We’ve been discussing healthy food and lifestyle choices this year and now it’s time to put some of this knowledge into action. If you need (or want) to make your meals greener and healthier for the long haul, here are some easy ways your entire family can make it happen.

Image by Flickr User eyeliam

1. Know your strengths and weaknesses

Sit down and make a list of your family’s general food and meal strengths, weaknesses and wishes. It doesn’t have to be a long list. Focus on the biggies. For example, my list would say “I have a picky eater in the house (my son), but he does eat veggies like a champ. I’m a good baker but not so great when it comes to cooking. Plus, I hate grocery shopping and want to cook stuff that’s fast, but still healthy.”

What I might gather from this list is that I need to plan fast meals, do all my shopping once a week, not every night and I should probably look into a good cookbook or two so I can become a better cook. Oh, and I need to consider meals that my overly picky son will like. This list isn’t meant to be major goals you have to work on. The list is just there to get you thinking about food and how it affects your household. For instance, if you tend to cook in the microwave only, and aren’t willing to budge, it’s fine to try and plan healthy meals that can go in the microwave.

In general, a basic list like this means you acknowledge and maybe even embrace your food strengths and weaknesses, so that your attempts to remake your meals is with you, not against you.

• Basic healthy actions you should take as a parent

2. Get some quick portion-size education

If you suspect that portion sizes are out of control at your house, it’ll require a bit of education. See the following for some basic food portion primers:

• Food smarts for kids
• Guidelines for kid portion sizes
• Proper adult-sized food portions

Next, if you don’t have any, get some basic measuring cups and keep them handy. Until you can eyeball proper portions, measuring cups are some of the best friends you can have and may mean the difference between a proper 120 calorie bowl of cereal and a 300 calorie bowl. Use those measuring cups to measure out serving sizes that are recommended in the links above. One more tip – use smaller dishes, as it will help you naturally serve up smaller, more appropriate sizes.

Image by Dor Sela

3. Get lovable with veggies and fruits

In many households, families focus on the main dish the most, which, in America, tends to be some sort of meat or often pasta. Paying more attention to how you cook and serve vegetables and fruits, means your family is more likely to eat them up. If you’re not sure how much love to give veggies and fruits, consider that experts say at least half your plate at meals should be made up of veggies and fruits. I’d say that’s a decent amount of love required.

To improve veggies and fruits, serve the freshest produce you can or on busy days go with frozen, not canned (ick). Frozen are best after fresh and have just as many nutrients. Steam, don’t boil. You can even serve raw veggies, which is super fast – plain or with a low-fat dip. Lastly get a great veggie cookbook and see what looks awesome – in fact, put kids in charge of choosing the veggies and fruits and if necessary cooking them. My son always eats his own cooking more than mine. Oh, and don’t forget, you can serve fruit as dessert.

4. Go organic

You might think I’m nuts to say, “Hey remake your meals” AND “Go organic too!” Doesn’t that sound like a lot of work?

Here’s the catch, going organic can help you eat healthier naturally. Organic food tends to be more expensive, thus requiring you to think about each purchase. Really thinking about the food you buy is a key step to healthier eating. Plus, with organic food costing what it does, you’ll be more inclined to spend the money you have on whole, fresh foods rather than junk.

• Go organic without going insane
• How to afford organic food

As you go organic, work on discussing organics with the kids too. This is a great way to work green eating conversations into your family’s life.

• One healthy organic meal that’s under $2 per person

5. Eat less meat

Eating less meat lowers your carbon footprint and in many cases is healthier, allowing you to cut fat and calories easily. Going meatless more often isn’t as painful as you might think and bonus, you’ll save tons of money. Meat is expensive! Start with meatless Monday and work up to more meatless meals from there.

• How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food
• 8 Meatless Dishes for Meat-n-Taters Lovers

6. Institute recipe hour

Once a week, sit down with the family and look through cookbooks, cooking magazines, the web, what have you, and make a semi-solid list of healthy meals and recipes you’d like to try during the week. Do this before you go grocery shopping. If you already have a stocked pantry, head to All Recipes and do an ingredient search, which can show you various ideas for what you have on hand.

Knowing ahead of time what you’ll be eating during the week can cut down on your mealtime stress level, save you money and stops you from eating fast food or junk just because it’s quicker.

Image by BlueOrange Studio

7. Shop less

Daily shopping for groceries encourages impulse buys, overspending and can make you so insane that you buy the first quick (and maybe not healthy) thing you see. I personally HATE shopping, even grocery shopping, so I make it a goal to go only on big shopping trips twice a month, where I stock up on dry goods and such, plus once a week to restock stuff like fresh veggies. Four shopping trips a month is a heck of a lot better than daily trips to the store.

Also this requires I plan healthy meals in advance, to a point. I’m not crazed about it, but we do plan a general menu for the week.

8. Cook together

Some kids really like to help out in the kitchen, and others don’t, but no matter what, your child should be involved, at least somewhat in meal planning, prep and cooking. Even little kids can shred spinach or lettuce, mix batter or scrub potatoes. With all kids, this gives you a chance to talk about why you cook how you do – i.e. why olive oil is a better choice than butter or how come you’re steaming, not boiling veggies.

