Healthier Food Choices at The Blender

Here are some things I am doing to feed my family healthier food bit by bit!

Stater Bros. had Ronzoni brand Garden Delight pasta on sale for 99 cents, (regular $2.29) I emptied their shelf. This pasta is tri-colored and uses enough vegetables in it that a 4 oz serving of the pasta is a full serving of veggies! The kids loved it and there is no noticable tast or texture difference.

I made a big batch of "Healthier Flour Blend" (I modified the recipe from "The Sneaky Chef")  6 cups bread flour, 6 cups whole wheat flour, 1 cup wheat bran. Just mix it, store it and use as you would flour, (I used bread flour since I am mostly using this in the bread machine).

I've made a few mixes from scratch to cut out the extra salt and preservatives. So far I have tried, taco seasoning, meat loaf seasoning, breading for things like chicken and pork chops. I have  a few more in the works. I will get those recipes posted for you soon.

We are using less meat and more beans and quinoa wherever I can. Also I am putting more vegetables into every meal.  For instance, in Mexican soup is an easy all in one meal that is easy to add to . I used 1/2 the chicken.  Added a can of black beans, a 1/2 cup of quinoa and twice the amount of veggies that I usually use. I also add 2/3 cup pureed veggies to the broth.

We do not drink any Kool-aid type drinks anymore. I make sweet tea nearly every day and have decreased the sugar significantly over the past 2 weeks.

No more potato type chips at out hours. I bought Sun Chips for school lunches. I also got some sweet potato chips at Costco that the kids have been eating up like crazy.

I can put pureed veggies in breads, muffins, cookies, pancakes and waffles, as well as wheat germ and no one seems to mind.

Also, I am trying to use much less soy that I did before. Soy sauce is fine for most but Tyler and Sarah are allergic to soy and there is so much sodium in it. Using less just makes more sense both with soy and soy sauce. I tried a mock soy sauce recipe that we liked well enough. It tastes nothing like soy so really it is just an alternative, not a substitute.

So, in a nutshell, this is where we are less sugar, less salt, less soy, avoid red dye #40 and yellow dye #5, less meat, more protein and more vegetables. Tell me some of your ideas!