the whole family wants to eat healthy?...that's an adventure!!

Many times over the past seven years many have asked me if my whole family eats like me and sadly many times I have said..."No, not regularly." Over the years we have modified a lot...we have no cookies, chips, ice-cream, juice boxes, pudding cups, snacky-type things in the house for regular consumption. However, the guys still have lots of opportunities to eat stuff that I don't eat.

I eat a diet based primarily on fruits, veggies, beans and nuts with a few whole grains thrown in for good measure. Low sodium and no added oils too! I learned about this way of eating from Dr. Joel Fuhrman in his book Eat to Live. His most recent book Eat for Health is also very good and provides a more gradual approach to eating this way....more on that another day.

I have tried to share my knowledge with them over the years in a non-threatening way but I don't want to sugar-coat the facts. Well on Saturday night I told my son (mr. picky) that many kids his age (12) have the start of heart disease and he quickly exclaimed "I don't!" and when I said that chances are he does he was shocked.

When I advised the boys that daddy was considering eating better and that they would all have to no one seemed too bothered by the news. Folks...I'm trying not to get too excited...this has happened before.

So I quickly tried to figure out what to make on Sunday so that they'd start off the week enjoying the predominantly plant-based diet I had planned for them. What did I make? Here's what I made and what I had planned for it.

Ful Mesdames is a lovely fava bean dip/spread that goes well with pitas, served with veggie sticks or even in a tortilla wrap. I made a batch of this for lunches.

I made a carrot/chickpea salad for me - 4 big carrots grated or in thin match sticks, 1 can of chick peas (drained and rinsed) 1 tsp cumin, a few shakes of freshly ground pepper and juice of 1 1/2 lemons. I'll probably eat this with some of the fava beans on the side. I had some today with some left over coleslow too.

I threw together a soup with crushed tomatoes, kidney beans, mixed beans, celery, carrots, mushrooms, a pkg of frozen spinach....kind of like an ad hoc minestrone soup. This will be dinner on Wednesday and maybe Thursday along with a huge salad.

Black bean, corn and sweet potato burritos - Stir two cans of black beans, a can of corn and your favourite jar of salsa along with 1 to 2 tsp of chili powder. Set this aside. Steam and mash 3 large sweet pototoes. When they're done spread onto a whole wheat tortilla along with the bean mix. Roll it...Enclose it...or fold in half and put it under the broiler like a quessadila...everyone loved this for dinner after our 32 oz romaine lettuce salad.

Dinner for today and tomorrow for the guys was a Vegan Lasagne...it was shaped like one so I'm calling it that.

Isa's Vegan Lasagne

Saute - 1 onion, 1 stalk of celery, 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, 3 cloves of garlic chopped. When it's getting soft....

Add - 1 big zucchini chopped, 1 big carrot chopped, 4 or 5 mushrooms chopped (I love my Pampered Chef Chopper). Stir it around a bit then...

Add - 1 cup dried red lentils and 2 cups water.
Cook until the lentils are soft and mushy. The key here was to give the filling a kind of creamy texture that would give it some body rather than being just veggies.

When that's ready add a large can of your favourite spaghetti sauce or add a large can of crushed tomatoes along with one pkg of defrosted frozen, chopped spinach....or add it frozen...it's up to you.

Simmer this and add basil, oregano, rosemary, chili sauce or pepper depending on your preference. I added more garlic and some onion powder to make it tasty without added salt.

Cook a box of whole wheat lasagne noodles. I used 16 in total.

Then assemble like you would a regular lasagne with 3 layers of filling.

I baked it in the oven covered for about 20 mins then let it cool because we were planning on baking it a bit more today.

This was served with another huge salad and everyone was satisfied with one or two pieces...hence the leftovers will be for dinner tomorrow.

My dinner was just salad. I don't eat processed grains very often but I'm trying to make it as enjoyable as possible while increasing their veggie intake and decreasing their animal product intake.

If you're still with me...let me know what Eat to Live or Eat for Health type foods your family enjoys.

Today I had a COOL Exercise Buddy

C. comes to visit me every once in a while and each time she asks me if I'm going to do "that exercise". I love doing T-Tapp and she loves to do it too! I taught her the basic workout and we have fun doing it together.

Sometimes A. joins us as well. He is her brother. I have a great time watching them do the moves and we sneak in a few giggles each time I say "bend it, tuck it, lift it". T-Tapp is a great bonus for our muscles and it makes us all feel good too. Everyone is really mellow after our workout.

Today we did something a little different. C and I did "Hit the Floor" and as I write this I think our legs and tummies are still feeling like jello. C's favourite part was organs in place and the tucks. She is a pro and it was her first time doing it. I'm glad we had enough space so we could follow along on the DVD and not kick each other in the head.

My favourite part is that C is 6 years old and she's learning all about exercise and how good it is for your body and muscles. I think she needs her own T-Tapp DVD and Tapp Core should be just right.

Tapp Core is a series of moves that can be done individually or you can pick and choose a few to do here and there when you have time.

Exercising is fun with a six year old buddy and I hope she comes to visit again soon so that we can do more T-Tapp together.