Cooking is a skill your child will need as an adult, so it’s smart to start getting your child involved early. My own son isn’t that into cooking. I still keep him involved though. He helps to plan meals, sets the table or I’ll have him sit and talk to me while I cook. Once in a while he’ll even brave his way into the kitchen and cook something.

Image by Flickr User tiarescott

9. Eat together at the table

Research shows that eating together, as a family not only makes for more well adjusted kids but encourages healthy eating habits. Kids get enough screen time as it is, they don’t need to watch TV while eating. Plus screen time mixed with eating means you’re less likely to pay attention to normal hunger cues, meaning you may keep eating once you’re full.

Eating at the table helps you pay better attention to your child’s eating habits too. Such as you’ll notice if he’s loading up on unhealthy food toppings, taking three servings or skipping his veggies nightly. In turn, this gives you a chance to discuss healthy eating habits, along with the not so healthy ones. Eating at the table is also fun. If you’re not sure how to talk to your kids, start with high-low. We do it every night. Everyone says the best part and worst part of their day, which usually results in more conversation.

On top of eating together, ban phones, books, electronics and other distractions at mealtime.

10. Be honest about food issues

The biggest focus of my childhood obesity and healthy living series is that families need to talk. Without open and honest conversations about food, calories, weight and so on, kids will never learn to make healthy choices.

As noted before, talking about food is very hard for many parents, with most parents claiming it’s easier to discuss drugs and sex than food with a child. If you’ve got issues with food topics, get over it. You need to use mealtime to set a good example. If your child is loading up on 1,000 calories of tarter sauce, and you just ignore it, or sit and say, “That’s okay” you’re not helping your child. You need to speak up when you see unhealthy habits. Not in a mean way, but in a, “There’s a healthier way to eat” way.

Encourage even picky eaters to try a little of everything. Talk about foods your child likes and doesn’t. Mention why you made the healthier low-calorie fish over the fatty hamburger. These are issues kids can handle, and they should be allowed to handle them too, so they can grow up and make healthy choices for a lifetime.

• Common pitfalls parents fall into with kids and food

Today, at another blog I work for there was a bit of a comment war surrounding food, which fits right in with my whole childhood obesity and healthy lifestyles series.

The argument? I stated that I hate seeing parents feed their kids crappy food day in and day out. A few other people got upset and said the following:

• “Don’t judge. you should consider that when parents feed their kids junk food, it’s because it’s just what they can afford…. It’s EXPENSIVE to buy fruits and vegetables, much less organic.“

• “Don’t judge parents just because it’s cheap to buy processed meals that serve everyone for just a few dollars.”

• “There are many low income areas where healthy food aren’t available. But, McDonalds is a block away and has hot food that everyone enjoys and it’s quick too.”

• “Education surrounding food takes time and motivation and often money. You’re jumping to the conclusion that low-income = lazy.“

• “It takes too long to make a healthy meal.“

• “There have been many links between socioeconomic class and junk food and it’s not always due to lack of information.”

I’m too poor to give my child healthy meals? 

If in fact being low-income was a criteria for poor parenting, and serving up fast food daily, then I’d be screwed. I work full time as a freelance writer, which may sound all glam, but trust me, I’m not rolling in dough.

Since I’m freelance, I don’t get awesome perks like company-paid health care, sick days or anything like that. I pay out of pocket for my son’s and my own health care and we’re talking hundred and hundreds of dollars a month. It’s insanely expensive.

I also pay for private school for my son, which isn’t cheap. Then there’s all the typical bills like rent, water, electricity and so on. Plus, on top of all this, I’m a single mama and I get absolutely zero child support.

In spite of all of this, I do buy a majority of our food organic and I do serve my son healthy meals. What’s that about?

We all make choices

My priorities are few. Have enough money to live simply, pay for private school and health care and feed my child in a healthy, green manner.

Now, although it may sound like I make bank, considering I buy mostly organic, health care and send my son to private school, that’s not exactly true. I’m not dirt-poor, or rich. I’m making a living, but it’s not like we have a ton of extra money laying around after bills. The ONLY reason we can afford the stuff we afford is because I make our choices priority before other stuff.

We don’t have cable or go to movies. Unlike most kids his age, my son doesn’t have a cell phone or his own laptop. We rarely eat out and we shop for clothes at thrift stores before buying new. We don’t take vacations or buy new books or tons of holiday gifts for people. We make sure to turn off the heat and lights when we don’t need them and try not to waste food.

If need be, I’ll even work more hours in a month to be able to afford what I consider priority.

Our lives don’t suck or anything (you don’t need cable for fun). We buy a few board games a year and play together a lot. We do art projects, go hiking and attend free events when they come to town. We’re not living badly, we’re just living on a super, no-room to spare, tight budget. Do I wish we had more money? Sure, that always makes life a bit easier. Do we need a ton more – not really.

The argument doesn’t hold up

There are people living with very few funds. I know that. However, I’m not talking about the extreme situations. The people I hear say, “Organic and healthy are too expensive” are seldom those living with almost no money.

The people I know who say eating healthy is too expensive have cable TV and two parent families where one doesn’t work. I know families who have a ton of money, as in triple what I make in a year, and they still say eating healthy takes too much time and costs too much so they feed their kids cheap fast food 5xs a week.

