Author Archives: Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition

What’s in a name?

Although there are many factors that influence your impact on the earth, what and how you eat, and your transportation options and choices, are two big players.  Food and transportation choices also contribute to health, or lack thereof.

Over the past several weeks, I’ve realized that two topics really inspire the posts around here: food and bicycles.  To that end, I’m pondering changing the name of this blog to better reflect the content.


I’ve brainstormed some good title possibilities, I’m just on the fence about whether or not to actually take the plunge.

So, what do you think?  Good idea?  Bad idea?  Neutral?

Making dinner happen

Monday through Thursday,  we enact a carefully choreographed dance, working together to make and eat dinner, put The Dude to bed, and get ready to do it all again the next day.  Here’s how it goes (exact timing varies slightly):

5:00  Matthew takes the lead on dinner, starting prep as soon as he gets home from work. At a minimum, we discuss dinner plans during the day, but we’re trying to sit down on Sunday and sketch out a rough meal plan for the week.  Some sort of plan helps things run much more smoothly than the arrive home from work, hungry and tired, and stare in the fridge asking “What’s for dinner?” approach.

6:10  Gabriel and I arrive, and Matthew spends a few minutes with him (mostly involving a potty opportunity and a nice, thick diaper).  I change, hang up my clothes, use the bathroom, and grab a drink of water.

6:20  The Dude and I snuggle up on the couch, and he  eats his dinner/bedtime snack.  Meanwhile, Matthew continues working on dinner.


Assembling a new lasagna

6:40  Once Gabriel finishes eating, we head to the bedroom.  We sing his bedtime lullaby, and I lay him down for the night.  On good nights he goes down without a peep, on so-so nights, 5-10 minutes of crying, during which I agonize over all the things that I may have done wrong in the bedtime routine while anxiously awaiting the quiet.

6:45  I return to the kitchen and jump in where needed to get dinner on the table ASAP.  Most nights this happens between 7:00 and 7:30, but some nights we’re pushing 8:00, which would just be quaint and European, except we’re trying to go to bed by 9:30, which doesn’t leave much time to digest, not to mention taking care of the after dinner stuff.

7:15  Light candles, set table, and sit down to dinner.*  If we’re lucky, we’re not too tired to enjoy the delicious food in front of us.

7:50  Pack lunches for next day (usually leftovers from the previous night’s meal), complete some minimal kitchen cleanup (I’m trying to improve on this, but things tend to pile up until the weekend), and put away dinner leftovers.

This concludes the “dinner” portion of the night.  In the remaining time, we grab a few minutes relaxing on the couch with books, use our neti pots, and have a bit of dessert (if we’re hungry having just finished dinner).**  I like to have things all wrapped up, including brushing, flossing, and last call in the bathroom by 9:00 if possible, leaving a few more minutes to read in bed before lights out.

*The fact that Gabriel is not at the table with us for dinner really bugs me, because family meals are important for establishing good eating habits.  Unfortunately, given my current work schedule and his current bedtime (which may sound incredibly early, but really seems to work for him), our options are limited.
**Some nights we also engage in fun extracurricular activities during this time, like hanging the diapers 😉

Baked oatmeal

Growing up, I always looked forward to mornings when my dad made baked oatmeal.  The summer after my junior year in college, I found myself in New Jersey, far, far away from my family and friends in the Midwest, working as a live-in nanny, and craving this taste of home.

I scoured the internet for recipes that resembled the baked oatmeal I knew and loved, something simple yet delicious.  I experimented with one or two recipes, that, while okay, were not what I remembered.  Not what I wanted.  (I’m not sure why I didn’t just call my parents and ask for the recipe — that would have been too logical.)

My husband, who, try as he might, can’t stomach a bowl of traditional oatmeal, likes this.  Something about the dryness and texture of it being baked, versus the gooey-ness of regular oatmeal.  The added fat and sugar don’t hurt, either 😉

This makes a nice change to my normal big bowl of oatmeal, and it’s a fun treat for a weekend morning.  Leftovers reheat well.

Baked Oatmeal
Serves 6

Ingredients
1/3 c. butter/margarine
1/3 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. milk (soy, dairy, whatever you use)
3 t. baking powder
3 c. quick oats
Cinnamon and brown sugar
Sliced apples, or dried apples or cranberries*

Directions
Grease a 9 inch pie pan and preheat the oven to 350° F.  Combine quick oats and baking powder in a small bowl.  Cream butter and sugar, then mix in the eggs, followed by the milk.  Spread the mixture in the prepared pan.

