Grandma’s Cookbook

One of my husband’s cousins is starting a project to make a cookbook of their grandmothers’ favorite recipes.

We’ve volunteered to help test and photograph some of the recipes.  I told Jeremy I thought we should help right from the start, because a few years ago one of my cousins did the same thing.

I love this book of recipes of my grandmother’s.  It includes the recipe for her annual Christmas Eve party egg nog, and so many other recipes that I remember having time and again in her home. These recipes are my heritage.

In In Defense of Food Michael Pollan writes about one of the problems American’s have with food is that we don’t have a food heritage the way that many other cultures do, that passes on a traditional (usually healthier than the standard American diet) diet. I love the cook book from my grandmother, and am excited to have one of Jeremy’s grandmother’s recipes so that we can pass on their heritage.

I definitely know that not all the recipes in either of the books are the real food that I usually try to feed my family.  But I also know that these cookbooks are passing on more than just recipes.  These cookbooks are passing on a love, rather than fear, of food.  And these cookbooks are passing on a rich cultural heritage of enjoying time as a family eating together.

This combats typical American’s “unhealthy obsession with healthy eating,” and their tendency to eat alone and on the go–both of which Michael Pollan cites as problems in America’s food culture.

I want to teach my children that eating is a joyful experience, that it is even more joyful with family around, and it is always better when you’ve made it yourself.  That is the food culture that Grandmothers’ Cookbooks pass on to our children.

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Do you have a copy of your Grandmother’s favorite recipes?  Which one is your favorite?

Eating Out at Home

Every once in a while our kids are just adamant about wanting to “eat at a restaurant”. We always wonder where that comes from since we really don’t eat out much at all. So we’ve tried to figure out what part of the restaurant experience they are really looking for.  Mostly it’s just a different atmosphere that feels “special”, and out of the ordinary.

So every once in a while when the boys are feeling “bored” of delicious home cooked food eaten together as a family at the dinner table, Jeremy set’s up the fun and exciting. . .

“Daddy’s Taco Shop!”

The boys come and place their order.   “One fish taco please, with 2 pieces of fish and no salsa.”  They wait for it to be completed. . .

then take it to the table to eat.

They get the special experience that they wanted.  They get the economic and healthful food that mom and dad want them to have.  And really the evening is a little more exciting for everyone.

Daddy’s Taco Shop–new locations opening worldwide–franchises available!

Eating Less of More

Michale Pollan wrote that 2/3 of our daily calories come from just four foods: corn, soy, wheat,  and rice  (In Defense of Food, p117).   Jeremy and I have been talking a lot lately about actively trying to increase the number of species we eat.  I read something once about a hunter/gatherer man who had been frozen or mummified and there was around 47  different species in his stomach, which were eaten in the last 24 hours before he died.   I’m not sure we’ll ever reach that level of food diversity in our home, but we have been making progress.  We’re finding that the key is to eat less of more.

Milk

I am a milk drinker.  I just love milk.  Cold cereal and milk helped me through the 9pm munchies of three pregnancies.  Since switching over to buying milk in the glass half-gallon bottles, we’ve noticed that we drink less milk than when we were buying milk in gallon jugs.  It just kind of happened because we were buying a similar number of total bottles of milk but there was less milk in them so we were unconsciously altering our milk intake accordingly.  (Michael Pollan talks about how Americans eat with our eyes instead of our stomach.  As in we stop based on external clues like: our plate is empty, rather than internal clues like: I feel full or satisfied.)

Once Jeremy and I noticed our milk consumption had gone down, we talked about it, noting that we didn’t believe it was a bad thing.  I would never deny my children the joy of drinking milk, and I also believe milk is very healthy for children in particular, but I don’t want them filling up their tummies with milk so that they are not hungry for other foods.

Bread

We’ve recommitted to making homemade bread this year.  (I’m always really good about it in January, but when the summer with 100 degrees and 90 percent humidity with no central air conditioning roll around. . .  my resolve waivers substantially.)  Another woman was noting the other day that they eat less bread because they are making it homemade.  (I’m not talking about the initial homemade bread gorge-fest because you realize how delicious is is compared to what you’ve been eating!  That frenzy will subside after the first loaf or two.)

We are definitely eating less bread because we are making it homemade.  I make two decent-sized loaves at a time, and when they are gone they’re gone–I don’t always have time to make another batch up.  So some days we may not eat bread all day.  That’s not bad.  I wonder about the recent influx in gluten intolerances, and wonder if it’s not really wheat that’s to blame, but perhaps it’s because we’ve eaten too much of it along with just corn and soy and rice, and now our bodies are rebelling at that fact.  But if we eat wheat along with dozens of other species our bodies can “tolerate” it better.  So in our house we don’t demonize wheat or gluten, but we are actively working to include more grains in our diet.

And More

Drinking less milk means we drink more water–which is good.  But less milk also means less cold cereal, which is good for two reasons.  First of all cold cereal is expensive, but secondly it gives us the opportunity for more variety in our diet.  We have oatmeal often for breakfast, steel-cut oats are our favorite, and wheat or buckwheat pancakes, or grits.  (Ok we’ve not actually eaten grits for breakfast but we do enjoy polenta for dinner.)  We’ve been working with barley a little bit, mostly as a side-dish and in soup.    St. Patrick’s day is coming up so we’ve got our annual loaf of marbled rye coming up on the radar as well.  (It’s a starting point right?!)  Even though polenta and corn bread are both “corn” I still feel like using them in more applications in their natural form (rather than their oils and starches in processed foods) is a good thing.

I always try and use more beans.  Beans are just really healthy and really nutritious ( and pretty cheap as well). I always feel good about using more beans in our eating.

Eating seasonally is the best way to add variety to our diets.  Not only is it good for us but it keeps us from getting bored with our food as well.  We’re excited for the CSA to help “encourage” us to eat more seasonally this year.

Gardening is a great way for us to eat more seasonally and have more variety.  It’s curious to hear that all over the country it’s the same variety of carrots, and tomatoes on every grocery shelf.  One reason we like gardening is being able to try the different and heirloom varieties of vegetables–like yellow carrots!–adding variety and interest to our diets.

Urban foraging is the last place we plan on finding variety for our diet this year–and that is just plain fun.

: : :  So how do you do it,  what have you cut back on and what have you made room for in your diet to eat more healthy? : : :