Back when food stamps were actually paper, I knew families who would complain about high food costs even as they traded their food stamps for beer and cigarette money. I know many families who put material goods before healthy food. I even know families where parents won’t take a job they feel is beneath them – so what if it feeds your kid?

Again, we all make choices. People are for sure allowed to make their own choices, but there’s a false sense of “Healthy is too costly” going around when in reality, healthy food is simply a choice the person chooses not to make.

I’d maybe buy the whole healthy food is too expensive argument, if I quit seeing so many families who always have soda and chips in the house. If fewer families had cable, 5 cell phones, cigarettes and new sports equipment it would go a long way towards convincing me that people really are too poor for healthy food.

As for the time issue…

If I hear, “Healthy meals take too much time” one more time I’ll scream. As pointed out in my New Year’s goal, I’m short on time, but I always make time to feed my child well. In the time it takes to run to the fast food joint any family could whip up something healthier and likely for the same amount of money.

Coming up, I’ll post some examples of homemade meals that are healthier than fast food meals, cost less and are not time consuming.

Do you honestly believe that healthy meals cost more and take more time than processed meals and fast food? Tell me in the comments.

Instead of general New Year’s goals, I’m concentrating on discussing the childhood obesity epidemic. That said I do still have two general goals for myself, or I should say my household. One of my goals is to get this household more active, since we’ve been slacking, but we’ll discuss that later. First, let’s look at my big goal of the year.

The ongoing food packaging goal

For over four years, my New Year’s goal has been to eliminate food packaging that comes into my house. I’ve done a horrid job too. Seriously, I’ve been terrible, not really limiting much food packaging at all. Each year I think, this is the year I do better and each year –  zero results.

For example, if you look in my cupboards and fridge, here are some typical items we buy that come in packages of some sort:  ketchup, crackers, soup, bread, frozen veggies, milk, refried beans, eggs, granola bars, butter, baking goods (I often, but don’t always buy bulk), sometimes cookies, tortillas, spaghetti sauce, cheese, bagels, rice and so on and so on. We do buy 90% of our food in organic form. However, for a green family, I feel like we have way too much overly packaged stuff.

What’s stupid, is that half this stuff I can make from scratch, using bulk goods brought home in reusable bulk bags or containers (which I already own). I’m a good bread and cookie baker. I can make crackers and granola. I’m decent at making sauces and there’s no question that I can get organic veggies fresh in reusable bags vs. frozen.

Why we fail year-after-year

Being that I make this flipping goal every year, I needed to figure out how come my household keeps failing to meet it.

We’re busy: I feel like we’re pressed for time constantly. We’ve got three kids with three different school and activity schedules. My boyfriend works an oddball shift full-time at his day job and performs frequently with his band (second job). I work full-time+ writing and I’m on the board at my son’s school. Like we’ve got time to bake and cook from scratch every night. It’s REALLY easy to open cans of soup.

I’m ill-equipped: I’m a decent cook, but not a genius cook. Stuff like homemade soup is a stretch for me. In fact, I’d say that soup is our biggest failure. We get canned soup often. Even though we buy organic, it’s still packaged and the cans are known to harbor BPA (lame).

My partner is ill-equipped: I’m not the only adult in the house with issues. My boyfriend doesn’t seem super keen to cook from scratch either and his cooking abilities are also limited.

Picky kids: My boyfriend’s kids want processed foods often (turkey dogs, bagels, mac n cheese, etc) and my son, Cedar, is so picky that once we find something he’ll eat, we tend to stick to it, rather than try anything new. For example, Cedar just recently decided mac n cheese is okay to eat, but says, “I like the Annie’s white shells and not other mac n cheese.” Thus, whipping together a homemade dish of mac n cheese could mean a picky kid food revolt.

Benefits of eliminating some packaging

If we manage this goal this year, there are some major benefit though. For example:

• Lower grocery costs. There was a time, years ago, when I used to buy more food in bulk and cook from scratch more often, and I did spend less on groceries. Packaging and convenience does cost you, especially if you buy mostly organic.

• We’ll learn some new skills, like how to make soup.

• We can teach one, two or maybe all three of the kids to cook too.

• We’ll avoid pesky BPA in cans.

• We’ll avoid cluttering up the landfills with trash – not all packaging is easily recycled. Plus, although we do recycle like champs, recycling takes energy, so why not avoid the packaging in the first place.

• We’ll be more self-sufficient and less dependent on food companies. For example, I get cranky when my favorite organic vegetable soup is out of stock. It would be better to learn to make it myself.

• We can feel better about our footprint. It’s not just all the packaging to recycle that bugs me. It takes energy and other resources to make food packaging. Plus, we’re not a family that buys a bunch of useless junk (most of us are not excess stuff fans) so the fact that we buy too much packaging just feels icky to me.

Since I haven’t reached this goal in previous years, I decided to lay out a much better plan this year. That plan is coming up soon. For now, tell me if you have any green New Year’s goals for 2012.

Image by raja4u via sxc.

This year, instead of green goals, I’m looking at the pressing child obesity epidemic and healthy lifestyle choices for families. Soon, I’ll have some tips about how to raise an active, healthy eater for life. That said, before we go there, let’s look at a quick primer about how body weight and calories works.

