Mom’s today already have so much on their plates, that the idea of cooking family meals from scratch seems almost impossible, especially with the ever-increasing availability of drive-thrus and frozen/packaged foods. But I’m here to tell you it is possible! It’s completely possible to cook delicious, healthy meals for your family even with a tight schedule and budget.
I’ve always loved cooking (and eating!), but the more I learn about food, the more I realize that so much of what we eat isn’t food! And that so much of what we eat should be delicious and nourishing, and it isn’t! And that the pervasive belief that eating healthy costs too much and takes too much time isn’t necessarily true!
So here’s my food philosophy:
1. Food should taste good.
If we’re going to have to do something several times a day, every day, for our whole lives, we should enjoy it! And no, this doesn’t mean just eating brownies all the time (although I would probably enjoy that… ) But it does mean that we can prepare healthy food in such a way that our taste buds will thank us. Learning to use herbs and spices (not just salt and sugar!), and what flavors complement each other is a major key here. If you follow me on Instagram (and I hope you do!) you know that I post A LOT about food and cooking. Taking care of our bodies by feeding it properly is one of the major factors in living a life of FLOW. FLOW not only feels good, tastes good!
2. Food should be Food
Seems obvious, but the food we eat should, in fact, be food. I have a passion (obsession?) for cooking recipes and using methods that make cooking from scratch much more manageable so we don’t have to use prepackaged food filled with chemicals and other nastiness.
My fourth baby is my garden. It brings me joy to eat something from THE EARTH that I planted with my two hands. How often do we want to gobble up our babies but we can’t? My garden allows me that pleasure. Ha! I know that everything I harvest is actual food and it tastes roughly a gazillion times better than what we can get at the store. If you can, I strongly suggest you have a garden!
3. Food should nourish you.
Don’t get me wrong – I love chocolate as much as the next person. And there will most definitely be some less-than-healthy recipes on here. But for the most part, I try to use fresh ingredients, and ingredients that actually have some nutritional value. This kind of goes with point number 1 and 2… Because using good, fresh ingredients also makes your food taste better!
And when it comes to defining “good for you” I basically follow the idea of “moderation in all things.” I’ve never really believed in any of the fad diets that come along, and there is so much contradictory information out there – don’t eat meat, eat lots of meat, no carbs, low-fat, eat only spinach for a year – that I just go for moderation. So no, my recipes won’t be “fat free” because I don’t believe that’s healthy (especially for kids). And they won’t all be low-calorie. But they will (mostly!) be made with good, fresh ingredients and focus on moderation, balance, and nourishment.
Yes, cooking anything takes more time than just opening a can or popping something in the microwave. But it doesn’t have to take hours to prepare a meal, or cost a fortune! I’ll give lots of tips throughout my posts on this, but here’s one to start you off: Let the kids help whenever possible! I know, it’s often less than helpful… but try to find simple tasks they can do without causing too much trouble – like putting away ingredients when you’re done with them or simply stirring everything together in a pot or bowl.
Happy Cooking!
