Sugar Cookies & Life Lessons

Go Real or Go Home!

The Hubby & I were having our first Christmas together in our new appartment and I wanted it to be perfect. He told me his favourite Christmas cookies were sugar cookies. When I googled a recipe my jaw hit the floor...you want me to put HOW MUCH butter and sugar in there?!? Being the new dietetic intern, I just couldn't imagine all that saturated fat and sugar in something I would make. So I decided I would make it "healthy". Stupid me listened to the food manufacturers when they said you can replace Splenda for sugar and Becel for butter. Ummmm they were wrong. I'm not much of a baker but I have never seen 'dough' do that. It actually crawled up my beaters and started to attack my mixer! Everything about it was wrong! The 'dough' was like pancake batter and when I baked them off - just too see if they would also consume my oven in protest - they turned out like sweet cakey pancakes.

I went out to the store and bought butter and sugar and have never looks back. Sometime you need to break the rules, sometimes you just need to Go Real or Go Home!

Passing it Down

Everytime I bake with my Little Man I remember baking with my mom, standing on the other side of the counter from her watching and adding ingredients. I remember learning important lessons like never measure over the batter because you can't take some things back. I remember being taught to scrape the measuring cup with a knife to make sure the right amount got in...only this year to find out she never actually did that herself (do as I say not as I do?). I rememer - my favourite memory by far - enjoying the fruits of our labour...licking the beaters!

Now, as I bake with my Little Man we always measure over the counter then he dumps it into the bowl. We crack eggs into a cup first and I scoop out lots of eggshells (ever try to teach a 2 year old to crack an egg?!?). We scrape the measuring cups with a knife as some habits are hard to break. Most importantly we always always always share a "beeer" (beater) as he calls them.

Next home reno project (in my dreams) is the kitchen to give us an island so I have room to continue to pass these life lessons down to both my boys in years to come.

It's Worth the Mess

I love cooking and baking with my Little Man. I think I love it because he loves it so much. I love having him standing on a chair beside me as I work in the kitchen. My goal as a mother is to send my boys out into the world as real catches - men who can cook and bake!

I am not a clean baker (I think I have flour in my hair as I write this) but baking with a 2 year old is M.E.S.S.Y.  Messy but worth every egg on the floor, every flour handprint on the wall and most definitely every batter covered face from licking the beater clean.

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If anyone is interested here is the Recipe we used. It survived eggs being scooped off the counter and added back in, many handfulls of creamed butter & sugar missing due to sneaky little hands and many roll outs as two year old do not understand using the dough space efficently when picking where to cut your cookies from.

Terri's Terrific Toddler Tested Sugar Cookies

You will need:
2c white sugar
1.5c butter
1c powdered sugar (aka icing sugar)
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5c all-purpose flour
2tsp baking powder
1 ts salt




1) Cream butter & sugar in large bowl (Watch sneaky little hands they really like to eat butter and sugar). Beat in eggs and vanilla.
2) In seperate bowl combine flour, powdered sugar, baking bowder and salt.
3) Stir in dry ingredients to large bowl of wet ingredients. (Use your hands, its fun!)
4) Divide into quarters, wrap in saran wrap and chill in fridge for 1 hour to overnight. (If baking with a toddler now it might be a good idea to go with the overnight option and go enjoy a glass of wine.)

5) Roll out dough to 1/4" to 1/2" thick. Cut and place 1" apart on cookie sheet.
6) Bake in 400F oven for 6-8minutes. (Look for light browning on edges and remove promptly. Telling your toddler to "Back-up, Back-up, Back-up" can ensure a safe cookie remove for all.)
7) Decorate if desired (or you have it in you and the wine is not calling again) & ENJOY!

Big Brother

I always wanted a big brother, someone to lead the way and look out for me as I slowly entered the world on my own. Alas, that was not the cards dealt to me. I was the big sister and looking back I'm sure my younger siblings would say I did a wonderful job...wow that was funny...they would not say anything of the sort. At least I paved the way and provided a guinea pig for Mom & Dad to test their parenting skills on - you both owe me for that one! So maybe it was my desire for a big brother or maybe because I can relate to being the big sibling but I LOVE watching my Little Man be a big brother.

