My Own Food Revolution

Jamie Oliver has inspired me. His "Food Revolution" show, website and petition have all encouraged me to rethink the food I serve my family, and the food and drink I put into my own body. Over the past few weeks, I've started making changes to our diet. I've started making chicken nuggets from scratch for the boys - being 3 and almost 5, it's one thing I know they'll eat regardless. I've cut soda from my diet almost completely - this is a big deal, since I had been averaging 32 oz PER DAY prior. Each meal I serve to my kids has one serving of protein, two servings' worth of veg, one serving of fruit, and a dairy. We've cut fast food out almost entirely, the exception being the occasional Chick-Fil-A lunch, Qdoba dinner or Dominio's Pizza.

I've discovered that cooking is rewarding and actually pretty easy. I've even started experimenting - this is the dinner I made tonight:

I had a bunch of mixed veggies, frozen and fresh, left over from previous meals this week. I also had an extra block of tofu - Sprouts had them on sale for 99 cents. So, I threw it all into the wok, and created a stir fry.

Then, I added a Japanese-style sauce I had in the fridge from a previous meal. The recipe is from the Wagamama cookbook Seth brought home from his last business trip to London. I also added a little toasted sesame seed oil, because the soy sauce in the sauce mixture smelled a little overpowering, and I thought the sesame oil would balance it out. I cooked up some buckwheat soba noodles to add to the stir fry. The kids will always eat noodles.

Table is set! I just bought some gorgeous strawberries and blackberries at the store - both on sale, and both perfectly sweet. The boys have been drinking lots of water since we bought them these cool Camelback water bottles.

After tasting mine, I randomly decided to add feta cheese. I know; Japanese-inspired stir fry with tofu...and feta. ??? It was really tasty, though.

Happy boys filled their tummies with this dinner. They ate every bite!

Having watched "Food Revolution" since the first episode, I've learned that food does matter. Even making these small changes has, I feel, made a difference in my family's health and well-being. The boys, thankfully, have always loved veggies, and I want to make sure that continues for the rest of their lives. They're both getting close to being in school; I'll probably send lunch with them when the time comes, so I know what they're eating. My next adventure: growing some of our own veggies in our backyard. We'll see how that goes - gardens are definitely outside my comfort zone!

If you haven't yet, please sign Jamie's petition to change the food served in American schools. It takes 30 seconds, but makes a huge difference. http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution The website has tons of great, easy, TASTY recipes for free, and you can even catch up on the episodes of the show. Thanks, Jamie, for making a difference!! xo