Sharing Menus
Mitt Romney meets Mike Pollan
The first goal of this blog was to share insights on healthy living, chiefly diet. We distilled these insights from the oracles at hand: science, tradition, and scripture. Our title is taken from the Word of Wisdom, a canonized scripture that Mormons are still learning to live.
Though scripture serves as our north star, our blog seeks a conversational tone that invites cooks of every persuasion. Diversity is strength. Which brings us to a current food article in the N. Y. Times, “Not Just for Sundays After Church”. The article is about the evolving Mormon cuisine: “With Mitt Romney’s candidacy for the White House, Americans are newly curious about all the traditions of the [Mormon] church he has done so much to support.”
The article notes, “Healthy living was of great interest to the religion’s founders, and their dietary prescriptions of little meat, much produce and plenty of whole grains make them sound like proto-Pollans.” And it’s true; Pollan’s excellent book, In Defense of Food, heavily influenced by science, also resonates with our understanding of a scripture-guided diet, in contrast to that crazy modern (MAD) diet the world has stumbled into.
The Last Word on Menus
The last three posts have invoked excellent comments on writing weekly menus. You, who comment, besides sharing your ideas, also shape this blog. I’ve gone back and analyzed the first 2000 comments on this blog. It took me two days; two themes resonated:
- Readers want practical recipes that follow our healthy-eating precepts.
- Readers want wholesome, affordable menus based on these recipes.
There’s a repeating theme in the comments. Homemakers are concerned about the health of their family and they are tired of the pressure and poor outcome of “wingin’ it” at dinnertime. There is a growing interest in menu writing but we need a better way to share ideas.
Please Comment
After some pondering, it seems we might move to a new format of three posts a week:
- One post would feature the Healthy Change of the week, with supporting information.
- The second post would offer a suggested menu of three or four dinner meals, with recipe references.
- The third post (most weeks), would provide a recipe congruent with the Healthy Changes(s). To reflect a broad spectrum of ideas, we would need readers to share menu ideas. This could be done through our email address.
Please comment: Is this a good way to go? Is there a better way? And please excuse that we haven't posted this week's Healthy Change on better breakfasts. It will follow in a day.
Photo from the N.Y Times
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 12:00PM | by Skip Hellewell | 20 Comments | 26 References | Share Article | in menus, news articles | Email Article
Reader Comments (20)
I love this plan for sharing menus.
Here is one of our new favorites and I think it fits the healthy guidelines. I love all the vegetables and my kids don't seem to mind at all. It is called Stacked Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas. I found it on a blog called Eat, Live, Run.
http://www.eatliverun.com/stacked-roasted-vegetable-enchiladas/
Thank you for all your hard work. I think more recipes would be a wonderful addition to your blog!
I think this is a great way to go - and I am looking forward to it!
Your blog is inspiring! I love your proposed plan. Also, FYI, I have started a Word of Wisdom Whole Foods discussion group in Mesa, AZ, and we are using your blog as one of our main resources, so thank you for all of your hard work!
I like the idea of the 3 posts. Having a weekly menu to use as a starting point would be fantastic!
Yes! I love the format proposal. I too fall into the rut and would love recipes and dinner ideas. I'd love to share our favorite healthy recipes too!
I am also excited about the suggested format. Skip, we appreciate your efforts on this blog. It helps all of us be more healthy when we are motivated with good information and ideas. Thanks!
I have been working on replacing white flour in our diet with whole grains. I have used soft white wheat sifted mixed with a little cornstarch to bind. Idea from www.foodwisestore.com. I have also used Chef Brad's "wonder flour" in recipes. It is fun to continue to learn and try new things.
Skip,
I think adding more recipes and menu ideas to your blog is a fabulous idea! Your "Beth's Enchiladas" recipe has become a total favorite in our home--and I've even shared the recipe with friends. I know my weekly menu could benefit from other such gems! ;-)
I may be somewhat old-fashioned, but I think having readers email you their favorite recipes and then letting you share them on your website would work really well. I personally don't take the time to follow various links to look at recipes on different web-sites. I usually just get side-tracked and distracted and it becomes less-effective. Having a fun, new recipe on your blog once in a while--or even weekly--would be so, so helpful! (Although it would be a lot of work for you!)
