Monday Nutrition Tip of the Week

Winston Churchill said, "He who fails to plan is planning to fail."

When I first got married, I'd often go to the grocery store with no particular plan besides getting some food for the week and crossing that chore off my list. That way of thinking often doomed my new husband and me to dinners of tuna sandwiches, scrambled eggs, and cereal (in that order).

Before long I figured out that I needed a plan for the week before I stepped into the store. Otherwise I was spending money on random things that wouldn't make a meal, much less a healthy one.

So I invested in a magnetic dry erase board that sticks to our refrigerator. Each week on the night before I do grocery shopping, I sit down with my dry erase board, a sheet of paper, and a few of my cookbooks to figure out the weekly menu.

I pick out the meals, see which ingredients are already in my pantry and which ones should be added to my list. Usually only every other day has a meal listed on it -- the other days are labeled "Leftovers!"  I take that list into Wal-Mart and do not stray from its contents. (It's a good way to keep on budget, as well.)

Instead of having to think up "What's For Dinner" every night of the week, it's nice to just think of it once. And that plan is what keeps us from having to make a run to Chick Fil A (or the like) because I didn't have everything I needed to make dinner.

Don't fail to have a menu for the week! Think up some healthy meals to fix, list out the ingredients, and buy them at the store so you're not caught shorthanded.

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We eat a lot of sweet potatoes at our house. Not sweet potato casserole -- that yummy stuff with the brown sugar and pecans on top that we just at for Thanksgiving. Just sweet potatoes. 

They're lower on the glycemic index than white potatoes (meaning they don't make your blood sugar spike), plus they're high in fiber, and are a good source of potassium and Vitamins A, C, and B6.

I bake them in the oven like a regular baked potato, and then peel the skins off and mash them up (it's easier to serve the kids that way).

But sometimes sweet potatoes can be kind of dry and sticky. I don't want to saturate them with butter (which sort of negates their healthiness), so I mix in about a half cup of unsweetened applesauce, a pat of butter, and about two teaspoons of cinnamon. It improves their consistency a bunch, adds natural sweetness (through the applesauce), and the cinnamon adds a nice spiciness, too. 

Sweet potatoes are a great choice for kids, because they won't believe that a vegetable can be so sweet tasting. Give it a try sometime!