Cut an apple or two into thin slices (peeling first is optional — my dad always peeled the apples, but leaving them on is faster and more nutritious).  Arrange the apple slices on top of the oat mixture.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and a bit of brown sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes, testing the center  — it should not be gooey.  Serve hot, with milk poured over the top, if you like.

*If you want a shortcut, or just don’t have fresh apples, you can sprinkle the cinnamon and brown sugar directly on top of the oat mixture and bake it sans apple slices.  Serve with dried apples or cranberries.

Avoiding antibiotics

Time to crawl out from under this rock and return to writing.  The past seven days took their toll.

I [barely] survived three days home alone with a sick and needy baby (while sick myself, of course).  Every feeding brought the fear that he would cough hard enough to gag and vomit, which happened at least once a day, and all the mucous going through his system led to some interesting results from the other end, as well.

A comment by one of his caregivers that his cough sounded croup-like sent us to the doctor on Wednesday morning.  The “good” news: just a bad cold with a “junky” cough.  The bad news: mild ear infection in the right ear.

The pediatrician apologetically recommended antibiotics.  I asked if we could wait and see if it cleared on its own, knowing that many ear infections are viral, in which case antibiotics are completely useless and unnecessary.  She agreed, on the condition that we return in three days for a recheck, to make sure the infection was not progressing.

I took a copy of the prescription and returned home to deliberate: Just fill the darn prescription, which would probably cost us $5, or try to avoid unnecessary antibiotics (and the fun that goes with them, like diarrhea and/or constipation and secondary infections from eliminating the “good” gut bacteria), at the cost of an extra $25 office visit copay, not to mention the time and effort of a return visit?  Quite frustrating when the better-for-health decision is significantly less convenient AND more expensive.

Still, after some discussion, Matthew and I opted for the wait-and-see approach, and I made the follow-up appointment.  For the next three days, we applied warm compresses to The Dude’s ear and throat.*

Feeling worn down and negative, I fully expected bad news at Gabriel’s follow-up visit on Saturday, so I was pleasantly surprised when Matthew reported that, while not entirely cleared, the infection was “heading in the right direction,” no antibiotics needed.

Warm Compress Method**
Wet a clean washcloth, then ring out excess water.  Fold in half, then in thirds.  Place the washcloth in the microwave and heat for about 20 seconds.  Carefully remove the hot washcloth.

Test the temperature on your own ear before applying to baby’s ear (remembering that baby’s skin will be extra sensitive) — err on the side of caution with the temperature.

Hold warm, damp washcloth over affected ear and side of the throat until the cloth cools.  This will help drain the ear, facilitating the body’s efforts to fight the infection.  Repeat several times throughout the day.

*The warm compress is actually recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).  (I don’t always agree with all of their recommendations, but sometimes they get it right.)
**This is not intended as medical advice, nor should it replace consultation with your health care provider.

When in Rome . . .

. . . eat Indian food???  Absolutely!

When we were in Italy last spring, our first dinner in Rome came after we’d been traveling in other parts of the country for over a week, and, quite frankly, we were ready for something other than Italian food.  We made our way to Shanti, an Indian restaurant recommended by one of our guide books, and enjoyed one of the best meals of our entire trip, including one dish in particular.

Fellow blogger Nupur (One Hot Stove) was kind enough to help us identify the dish as malai kofta (see her comment on this post for recipe links).  We haven’t gotten around to making malai kofta ourselves, but we identified a couple of local Indian restaurants that serve the dish.

Over the weekend, we finally made the trek to House of India for our fix.  I liked the idea of their lunch buffet, but I called to investigate and they told me that the malai kofta is never on the buffet.  Further, they ONLY offer the buffet at lunch time.  What to do?

Go for the lunch buffet and order malai kofta from the takeout menu, which is available any time.  Clever, no?

We enjoyed a nice buffet lunch and left with a double order of malai kofta to enjoy later.  I brought a glass container to avoid polystyrene or other disposable plastic to-go containers, and our server agreed to use it, no problem 🙂

We heated half of the malai kofta for dinner last night, and it was every bit as delicious as we remembered.