Let's Get Cookin'!

All Photography and Food Preparation By: Michelle Eisen

 As mentioned in my first post, Where It All Began...

I first became active in designing and implementing nutrition interventions during my thesis work in Dr. Nicholas Cepeda’s Cognitive Flexibility Lab at York University. Through my thesis work, I studied the effects of a nutrition intervention on reading comprehension in grade 7 and 8 students. Over eight months, I was to track the eating habits of over 250 students- half of whom were asked to eat according to Canada’s Food Guide. For those of you who have children, you can imagine the students’ reactions when asked to consume 5-12 servings of fruits and vegetables A DAY! In fact, for those who are not used to eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, their reactions are the very same. 

When anyone intends on changing their eating habits, they will face one or more of the following challenges:

• A fear of eating foods they have disliked in the past
• A lack of cooking and food preparation experience
• A lack of food-preparation materials
• A change in grocery shopping routine
• A change in eating-out habits
• Difficulty with time management in respect to food preparation

Any of these sound familiar?

Due to time restraints, the nutrition education component of the intervention had to be quick, but effective. Upon introducing the intervention to these students, along with a copy of the Canada Food Guide, I provided them with a “Menu” of healthy, inexpensive, and easy-to-make meals, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. 

It is important to note that many of these students came from single-parent families, where that parent was often out of the house working, often preparing a quick pre-made meal before leaving or leaving the child to make dinner for himself.  Given this information, it seemed that the quickest way to ensuring the students in the intervention group ate healthy, was to in fact educate, and follow up with them as opposed to focusing on the parents. However, without time retraints, parent education would have been a crucial element to this intervention.

Throughout the intervention, I had students record their daily food intake and related comments into a “Food Journal.” 

I would like to share some of the feedback I received:

·       “I never used to like fish, but when I made the fish recipe from the menu, I really liked it!”

·       “Could you please send over more recipes, because I would like to continue to eat healthy after the intervention.”

·       “I made this recipe with my mom, and we had a lot of fun!”

So, if you think you are not a fish person, try it; if you think you can’t cook, try it; and if you think you can’t change, try it. Try it for yourself, and for your children, because they want to learn, and who best to learn from than YOU?

Below you will find some of the recipes from the “Menu,” discussed above. Please try them out, and let me know what you think! In my upcoming posts, I will be sharing more insight from my research, along with some practical application ie: recipes addressing challenges to healthy eating.   

Breakfast:

Keepin' It Simple: Fruit & Yogurt Parfait- choose fruits which are in season to cut down on cost  

Time: 3 minutes

Cost: $1.25

Ingredients: Yogurt, In-season fruit, Granola

Recipe: In a tall glass or parfait dish, layer yogurt, fruit, and granola. Repeat. 

Lunch: All meals can be packed for nutritious work or school lunches

Spring Pasta Salad- wash vegetables when unpacking groceries to allow for quicker food prep

Time: 10-20 minutes

Cost: $1.75

Ingredients: Whole wheat pasta, Basil, Red/Yellow/Orange bell peppers, 1/4 Cucumber, Purple onion, Feta, Oregano, Olive oil, Lemon, Pepper 

Recipe: Boil pasta. While pasta is boiling, thinly slice peppers, cucumber, and onion. Once pasta is cooked, refrigerate until cool. Once pasta is cool, lightly drizzle olive oil (approx. 1.5 tbsp/serving) and toss (the olive oil will add great taste, and will separate the noodles). Squeeze 1/4 lemon over pasta, and toss in vegetables and torn basil leaves(approx. 3 leaves/serving). Crumble feta, lightly add pepper and approx 2 tsp dried oregano, and toss.

Remember: Cooking is a creative, and individual process.  Don't be afraid to veer from the recipe and add ingredients to suit your taste, ex: more peppers and less cucumber. 

 

Mosaic Tuna Salad- Adults & children are always more open to eating food that LOOKS appetizing; colours can play a large role in acheiving this.

Time: 15 minutes

Cost: $2.00

Ingredients: Chunk light tuna in water (in can), Purple onion, Red/Yellow/Orange pepper, Celery, Cucumber, Tomato, 1/2 Avocado, Green onion, Lemon, Pepper, Whole wheat pita 

Recipe: Drain water from tuna, and add tuna to a bowl with avocado. Using a fork, mash and mix in avacado until uniform. Squeeze in 1 lemon wedge, and mix. Dice vegetables, and add (you will need approx. 1/4 of each vegetable, and about 1 green onion, and 1/8 purple onion/serving). Add pepper to taste. Serve with whole wheat pita, or in a sandwich! 

  

Michelle's Pizza: One of my favourite meals to bring to work! 

Time: 20-25 minutes

Cost: $2.75

Ingredients: Dempster's Whole Wheat Thintini's (a thin version of a bun- whole wheat pita can be used), Marble cheese, Purple onion, Oregano, Portobello mushroom, Spinach, Tomato sauce (stay tuned for an easy recipe for tomato sauce using tomato PASTE- much cheaper), Cucumber, Carrots, Beets

Recipe: Pre-heat oven to 425 F. Open Thintini into two halves. Spread tomato sauce, and place 2-3 layers of spinach on top (this will cook down). Add sliced mushroom and purple onion, and top with marble cheese. Sprinkle with dried oregano. Place pizza in oven until cheese is melted and is browning on the sides (approx. 10-15 minutes). While oven is in pizza, cut vegetable sticks from cucumber, carrots, and beets.  Other options are celery, and bell peppers. Serve and enjoy! To pack for lunch, make sure pizza has cooled before wrapping in tin foil- or pack in a reusable container!