I'm really impressed with your genuine desire to help so many people. Thank you so much for the time you put into your blog! You are a blessing to all of your readers--but especially to us homemakers who are so diligently trying to take good care of our families. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I think that sounds like a great idea - I would love some new recipe ideas and I really respect your ideas about food, cooking, and diet.
I think that's a good direction. I'm sure learning to manage our menu will help us learn to manage our money and our space.
I've enjoyed learning from your blog for the past year. I especially appreciate the way you take all the studies and boil them down to every day living. I'm trying to get my PhD chemical engineer husband to take the time to read the "whys" behind the way I keep taking us further away from what has been normal eating and into the land of more good health. This year we celebrate 30 years of marriage and have gone from the 'starving student' diet (what can we survive on for $5?) to trying more fully to live in the land of whole foods. We've cooked more quantity as the family grew, and now are trying for more quality as kids have moved away from home. I'd say we are above average, but not perfect. With that, I've been an avid menu builder and have three decades plus of cookbooks and recipes, while getting more whole foods, vegan, vegetarian, heathy recipes frequently. I've tried to go back and purge (I need to do more), and lately just 'print to pdf' recipes I see that fit the new standards. Still when I read more menus and recipes coming, I need to spend less time on the computer organizing and more time at the market and home chopping...along with what we all do: balance family/home/work/church/fitness and occasional relaxation/hobbies! Thank you for being such an informational and approachable resource. I'll be unsubscribing from some other health recipe rss feeds and following along for another year. Thank you for the help in health!
This is my first comment and I just wanted to say that I LOVE this blog and I love the idea of having three posts a week. Your blog has helped our family tremendously this last month as we have gone back to basics - to real food, dramatically increasing our vegetables and fruit and just plain giving-up-the-bad-stuff. It's been fantastic! Thank you for ALL that you are doing through this blog.
Menus are critical to getting healthier. Coming up with new ideas for healthy meals is always a challenge. I think doing a weekly menu post is a great idea and I look forward to being able to contribute to the community here.
Also, I've been reading since you started but I have never commented. Your blog is one of my main sources of motivation to stay on the healthy path. I am continually amazed at how you are able to present research in such a clear and concise way. Thank you for your contribution.
I too have learned much from your blog in the last year and I welcome the new format change. I often summerize your blog posts for my husband over dinner and your science based weekly healthy changes has helped me to convince my husband to go from a convenience based diet to a real food, mostly plants diet.
I agree with the previous commenter who said meal planning keeps you on track to eat healthier meals. Without a plan and a hungry family it is so easy to pick up something quick and processed to feed a hungry family quickly.
Great post. Definitely complemented by that really great NY Times article. I definitely want to recipe share! I think that is a brililant idea.
I like this idea for a new direction. Although I most appreciate and value the posts where you help me to better understand the "why" behind things, I think there is a larger majority out there who most need to hear the "how".
Jenna, thank you. We'll still address the "why," as this is key to lasting motivation. Maybe we're signing up for a lot, but we'll now give more help with the "how." We're dreaming big, but we believe that if our readers continue to grow in number and commitment, we'll change our corner of the world. Best to you.
This format is a great idea. I love reading your blog, and including more shopping lists and hints will help me to practically apply what I learn here. I am a mom, and I am worried about the diet I was taught by my parents, and what I may be teaching my children.
I have also been doing a study of the word of wisdom - spiritually. (and posting on my blog), it has been good to learn a lot from your blog and other sources along with the scriptures.
Thanks for the hard work you do on this blog.
Excellent idea! I'm excited for tips on creating weekly menus and especially for more delicious and healthy recipes!
Speaking of which, here's one I thought that you (and your readers) would enjoy. I made it tonight, and it was a hit. So simple, but loaded with so much flavor and lots of veggies. (I used sweet Italian chicken sausage instead of pork sausage in the meatballs). I can already tell this is going to become a "staple" in our house.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/hearty-meatball-stew-recipe/index.html
Sounds like a great format. When all my kids were young and I was new at everything, it took me 14 years to come up with a menu planning strategy that worked for us. It's not an easy thing to do.