Angel's Reflections

Glazed Salmon

The recipe today comes from one of my favorite Recipe books, “Weight Watchers 5 Ingredient, Fifteen Minutes”. They have several books of this title, and each one I have always has excellent, and easy recipes. Even if you do not “do” Weight Watchers these recipes are healthy, delicious, and fast. (All of which are so important) So if you are looking for some new recipe ideas, you can pick up one of their magazines/ books, and you will not be disappointed. They even include Nutritional Info. for each Recipe, which I will include with this one as an example.

This particular recipe, Glazed Salmon, is one my girls love. As a toddler, Anna does not always like to eat meat as it is too hard to chew. But fish is easy, and the Glaze is sweet, so she loves it!

Ingredients:
2 -1/2 Tbs. Brown Sugar

3-1/2Tbs. low sodium Soy Sauce

1-1/2 Tbs. Honey

1-1/2 Tsp. Minced Garlic

4 (6 oz) skinless Salmon Fillets

Cooking Spray

Directions:

1. Preheat Broiler
2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl.; stir well. Microwave at HIGH 1 minute, stirring after 30 seconds.
3. Place fish on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray; Brush fish with sugar mixture. Broil 8 minutes or until Fish flakes easily when tested with a fork., basting occasionally with remaining mixture.

Yield 4 servings (Serving size one fillet) Nutritional Info. Points – 8 Diabetic Exchanges: 1 starch, 5 L Meat

Per Serving: Cal. 327; Fat 13.1g; Protein 37g; Carb13.6g; Fiber 0.2g; Chol 87mg; Iron 1mg; Sod 549mg; Calc. 30mg
** I have replaced the brown sugar with the Splenda/Brown Sugar mix, and it is just as good.

Signs Of A Kindergartener

I found a great site called family education. They had some terrific advice, and tips. The one I found particularly interesting was one on Kindergartener’s. The very first piece of advice was very befitting to my daughter and where she is right now. She only wants to do what she knows she can do, and when she knows how to do it, I am not to go over it again. As was the example in last week’s Fun Friday. She did not want to work on her memory verse because she could not do it perfect. If you have a Kindergartener you may be interested in these tips. And no matter what age your child is, you can find some interesting facts on familyeducation.com

The average five-year-old is enthusiastic, helpful, and conforming. He:

Attempts only things he knows he can do.

Needs attention, affection, and praise.

Is energetic and fidgety.

Has a short attention span.

May show opposite extremes of behavior.

May become less well-behaved as the school year progresses.

Where They’re Going
At five years old, your child is learning to understand herself. You can help by encouraging her as she:

Develops a positive, realistic self-image.

Learns to respect herself.

Begins to understand her own uniqueness.

Gains awareness of her feelings.

Learns to express feelings.

Learns how to participate in groups.

Begins to learn from her mistakes.

Everlasting Love

Today, I would like to share a song with you. Last week, I heard it and loved it. Listen to the worship of this song. The words say that He will last when all else fades. No matter what I am walking through, at some point it will fade. But God will still remain. His love will still be there. No matter what we are walking through; This to shall pass, but God will remain.

Kids Say The Darndest Things!

Sorry this is late ladies, my husband was supposed to publish yesterday for me since he had my computer, but he forgot.Â I hope it brings a good laugh to your weekend. See you Monday.

Emily has started Kindergarten. She loves her teacher, and loves her school. Last week her assignment was to memorize a verse: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble” (Psalm 46:1)Â At first when we began working with her on it, she would get irritated and say she didn’t want to do it. Then she came home one day from school to inform me that we had to do something. “About what?” I asked. “My memory verse, mama, you are not going to believe this. We had a boys against girls competition today to see who knew their memory verse, and the boys won. We cain’t (southern for can’t 🙂 ) be havin’ that. AND they got the candy, uh- uh” I laughed, but by the end of the night, she knew it.

