It’s not easy to make the right food choices. Especially with a little almost-one year old lifting a placemat full of peas above his head or a booming business beckoning from the home office. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to really overhaul the foods I was eating and feeding Brady. Bryan’s a work in progress.
These have, over the past few weeks, become some of my favorite must-haves for eating well while going fast.
1. Chocolate Dipped Coconut Luna Bars: What!? How can this be healthy. De-LISH. Thanks McKay for the recommendation. They’re my favorite things ever. Full of nutrients and lots of protein. And I love this saying on the back of their boxes: “As women, we know the way we eat makes a difference in how we feel. Food feeds our souls, lifts our spirits, nourishes and sustains us.” What a beautiful way to look at food – rather than something that we rush for on the go, indulge in or mask our emotions with. Good food. Good company.
2. Blueberries: They’re Brady’s favorite food ever. Ever. I break them in half and give them to him at least once a day. Since they’re always in our house, I’ve started eating them too – mixing them in juices, pancakes, etc. Yum. Super easy and super healthy.
3. Almonds: These are addicting for me. I have to limit myself : ) I buy them from Whole Foods – the roasted and salted kind. I used to buy the raw, unsalted kind but they kind of tasted like cardboard. And made my mouth itch (weird allergy — happens with raw almonds, apples, pears, etc sometimes). Speaking of which, would you believe I’m really allergic to bananas. Sad, I know. Nothing sounds more delicious to me right now.
4. Anchor Hocking True Seal glass containers: LOVE! I’m following my Mom’s lead and getting rid of all my tupperwear. I don’t have any really smart and significant reason for this other than all that tupperwear was ANNOYING! I love these little glass containers. I have a bunch of the 2 cup sizes for Brady’s peas, carrots, pasta, blueberries and green beans. I also store leftovers in them. They just make me feel like I own “nice things” (whereas the rest of my house has been taken over by Fischer Price and Baby Einstein.) It’s the little things.
5. Strawberries: I live a few miles from the strawberry capital of the world (Plant City, Florida). My mother in law lives there and brought us an enormous flat of strawberries last year. I was pregnant and they were SO DELICIOUS. Ever since I’ve been addicted. I admit, I put a little Splenda on them. Yum. Yum.
6. White Dutch Oven from Food Network: Listen, I’ve never loved to cook. But for some reason, ever since my Mom and Dad gave me this gorgeous little dutch oven for Christmas, I LOVE it. I’ve cooked almost every night in this little pot. It’s made of iron and just plain pretty. It sits on our (new!) stainless oven every day as a pretty little decoration just waiting for something yummy to be made in it. There’s something about browning onions in a white iron pot that makes me feel like Giada. : )
7. Salad Dressing Emulsifier & Shaker: If you’re going to eat a lot of veggies, you need my Mom’s salad dressing recipe (best made in this awesome salad dressing shaker). Equal parts vegetable oil, white vinegar and Splenda. Yum. Yum. Yum. Shake it all up and enjoy. Seriously, you’ll thank me for this.
What are your tricks to living a fast paced life while still eating well? Do share!
xo
Em
