Jack's Harvest

Ok, I have to admit that this morning while looking at the pile of breakfast dishes and contemplating what in the world I was going to make for lunch and dinner I felt not so much like a mom as I did a short order cook at Denny’s.  The quest for these perfectly balanced, organic meals upon which my children’s entire health relies is exhausting, but I am coming to realize that I can sneak a lot of nutrition into at least one meal a day.  I know that one meal a day doesn’t sound like a lot, and it doesn’t mean I’ve don’t try at the other meals, but I think we moms are under such pressure to do everything perfectly and it is exhausting.  Maybe we should just concentrate on one meal a day to start and feel great about that meal.

Veggie Purees and Other Urban Legends

I watched with admiration as Jessica Seinfeld cooked these amazing meals with all of these veggie purees on Oprah the other day.  I must add that I had not just a little skepticism about the effort that it entailed for us average moms whose husbands weren’t on Seinfeld.  This skepticism was confirmed over a glass of wine with friends who all bought the cauliflowers, sweet potatoes and spinach with the best intentions and put them in the veggie bin of the fridge heretofore known as the “rotter.”  The purees went unmade and the veggies were pulled out of the rotter a week later and unceremoniously dumped.  So what’s a busy mom who can’t afford a staff of seven to take care of the rest of her responsibilities so she can devote all of her time to pureeing to do?  Simple, throw a little cash at the problem and fill the freezer with baby food.  Yes, I said it, pureed vegetables are really just baby food.

Baby Food Making Ain’t for the Faint of Heart

Full disclosure is that I am the co-owner and head chef of an organic baby food company Jack’s Harvest.  While making baby food isn’t rocket science, it is a messy, time consuming affair and not for the faint of heart, or those with even mild OCD about their kitchens.  I also am a mom of three under the age of 8 as well as a puppy and between Gymboree, gymnasitics, soccer, school functions and carpools I don’t have time to swipe on mascara much less plan out complicated meals every night.  So, I am all about simplification. If you can buy pureed fruits and vegetables then do it.  If they are the frozen kind, even better as they will have retained most of their nutritional value that can get cooked out during the bottling of jarred baby food.

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

Here’s the bottom line, though, anything you make at home is going to be healthier for your kids than fast food.  I am all about the organics, but we have the drive through every once in a while, but as the food is so full of yucky stuff and so lacking in nutrition we try not to do it very often.  So here’s the deal, if there is a perfectly good, and I feel compelled to add, organic bottle of tomato sauce waiting for you on the shelf of the supermarket, buy it.  Making one’s own sauce is admirable but when you get home from work or soccer and everyone is starving, you need something quick that doesn’t take hours to make and even longer to clean-up.  I vote that all recipes should include not only the time it takes to make, but how many pots and pans you are going to have to wash after the cooking is done.  Another thing I do to save time is always cooking enough for two meals.  Left-overs are a beautiful thing and I have convinced my entire family that a night in the fridge is the best thing that can happen to food.  If you can freeze half, even better!

The Recipe

All of this information helps no one if you don’t have The Recipe.  The Recipe is that one meal that everyone in your family likes, that doesn’t require the skill of Julia Child and that doesn’t take two hours to clean up and recuperate from.  This being said, I am including my favorite “I fed my family well” recipe.  It is quick, takes exactly two pots, one for sauce and one for pasta and freezes beautifully. Having this one recipe (I actually have a few more, but this is my fall back) helps me to sleep contentedly knowing that I have succeeded in tricking my children into eating enough vitamins so they don’t get scurvy.

Break it Down For Me

Sneaky Tomato and Marscapone Cheese Sauce

2 Jars of Organic Pasta Sauce

1 8 oz. container of Mascapone Cheese, (ricotta will work as well)

4 cubes of Jack’s Harvest Carrot cubes

4 cubes of Jack’s Harvest Green Bean cubes – I swear I couldn’t taste them at all and I was a little worried I would ruin my sauce!

1 teaspoon of flax seed oil

Heat all until warmed through and top whole wheat pasta (if your kids

don’t like whole wheat pasta yet, just do 3/4 regular pasta and 1/4

whole wheat and keep upping the proportion of whole wheat until that

is what they are used to having).

Here’s the nutritional breakdown….

Green beans are an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin K and

manganese. Plus green beans are very good source of vitamin A (notably

through their concentration of carotenoids including beta-carotene),

dietary fiber, potassium, folate, and iron. And, green beans are a

good source of magnesium, thiamin, riboflavin, copper, calcium,

phosphorous, protein, omega-3 fatty acids and niacin.

Tomatoes have lycopene, anti oxidants, vitamins, C,A, K, potassium,

manganese fiber and folate among other great things!

Carrots are an excellent source of antioxidant compounds, and the

richest vegetable source of the pro-vitamin A carotenes. Carrots’

antioxidant compounds help protect against cardiovascular disease and

cancer and also promote good vision, especially night vision.

The cheese provides protein, the flax seed oil has omega 3s and the

pasta has fiber all in one very yummy bowl of pasta!!!!