This information can be hyper boring and hard to understand – even when I was in college RN nutrition classes, some students struggled to get this stuff. That said, it’s important to understand how calories and weight work in order to understand why portion sizes, food types and exercise are also important.

What’s a calorie?

In technical terms, a calorie is the energy it takes to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius. However, that’s not very helpful is it? For family purposes, a calorie should be considered energy. Everything you or your child does requires energy. Calories in food equal energy that allow you to function.

Calories don't care if they're in pancakes or fruit - a calorie is a calorie

A calorie is a calorie is a calorie

3,500 calories equal one pound of body weight. There are about 125 calories in a typical bowl of non-sugary cereal. There are about 271 calories in one small serving of fast food french fries. If you eat 3,500 calories worth of either (28 bowls of cereal or 12 containers of fries) that’s one pound. Beyond some very rare foods, most food calories don’t discriminate between ‘healthy’ or ‘not healthy’ foods or calories. If you eat excess calories, no matter the food type, those calories equal excess pounds.

How body weight works

Weight, while admittedly a complex issue, can actually be summed up pretty easily so far as scientific research goes. The CDC, among others, notes that obesity or excess weight ONLY normally occurs because a child eats more calories than he or she uses – meaning, your child eats a lot, but doesn’t offset the food intake with exercise.

Calories in, calories out is how weight happens (or doesn’t happen). To simple this up, we all, adults and kids, have a resting calorie requirement (often called basal metabolic rate, or BMR) that varies by person.

Let’s use a 110 pound, 5 foot, 12 year old girl as an example. Calculators for BMR vary but in general, a teen girl who is 5 feet tall and weighs 110 pounds needs about 1,194-1,359 calories per day to support basic body function like breathing and digestion, before any activities take place. Meaning, if your 12 year old is just laying in bed all day long, not moving, she’s still burning those 1,194-1,359 calories each day because although she’s not active, she is still breathing and her body is burning calories while managing its systems.

What happens to excess calories?

Excess calories are calories your body doesn’t need to survive or in other words, calories you don’t need to maintain your current weight. Any calories you take in above and beyond the basics you actually need to survive, are excess calories and those calories in turn become excess body fat.

BMR is not totally cut and dry though. Your metabolism, gender, age and even your body weight all play a part in how many calories you need to sustain your current weight, not to mention other variables. That said, if you eat too many calories over your BMR and fail to offset those calories with exercise, it’s almost a sure bet that you will, at some point, gain excess weight.

As an example,  the Nemours Foundation says that most school-age kids need 1,600 to 2,500 calories per day to maintain and survive. If your child needs 2000 calories but eats 3000 calories a day, that’s 21,000 excess calories per week or 6 extra pounds.

Adding activity to your BMR

When considering calories, you can’t just think about food. You also need to consider calories burned. The most common equation used to calculate necessary calories for an individual is the Harris Benedict equation (HBE). The HBE works as follows…

• If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : calculate your BMR x 1.2
• If you are lightly active (light exercise 1-3 days/week) calculate your BMR x 1.375
• If you are moderately active (moderate exercise 3-5 days/week) calculate your BMR x 1.55
• If you are very active (hard exercise 6-7 days a week) calculate your BMR x 1.725
• If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) calculate your BMR x 1.9

So if your child needs 2000 calories to maintain her weight, but she also exercises moderately, she’ll need to take in  3,100 calories per day to maintain her weight. If she eats more she’ll gain weight, in spite of the exercise and if she eats less, she’ll lose weight. The key is balance – your child should be taking in and burning calories in a balanced manner.

Keep in mind, that the HBE is considered fairly accurate in normally nourished individuals, however, this calculation has been shown to be unreliable in malnourished folks.

To see how many calories typical activities burn, visit Health Status. It’s not perfect, because remember, your body type does dictate calories burned, (for example if weigh 200 pounds and you run for an hour, you’ll usually burn more calories than a 150 pound person who runs for that same hour) but it’s one of the better calculators out there.

Accuracy is a problem

As noted above, weight isn’t something that can be easily regulated to a large group of people. Most BMR and other calorie counters you’ll find online are only semi-useful. Most of these calculators are designed for an average person, when in reality, there’s no such thing. While these calculators can be useful general tools.  The best way to find out how many calories your child should be eating per day is to speak with your child’s pediatrician.

If you do want to try a calorie calculator, stick to health minded websites like:

• The Mayo Clinic Calorie Counter
• CDC BMI calculators for kids and adults
• Baylor College of Medicine healthy eating calculator for kids or adult calorie needs

I previously posted a gingerbread cookie recipe here at GAGF. However, over the years, I’ve realized that the more I make this specific recipe the less I like it.

First of all I think the recipe above lacks enough molasses and I wasn’t getting the spices perfect. Secondly, while it can turn out softer, chewier cookies, if you mess up and leave said cookies in the oven for a few seconds too long, you’re sunk. Also, if you want to get into aesthetics, the color of these cookies is not great. All-in-all, somewhere along the way I decided I hated this recipe - sorry if you made them and felt the same way.

New & improved gingerbread cookies

That said, I’ve been working on it, and I’ve come up with a gingerbread cookie recipe that’s not only much tastier but gorgeous in color. Best of all, these cookies stay soft. I HATE crispy gingerbread cookies. While you can make thinner, crunchier gingerbread with this recipe if you like, it’s also the perfect dough for softer, more chewy cookies.