 

Dinner:

Haddocado- Haddock is a very light tasting fish.  Give it a try!

Time: 25-30 minutes
Cost: $3.25
Ingredients: Fresh or frozen haddock (cheaper frozen), Garlic powder, Onion powder, Pepper, Olive oil, 1/2 Avocado, 1/4 Cucumber, 1/4 Red pepper, Asparagus
Recipe: Place approx 1 tbsp olive oil in pan on low-medium heat. Rinse off fish under tap, and place into pan.  Lightly sprinkle onion powder, garlic powder, and pepper on top. Cut cucumber and pepper sticks for your side dish. Wash asperagus and cut off bottom ends (approx. 1-1.5 inches) and discard. Slice half of an avocado to later be served with fish. Once fish is cooked half way through, flip, and season other side. Boil water in pot, and place asparagus in pot (asparagus cooks quickly, so be sure to remove, shortly after the colour changes from a dull to a bright green). You will know your fish is cooked once it appears white, rather than translucent. Haddock can be a thicker fish, which may need more time to cook through than thinner fishes such as sole and tilapia. 

Snacks & Sides:

Tomato Salad from Next Door-

 

Time: 7 minutes

Cost: $1.00

Ingredients: 3 Tomatoes, Purple onion, Dried oregano, 1 Clove garlic, 1/4 tsp Salt, Pepper

Recipe: Slice tomatoes, and purple onion, chop garlic, and toss together. Add salt, pepper, and approx. 2 tsp of dried oregano, and toss. Allow the salad to marinate in the fridge if time permits, to allow the tomatoes to really take on the taste of the spices. Enjoy!

House Bean Dip- 

 

Time: 15 minutes

Cost: $1.25/medium bowl of dip

Ingredients: White kidney beans, Black eyed peas, Chickpeas, Pepper, 2 Cloves garlic, Olive oil, Lemon

Recipe: Using a food processor or a potato/bean masher mash 1/4-1/2 can of each type of bean together. Add in approx. 2.5 tbsp olive oil, and juice from half a lemon. Finely chop or mash (using a garlic press) garlic, and add into bean mixture, along with approx 1 tsp pepper. Continue to mash (or process until smooth.  Using a spoon, mix bean dip, until uniform. Serve with vegetable sticks and whole wheat pita for a healthy, filling, and tasty snack!

After Six Sugar Fix-

Time: 10 minutes

Cost: $0.50 

Ingredients: 2 Apples, 1 Medium-Soft pear, 2 tsp Cinnamon, 1 Small lemon wedge

Recipe: Peel and cut all fruit into wedges and/or slices. Squeeze lemon juice over fruit and toss. Sprinkle cinnamon over fruit, and toss again. Bake in microwave on high for approx. 5 minutes, or in oven (covered) at 375 F until fruit is soft (approx. 30 minutes).

Chip Trio- A healthy way to potato chips!

Chip Trio served with a basil oil

Time: 30 minutes

Cost: $1.00 (1 small bowl of chips)

Ingredients: Sweet potato, Yellow potato, Red potato, Olive oil, Pepper

Recipe: Using a knife or a mandoline, thinly slice potatoes. Lay slices out flat on a cookie sheet (place tin foil on top of cookie sheet for quick and easy clean up). Brush olive oil over each slice, and cover with a light sprinkle of pepper. Bake in oven at 350 F, and flip when bottom side is light brown (after approx 10-15 minutes). Once flipped, coat top side with olive oil and pepper. Bake until crispy. To reduce oil intake, pat down chips with paper towel after removing from oven. Enjoy! 

Have fun with your cooking! Presentation takes time, and is not necessary. Just remember: Just because something looks fancy on a plate, doesn't mean it was hard to make!

I look forward to hearing how your cooking adventures pan out. Here are a few easy tricks to help keep TIME and COST down!

1. Wash all fruits and vegetables after grocery shopping, so they are ready-to-go when you are ready to cook!
2. Buy apples in bags (bulk)
3. Buy the cheaper fruits- ex: tomatoes off the vine instead of on
4. Keep celery and carrot sticks in a bowl of water in the fridge for quick and easy access
5. Buy fruits and vegetables which are in-season
6. Plan meals ahead of time to allow for multiple uses of the same foods (such as purple onion, tomatoes, and whole wheat pitas, as seen above)
7. Buy fruits at markets or low-cost stores when possible

Stay tuned for my next blog post on MORE healthy meals for YOU and the family!

Please follow me on Twitter at Feed2Succeed, and feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or suggestions, at:  

feedingtheneedtosucceed@gmail.com

Please keep me posted on your cooking and eating adventures!

-Michelle Eisen BSc. MA in Child Study and Education

Follow @Feed2Succeed