NYC Moms

What's In Your Friend's Grocery Cart?

When I head to the grocery store I have a few lists - my mental list, my husband's written down list of things he's noticed we need, and lastly my subconscious list that gets triggered as I walk the aisles (or depending on how hungry and/or PMS I am the evil list that somehow throws the Mallomars into my cart).  My cart more or less always looks the same, filled with the basics that make up our family's diet.  It never occurred to me that these items were unique, interesting or in any way different than anyone else's.  But, a while back I went to Costco with a friend I don't usually shop with and she looked in my cart and said, "Wow, we have totally different carts.  I would never buy any of that stuff."  I looked in her cart and thought pretty much the same thing.

There we were - two very good friends, with fairly identical parenting approaches, the same political views, the same family backgrounds, even similar husbands and kids who adore each other, with two completely different grocery carts.  How different could they be?  Well, I've written before about my disdain for prepackaged, portioned snack food.  My friend is the queen of those items - it's one of those short cuts that make her life easier so it makes sense for her.  She's a big Vitamin Water drinker.  Me, not so much.  I am a vegetarian (though I eat fish so technically I'm a pescetarian).  So, my cart was full of clams and sardines for various pasta sauces, frozen wild salmon and shrimp and lobster salad.  Hers was full of chicken nuggets, canned pasta and soup.  We joke that my daughter is a fruititarian so I had enough fruit to open a farm stand.  She had applesauce and fruit snacks.  She likes one brand of turkey and yogurt; I like another.  Ditto for toilet paper, paper towels and bread.  I need dark chocolate and good balsamic vinegar in my pantry at all times.  She needs baby carrots and multi-grain chips and salsa.  

Multi-tasking and Exercise

As a mother of three, I am a big fan of multitasking. If I want to watch television, I have to make the bed, fold laundry, answer email. If brownies are needed for the bake sale, I throw in another pan with potatoes, onions and carrots and we have roasted vegetables for another night.

So I was excited by Shatobu “the workout that you wear.” The idea behind this shapewear is that resistance bands tone muscles while you go about your day –you SHApe, TOne and BUrn. If your day consists of sitting on the couch and eating Godiva, you’re not going to look like Iman, but if you move around a moderate amount, in theory you burn 12% more calories.

Bring on the Broccoli

There is a subtle war going on in my house over those green things on the plate.  You know: vegetables.  When you have children, even if you’re all modern and psychological minded, it’s still hard to not somehow expect them to be little carbon copies of you.  Well, in my case carbon copies plus a y chromosome here and there, since I have two boys.  I was a child with wide and adventurous tastes in food.  I loved vegetables.  Asked to name my favorite foods, alongside the requisite M & M’s, burgers and peanut butter, I would have put artichoke, avocado and asparagus on my list.  And that’s just the top of the alphabet.

My twin 7 year old sons, however are another matter.  Food is a complicated issue in our house.  Before they were born, (OK everyone groan now, we all remember the things we swore we would NEVER do that we find ourselves doing on a daily basis for survival) I just knew I was going to feed my children only healthy foods: lots of vegetables and fruit, no sugar or chemicals, etc. etc.  Not quite a member of the anti-junk militia, lets just say that I’m no stranger to the organic section at Fairway, and my local little health food store is near and dear to my heart, and wallet.

When they were babies and I could control every bite that went into their mouths (the occasional purple crayon notwithstanding), it was 90% organic and all good: lots of veggies, low sugar, low sodium, no artificial anything, yadda, yadda, yadda.  Though it was clear that one twin, Ethan, had a sweet tooth, greatly preferring the fruits to the vegetables, the sweet to the savory, they still pretty much ate what was offered, hungrily and happily.  But then life happened.  They became two year-olds.  With opinions.

Earth Day over and over

I am not a huge Martha Stewart show fan, but my husband sent away for 4 tickets and we went to the taping on Earth Day.  Martha devoted the show to Earth Day, talking to an African safari guide, Ric Burns (who has a new film, Into the Deep, on whaling) and Chris Jones, the editor of National Geographic. We got a really nice swag bag with DVDs and books that were discussed.  Oddly, though we also got a huge plastic bag; inside, was a tiny tube of lip balm.  On this, of all days, the over-packaging seemed ridiculous. That’s what worries me about Earth Day.  Everyone makes an eco-pledge, NBC turns its logo green – even the “I Love NY” campaign has a green heart now, to emphasize New York State’s green assets.  And then everyone goes back to his wasteful ways.

