One of the snacks that I have had great success with is homemade granola bars because the recipe is very simple and endlessly variable. I love that the basic recipe is a template that lets you “fill in the blanks” when it comes to the add ins. The “regular” add ins such as dried fruits, nuts, seeds and/or chocolate chips are always popular in my house and I have also had great success with add ins such as; pretzel pieces, puffed millet, puffed rice, chia seeds, flax seeds, and coconut flakes. The combination of add ins is completely up to you and you can play around with them to get different flavors and textures. One of my personal favorites is a “sweet and salty” variation where I use pretzels, peanuts, dried cherries, puffed millet and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

If you have a food allergy, this recipe is perfect for you because you are in control of the ingredients from start to finish. In fact, after a visit with my Dad and Step-Mom, I realized that with very minor modifications this recipe could easily be be made Gluten Free in order to accommodate their dietary needs. The same would hold true for a family with a nut allergy or chemical sensitivities.

These bars are extremely simple to make and pack well in lunch boxes (or purses!) making them a nutritious and natural addition to your diet, I encourage you to give it a try!  For this recipe click the link above and for other natural, whole foods recipes please visit my cooking site Jen’s Natural Kitchen.

I just read a really interesting article in the New York Times about the concept of mindful eating.  It is a very simple concept, the idea behind mindful eating (or mindful anything) is simply to slow down and completely focus on the food in front of you.  How does it look? Enjoy the contrasts of colors and shapes.  How does it smell? Try to pick out individual spice smells, then smell it as a whole.  How does it taste? Eat each bite slowly and fully absorb the flavors and textures.  Pause between bites to experience the complete process of each bite from when it enters your mouth to when you fully swallow the food.  Think of eating this way as a meditation and a way of more deeply tuning in to the nutrients that you are putting into your body.  Take a moment to be aware of how the food you are eating will nourish and energize your body so that you can do all of the other things in your life.

One of the benefits of eating this way is that is slows you down.  As most of us know, it takes at least 20 minutes for the stomach to signal the brain that it is full.  Most of us eat too quickly for the message to arrive so we end up eating everything on our plates or even second servings before we realize that we have over eaten.   This leads to problems with digestion and to weight problems as well.  The practice of mindful eating will slow your meal down quite a bit and will allow you time to realize when you are full but not stuffed.

It may be impractical to think that you could or would want to eat everything this way, but sometimes it is good to slow down and connect your mind to what is on your plate.  I encourage you to read the article that I linked to in the first sentence and to try out mindfulness for yourself.

Because I cook three meals from scratch every day for a family of four, I rely on having really good kitchen equipment to make my life easier.  I love finding great new kitchen gear at the store and unlike many wives I would be thrilled to receive a blender for my birthday, but, it better be a Vitamix or a Blend-Tec.

Although I love kitchen gear and equipment I don’t acquire it lightly, I am always conscious of my budget and the space limitations in my storage closet.  I don’t buy an item unless I have thoroughly researched it and have satisfied myself that it can be of tangible help to me in the kitchen.  I don’t want an automatic potato peeler that takes up a whole shelf, when a good quality handheld peeler fits in a corner of the utensil drawer and can do the same job plus peel anything else I choose.

One piece of kitchen equipment that I have had my eye on for a while now is a vacuum sealer.  I like the idea of being able to securely store items in the freezer without the problems of freezer burn or funny tastes.  There are some items that I buy in bulk when the price is right, and proper freezer storage protects the investment I have made in the purchase.  I also like to cook double batches of certain dishes that freeze well so that I can have quick meals on hand for those busy nights when the lure of takeout food can be very tempting.  There are also items that make more sense to cook in large batches and then freeze in recipe sized portions such as cookie dough, pie crusts, and beans, which taste infinitely better when home cooked than out of a can.

