Mom confession seven

When I became a stay at home mom, I decided I was going to really 'cook' meals. When I was working, it was really a drag to decide what to eat and what could be prepared quickly. Now that I was home, I decided to experiment in the kitchen a little more. When I got married, I received a meat loaf pan from a woman as well as a meat loaf recipe. I never made it but when I started the 'cooking kick' I did and it is wonderful! We eat it all the time now.

I am not sure if it is because I have kids now and I am really starting to look at the ingredients of things but I am amazed at how much salt is in things!! For the past two weeks my husband was working 2-10 so I was making our main meal at noon time and then just having a light lunch at dinner time. I opened a can of soup one night and I was like, holy moley! I had no idea the amount of salt! And of course all of the processed foods are high in salt like Rice a Roni or mac and cheese, etc. And in this month's Parents magazine, there was this whole article addressing the issue of salt and it gave a bunch of alternative suggestions. I wrote a bunch down and I can tell you about them if you want some day.

So a few nights ago I sat down with my trusty cook book and wrote down a bunch of things to eat. For me it's the side dishes that are difficult. We don't use canned vegetables, don't eat too many frozen dinners, and don't use the salt shaker really. I wanted lower sodium soups and side dishes though. Today at the grocery store I bought a bunch of different things- egg noddles, pearl barley, orzo, risotto and brown rice. I also brought along that little list of suggestions like Chicken of the Sea reduced sodium tuna, and Clasicco no sugar added pasta sauce. I will let you know how it goes over. But last night we had a reduced sodium soup and it wasn't bad. Tonight that plan is broccoli and brown rice. My husband is going to be like, what is going on? But I have the time to do it. The other thing is my aunt and sister in law both eat really healthy meals. We go to my aunts every Monday after Little Gym and she has delicious meals, and they are healthy. Like one dish she made was a shallot, an apple, rasins and steamed spinach. It was sooo good and I have made it a few times. I bought a bag of spinach today.

Don't get me wrong, I am not like heath nut. I had cheese doodles last night and ice cream cake. But I just sort of feel like I shouldn't give my kids mac and cheese packets as often as I do.

I have the cutest picture of a salt shaker but I can't figure out how to get pictures on here unless they are actually ones I have taken. I am going to have to get some assistance.