This past month has been all kinds of crazy. Other than not driving to baseball, basketball, and guitar lessons, little else has felt calm. My husband has been working more, I added many classes that were booked and busy, and we are almost done with a significant home remodel...
All that being said, everyone is home more, and many folks are eating more. Almost every single client has been telling me the same thing. How can we all stop eating?!!
There is truth about the relationship between health and food security. Usually, in our country, when food is less secure, less quality food is available, and then more calorie dense or processed shelf foods are purchased and consumed. I see this happening now.
I think what is happening more frequently, is that people are gathering in the kitchen, or stopping by on their way through the home. Children are persistent with their requests, and adults are comfort eating. There are many tactics to address this predicament.
In my home, I approach this with a few, moderately boring "anytime foods". Ours are carrots, celery, and nuts/seeds. The kids can help themselves, and even if they ruin their dinner off of those items I don't really care. This applies for me as well!
The other practice we strive to stick to (and it works about 85% of the time!) is a schedule. Breakfast 8am, snack 10am, lunch 12-1pm, potentially a snack at 3, and then dinner at 530-6. My children/ possibly your children do not physically need to eat very frequently, but I found that it does stop some of the sneaking or grazing to adhere to a rough 2-3 hour schedule.
We've done some sugar baking over this past month, but nothing to write home about. We've made rice krispies once, and gf cookies another time. Other than those out of the norm items, things have been pretty normal.
I wanted to share my gelatin gummy recipe I made last month. My kids thought they were getting a dessert but they were actually getting some sweetness with a protein power boost.
(adapted from Bakerita)
Gelatin Gummies
Ingredients-
the juice of 2 Oranges, hand juiced by a sweet child
1/2 cup POM juice
2 TBSP honey
4 TBSP Grass fed beef gelatin (collagen won't work)
5 drops high quality doTERRA Essential tangerine oil (or another citrus oil)
1. In a small saucepan, combine juices and honey until hot.
2. Turn off, and whisk in gelatin slowly, 1 TBSP at a time, making sure it dissolves.
3. Put into molds, and refrigerate. They will firm up quickly. My molds are pretty big, but it only took 20 minutes. If you don't have molds, you can use ice cube trays or pour into a baking dish and cut into cubes or squares.
IKEA molds I've had forever.
