SOME THINGS ARE WORTH THE EFFORT

My daughter has a stomach ulcer and I've been searching the web for natural cures and what foods she should avoid to quicken healing.  I suspect that the food she eats is partly to blame for her stomach's rebellion.  If it were up to me, I would throw out every box of processed food in our pantry and never buy it again.  I did try that about a year ago, but it wasn't long before I heard complaints about the poor selection of snacks.  "Where are the Ritz?"  "Where are the chips?"  I soon caved in and the pantry was once again stuffed with snack food that's full of preservatives, artificial flavors and colors, soy, and other ingredients that are just plain bad for our bodies.  If you still think soy is health food, read Sick Food, Not Health Food, under the Healthy Eating label on the right side of my blog.

I don't think the food she eats at the school cafeteria is any healthier.  So I bought her a cool lunch bag to encourage her to pack lunches.  Now the problem is finding food to pack in that lunch bag that she will actually eat and that isn't loaded with unhealthy ingredients.  It means a lot more work for me because to eat healthy means making food from scratch or taking the time to read labels.  But some things are just worth the effort.  I have managed to stop buying cookies unless they are organic.  I make most of the cookies we eat from scratch.  And I found a great alternative to pop tarts.  Nature's Path Organic toaster pastries are better than pop tarts in my opinion.  You can find them in the organic foods section of certain grocery stores.

Little by little, I'm making changes to the way we eat.  I'm more selective about what I put in the grocery cart.  And I'm discovering that I can find healthy alternatives to most snack foods.  I recently discovered an organic granola bar that everyone in the family loves.  And of all places, I found it at Wal-Mart.  It was hiding on the bottom shelf.  The brand name is CLIF all natural crunch granola bars, and they come in chocolate chip and white chocolate macadamia nut. Look for a blue box.

Grocery shopping takes twice as long since I've become a label reader, but my family's health is worth it.  I even found a brand of chips with only three ingredients: potatoes, sunflower oil and sea salt.  Martin's Kettle Gold chips have become my favorite.  I also make kettle corn in a popcorn popper with peanut oil and it is delicious.  You need a popper that's made to be used with oil, and it must have a turning rod that stirs the sugar covered kernels so they don't burn.  (I add the sugar)  This is the popcorn that's both sweet and salty, so it is hard to resist.  And I can feel good about serving it because it's just popcorn, oil, salt and sugar.

Now if I could just find a recipe for those Little Debbie pumpkin delights my daughter loves, I'll have one less box to buy at the grocery store.  That's my goal, to bring home fewer boxes and to make more food from scratch.  Could I duplicate a Ritz cracker?   That might be pushing it.  The link below is a wonderful site for making food from scratch.  The barbeque sauce is one I'm going to try and that chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting, yum!  Check it out.  She posts lots of photos and they'll make your mouth water.  Go straight to the desserts.  You'll be hooked.
http://www.simplyscratch.com/