Whole Grain Vs. White

I hate to just load you up with facts that aren't so fun but I can't show you how I convert recipes unless I tell you WHY I convert them first! No one can explain this better the Dr. Michael Roizen.

"White bread is made from wheat grain that has been stripped of the outer shell and germ. Why is this a bad thing? When you eat breads and pastas made from this type of wheat — also called enriched, bleached, unbleached, semolina or durum flour — or rice flour, your body quickly converts this carbohydrate to sugar in your bloodstream. Your brain likes the feel-good rush of the sugar and sends out the message, more, more, more! Your arteries — not so much. Essentially, regularly raising your blood sugar can damage proteins called glycosylates. One of that protein’s jobs is to hold your cells and arteries together. When the arteries aren’t held together properly, your body tries to plaster the holes with LDL (bad) cholesterol. The result: atherosclerosis, which means your arteries are hardening and thickening, thanks to the fatty deposits, putting you at a high risk of heart attack and stroke. One-hundred percent whole grains, meanwhile, take longer to convert to sugar, are much less addictive than white flour/bread, and they also stay in your intestines longer, which means you stay fuller longer. That’s pretty fantastic, don’t you think?"

Read More http://www.ivillage.com/why-are-whole-grain-breads-and-pasta-better-you-white-bread-and-pasta/4-n-143806#ixzz1aqkfoRk6
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When my mother in law first started her diet we just switched ALL flour in recipes to Organic 100% Whole Wheat flour but as you all know white flour is so SOFT and Whole wheat doesn't have that same consistency. Although I still use Whole wheat flour for some recipes, my favorite substitutes over time which stand up to the soft consistency of white flour are Whole Grain Spelt, Barley, Oat, and Quinoa. A lot of times I mix them, a little bit of this flour and a little bit of that flour. Here is a picture of what I have in my kitchen now. You will most likely have to go to the health food section in your grocery store to find these different flours!  

When making choices with your bread, pasta, and flour PLEASE read ingredient list on the back and watch out for the words: enriched, bleached, unbleached, semolina or durum flour. 


I PROMISE MY NEXT POST WILL BE SOMETHING FUN!!!! =) 

First food post: Why Organic?

Since this is my first food post I just want to give a little information about why I try to cook the way I do. If you read my first blog "Here I am" you know that my mother in law, Nancy, has totally gotten off all medication just by changing the way she eats!!! She eats all Organic and Local (Food grown at farms close to your home) food.


What is Organic food mean? Definition from Wikipedia-
Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.^[1]


I'm gunna get a little controversial but this is MY blog so I'm gunna say it! The food and drug administration want to tell us that pesticides, etc. in food not labeled "organic" aren't proven to do anything to anybody. But when you have positive results sitting in front of you, like my mother in law, you cant ignore it!


So if the fruits and vegetables that you are eating aren't organic, then most likely you and your children are consuming different pesticides and/or chemicals! So its easy right? Just eat Organic!!! Unless you have lots of money, it's not that easy, buying Organic is EXPENSIVE!!!! So I will help you out with a list of foods that normally contain more pesticides than others (dirty dozen) and food that is safer to buy nonorganic (clean 15). 
this is copied from: http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/


As you can notice in the "Dirty Dozen" they are fruits and veggies that you eat the whole thing, even the skin! Also they are very hard to grow without bugs touching them and to be perfect store quality!!! So how can you consume them without also consuming the chemicals used in their growing process? Even after being washed, pesticides are still found! 


Hopefully these lists help you in making better choices for you and your family! =) Also, now that we have Trader Joes in Kansas City, your organic produce can be more cost effective!

EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce

Dirty Dozen

Buy these organic

1

Apples

2

Celery

3

Strawberries

4

Peaches

5

Spinach

6

Nectarines
– imported

7

Grapes – imported

8

Sweet bell peppers

9

Potatoes

10

Blueberries
– domestic

11

Lettuce

12

Kale/collard greens

Clean 15

Lowest in Pesticide

1

Onions

2

Sweet Corn

3

Pineapples

4

Avocado

5

Asparagus

6

Sweet peas

7

Mangoes

8

Eggplant

9

Cantaloupe
- domestic

10

Kiwi

11

Cabbage

12

Watermelon

13

Sweet potatoes

14

Grapefruit

15

Mushrooms

Halloween Game: Capture The Ghost

I am SO EXCITED!!! I have been looking for my notes to Capture The Ghost for years now. I remember it being so much fun at Halloween time with the school age (K-8th) kids I worked with. Sometimes, I would have 10 kids playing this game at once and EVERYONE would be having fun. This is great for parties or large groups of kids or you can keep it low key and play it just with your family. If I am unclear in any of my explanations, please leave me a comment below and I will try to make things more clear.  To start you need to make the ghosts! Very easy and here is what you will need,

1. White paper towels (two per ghost)
2. Pieces of string or yarn about 3 feet long (one per ghost)
3. a black sharpie marker

Lay out one of the paper towels and you or your child crumple up the second paper towel and lay it in the center, like pictured below.