Once I compared prices and reviews on the various models of vacuum sealers, I made a choice and then let it slip to my husband that it would make a very good Christmas present.  Dependable as clockwork, I found the FoodSaver V2244 Vacuum Sealer under our tree on Christmas morning and I have spent the past few weeks vacuum sealing anything that isn’t nailed down in the kitchen.  When I saw how well the thing worked to seal and protect whatever was placed inside the bags, I went online to buy some of the accessories as well.  I buy a variety of grains which I normally keep in mason jars in the pantry so I purchased the Wide-Mouth Jar Sealer.  This device uses the regular, flat mason jar lids to create a vacuum seal that can be broken and resealed as many times as you need.  I also bought the FreshSaver Deli Containers to store cheeses and the lunch meats that I routinely make at home from larger roasts.  To make sure that I would have sufficient volume and variety of sealing bags, I also purchased the Replacement Rolls Combo Pack.

Although quite loud, the vacuuming cycle is quick and surprisingly powerful.  It is obvious from the way the bag collapses in on itself around the food item that virtually every bit of air is being pulled out before the heat sealing cycle quietly and quickly finishes the process.  The heat seal function can also be used separately to re-seal cereal or chip type bags in order to help keep the contents as fresh as possible.

So far, the vacuum sealer is proving itself to be worthy of shelf space in my kitchen although I have chosen to keep out on the counter because I find myself using it more than I even hoped.  It may just be the novelty of packing food items so securely that they seem Space Shuttle ready, but I suspect that this device is going to be a solid kitchen performer for years to come.

This post is participating in the Patchwork Living Blogging Bee #17.

I am not including breakfast and lunches in this menu, just dinners. I went to the store without a planned menu and just bought what was on sale and/or looked extra fresh and delicious. I ended up with 2 pounds of beautiful small red potatoes, 1 lb of fresh and local Key West Pink Shrimp, 1 lb of organic Quinoa (& 1 lb of organic Farro because it was buy 1 get 1 free with the Quinoa), 1 package of organic smoked chorizo, 18 cage free organic eggs, 5 enormous turkey legs (on sale for 99 cents per lb) and 2 turkey wings (same 99 cent sale). I also bought staple items like milk, cheese, fruit, lunchbox snacks and flour. I didn’t buy any veggies besides the potatoes or greens because my garden is generously supplying us with a homegrown bounty at the moment.

Sometimes I shop this way because I am stumped for dinner ideas and I need the visual stimuli at the grocery store to inspire me. Sometimes I shop this way for the challenge of trying to make meals on the fly with what I know I have in the pantry at home, what is growing in the garden and what I see at the store, while staying within my self imposed budget of $125 per week for all three meals. This week it was a little of both.

Winter gardening in the sub tropics is a delight!  Yesterday I harvested approx. 3 1/2 pounds of veggies from my garden and then immediately turned part of it into a delicious stir fry.  Everything tasted so fresh and good that my green bean hating children were asking for seconds “and make sure to get some of those green sticks too. Those things are good, what are they?”

As yummy as the meal was, harvesting the veggies was even better!  The carrots gave off a sweet perfume as they were pulled from the earth that was surprising and enchanting.  My kids loved the hide and seek of searching for ripe green beans on the leafy bush, while I happily discovered beautiful balls of ruby red radishes pushing their shoulders up through the soil.

Tonight there is a freeze warning for my area so I am heading out to put sheets over all of my precious plants.  Thankfully for us, temperatures are supposed to climb steadily after tonight so this is just one of maybe two times in a season that I have to create a tent city for the veggies!

I am guessing that most people are in the same situation, all caught up in the bustle of the holiday season and I hope that you remember to actually enjoy your holiday events and traditions instead of getting lost in the pressure of pulling off a perfect Christmas.  Perfection is cruel taskmaster and anyway the truly fun, funny and memorable occasions are usually the ones where something unexpected, weird or wacky happens!

Like everyone, I am finding myself a little pressed for time right now because of all of the fun holiday events that are going on around me so I probably won’t get a chance to link up any of this week’s recipes until Wednesday at the soonest.   The busyness of the season is reflected in my menu, most of the meals are super simple and don’t require extensive prep or cleanup.  I scale back on the complexity of my menus when my life gets busy, otherwise I would find myself stressed and anxious from trying to prepare elaborate meals while meeting all of my other obligations and fun events.

I hope that you are enjoying the holiday season so far!