Newsletter-January 6, 2008

Dues: The dues will continue to be $10 for the year. The dues help to cover childcare costs, snacks, crafts, postage, supplies etc.

Childcare Coverage: We ask that each member sign up at least once for coverage in the nursery and preschool class during our meetings. We need a minimum of 4 people to assist with childcare each month.

Mom’s Group Social Events

January 15th - Mom's Night out.

February 1st - Kids Fun! Open Gym at Gymfinity. 6300 Nesbitt Rd. #848-3547. Price is $7.00/child. 2 for 1 coupons are available at madisoncoupons.com. Open gym is from 11am to 12 noon. Arrive 15 minutes early to get a spot. You'll need to sign a waiver for liability at the gym or online at gymfinity.com

March 6th - Make It/Take It night. Join Michelle Rimer, Director of the Mt. Horeb Nutrition office and make a couple of meals to "make and take" home for later.

April 15th - Mom's Night out. Are your taxes done? Come have a drink and celebrate!

May 13th - 2nd annual clean out the closet clothes drive. Bring any clothes you would like to exchange/donate and put them in the boxes labeled with sizes. Any clothes left over will be donated to the Mt. Horeb clothes closet.

Book Club meeting: Tuesday January 29th at 6:30PM
Book: "The Land Remembers" by Ben Logan


Healthy Eating Habits:

Becoming a savvy label reader:
My best advice to give when grocery shopping is to stay on the perimeter of the grocery store. All the processed food is in the center of the grocery store because it will keep forever.

Most of your food should come without labels! Fruits and Vegetables!! When reading labels use common sense. If it has an ingredient that you don’t know what it is or cannot pronounce it, do you want to eat it? Buy items with a low number of ingredients. The more ingredients listed the higher the chance the item is not good for you and your family.

Sugar:
Companies will split up sugar into different names so it’s not the first ingredient in the product. High fructose corn syrup is a very popular sugar, dextrose, fructose, sucrose, sucralose, turbanado sugar, honey, sugar in the raw, molasses, brown sugar, and many more. Anything with a –ose at the end is a sugar. Healthier sweeteners are raw honey, molasses unsulfured, fructose unprocessed, evaporated cane juice, organic cane juice, pure maple syrup, malt sugar, brown rice syrup. Many companies will use refined versions of these.

Enriched flour:
Is highly processed chemically treated form of wheat with no nutrient value. Bleached enriched flour is a simple sugar that will increase glucose in the body triggering insulin production. Go for whole grains, oats, barley, etc. If you cannot actually see the grain in the product it isn’t a whole grain even if it says it on the box. If you cannot see it and they say it is in the product it is a synthetic product and unusable by the body.

Salt:
Refined table salt has an improper ratio of potassium to sodium. It also contains dextrose and silicone which we don’t need. Better choices are sea salt imported and non-iodinized kosher salt. You can get enough iodine in a variety of plants, especially sea veggies.

Artificial Sweeteners:
Aspartame (phenylalanine), Sucralose (Splenda), and others are linked to cancer and allergic reactions. It’s a chemical you don’t need in your body.

MSG:
Will sometimes be written out as monosodium glutamate, which the average consumer has no idea that it’s MSG. MSG leads to degenerative diseases, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and has been known to be the cause of headaches in some people.

Preservatives:
Vitamin A and C are safe. Lesophin is a safe emulsifier. TBHT, BHT and BHA are not safe, are known to cause cancer. Mono and triglycerides are unsafe emulsifiers not to mention increase bad cholesterol.

Soft drinks no nutrient value. Will demineralize bones causing osteoporosis and increase obesity.

Examples:
Rice Krispys ingredients-rice, sugar, salt, high fructose corn syrup, malt flavoring
Sugar is the number one ingredient when you put them together.

Rice Cereal-New Morning (in health food section)-organic whole grain brown rice, unsweetened concentrate of pineapple, peach juice and pear juice, organic whole grain emerith
Better sugar choices and better ingredients.

Ritz crackers-enriched flour, partially hydrogenated soybean oil (trans fat), sugar, High fructose corn syrup, salt, levinin(baking soda, calcium phosphate, soy lesothin an emulsifier) malted barley flour

Tree of Life Ritz type cracker-organic unbleached wheat flour, honey, barley malt, expressed safflower oil, rice extract, sea salt, baking soda
Better choices but still not meant to replace a meal or a whole food snack. If going to have something like a Ritz cracker this is a better choice.

Eat as close to nature as possible!!

Recipe of the month:
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito
Sweet potatoes add an unexpected creaminess to the filling in these burritos. Serve the burrito on a bed of rice, if you like, with plenty of salsa.

5 cups baked and peeled sweet potatoes
½ t. sea salt
2 t. olive or canola oil
3 ½ c diced onions
4 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 T. minced fresh green chile
4 t. ground cumin
4 t. ground coriander
4 ½ c cooked black beans (or 3 15-oz cans, drained and rinsed)
2/3 c. lightly packed cilantro leaves
2 T. fresh lemon juice
8 eight-inch whole wheat tortillas
Fresh salsa

Preheat oven to 350°.

Warm the oil in a medium skillet or saucepan and add the onions, garlic, and chile. Cover and cook on medium-low until onions are tender about 7 minutes. Add cumin and coriander cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a food processer (or if you like to have more texture use a potato masher), combine black beans, cilantro, lemon juice, salt and cooked sweet potatoes and puree until smooth. Transfer the sweet potato mixture to a large mixing bowl and mix in onions and spices.

Lightly oil a large baking dish. Spoon about 2/3 to 3/4 c. of filling into center of tortillas, roll-up and place seams down in baking dish. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes, until hot. Serve topped with salsa.

The Sommer House Café is open. There is a fun room upstairs with toys, books and an art easel for the kids. It's a great spot to grab a bite to eat or a coffee and they have wi-fi too! I think a spot like that needs some help staying open in this town and we can try to do our part!