Not to go too mushy...'cause I never get too emotional...but he is an amazing big brother. I will forever remember the first morning that the Littlest Man was with us. The Little Man got up, called for us from his room and the first thing he said:

"Where Baby Owee"
"Hi Baby Owee" once he located him in the bassinet next to our bed.
Then "Baby Owee in hand" (he wanted to hold him)

That interest and genuine affection continues to this day...all 84 of them. If he's crying He says "Baby Owee Crying" and will go over and hug him, tell me to give him milk or start the swing for him. The other day he actually came downstairs asked me for "Owee's bear", found it, and took it up to him where Dad was watching the Littlest Man. (Insert huge Momma AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW here)

I am so so so very proud of him. My expectations ranged from disinterest to outright anger. As much as I love that Little Man of mine he is very opinionated about what he wants and when he wants it - normally now - and I didn't know how well he would do with sharing my attention. I thus aimed to fully prepare for the newest ones coming with all the 'What's in Momma's Tummy' books and the classic Berenstain Bears and Little Critter new baby books. He knew a baby was in Momma's tummy but I was still very leery as to how being home with both the Little Man and then unknown newest ones.

I knew I had nothing to worry about when Big Brother wanted to read the newest member a book not much more then an hour after he was born and was asking to hold him.

My dearest Little Man,
If you are ever reading this know that this for me is your shinning accomplishment. There is nothing more important then family, especially your siblings. They are the ones that will keep you entertained on the long drives to the cottage, teach you how to stand up for yourself & cover for you when you are out past your curfew. This is something your Aunt Lisa and I took awhile to learn, but I am so glad now that we are friends as well as siblings.

My wish for the both of you is that you grow up, not only entertaining each other so Momma can get stuff done, but as friends sharing snow forts, soakers and of course many many time outs & groundings! 

Eat Real Food. Eat More Plants.

My hubby always says 'Read one for your heart and one for your head' when talking about books. Lately my evening reads while rocking a babe to sleep have followed this balance. My recent 'Ones for the Head' have been Michael Pollans In Defence of Food, Jeannie Marshals Outside the Box: Why our children need real food not food products & I'm currently in the middle of Dr. T Colin Campbell's The China Study. Recognise a trend?!


                           

One would think that in taking a year off with the Littlest Man's arrival that I would...well...take a break. One can not take a break from passion though. There is a reason I'm currently working as an underpaid (compared to comparable hospital jobs) Family Health Team Dietitian. I am passionate about people. I am passionate about food. I am passionate about helping people achieve their health goals through food. Though I may not agree with every single thing these authors write I agree with the basic message.

EAT REAL FOOD. EAT MORE PLANTS.

Eat Real Food
Ever walk down the isles of a grocery store and wonder where all the food is? Nope, probably not. That is the bane that comes with being a dietitian and knowing more then you want sometimes. Ever wonder what is in something if it is fat free, cholesterol free, sugar free & sodium free? Ever need to bring your dictionary (or iPhone for you cool techy people out there) and a magnifying glass to read the ingredient list on some of those packages? Ever wonder why a chocolate bar company is making a breakfast cereal for kids? Or am I the only one?
I love how Michael Pollan put it: If your great grandmother would not recognise that item as a food then it's not real food. He went a step further to explain that your great grandmother may know what yogurt is but she would not recognise it as it is now, neon coloured, tasting of nothing but sugar and arriving in tubes.
I often tell client's, and get a weird look, to look for foods that don't have labels. This is not fail proof, but generally speaking some of the healthiest foods do not carry with them a packaging and thus no label - read vegetables and fruits.