Bonus, the dough is extremely easy to work with; not stiff or sticky at all.

Any cons?

• These are soft – so they need to be cooled 100% before you stack them or decorate them or they can bend.

• Harder to glaze than typical crisper gingerbread.

• I had a few break while decorating them – mainly with cookies I glazed or cookies with small points – i.e. snowflakes. They’re a bit more fragile than other gingerbread cookies I’ve made. I suggest making a little more dough than you think you need.

Gather the following ingredients – this makes about 3-4 dozen average sized cookies

• 3 cups all-purpose organic flour – don’t use bread flour!

• 3/4 packed cup organic brown sugar – dark brown would be best, but the other day, all I could find was normal organic brown sugar at my local store. I used it, and it was just fine. Organic brown sugar tends to run darker than conventional anyhow.

• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1-1/2 sticks organic butter, slightly softened – salted, unsalted, whatever you’ve got on hand. I’ve used both.

• 3/4 cup Fair Trade, organic molasses – I’ve heard all about mild vs. robust molasses, but I’m not a chef genius, so I couldn’t tell you the difference. I use Wholesomes Sweetners – Organic Molasses.

• 2 tablespoons organic milk – Use any milk you like – whole, 2%, soy. The point is to help add some liquid quality to the dough, so type doesn’t matter. We usually keep 1% in the house, so I used that.

Spices – use the spices below as posted or adjust them to your liking. Changing up spices is a matter of taste, it won’t wreak your cookies to add less ginger or more nutmeg. If you grate your own spices, use less though, because fresh are more potent than ground.

• 1 tablespoon ground organic cinnamon
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoon ground organic ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground organic cloves
• Dash of organic nutmeg

Other traditional gingerbread-minded spices that I don’t use, but you may want to consider include: anise seed, coriander, cardamom, fennel seed, star anise and ground black pepper.

• Decorated homemade organic soft gingerbread cookies

   

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• Combine dry ingredients

   

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• Cut in butter

   

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• Mix molasses and milk

   

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• Stir wet ingredients into the dry

   

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• Mix until everything is well combined

   

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• Pat part of your dough onto a piece of parchment

   

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• Cut shapes in your dough

   

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• Leave some room around each cookie, since you'll be peeling back the dough

   

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• Cool completely before decorating or storing

   

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• Decorating ideas

   

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• Decorating ideas

   

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• Decorating ideas

   

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Making your soft gingerbread cookies

• Combine the flour, salt, baking soda and spices in a large bowl.

• Add your sugar and mix until well combined.

• Toss your softened butter into the flour mixture and cut the butter in with a pastry cutter. This isn’t pie making, so soft butter is a-okay, no need for the butter to be cold. Cut the butter in until the flour mixture resembles small shreds or balls.

• In a small bowl whisk your molasses and milk together, then drizzle the molasses mixture over your flour mixture.

• Mix everything together until well combined. It’s a little hard to mix near the end, but a decent wooden spoon will do the job.

• At this point you’ll have a bowl of velvety smooth dough. Now, you can chill your dough for a bit if you like, but I didn’t. I don’t like working with stiff dough.

• After chilling (or now, if you don’t chill) grab a third of the dough and pat it into a ball onto a piece of parchment paper. Notice in the slide-show above that I DID NOT sprinkle flour on the parchment or the dough. This dough is awesome. It won’t stick to your parchment at all, no flour needed.

• If you want nice soft, chewy cookies, roll your dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness. For crisper cookies, roll the dough thinner. For super soft cookies, roll the dough even thicker – I didn’t try this, but I’m guessing thicker than 1/4 inch cookies will need an extra minute or so in the oven.

• Use cookie cutter to cut shapes into your dough. Once you’ve used up all the space, peel away the excess dough, so you’re left with a bunch of cookie shape on your parchment.

• Now, because this dough is soft, transferring the cookies to a cookie sheet can be a bit tricky, but not bad. You can either pick up the whole darn parchment and slide it onto a cookie sheet, or carefully lift each cookie with a spatula and place them on your cookie sheet. Either way though, you should prepare your cookie sheet with parchment.

• Bake these at 350 degrees for no longer than 7 to 8 minutes. They should still look a bit undone, but remember, they’ll keep setting up a little after they’re out of the oven.

• As soon as possible get them off the hot pan and onto a cooling rack. My cookies easily transferred to my cooling rack after a minute.

• Cool entirely before decorating.

Decorating your cookies

Decorating your gingerbread cookies

You’ve got various decor choices available, including glaze, frosting, (glaze + frosting), sugar sprinkles or other candy adornments. To make a basic cookie glaze, see the glaze recipe in my organic pumpkin cupcake post. To make frosting, keep reading…

Basic cookie frosting:

• Whip 1/3 cup of butter until creamy.
• Mix in 2 cups organic powdered sugar.
• Add a dash of organic, Fair Trade vanilla extract and 1/4 cup of organic milk.
• Add another 2 and 1/2 cups of powdered sugar.
• Mix everything until creamy smooth and well combined. You can do this by hand, but I use a small inexpensive hand mixer for better results.

