Live Simply Mommy

Every so often I see a movie/read a book/hear a radio show that causes me to re-evaluate things in my life and make changes. For instance- did you ever see 'Super Size Me'? That movie cured me of any fast food cravings I would ever have again.

Now, with Food, Inc. coming out, I am preparing for another change for me and the family. This movie will reveal some secrets about our nation's food industry that will probably scare the crap out of me.

Therefore, I am on a preemptive quest to get the family eating habits back in line. Although we do pretty well (ask my husband, he thinks our house is a prison because I won't buy Oreos, Funny Bones or other highly processed food) we are limited in our organic food intake. For me it is largely due to cost. I am on a strict grocery budget and organic is typically more expensive.

I am the mom that pureed all 3 girls baby food from fresh veggies (thank you Magic Bullet) and then steamed and chopped all their food when they moved onto finger foods... but then when it comes time for them to move into family meals, I lack the same drive to prepare the food. I know that having babies is the #1 reason people turn to organics... so why don't we keep that up as they grow and for ourselves?

So now I am taking one small step to eating better starting with Stonyfield yogurt. I have been a fan of Stonyfield ever since Ariana was a baby and I started her on YoBaby. (See what I mean, I started her on organic even 9 years ago.) Recently I had been buying other yogurts without even looking at the label... I mean yogurt is yogurt, right??? NOPE! Not only does Yoplait have added sugar, they have high fructose corn syrup as well! Eww. And I pride myself on not feeding my girls junk? Man, they can slip sugar in everywhere.

Anyhow I found the Stonyfield website has a ton of recipes to use yogurt in. Also a Google search will give you tons of other yogurt recipes, including one my girls love, a drinkable yogurt (similar to Danimals) You can make a large batch with out all the extraneous packaging and added sugar. Seriously, this small change in my food prep could make a big difference and a tub of Stonyfield is cheap. It's perfect! They are organic, the yogurt is a much healthier cooking option than oil or other additives and I love that they are local... right here in NH! Yay, I love to support local.

They also have a great new product called YoBaby 3-in-1 Meals. There are 3 flavors: Pear & Green Bean, Peach & Squash, Apple & Sweet Potato. It sounds questionable, but Annika, Acadia and I have all tried them and they are great. Especially if your kids are the type who won't eat their veggies (thankfully mine are not), these yogurts might be a sneaky way to get 'em to eat their green beans.

So, I am starting tonight with a Chicken Tikka Masala recipe that I found on Allrecipes.com (they also have a plethora of yogurt recipes) I will try some various recipes and report back to you. Anyone have any they'd like to share?

Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. ~Henry David Thoreau