Why I am writing this blog

I want my family to be healthy.  Eating healthy, having an active lifestyle, being outdoors in the fresh air, and spending time as a family are important to me. I am not a “working mom” per se, but I am busy all day. My husband tells me the time I donate to our school and church is equal to a full-time job.  If I actually got paid for all my efforts he’d retire.  I don’t get paid so he is still working.

I actually thought about writing this blog six months ago but wasn’t sure people would care and with my busy schedule, I didn’t have the energy.  Being with my “college sister” this weekend has motivated me to get going, if for no one else than for the two of us.   She is a single, working mother. As we talked, eating healthy is important, but it can require extra prep time – time she would rather spend enjoying her son.  She is seeking to find the elusive balance – it must be out there somewhere.

This blog will be a journey to find that balance between nutrition and time.

We use our dinner table as a place for our very busy family to come together 3-4 times per week.  It is a centering place.  This is a place where we talk to each other and more importantly, listen to each other.  I can look into the eyes of my family and gauge how they are really doing.  Meals are such an integral part of our culture.  We celebrate with meals and when people fall on hard times we bring them meals.  Meals are a way we lift each other up.   Celebrating with nutritious meals on the table is a responsibility I have taken on for my family

Eating healthy is important to me – fresh food without preservatives or chemicals.  Food that is not over processed with sodium and sugar.  Food that is really food.  

I want to live a long healthy life.  I want to stay active.  I want to defy the grim national statistics on type II diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.   I want to be an example for my kids and impart healthy eating habits so they too can beat the odds and live a long, happy, and most importantly, healthy life.

The conflict is that we are barraged with fast food advertising, more and more grocery stores are opening both fresh and frozen prepared food sections, and restaurants have perfected take out.  We have to work to create healthy meals.  It takes time to incorporate fresh ingredients.

Yes, relative to eating fast food, or buying prepared food from a store or restaurant, making your own food takes more time.  But what amount of time is acceptable?  As we journey through dinners together I hope you will give feedback that helps answer this question.

Who is this website for?

This website is for people who are in charge of preparing meals in their home who want to serve healthy meals that are easy and quick to prepare.

Do you prepare the meals in your house?

Do you want to prepare healthier meals?

Is quick and easy important to you?

Did you answer yes to all? Read on!

This website will provide healthy, easy-to-prepare meals for dinner. My focus will be to prepare meals Monday through Thursday.  Each day, you can read about the meal I prepared night before.  What I planned to do and what actually happened.  I will be candid and honest.  It will be a chance to find humor and sarcasm (something I am good at), share my tears of frustration.

For some of you my schedule may mirror yours and could be replicated at your own house.  For others, suffice it to say that you will identify with the chaos and over commitment that seems to engulf me on a regular basis. 

On Fridays, I will provide the recipes and a shopping list if you want to recreate my dinner menu the following week.  Shop yourself on the weekends, have someone shop for you, or hire a service – figure out a way to get the shopping done in advance.  It’s the lynch pin to healthy eating.

The dinners will be balanced, with an eye towards managing salt and sugar.   I will try to keep expensive, one time ingredients to a minimum but there are times where a special ingredient will be necessary.  I am not a doctor, nurse, or nutritionist.  I don’t pretend to be the expert.  This blog is a way for me to share what I do, or try to do.  Use as much or as little as you want.

As the week progresses and you make the dinners, I will need feedback.  Consider the following:

• Level of difficulty: Easy?
• Time: Quick?
• Taste scale: Tasty?
• Overall review:  Make again?

Do you have recipes or information you want to share?  Please do!  I don’t have a fool proof answer to quick, easy, healthy meals every night.  This blog is the journey to find that answer.  Be a part of the solution.  It takes a village…