If it’s too thick you can add a bit more milk. You can also substitute 1/4 cup fresh organic orange juice + 1 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel for the milk in this recipe if you’d like an orange flavored frosting, which goes well with gingerbread. This frosting can be spread on cookies or piped on with a reusable pastry bag for design work. You can also color it with natural food coloring. I use India Tree Natural Decorating Colors.

Other decorating options:

• Indian Tree Decorating Sugars
• India Tree Snowflakes
• India Tree Boughs of Holly Party Decoratifs

Organic herbs and spices are a perfect accompaniment for your green Thanksgiving or Christmas feast this year, but herbs and spices add much more than flavor to your meals – they also may result in a healthier family. The holidays are hectic, and colds and other illnesses may attack when you’re stressed and your defenses are down. However, you can use sprinklings of herbs and spices to fight off many common problems.

Image © Adam Ward

Holiday Herbs & Spices That Keep You Healthy

Sage: This herb is commonly used for stuffing, gravy, bread, soups and other holiday fare. Sage can also combat an upset stomach, help reduce depression and even inhibits the development of various bacteria.  Research shows that sage may even help boost insulin action for people with diabetes.

Nutmeg: This common holiday spice can ease tummy aches and help you sleep better at night (sprinkle some in tea or warm organic milk). Nutmeg can be used in baked goods, sprinkled on cereal, used in drinks and much more, plus has so many anti-inflammatory properties that you can even use it directly on pimples (mix it into a paste with a little water or milk) or in a face or body scrub for shiny clean skin.

Oregano: This is a more around-the-year herb, but don’t forget it during cold season. Research shows that oregano offers 20 times more antioxidant power than any other herb and is an anti-inflammatory that can help fight off cough, food-borne pathogens and even cancer.  Use this tasty herb to season your stuffing, pot pies, meats, sauces, veggies and potato dishes.

Cinnamon: One of the best holiday spices is also an excellent health spice. You can bake away with cinnamon in pies, cakes and cookies or add a dash to fruit salad, applesauce, sweet potatoes, spiced cider and more. The more you sprinkle the better, as cinnamon has been shown to help fight heart disease and diabetes. This powerful spice also is great for relieving nausea, can support digestion and more.

Rosemary: Use rosemary in potato dishes, on veggies, in bread and more to help fight off free radicals. Rosemary also relaxes your stomach, and has even been shown to aid memory issues in Alzheimer’s disease.

Gingerbread cookies packed with cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger - Image © Barbara Dudzinska

Ginger: This spice makes long holiday road trips more bearable, as mixing it in a food or drink can help fight both motion sickness and nausea. Research shows that ginger also may relieve pain and swelling associated with arthritis. Furthermore, ginger can help treat upper respiratory tract infections, cough, and bronchitis. Bake ginger into a pie or cookies, use it in stir fry or on pasta or fruit or drink it in your tea.

Always Go Organic & Fresh When Possible

It’s so silly to try and use conventional herbs and spices for health. Why aim for health as you ingest pesticides and chemicals? Beyond the fact that conventional foods contain poison, organic farming helps to keep pesticides and other nasty chemicals out of the land, air and water supply. If you want to go one ethical step further, aim for organic and Fair Trade herbs and spices.

As for freshness, it’s a fairly standard belief among alternative health professionals that you’ll gain more health benefits from freshly chopped herbs vs. dried. Processing likely removes some of the healing qualities of herbs – so buy fresh if you can. Or why not grow some organic herbs on your kitchen windowsill. Even in the winter, herbs will grow nicely indoors.

Where to Find Organic and Fair Trade Herbs and Spices

• Frontier
• The bulk section at your local natural grocer – look for organic not “natural” herbs and spices.
• Starwest Botanicals
• Earth Mama Angel Baby - no bulk herbs, but herbs in tea offered.
• Simply Organic
• Mountain Rose Herbs
• Oregon’s Wild Harvest
• TSP Spices – don’t love the packaging, but this company is certified organic.
• Living Earth Herbs
• Grow organic herbs indoors right in your own kitchen!

*SAFETY NOTE: Before using a herb as a medicinal treatment read my Flower & Herb Safety Guide. If you’re considering using these herbs and spices in essential oil form, read my Essential Oil Safety Guide.

• Visit the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine to learn more.

So, yesterday I grab the mail, start sorting it and notice a huge Fred Meyer flier.  Fred Meyer is our local Kroger store here in PDX and we shop there often. Here’s the flier below…

The flier states:

“What’s the easiest way to enjoy all natural and organic? Keep it Simple. Naturally Preferred and Private Selection Organic are switching to Simple Truth. So now you can look for one name when picking up your favorite all-natural and organic products. It’s just that simple.“

Really Kroger? Does this seem like an awesome idea?

NO. As soon as I saw the flier my first thought was, “Way to confuse everyone.” In fact, here’s a timely example. We almost always buy organic eggs. Now, I won’t buy factory farmed store-brand milk, but we do usually buy Kroger store brand certified organic eggs, because they cost less than other organic eggs.

