honor a child’s hunger and satiety cues.
Someone on the Fearless Feeding Facebook page alerted us to this article in the Huffington Post about a mom who is battling her picky 2 year old with an “eat this or starve” strategy. What I notice is how much fear this mom has. She probably said before having kids that no way was she going to have a child who eats macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets. So as I read it, I thought this had more to do with her than her daughter.
What do you think?
Well, that’s enough rattling on for a while. My next post on my picky eating series will occur next week. And I have a back-to-school giveaway coming soon!
Enjoy the rest of your summer!
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