The next day I asked her if she could tell me what that verse meant, she said “I don’t know, I guess it means when you are in trouble, or sad, God gives you a present.” I rolled laughing for a minute before I went on to tell her what “present” meant in that context.Â Note to self, memorization does not necessarily mean understanding.Â Kid’s say the Darndest things!

Tips on Making Dinner Easy

Yesterday I talked about the importance of gathering around the dinner table. The biggest reason people do not is because of time. They do not feel they have enough time to prepare a meal. There are lots of ways to cut time and effort, remember it is the time spent at the dinner table not the time preparing it. There is an entire industry dedicated to helping you create Meals in a hurry. (Ever heard of Rachel Ray? Her site not only provides you with the recipes but the grocery list itself) Here are some tips to help you save time on cooking so you can spend more time talking.

Make one grocery trip a week. Keep an ongoing list on the fridge. Once a week before going to the store, create your menu for the week, and list the items you need for those recipes. This means you will have the ingredients needed without having to run to the grocery store in the middle of the week. Saving time!

Crock Pot Recipes are great, it is done when you come home. Some great ones are Chili, Soups, I have even put chicken covered in Alfredo sauce in the crock pot. When I come home all I have to do is cook noodles, and voila Chicken Alfredo Pasta. You could even add some broccoli to it at the end, adding an easy vegetable. It is a big hit at my house.

Cook up casserole dishes, make double the recipe, and then freeze one to pull out for another night. When you do have that ballgame or practice you have to go to, you can simply pull it out that morning and pop it in the oven to cook. It is a quick frozen dinner that is homemade, and not full of all the preservatives.

If you are cooking rice, especially brown rice which takes longer to cook, cook twice as much. It will keep in the fridge for at least a week and you can use it again.

When you are slicing and dicing things you might use in other recipes, like onions, then go ahead and slice extra and save it, cutting out prep time later. My husbands grandmother gave us a slicer-dicer last Christmas, it has Glad containers with it, you slice and dice right into the storage container. So I can easily make extra, and it is quick, easy, and clean.

Do a left overs night once a week. (My mother in law taught me this) Come home, pull out all the left overs (maybe the night before you go to the grocery store) Heat them up and put it all on the table. You save money as well as time. Plus you clean out your fridge. The only clean up is the containers that held the food.

Dinner Diva, Leanne Ely, gives you healthy recipes and grocery lists for an entire week. (SavingDinner.com) They are quick and easy and some would be freezable. Any of my recipes I have listed on this site are also simple quick recipes. I do not spend a lot of time on prep. and cook, but I can still provide healthy and delicious.

The Family That Eats Together Stays Together

The school year has begun for us, and most everyone at this point. Back to routine, activities, and so many things that tend to pull us in all different directions. My children are still young, so it is easier to limit their activities. However, making time for the family to be together can sometimes be difficult. One of the things we try to do most nights of the week is sit together at the dinner table, no phone calls allowed. (I am not always batting a thousand, but most nights)

While my mom always cooked dinner for me, we did not always sit at the dinner table and talk. My husband on the other hand did with his family. We have tried to uphold this tradition, but when a pastor friend pointed out a few statistics, it became even more important. Facts like:

“a 2004 study of 4,746 children 11 to 18 years old, published in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, found that frequent family meals were associated with a lower risk of smoking, drinking and using marijuana; with a lower incidence of depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts; and with better grades.” “We also noticed that the more often teens had dinner with their parents, the less likely they were to have sexually active friends, less likely girls were to have boyfriends two years older, and the less time teens spent with boyfriends or girlfriends,” said Joseph A. Califano Jr., the center’s chairman and president. Regular family meals also provide an opportunity to establish a sense of belonging to a family unit. According to one study, family dinners may help improve the vocabulary of younger children.

With the business of life we sometimes cast aside the basic structures of the family tradition, family dinners being one of them. It is hard to believe that such a small thing can have such an impact on a child’s life, but the reason for this is simple. When you eat as a family you are able to ask your child about their day, give them the attention they crave, with no television or phone calls to distract you. You are stopping to remind each other that at the end of the day everything comes back to the family.