Anyhow, Dave (the live-in boyfriend), went to the store the other day for groceries, including eggs, and he came home with these:

At first glace, I figured Kroger changed their organic packaging. At second glance, I noticed the eggs were in fact NOT organic, but “natural.” So I ask Dave about it and he says, “OMG I got them in the natural section right by the other organic eggs, where we always get them.” When discussed further, it turns out that Dave meant to get organic as per usual, but failed due to the new confusing packaging. It’s hard to blame him though.

Example of new confusing packaging:

As you can see, the new organic and natural packaging choices are almost 100% interchangeable. Plus ALL their organic and Naturally Preferred products are making the switch so everything will look identical. If you know to look for the USDA Organic Seal, you’ll do better with this new packaging. Of course Kroger did decide to use little green circles on their natural packaging too – little green circles that look like an organic seal if you look fast – which seems like blatant greenwashing to me.

Their wording on their flier is also super misleading. For example, they note, “What’s the easiest way to enjoy all natural and organic?” and “Look for one name when picking up your favorite all-natural and organic products.” Notice how they’ve used “all natural” and “organic” in one fast swoop, twice, making it seem as if the terms are one and the same?

First of all, in case you didn’t know, the USDA does not recognize the term or label “natural” as an official term. Although natural is a hot buzz word right now, it’s almost entirely meaningless. The term is completely unregulated and natural isn’t so natural because many so called natural products contain synthetic ingredients.

• Learn more about the definition of “natural.”

“Organic” on the other hand is a regulated term. If a product carries the organic seal, no that doesn’t mean it’s perfect, however, you are getting a product with fewer pesticides and zero artificial colors or flavors. Plus, you’re supporting planet-healthy agriculture.

• When is organic really organic?

Why the switch?

I’m not sure to what end Kroger decided that this change would be useful to their customers. It honestly seems to me as if they’re intentionally trying to trick people into buying natural over organic. That makes no sense. Not only is organic safer for people, but it costs more, which should make Kroger more $. The only thing I can think of is that Kroger is merging out their organic grocery choices – which also makes zero sense. 

On one hand, Kroger may not confuse as many people as I’m guessing. A recent survey shows that consumers don’t trust “natural” food labels. On the flip side though, other past research has shown that many consumer are already confused by all the food labels out there, so the odds of getting real organics over non-organics becomes sketchy.

In any case, I’m extremely annoyed with this change. I’m not on board with any labeling plan that makes it harder for consumers to navigate already crazy confusing food labeling issues. If you’re annoyed too, below is a post that may help.

• Go organic without going insane – tips to make the organic transition easier

It’s Blog Action Day 2011. Blog Action Day is the one day a year when all bloggers join together to discuss one important issue. I’ve been participating since 2007, and it’s not only fun, but informative to read what all these different types of bloggers have to say about a single issue. Last year’s topic was water and the topic this year is food. At last count, more than 2,250 bloggers from 100 countries have joined this amazing event.

On Blog Action Day, I like to round-up the posts I wrote for my readers, along with some of the best posts I’ve read today while scurrying around the web.

Today I discussed greener take-out food and how to easily go organic while holding onto your sanity. Many other people around the web wrote endlessly about all sorts of food topics as well. Below are some of my favorites…

Shameless promotions: 

Some of the posts I like are from friend’s blogs and other sites I write for. They’re absolutely good posts or I wouldn’t link them, but since there is still a little favoritism involved here, I just wanted to be up-front.

• My pal Peggy is discussing why everyone deserves food – food is a basic right.

• Celebrate Green has a poem up all about food waste, or more so, a reminder about not wasting food. Very clever and heartfelt.

• At my son’s school blog I looked at school lunch waste in schools, along with some solutions to this extreme problem.

• At Inhabitots, we looked at raising vegetarian kids plus excellent sources of protein for your already vegetarian child.

• Boyfriend Dave, offers a sneak peek into what bands should eat when on the road if they want to avoid Elvis-sized guts.

Other awesome Blog Action Day 2011 food posts from around the web:

• A very well done post from Green Living Ideas about why food prices are rising and what we can do to combat those prices.

• Change the world one meal at a time with advice from Non-Toxic Kids.

• A wonderful post about the significance of the ordinary kitchen table from Dirt & Noise – as a eat together, be together family advocate, I really loved this post. Maybe my fave of the day.

• Treehugger is asking everyone to Say No To GMOs & Factory Farming.

• J.C Martin went a very different way, by discussing the 7 weirdest foods he’s ever eaten. Yikes.

• Interesting musings from Agriculture Proud about how one family’s pasture ties them together.

• Mashable, always the social media darling, posted 5 Ways to Connect to the Local Food Movement Online. Useful info.

There are hundreds of other Blog Action day 2011 posts to browse. To learn more visit Blog Action Day 2011, join Blog Action day on Facebook or search on Twitter – #BAD11.

Today is Blog Action Day 2011. This year’s topic is food, which is a little redundant here at Growing a Green Family, since we discuss food all the time. With that in mind, I thought we’d take a peek back at my favorite food issues – organic food.

When I decided to go organic, I almost went nuts trying to get a grasp on it. Not only is organics a HUGE topic, but when I first got super interested in organic food it was way back in 2001 and organics simply weren’t as out in the open.

