datadoll's Journal, 03 August 2010

It doesn't need a makeover - it needs a restoration. When I was a kid, they did have good school lunches. They always had each of the 4 food groups, including some fruit and vegetable portions. The meals were made from scratch by school cooks from a menu established by the State Board of Education school dietitian. My favorite was chili day. They would serve a big bowl of homemade chili, some fruit (usually peaches), and a warm homemade cinnamon roll - moderate size - not cinnabon huge. The teachers were in the cafeteria and would scold you if you didn't eat your vegetables. 

Totally agree! Start the good habits and good nutrition when they're young and what a difference in long term health care costs, etc. But when the FDA is involved, and when it always comes down to the almighty buck...that's where the problems lie. Did you happen to catch those few episodes of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? Amazing the bureaucracy involved involved in something as relatively "simple" as school lunches. The things that qualify for a vegetable - french fries! Really?? Anyway, I agree with you on this one and I think it's really a shame our schools and our government don't support health and nutrition. We are raising the fattest children ever and we'll all pay the price - especially them. I heard we are raising the first generation of children that will die before us! That's completely unacceptable! My rant. For the moment, anyway :) 

redwinelover - I just read your bio. Holy cow I could have written it except that you are smaller than me. But the eating goals are right there.  

:) Now...if I could only learn to cook... :) That's pretty cool, though. I'm going to send a buddy request to you. 

Cooking is not rocket science. If you know basic techniques and have the right recipe it is a cinch! Just one dish at a time. Tell me what to cook, I will have the right recipe for you. ; ) 

I love chicken but can't make it to save my life. Usually over-cooked and dry, or occasionally undercooked and I've tossed it out. I don't know what the secret is, but I think if I could just cook (bake, roast, whatever!) chicken, I'd be off to a good start! 

Cool. I have a couple ideas. I love to roast chicken or stew it for soups and pasta. I have a new fav way to cook chicken breast, too. How many people do you cook for? 

Four of us, but I'm not adverse to leftovers, either! Thanks, this is really cool of you. I hope you make them "instructions for dummies"! :) 

Ok, you got it. The first one I want to give you to try is Chicken Breasts with Raspberry Sauce. I serve it with baked potato and a couple vegies. It is so easy and to die for! I use greek yogurt on my baked potato instead of sour cream. I have never put a recipe on this site but I will give it a try, if that doesn't work, I will just message it to you. 

That sounds wonderful! And I don't know if you've seen my diet calendar, but I LIVE for Greek yogurt! I use it for sour cream, too, and I've read (but haven't tried yet) that it's a great veggie dip. I'm looking forward to seeing this and giving it a go! It'll be interesting to see what someone else considers easy :) Thanks again! 

I tried to add the recipe but it is a real pain. Instead I put it on the web. Here is the address. Just copy and paste into your browser. This doesn't sound like it is so diet friendly because it is fried and has a sauce. I have redone the original recipe to be healthier. By using the smallest amount of flour that you can and shaking off the excess, there won't be a lot of oil soaked up into the flour and still will be a beautiful light golden brown color. By using the Simply Fruit in place of jam or preserves you avoid a lot of sugar but it is sweet enough to be quite pleasing to taste. The recipe calls for half and half in the sauce. It curdles the sauce and can be left out if you don't like that. I have done it both ways. It also calls for fresh raspberries for garnish, they really didn't add much to the dish and could also be left out. I would double the amount of onion because they are fabulous in the sauce. The chicken cooks so quickly, you will want the rest of your meal prepared. The secret to the chicken is flattening the chicken breast. I have heavy, flat bottomed pots and pans and I use one of those to pound the chicken flat. I pound the breasts to about 1/2 inch thickness (more or less it doesn't have to be perfect) This dish is very quick to fix! Only a few minutes to prep the breasts and total cooking time is 15 or so minutes! If you have questions, let me know. I have shared this recipe with friends that have given it thumbs up also. No more plain chicken breasts! Enjoy! http://www.themcbrides.org/datadoll/chickenraspsauce.html 

I don't know if your link got cut off but I get a "this link appears to be broken" when I tried to find it. All that shows above is http://www.themcbrides.org/dat -------- Sorry to be a pain in the butt, but can you either copy it and send it in a pm or here? It sounds like it'd be good. I have some organic strawberry spread - would that taste okay, too?  

Thanks for the recipe and the link!