While moms may say we do not have enough time to cook, and I especially sympathize with the working mom, there are a lot of ways to make dinner special, and easy. Tomorrow I will share some of these tips.

Everyday is a New Beginning!

God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! (Lamentations 3: 22-23 TM)

Last week I watched an episode of Oprah with Sheryl Crow. They asked several ladies to answer the question “What do you know for sure”. One answer was that she knows that we can always start again. Everyday you have the chance to start over no matter where you are in your life.

Everyday God’s mercies are new. Every morning we awake to a new world. No matter where your world was yesterday, your circumstances can change today. God can strengthen you today, God can bring the breakthrough in your life today. Today you can have the patience with your child you lost yesterday, and you can have the right attitude toward your spouse. Today is a new day and the mistakes we made yesterday are gone.

The weariness from yesterday does not have to follow into today, but you can find mercy and rest for today.

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

Happy Birthday to 1Smartmom!

Yesterday, August 19th, was one year of 1smartmom! I have enjoyed writing it so much, and I hope you have enjoyed reading it. It is as much a blessing to me as it is to you, an outlet to share my heart, and feel that others are being blessed. It has definitely taken on a different life than what I thought it would be in the beginning, yet I love what it is.

Today I would like to list some of my favorite posts from this blog. You can read them simply by clicking the title!

Is Mcdonald’s Brainwashing Our Children?

There was a recent article in the Chicago Sun Times telling of the effect the “Golden Arches” has on our kids.

“Even carrots, milk and apple juice tasted better to the kids when they were wrapped in the familiar packaging of the Golden Arches.

The study had youngsters sample identical McDonald’s foods in name-brand and unmarked wrappers. The unmarked foods always lost the taste test.”

Of course this article leads to blame Mcdonald’s for advertising to kids. Sure, I will go along with that…a little. The spokesman for Mcdonald’s said “The fact is, parents make the decisions for their children and our research confirms that we’ve earned their trust as a responsible marketer based on decades of delivering the safest food,” (Walt Riker) HA HA HA!

I agree with one point Mr. Riker made, The parents make the decisions for their children. Now, I take my kids to Mcdonald’s occasionally. But I would like to point out that children watch you more than they do Mcdonald’s commercials. In the last 5 years, my daughter Emily (who is five) has counted points (“Mommy I can’t eat that, I don’t have enough points”) she has cut out sugar, (“I am on a no-sugar diet” she says. I respond with “Yeah, cause that cookie from the mall you had today had no sugar in it.”) she has tried slim-fast, “fasted”, and commented many times about needing to work out. (I must point out, for those who are growing concerned, she has never actually fasted, drank slim-fast, cut out sugar, or counted points.) Mcdonald’s had nothing to do with that influence, I did.

Because I personally struggle with my weight I am very conscious of what my kids eat. I have realized that I have to be equally conscious of what I eat around them, and how much. I want to teach them healthy, balanced eating. Yes, it is o.k. to have some fries sometimes, but you also want the fruit which is healthy for you.

While Mcdonald’s and other companies that market to children do have to be held somewhat accountable to their audience, I think that is equally important to note that we teach them to recognize the “Golden Arches”, as well. I think it will be a sad day when I blame a company for my child’s unhealthy eating habits, or any behavior caused by any product, that I bought for them.

Picante Chicken

Ingredients:

4 chicken breast (browned off with salt and pepper)
1- 24oz. jar of Picante sauce (I like to use Pace mild)
1 bag of shredded cheddar cheese (use about half)
Rice (cook enough to serve 4 people)

Directions:

Spray a baking dish with lid with cooking spray, then pour a thin layer of picante sauce on the bottom. Place the browned off chicken on top of the picante sauce. Pour the rest of the picante sauce over the top of the chicken. Put the lid on and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Add cheese at the last 5 minutes, uncover, and allow cheese to melt. Cook the rice. Serve chicken breast with rice on the side and the sauce over both.

(From the Kitchen of the Krause House via Kelly’s sister-in-law, Sherry)