Do you know how much organic food info is out there? There are dozens of books, movies, tons of debating back-and-fourth research and, at the time, organic food was much harder to come by. Not to mention all my friends and family members talking in circles about the issue. Double not to mention that back in 2001, organics were a lot more expensive. I had a newborn and was in college full time, so also attempting to go organic was 100% insane. My mind was overwhelmed with information.

Luckily for you, going organic in 2011 is not nearly as tough. You can totally go organic while avoiding all the organic chaos. Following are some helpful tips.

Why go organic?:

If going organic is so darn hard, why bother? There are tons of reasons to go organic. For example, organic food is GMO-free and doesn’t contain nasty artificial flavors or colors. Most of all, organic food doesn’t contain all the same gross pesticides that conventional foods do.

You’ll often hear, “Organics aren’t any healthier,” but seriously, how is feeding your child pesticides (basically poison) a sane idea? I know people teach their child not to mess with cleaners under the sink, so why on earth would people then turn around and feed toxins and chemicals willingly to their kid?

People confuse “Nutrition” with “Healthy” but there’s a real difference. Yes, organic apples and conventional apples may contain the same nutrients, but that’s missing the point. Conventional foods contain stuff meant to kill weeds and bugs. Do you want to eat stuff meant to kill? Does that sound healthy? Pesticides have been linked to cancer and a slew of other health problems.

• 8 Reasons Why Consumers Should Buy Organic Food

Get to know organic food:

Inform yourself about the USDA Organic Seal. This seal equals actual certified organics. Read some common questions about the Organic Seal.

• When Is Organic Really Organic?
• Which Food Products Qualify for Organic Certification?
• 8 Differences Between Organic Food & Sustainable Food

If labels like “natural” vs. “organic” vs. “USDA organic” have got you confused, carry a cheat sheet to the grocery store. No one will know. Everyone will just think you’re looking at your grocery list.

• EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce + app for your phone
• The True Food Shoppers’ Guide to Avoiding GMOs
• Organic Center’s pocket guide (pdf)
• Tons of handy healthy pocket guides – including food guides.

Image © BlueOrange Studio - Fotolia

Know your best organic food options:

Some organic food items are more important than others. If you’re budgeting, buy the most important organics first, before wasting your cash on the less important ones. Get to know the Dirty Dozen list, which points out produce that contains the most, or least pesticides. Choose to go organic as much as you’re comfortable with in small steps. You DO NOT have to go 100% organic all at once. If you try, you’ll only make yourself crazy. Really, even I don’t buy 100% organic food – although that is a goal of mine.

Also, be open to change. Your favorite cookies, cereal, and yogurt may not come in organic versions – don’t panic. Explore your new organic options. See what is offered in organic foods rather than looking for what you’re used to buying.

Sort out the truth about organic food:

Sadly, not all organic food is created equally. There’s a ton of misinformation out there, and plenty of companies loking to make a buck of the term, “Organic.” Don’t get fooled. If you’re going organic, you may as well, know what you’re getting.

• Which Organic Dairy Products are the Most Trustworthy?
• Unscrambling Organic Eggs: Separating Facts from Fiction
• Organic Food Can Make You Fat – don’t confuse organic with low-fat, low-calorie.

Image © Sophia Winters - Fotolia.com

You can afford organic food:

I buy more organics now then I did back in 2001, yet, I also spend less money on organics now than I used to. Part of this is because organics are more readily available. The other part is that I’ve simply learned over the years what to buy and where to buy it.

Research shows that organics cost less at your local Farmer’s Market, so shopping there first (before the grocery store) can save you money. After that, there are plenty of other ways to save money on organic food. Read 70+ tips about how to save money on organic food for dozens of affordable tips.

Lastly, eat less meat. Switching to organics can be a hit (at first) money-wise. Cutting out meat will lower your initial cross over to organics.

Get cooking!:

Try some organic dishes and cook with your kids. Organic cooking is an excellent way to grow greener values in your child. Check out 18 Green & Healthy Cookbooks for some recipe ideas, or see these easy starter organic recipes below (kid-friendly).

• Homemade Organic Vegetable Pot Pie
• Homemade Organic Goldfish Crackers
• Organic Black Raspberry Chocolate Frozen Yogurt
• Homemade Organic Ice Pops
• Homemade Organic Cran-Strawberry Roll-Ups
• Homemade Organic Honey Oat Bread – EASY

The above tips should help you out if you’re looking to go organic. Keep in mind that going organic is a major diet and budget adjustment. It’s like getting used to being vegetarian, or trying to create a low-sodium or low-fat diet. If it’s new to you, it’ll take time to perfect. No worries, take it step-by-step and your mind will stay happily intact.

Lead image © NiDerLander – Fotolia.com

If you’re looking for some homemade organic ice pop flavors for adults, then Mark Bittman has you covered. This past week, Bittman shared some easy-to-make adult-minded homemade popsicles in flavors ranging from creamy to savory to boozy (nope, not for kids).

These homemade popsicles are probably best for an adult party. Keep in mind that Bittman doesn’t recommend organic popsicle ingredients, so as a friendly reminder, switch out the suggested conventional ingredients for organic when possible.

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The video above shows some of the popsicle recipes, but you can see more at the actual post – Bittman’s sweet, savory and boozy homemade ice pops.

• Get some reusable ice pop molds.
• 50 amazing homemade popsicle recipes