A Little Less Parental Guilt
Not as Bad as I Thought
If you’re a parent like me, it seems that every day presents a few more reasons to feel guilty about the things we haven’t done right by our kids.
Louisa, “Mom, where’s my basketball shirt?”
Me, “Did you look in your drawer?”
Louisa, “It’s not there.”
Me, “Check the pile of clothes in the laundry room.”
Louisa, “It’s there. I need it in a half an hour for my game.”
Me, “Shake it out.”
As you can see, not exactly the model of perfect parenting. That’s why I was so happy to catch a news bit today about the value of whole grain white bread. Let me explain.
As any health conscious parent knows, we’re supposed to feed our kids whole grain bread. But, mine have never taken much of a liking to whole wheat or multigrain bread, and when that’s the only type of sandwich bread in the house, we can have a lunchbox situation. Meaning, nobody wants lunch, and the bread dries out and/or turns moldy. If the bread isn’t soft, as is usually the case with the organic sandwich breads after a day, Joe isn’t particularly fond of it either. And true confessions, I don’t like whole wheat or multigrain sandwich bread either. The flavor is too strong for the filling. That’s why I had given up buying anything other than oatmeal bread which, although it sounds healthy, isn’t that much better than white bread.
Then over the past year I discovered something called “whole grain white”. It looks like white bread, and stays soft as long as the oatmeal bread. It seemed like a win-win for health vs. taste and texture. But I’ve still been feeling kind of guilty, assuming that it’s just a better version of white bread, but not as good as that whole grain stuff. Until today. Today I read in a Q&A health column, authored by the famous Dr. Oz from Oprah, that whole grain white bread is as good as the whole grain or wheat sandwich bread.
Score one for the Mom.
So What’s Wrong with Broccoli Rabe?
Who Can Resist All of this Green Goodness?
Every time I cook broccoli rabe, (aka broccoli raab, and rapini) I get a reaction like there’s poison on the plate for dinner. Oh no, broccoli rabe. Ewww, broccoli rabe. Do I have to have the broccoli rabe?
Just look at how beautiful the fresh green leaves are. They need very little to turn them into a perfect side dish other than some olive oil, sea salt, sometimes chopped garlic, and a little water or broth. You cook them until they’re tender, preferably before they lose their vibrant green color. That’s it.
Broccoli Rabe is non-fat, low-cal, and high in vitamins A and C. They also possess those phytochemicals that are prized for their cancer fighting properties.
You can serve broccoli rabe as a side dish. Or you can toss it with pasta, typically orechiette. Add some Italian sausage, and/or grated parmesan cheese. There’s a comfort food dinner if I’ve ever met one.
Sure, you need to be comfortable with bitter flavors to enjoy the vegetable. But broccoli rabe can be mellowed with the appropriate preparation. Plus, what’s wrong with a little bitter flavors here and there? Must we always feed our sweet tooth?
Therefore, in response to my own question, there’s nothing wrong with broccoli rabe, everything good with it, and I’m going to continue serving it, like or not.
The Giant Blueberry Muffin
Louisa has had a craving for giant blueberry muffins for several months. Usually I make chocolate chip banana muffins, because what else can you do with over-ripened bananas? But today was a snow day, and she wanted to whip up something special for breakfast. Would cinnamon rolls be possible? No, not really because they take time to rise. How about banana muffins, Louisa? (I’ve been saving a few special black ones for the occasion.) Nope. How about blueberry muffins, mom? Sold! I just happened to have picked up a large box of fresh blueberries at Trader Joe’s this week, just because they looked good and were on sale.
So we went down to the kitchen, pulled out my recipe, and set to work making these large, coffee cake blueberry muffins. They’re not exactly giant, but they’re bigger than the usual banana variety. Louisa was happy. So were the rest of us. A perfect start to a snowy morning.