But if you aren’t that fortunate, we have found some help.  At My Fridge Food, you can actually click on your favorite ingredients and it will pull up recipes for you to choose from.  I put in cheese, salt and pepper, eggs, milk, pasta and chicken and it pulled up nearly 100 recipes ranked by the percentage of required ingredients I had on hand.  It also gives the number of ingredients, time and number of calories in the dish.  Truth be told, I probably had the missing ingredients in most cases…..but it’s fun to see what creative things you can make with so little!

 Tell me, what’s in your ‘fridge and what do you do with it?

At the end of the holidays, I don’t know about you, but my fridge needs a good cleaning – so I can see the shelves again.  If you feel the same after weeks of  treats and leftovers, you might enjoy this. On the lighter side, here is a photo essay on what your fridge says about you!  For a good laugh and some self awareness!

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So I want to spend a little time talking about my lifetime obsession – that twisted relation of health/weight/food. The national obsession and information overload on health and weight management is confusing. I’m actually going to break it into two parts, and I bet you know what they are – DIET and EXERCISE.

Part I -Diet

Help Tracking your Diet

We all have good intentions – and most of us mom’s try to put balance of good food on the table (although many are tied to the old food pyramid). The government has put together a really good site to explain this, and plan and track your progress to eating well.   Give it a look see and gets your kids involved in planning.

Reality is we will all eat a little of everything – and that ‘s the key – A Little!

When you look at the portions in quick serve restaurants, they are full of fat, salt and calories – even a salad can contain a whole day’s worth (we all watch morning TV and have seen the expos).  And heaven knows on a cold day I’m the first to line up for Mac and Cheese, or a cup of steaming hot cocoa with whipped cream, and that’s ok as an indulgence. But you can’t really live that way.

Our nation has an epidemic of obesity, starting with our children.  We owe it to them to improve. If you really knew what a portion was, you could probably cut your food budget down – the man at the fish counter is always trying to sell me a ½ pound per person, when a portion is 4-5 ounces – half the amount.  And the right portion for a toddler is ¼ that of an adult.

I spend a lot of time on the road where I do my best to piece together something clean and simple to eat – and I succeed about 60% of the time. All you have to do is look at my wardrobe to see the yo-yo battle.  I used to make excuses, but the only person I’m fooling is me. 

Manage Your Family’s Diet and Budget

The good news for managing your family’s diet and budget in these time is:

1. Cooking and eating at home is 1/3 less expensive than eating out.
2. Fresher/less processed food is generally less expensive.
3. Coupons are great, but are they helping you purchase the healthiest food for your family?  Many processed foods are convenient, but may not have the best nutritional value – sodium and fat are two things to watch. (If you don’t know it – check this out  for retailer coupons).
4. Cooking and coming together for a meal is a great way to connect. –whether within your immediate family, or everyone bringing potluck for Thanksgiving.

Eat as many fruit and vegetables as possible, serve food that is as close to fresh as possible, exercise and you’ll be fine.

If you eat in balance and control your portions– you can eat almost anything! What’s your favorite way to stay in control?  Pass the dark chocolate please, it’s good for my heart!

For more National Food Holidays click here!

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Now what?  You cast and eye a basket content, checker speed, presence of children and then shoulders slump, and you grudgingly place your bet.

 My experience has been that 8 times out of 10 I pick the wrong line. Just like in a traffic jam, I watch the baskets in the other lanes whiz past me!.  I’ve even tried the self-check out lane – I’m a whiz at bagging, but there’s always some item that doesn’t scan!  In some stores in the Northeast they even have a scanner you take with you while you shop – if you scan as you go, you get special offers and are ready to plug in at check out! (although my first couple of times were slow, because I didn’t read the rest of the directions….) But that doesn’t help with the others in the line.

finding the fast grocery lane

So of course, someone, somewhere, paid good money to study this problem and found it’s the number of people in the line, not the contents of the basket that makes the difference –  so go for the shortest line!  See for yourself! Even so, I’m still not convinced!  

Of course you can solve the problem by always keeping some TSG in the cupboard for last minute inspiration!

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