Top 100 Finger Foods and Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel - A SV Moms Group Book Club

One of the things us parents must do on a daily basis - whether you find it a joy or an annoyance - is to feed our kids. For babies just starting out in the food world beyond milk, it is just the beginning. As our kids get older, there can be the classic toddler picky eater syndrome and the excitement when we discover something they like. Join us today as we discuss the books Top 100 Baby Purees and Top 100 Finger Foods by Annabel Karmel. 

Special thanks to Elizabeth from Los Angeles Moms Blog, who sourced this book club for us, following her lunch date last summer with Annabel Karmel.

• Eunice from Random Walk Down Mommy Street says it's all in a day's work
• Sophia Leto from Moody Mommy reviews Annabel Karmel's books from an organic and vegetarian perspective
  
• Tiffany from Lattes And Life thinks she'll just never be that mom
• Robin from The Not-Ever-Still Life is complicating the diet
• Melanie from Tales From the Crib is baby's top chef? probably not...
• Thien-Kim from Cup of Creativi-Tea finds kid-friendly recipes from Anabel
• Linsey from Me Too You is The Cooking Mom...but only at preschool
• Jennifer M. from Ramblings of a Semi-Conscious Mastermind Mommy has a son that is picky-picky
• Elizabeth from Traded My BMW for a Minivan made Annable Karmel's Welsh "Rabbits" 
• Helen P from Milf Alert opened these books with hesitation
• Bonggamom from Finding Bonggamom finds new traditions, new dishes, new experiences
• Julie from Just Precious determines that yes, she can make baby food
• Amy from Occupation: Mommy asks what to feed baby
• Nicole from Not Just a Working Mom muses about the best laid plans
• Cristie from The Traveling Circus is sick to death of chicken nuggets and mini carrots!
• Alma from Marketing Mommy does twice the work for half the appreciation
• Grace from Formerly Gracie asks are you going to eat that?
• Stacy from Fabulous Miss S. will be kept busy for weeks with these books
• Heidi from Coast to Coast Mom is cooking her with kiddo
• Lisa H. from Hannemaniacs is a self-confessed baby food making lover and her kid eats anything finger food or not
• Maxine from The french Mommy born in California is cooking with her daughter and sometimes her friends too
• Paige from Canning with Kids has kids who were perfect victims testers
• Kristie from Real Mommy Reviews finds real yummy, real easy healthy recipes for baby and kids

Los Angeles Moms Blog is hosting the book club discussion this month. Please go here to leave a comment below to join in the discussion.

Past SV Moms Group Book Clubs have included:

• The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman
• The Mominatrix's Guide to Sex by Kristen Chase
• Coco Chanel & Igr Stravinsky by Chris Greenhalgh
• See Mom Run by Beth Feldman
• Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind by Phillip Done
• This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Topper
• Do One Nice Thing by Debbie Tenzer
• Birth Day by Mark Sloan, M.D.
• What Happened to the Girl I Married? by Michael Miller
• Testimony by Anita Shreve
  
• Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs
  
• Much to Your Chagrin by Suzanne Guilette
  
• It Started with Pop-Tarts by Lori Hanson
  
• Who By Fire by Diana Spechler
• The White Trash Moms Handbook by Michelle Lamar
• Writing Motherhood by Lisa Garrigues
• The Vaccine Book by Dr. Robert W. Sears
• The Other Mother by Gwendolen Gross

Click here to read all about the SV Moms Group Book Club.

Eat my breast milk cheese

This takes the cake – er, cracker.  A restaurant in NYC, Klee Brasserie, is serving cheese made from breast milk.  I heard about this while running on the treadmill today and watching Live with Regis and Kelly  (actually, with Andy Richter, this am, but what the hey) and caught another mention on Good Day New York. 

Now, I was not one of those new moms who felt that breastfeeding had to be hidden – unlike, say, my mother-in-law, who banished me from the table, in my own home, no less – when I started to nurse my newborn.  I meekly slunk from the table, then said, ‘wait a minute, this is my house, I make the rules.’  Plus there is nothing shameful about breastfeeding, and nurturing your child is completely natural.

