A New Year Reminder

It's the time of year when everyone makes promises to do something to improve themself or their life. This year, I am merely giving myself a reminder instead of making a promise. Let's face it: every time I make a promise to not eat something or to omit something from my diet (for my own good) I eventually end up compensating for what I am missing (or what I've deprived myself of) by overeating something else. Anyone else out there with me?
So I have fallen back on my mother's famous words: "Everything in moderation." I have taken that to "everything is OK in moderation!"
I am not a fan of fad diets, or diets of any kind for that matter. My only diet is the one with those previous words, "everything in moderation" and keeping food as natural as possible. (Except for when I give into that Chik-fil-A craving! I'm not perfect!)
Endeavor to live better this year by allowing yourself to have a little bit of everything in moderation. Get back to food basics and, in turn, a healthier you! Endeavor to live better this year by eating better. Eat and live more naturally. Here are some of my "back to basics" food tips for the New Year. I am constantly working on all of these myself. I'd love to know if you're a fan of any of these, or if you have a strong opinion about any of it, too!

• Stop looking at certain foods as being bad. Butter, cream, eggs, cheese, nuts and beef are just some of the foods that get a bad rap in our society due to high fat and cholesterol content. Unless you have serious cholesterol and/or allergy issues (and then you should be followed by a Dr.) these foods taken in moderation are good for you. And they are filling... naturally filling! This is a very good thing!
• Use real butter instead of vegetable oil spreads. It tastes so much better! When was the last time you poured some liquid vegetable or canola oil with added preservatives and other stuff on your toast? I didn't think so...
• Frequent your local vegetable stand or Farmer's market.
• Find a local farm (or as local as you can get farm) that raises their own grassfed cattle for beef. You won't believe the difference in the smell and the taste of the beef!
• Buy only free-range organic chicken. Again, you won't believe the difference in texture, taste, everything!
• If you're not convinced by the organic, free-range, and grassfed arguments in food then do your own reading and research on it. I find reading about food to be very interesting. I started reading up on these topics about 5 years ago and I can only get more passionate about it. I learn something new about what we eat all the time.
• Find out what the Slow Food Movement is all about.
• Get passionate about what "foods" your children are putting into their bodies.
• Make it a point to eat around the dinner table and try a new food on occasion.
• Enjoy good wine with your meal. Try different wines and find out what you like!
• Watch "Food, Inc." and form your own opinion on food policy in our country.

Food in it's natural state, or as close to its natural state as it can get, has the power to heal, nourish, entertain and bring us together! So make 2011 your year for a new attitude in food! Everything is ok in moderation!

What Memories are Made of

My childhood is loaded with memories of delicious home-cooked food. At Christmas time it was the ritual of a big, extravagant Christmas Eve dinner with a house full of intoxicated family and friends. My mother had set the table with her just-pressed table cloth, best china, silver, and crystal. The house was warm (we lived in Florida) and the smells that filled it from the kitchen were glorious! Even as young kids we knew that the next day would also bring more of our favorite foods. I always looked forward to my mother and aunt making our grandfather’s favorite spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce on Christmas Day. You know, the kind of sauce that was so soupy it didn’t really stick to your spaghetti and you had to have a spoon to drink the sauce after your pasta was all eaten up… but it was sooooo delicious! Fresh tomatoes cooked in olive oil with basil….mmmmm!!! Later I came to realize that this was a very simple dish to serve to such a large group of starving family on Christmas Day after all of the Christmas Eve celebrations… but it was more than enough for all of us to savor and enjoy! It made an impression on me, anyway! When it came to our birthdays, my mom would tell the birthday boy or girl (I grew up with 3 brothers) to choose our very favorite dish and she’d make it especially for that lucky person. Getting to choose the night’s dinner was my mom’s way of showing us how special we were on that day and we all loved it! You’d think we would have chosen chicken nuggets or hot dogs (today’s go-to meal choices for kids), but not us. Our favorites were stuffed roasted tomatoes, Breaded fried steak stuffed with ham and cheese, or spaghetti with homemade meat sauce to name only a few. I think I changed mine several times, but the one that sticks out in my head was Chef’s favorite that he had mom make for him every year on his birthday: escargot. (We should have known then that he was destined to food greatness!) And so we all learned to love the sophisticated French dish of snails swimming in a decadent garlic butter sauce. To this day I have not tasted an escargot dish as delicious as my mother’s (and trust me, I’ve sought it out- some have come close)… the perfection of her buttery garlic sauce and the snails presented in their shells on silver dishes with the little divets in them made for each snail… mmmm, my mouth waters thinking about my bread dipping into all of that garlic goodness at the end! Can you believe I grew up eating that since I can remember?
My mom is the reason for my brothers’ and my eclectic taste in food. She has always made cooking look so easy and natural- almost never from a recipe. (The only times I’ve seen my mom use a recipe are when she bakes.) What an amazing thing for children to grow up knowing… good food cooked from scratch. What a way to liven up the senses! What a great way to inspire creativity! Food exposes us to new flavors and cultures around the world, all without leaving our kitchen table!