Eat More Plants
We live in a society that is dominated with the thought of 'Meat = strong and healthy'. Disagree? If I asked you what was for dinner, what would you say? Chicken, roast beef, pork OR broccoli, quinoa, beans, peppers? Considering that vegetables should make up half of your meal at lunch & dinner, don't you think we should answer with a plant based food first? I'm not trying to say that meat is bad - though some may disagree with this as well - but when you can't fathom eating a meal without meat or your steak takes up most of your plate you are missing out on the balance piece of all of this. I often have clients look at me as if I have two heads (Yes I do get a lot of weird looks at work - I'm used to it now) when I say that at least two of our main meals a week should be vegetarian. I have parents coming in feeding their teenage daughters fake-meat chicken nuggets when the rest of the family has a "normal" meal. These paresnts have no idea what else to feed her. One of my dear vegan friends has to deal with getting asked "What do you eat for protein?" whenever her dietary choices comes up. Where did this obsession with meat come from?

Science has shown time and time again that for the greater population a diet consisting mostly of whole plant based foods is healthier and key in preventing many of the affluent diseases (ie heart disease, diabetes). This does not mean we all have to give up meat but to look to other food sources for our protein and to think of meat as a condiment or a side when we do have it. Unbeknownst to most people many of our everyday grain foods contain protein such as bread and rice. Nuts and seeds are a great source of protein as are beans and lentils. No not green beans - think chili. Don't worry I didn't know what they were when I started to learn about them either! These foods can be incorporated into our diet in many everyday or unique ways. To star simply think about peanut butter on toast, hummus and veggies or vegetarian chili. Then move onto chickpea curry, pumpkin black bean enchiladas or vegetarian thia chili. Getting comfortable and adventurous while cooking with beans & lentils is something that I am working on over the next year. That way next time a client looks at me with that 'She's crazy look' I can hand them a stack of Dietitian and family approved recipes to try for themselves.

PS: My carniverous brother in law just loved my vegetarian thia chili this weekend...who knew!?

Stick It To Fast Food this November

We've decided to 

 for the month of November.

What an amazing grass-root movement, developed by a bunch of teenagers, this is. Is anyone else not entirely surprised that they were able to do SOMETHING while the medical industry and government have been chasing their tails when it comes to our obesity epidemic and our recent dramatic rise in chronic (read mostly preventable) diseases?

A big congrats to this teens for figuring out that -

"Fast Food isn’t real food. It was designed by scientists in white lab coats. Sure, sometimes it tastes good, but that’s their trick. If you put enough salt, sugar and fat in anything, it’ll taste good. Fast food companies are getting rich feeding us garbage. And it’s making us fat and sick."

- and deciding to do something about it!

In my personal and professional opinion our food environment - everything from what happens at the farmers field to our dinner table - is currently the biggest factor impacting our health at this time. The problem with our food environment is that it is so multi-factoral - Where do we start?! I've always been an advocate of start somewhere. If that's eating organic foods - Great! If that is avoiding GMO - Great! If that is sitting down as a family at the table to eat dinner every night - Great! If that is not letting your children watch TV that has food commercials targeting them - Great! If that is learning to cook real food - Great! If that is going to farmers markets and supporting other local producers - Great! If that's is organising a boycott on fast food - Great!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not preeching that you should be more like me. I love me some Dairy Queen Blizzards and buying pizza on those cold rainy days is so much easier then making dinner. Fast food (and I use the term 'food' VERY losely) tastes good and it is so very very easy. And you know what?! That's why they make the big bucks. I get it. I know. It's hard to say 'No'. The problem is that it is so normal. It is not uncommon for many people to eat fast food everyday. That bagel or muffin from your coffee shop on the way to work, that quick lunch b/c you are in a hurry and pizza or burgers for dinner b/c you are so tired at the end of the day, it's all fast food.

I challenge each and every one of you...all 20 or so... to join the Little Man, the Littlest Man and I in our pledge to Stick it to Fast Food for the month of November. ('cause I'm nursing I guess the Littlest Man gets in on mine). Help me, help the high shcool students, help yourself 'de-normalize' fast food.

PS: Grandma and Nana...consider this a notification that when the Little Man is with you this month there is no fast food. Who only knows what you two give him when I'm not around.
kidding....i love you!

For more information and to PLEDGE check out:
www.stickittofastfood.org