The Art of Grocery Shopping with Kids
Cooking Up Paleo at Little Green Pouch
At Little Green Pouch, we’re big fans of Real Food, and we’ve made it our mission to keep bringing you the best Real Food Pouch Recipes we can find, so you can fill your reusable food pouches with a delicious, fun variety of healthy foods.
During our 100 Days of Real Food challenge we featured Real Foodies, health benefits, recipes, and some great Facebook giveaways (we love to share the Little Green love!). As we head into Spring, we’re excited to keep our Real Food theme rolling, but with a Paleo twist.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be featuring tasty Paleo Pouch Recipes from special guests, plus great info and resources from Paleo parents, nutritionists, health coaches and others in the Paleo Know.
New to Paleo? Here are the basics...
A Paleo diet is a Real Food diet that’s free of grains, refined sugars, legumes, dairy, potatoes, added salt, and refined oils--otherwise known as staples of the Standard American Diet. Here are a couple of handy Paleo-friendly food lists:
Aglaée the Paleo Dietician’s printable 1-page Paleo food list
A no-frills in-depth Paleo Food list from Desert Crossfit
And if you’re looking for incredibly well-researched info on the why’s and how’s of Paleo, The Paleo Mom’s blog is the place to go.
Now, you’re probably already onboard with Real Food. After all, you’re already whipping up your own healthy foods to put in your Little Green Pouches. But let’s say you have this friend, who starts the day Fruity Loopy and ends the day Pastry Puffed; for them, starting a Real Food or Paleo diet can be a big change. And they might ask, “What’s left to eat?”
We have good news for you. 1 Million Delicious Things.
To borrow a few from The Pouch, Spiced Up Yams & Broccoli, Avocado Smoothie, Sweet Peppers, Chicken & Basil, and Apple Parsnip Puree. (Have we confessed to you our love of parsnips?)
So if you’ve been wondering about Paleo but haven’t yet take in the plunge, now’s your chance to try it out. And if you’re already Paleo, stay tuned for a bunch of great new Paleo Pouch Recipes, give-aways, guest blog posts, and resources.
You’re going to love this food!
Maggie & Melissa
Real Foodie Lauren Kelly
Today’s Real Foodie is nutritionist, recipe developer and food blogger Lauren Kelly. As a mom of three busy and always hungry little boys, Lauren believes it is important to feed them quality, real food. For her, granola is a great example:
“Granola is one of those products that is incredibly healthy and so easy to make at home. Many of the store bought granolas are filled with extra processed sugars, high fructose corn syrup, additives and preservatives. Making your own granola at home takes the guess work out of figuring out what's in the store-bought ones. You control the ingredients. And with your granola containing quinoa (high in protein), 100% maple syrup (least refined sugar), coconut oil (filled with good for you, heart-healthy fats) and raw nuts (also filled with heart healthy fats , protein and fiber) you can enjoy this guilt-free. Make sure you use unsweetened dried fruits. Many of the ones in grocery stores contain unnecessary, added sugars. They are naturally sweet already! Many people focus of calories, fat and protein, but people also need to be aware of the quality of their ingredients. I try to eat as many whole, unprocessed foods as I can and that is why I like to make many of my meals from scratch. This granola is a perfect healthy breakfast or snack and no one could ever tell just how healthy it is!”
Here’s Lauren’s recipe for Gluten Free Quinoa Granola. Watch out, it is SUPER addicting!
Guest Post & Homemade Energy Fuel Recipe From Kristen Chang
Today's Real Foodie inspiration comes from runner and triathlete, Kristen Chang, of Real Food For Fuel.
As a runner and triathlete, fueling properly throughout the day and during workouts is an essential aspect of my training regime. While studying nutrition throughout college, I slowly began to connect the dots in terms of how great of an effect my daily food choices made on my ability to complete workouts optimally, recover quickly, and just sustain the energy levels I needed to achieve my goals.
This connection between food and athletic performance became even more real for me when I decided to adapt a plant-based (mostly vegan) lifestyle in March 2013. I began to cut out many processed foods from my diet and emphasize fruits, vegetables, plant-based proteins and unrefined grains. My energy levels simply soared and I became leaner, fitter and stronger overall. I've never looked back!
A real foods diet is important for athletes not only to ensure they're getting the correct balance of macro-nutrients to support their training, but to optimize vitamin, minerals and antioxidants within those calories. By focusing on the quality of food, rather than overall quantity, improvements in energy, recovery, stamina and performance will be found. After all the hard work that is put into workouts, why compromise your efforts by eating junk?
My general diet philosophy these days is "every food has a purpose," and I try to remember this when I choose what to eat each day. Eating with a purpose, real food for fuel, everything in moderation: three general guidelines that I abide by to make eating simpler yet healthier. These apply to athletes, adults, teenagers and babies alike!
Fuel up!
And check out Kristen’s Homemade Energy Fuel: Sweet Potato & PB Banana Mash-Up. Kristen said she was enjoying one from her Little Green Pouch as she sent it to us! She says it is “Kid friendly, but delicious for adults on the go too,” and that she is “totally looking forward to using these pouches to pack real-food fuel for my longer bike rides this spring and summer. The pouch should fit well into the back of my cycling jersey. It's like a portable picnic lunch!”
Real Foodie Maria Speck
Today’s Real Foodie is Maria Speck, author of the cookbook Ancient Grains for Modern Meals, which won the Julia Child Award and was named a New York Times notable cookbook, a Washington Post top 10 cookbook and one of Cooking Light’s Top 100 Cookbooks of the Last 25 Years. Maria has a passion for propelling Old World staples such as faro (our favorite!), barley, polenta, and wheat berries to the forefront of new American cooking. She draws on food traditions from across the Mediterranean and northern Europe to reveal how versatile, satisfying, flavorful, and sophisticated whole grains can be. Maria has been kind enough to share her recipes for Fig Muffins with Creamy Goat Cheese Filling and Kamut Salad with Carrots and Pomegranate with us, which are fantastic Real Food Recipes for the family to enjoy.
When we asked this critically acclaimed cookbook author why she chooses Real Food, she had this to say:
"For me, one of the big pleasures of cooking and eating real food has to do with flavor. You might find yourself amazed at the clean taste of a garden-fresh tomato or a cucumber in summer, or you might discover layers of flavor in good-quality chocolate or a local cheese. Personally, I have been smitten by the nuances of flavors in ancient grains, which so many still just regard as a blank and bland canvas. Grains to me not only have many fascinating textures, from comforting (think polenta or millet), to softly crunchy (as in amaranth and quinoa) to supremely chewy (as in wheat, spelt, or rye berries). They also have subtle flavors I learned to cherish and use in my everyday cooking: rye, for example, brings enticing tang, Kamut buttery richness, and oats a pleasing natural sweetness. Discovering these aromas can be a revelation."
Let us know what you think of the amazing flavors of Maria’s Real Food Recipes!
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