 Then pick up the edges of the paper towel on the bottom and bring them up around the crumpled up ball.

 Take your 3 foot string and tie it around the paper towel, right above the bump of the crumpled up towel inside.

 Have you child draw the faces on the ghosts. If this is for a party, get the ghost to this point and then let the kids draw their own faces on their ghost! It's a fun thing to play with even after the game is over!

This is what it will look like when done!

 Let the game begin! The rest of the supplies you will need are:

1. Tape, to make a circle on the floor.
2. A plastic cup, to use as the cage to capture the ghosts.
3. Two or more dice 
4. ten pennies per player

Here is what it will look like when you are ready to start! You tape a circle on the floor and lay the ghosts inside with the strings coming out of the circle. One person is chosen to start as the ghost catcher! The ghost catcher sets their ghost aside and is holding the dice and plastic cup.  All of the other people have a ghost inside the circle and are holding on to their string! 

 The ghost catcher calls out a number between 1-6 (the numbers on a normal die). Then rolls the two dice in his/her hand. If that number is on either die, they can try and capture as many ghosts as possible by putting the cup on top of the ghost. My daughter is capturing my ghost in the picture below. The people holding onto their ghost DON'T want to be captured so if they see the number called on the dice, they pull their ghost out of the circle (where they are safe). Which is what my son is doing in the picture below!

What do you do with the 10 pennies per person?

1. When your ghost is captured you have to give the catcher a coin. 
2. If you pull your ghost out when the number called didn't show up on the dice, you must give a coin to the catcher. 
3. If the catcher catches you without the number called being rolled, the catcher gives the person who ghost was caught a coin!

Everyone gets a chance at being the catcher! Just go around the circle clockwise. I say, the game stops when someone is out of coins or when everyone has had a chance at being the catcher twice. You can make up your own rules to stop the game depending on the number of children and their age. After the game is over, I let the children keep their money and give everyone a treat for playing (a sucker, homemade cookie, or a choice of halloween candy, etc). No losers and everyone has fun!

This game is great on practicing number skills!

*You can easily use this for your adult halloween party. Anyone playing puts in their own ten one dollar bills, used instead of pennies, and you play till someone has no more money.

*Another example of how the game can be changed is: My friend Sara is having a Halloween party and the theme is Spiders. Play Catch The Spider and make spiders instead of ghosts. Also, when you tape out your circle on the floor you can tape out a spiderweb!

Sock Gloves!

Most kids LOVE to dress up!!! Especially around Halloween time! I let my kids go out of the house in costumes but sometimes you just want them to wear regular clothing! =) Sock gloves are so much fun! They can feel in costume but they are still wearing regular clothes, a win win situation. Right? This is what we did. The dollar section at Target ALWAYS has socks! They can be seasonal or your child's favorite character!!! You cut a hole in the top for their four fingers to go through.

 Then a little lower and to the right or left side, depending on which hand its for, cut a small hole for the thumb. Here is a close up of my sons hand in the socks! =) As you see, the "small hole" gets larger as they wear them and they go through the washer.

 My daughter wanted to get in on the action! This picture shows one other thing, if you place them right when cutting, normally their elbows fit right in the heel of the sock!

So use your imagination with this! If your daughter or son like singing or being a "rock star" these gloves would totally add to their fun.... find plain colored socks or even use nylons. I prefer the festive look at the holidays and cant wait for the christmas sock to come out!!! =)
If you and your kids want to get even more creative with these. Just bring out the puffy paints and let them paint away!

Craft: Halloween Paper Chain

This is my first craft post so I wanted it about something that I do ALL the time with my kids! I don't know about you but my son is ALWAYS asking "When are we going...?" or "How many days till...?" The paper chain will help your child get a sense of time so they wont always have to rely on you!!!

 It is a visual way for children to count down days! This could be used for EVERYTHING!!!! This is our chain right now, obviously counting down the days to Halloween. However, we have some other special things going on before that, like my Daughter will be 3 on the 22nd, so for that link in the chain we used pink paper and wrote on it "Kiki turns 3!" 

 This is kind of like two crafts in one! The halloween pumpkin patch poster is lots of fun too! All you do is get a long piece of white paper and watercolors. You or your children can paint big orange circles and stems above them in any color. After it dries, let your kids make up the faces on the pumpkins, we used a fine point sharpie. This poster was made last year and I couldn't throw it away because the faces on the pumpkins turned out so cute, drawn by my then 4 year old son! So for the past two years we have integrated this poster into our Halloween countdown paper chain.

 Here is a close up of one of the links. I'm sure most of you know how to make a paper chain but for those of you who haven't it is just a strip of colored paper which is stapled, taped, or glued together. so each link will equal a day, counting down to your special event. This could also be used as a counting activity on a daily basis. Have your child remove a link in the morning and then count together how many days are left! If your child is over three, it is also a great opportunity for fine motor development. Buy some child friendly scissors and have them help you cut the long paper strips!

Let the countdown begin!!!