Serving Avocado til the cows come home

If you are stranded on a desert island and could only have one food, the most sustaining choice would be avocado.  Its got fat (the good kind), protein, lutein, and nearly 20 other beneficial nutrients without any sodium or cholesterol.   Perhaps food makers know this as they charge upwards of two dollars for one. Restaurants have charged me anywhere from two to five dollars for this sliced delicacy.  

My daughter is a picky eater and I am a disorganized mother with delusions of raising healthy children so having a magical healthy and edible staple on call is indispensable. 

When the avocados are on sale, I’ll bulk up on the fruit aiming for an array of varying ripeness.  They are prime for a good three to four days although I’ll try to stretch it out to a week.  I think brown spots are okay to overlook, but the hollow pockets with traces of white could be mold, so I’ll scoop that out and serve the rest. They are pricey and I want to get my money’s worth, especially during this recession.

Most Important Meal of the Day

Since breakfast is the most important meal of the day, I've adopted the habit of serving it to my daughter throughout the day. I'm not sure when she switched to being a picky eater, but now she refuses to eat kid staples like hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken nuggets and pizza never mind the healthy alternatives I present. I'm embarrassed to continue to serve my 19 month old the jars of baby food she still enjoys. She does tend to try new things, even if she spits it out in my hand after a several chews, I will continue doing what works. Our go-to staples are relatively healthy so I am not terribly concerned that she will be malnourished and I know that she will not starve herself.

Foods my daughter almost always eat: Fruit- grapes, bananas, strawberries, blueberries and whatever else seems fresh at the store. I haven't decided if she actually enjoys apples or just likes saying the word. Avocado (technically a fruit) Fruit concoctions like smoothies, applesauce, jam, yogurt - Fortunately she will eat the plain unsweetened kind. Eggs - about 70% of the time cereal. Cheese - all kinds. Sweet potato fries, Spinach pancakes. Pizza and Pasta about 40% of the timer. Snack bars like those by Odwalla or Cliff. And that is about our nutrition spectrum. I sneak pieces of tofu and sprinkles of flaxseed into her food to ensure she gets enough protein. Morning, noon and night I try to space out what breakfast dish I will offer to my daughter - waffles for breakfast, cereal for lunch and eggs for dinner. Or cereal in the morning, sweet potato fries and spinach pancake for lunch and eggs for dinner. Most of the food comes frozen which means that I can maintain an ample supply in the freezer. I get so excited the days that I have help and the babysitter must feed my daughter. I'm sure she resorts to the jars of food more than I do (I see the recycling before she takes it out), but according to the doctor, since she looks and acts healthy, my daughter must be healthy. I know there was a huge uproar about Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook Deceptively Delicious, plagiarism aside.

Beyond PB & J

I love peanut butter, but hate jelly.  So I was a little disappointed with the 7th Annual Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest, where kids come up with interesting creations - and can win $25,000.  Of the top 5 entries, 4 involved peanut butter and jelly, and the fifth was not vegetarian (peanut butter chicken cheesesteak - if I ate chicken, I think I would like this).  One of our family favorites is peanut butter and cheese - my youngest daughter likes this toasted, on whole wheat sourdough bread, but my husband will eat this on any bread, cold, room temperature, heated through.  Cheddar cheese, by the way, but swiss will do.  My other girls eat at least one banana with peanut butter daily. We put peanut butter in oatmeal, cream of wheat, brownies.  Everyone also likes it with Nutella, the chocolate hazelnut spread.  If you know how to make crepes, spread fresh crepes with peanut butter and Nutella, roll and eat. 

Our late cat used to eat peanut butter, running up whenever she heard a jar opening, but our current cat is immune to the pleasures of PB.

Lunchbox Blues

Growing up in New York and attending public schools, I'm all too familiar with the quality of cafeteria food. The smell of grilled bologna served with breakfast is impossible to forget, try as one might. Was it considered healthier than bacon, or just cheaper? There really isn't a good excuse when you think about it.

Flash forward 20 years and I'm still faced with the same poor food choices, except this time it's for my five-year old. It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that I send her off to school with a healthy, home-packed lunch. Problem is by this point in the school year, packing it feels a bit like the movie Groundhog Day. After 100 days of school, you start to hit a wall. Then comes this peanut butter scare.