70-75% Do Not Qualify For Our Military

General Collin Powell gave this statistic in his talk at St. Christopher's Leadership Symposium. Here are the reasons he gave: 1) Obesity 2) Criminal records 3) Not fit. Let that sink in - 70-75% of military applicants can not even qualify. Another speaker, Wes Moore quoted the same stat- only 30% qualify for military service. Wes More in his book "The Other Wes Moore" describes 2 lives- he came from inner city Baltimore and went on to be a Rhodes Scholar, paratrooper in Afghanistan and a White House Fellow- now youth advocate. The other Wes Moore, grew up several blocks away, also from inner city Baltimore, is now serving a life sentence for murder. In his talk, Wes Moore emphasized how much education matters. He believes we have had a holistic break down to create these problems with our youth, and we need a holistic build up to get back on track. One small step for mankind would be to get back to having a dinner hour- I would even settle for a dinner 1/2 hour. We have just celebrated Thanksgiving and what a great time of enjoying good food and family. The other stats are- kids who eat 4 or more meals with their family per week are less overweight, better students and less involved in risky behavior. What if here in Virginia we could change the above statistic to 1 in 2 (50%) of youth applying for military service DO qualify for the military? Is there a better place to start a holistic rebuild of our society that a simple dinner table?

O Taste And See...

That The Lord is Good. Friday morning, as I was eating my breakfast, I read, "...who have tasted the goodness of the word of God..." Humm. Why not use "...who have felt the goodness?" So what's the difference between feel, felt and taste, tasted? So maybe taste is sharper and more true- hard to mask- than feelings. I looked up in the concordance and found a number of passages using taste , tasted but found 0 passages using feel, felt. And as I pondered this in church yesterday, the words in our last hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, listen to this:"...Prone to wander- Lord, I feel it- prone to leave the God I love. And so the point is TASTE is a very important sense and FEELINGS can cause us to wonder. You might not FEEL like cooking, but let's cook and excite those taste buds while you have them. A very dear lady and great cook in our church made me realize how I take my taste buds for granted as she described how her food tasted like metal due to the radiation treatments. O taste how see how wonderful your family and friends are as you cook and share dinner with others!

7 Billion and Counting...

Today the world's population surpassed 7 billion. And this month of October saw crude oil increase 17% this month alone and prices of corn and orange juice futures increased 9 and 13%. Experts believe rising food prices are due to people in the emerging economies getting used to having more than one meal a day or having protein on a more regular basis. Rising food prices could be something we all need to factor in our spending. Eating at home is one way to lower our food and energy costs. Instead of driving someplace to eat, then go home- cut the mileage and just drive home and cook. In addition to saving food, energy and calorie costs- food at restaurants very often have high level of sodium in order to make your food taste especially good.

Many believe we should limit our sodium intake to 1500mg/day. Start looking at the labels for the sodium content. Your health is worth it!

Maybe Orange Could Become the New Pink

The inroads made in breast cancer awareness is amazing. My mother approached heads of companies in North Carolina to have mamograms covered by medical insurance. And Nancy Brinker has made all of us wake up to fight this killer! High school boys at football games wear pink shirts and then this week-end at the UVA game, the cheerleaders had pink pom poms and the players had pink strechy hats on under their helmuts. So maybe orange- representing healthy foods like oranges, carrots, mangos etc. could be the rallying color for waging a war against obesity. We need to wake up and realize what a killer bad eating habits have become. Obesity saps energy and productivity. Band together, even if it is just with one other person, to cook a meal for each other and try healthier cooking in your own home. And with the time savings on the day you receive your meal- try a 30 minute brisk walk and enjoy the changing color in the leaves.

We Need A Food Announcer

I was listening this morning to a sports announcer analyzing the Washington Redskins game with the Philadelphia Eagles and the UVA upset over #12 Georgia Tech. Football is fun to watch and we all have our teams that we care about. We also have family and friends that we care about and food tastes better when you are breaking bread with others. Why not have a food announcer talking about fabulous meals with new twists, easy to make, and budget friendly? What about those victories? Why not interview everyday cooks that close their ears and eyes to all the marketing ploys to eat out and spend more money and calories on less substantial food? Why not set up teams for cook-offs? Why not give prizes to best recipes? We cooks can be just as creative in finding new recipes and meals as coaches that draw offensive and defensive plays. Cooking families can help the athletes in the family have better nutrition for better performance. I would love to be the food announcer who gets to go observe and report on VCU and University of Richmond's basketball training meals. We need a food announcer to report on the victories and defeats that take place everyday around our dinner tables right here in Richmond.

Steve Jobs

I was at my Apple computer reading the news of Steve Jobs death. I had such a heavy heart that a man with such God-given talents had died so young. I too am 56 years old and for the past 25 years, I have clipped articles wherever I read of the importance of the family dinner hour. Charles Duhigg of the NY Times wrote one such article in "With Time Running Short, Jobs Managed His Farewells." "As news of the seriousness of his illness became more widely known, Mr. Jobs was asked to attend farewell dinners and to accept various awards. He turned down the offers. On the days that he was well enough to go to Apple's offices, all he wanted afterwards was to return home and have dinner with his family." Let that sink in. Knowing his time on earth was short, he choose dinner at home- not the glitsy dinners or awards. In honor of Steve Jobs, choose this week to spend more time with family and friends around your own dinner table- thankful for your family, friends, food before you and your health. Make better choices in what you eat and where you eat!

Sharing Meals Was Important To The Supreme Court

The Supreme court starts a new term today. In "John Marshall: Definer of a Nation"(1996) Jean Edward Smith discusses the remarkable years when Marshall served as Chief Justice 1801-1835. For the first 29 years, the justices were housed under one roof and ate their meals together for the 2 months which they assembled every year. And somehow these justices were able to come to consensus in ruling on some of the most important decisions that even today shape our laws. "That remarkable consensus established the reputation of the Supreme Court not only as the ultimate legal authority in the nation but as a body that was reliable, predictable, and definitive when it spoke." Then in 1830,for the first time, the justices were not housed together and did not eat their meals together. Marshall wrote his wife, "...we cannot carry on business as fast as usual." And for some reason "...the remarkable unity of the Marshall Court would soon splinter." Families can start right now reclaiming a regular dinner hour to celebrate the day talking together about the trials and the joys. Now that it's getting cool, try my easy Brunswick Stew in the slow cooker. Add some rolls and orange slices. Make your own important decisions and share home-cooked meals with family and friends!

Family Dinners= Less Risky Behavior in Teens

Just google these words and see how many have picked up on this. ABC News quoted William Doherty, a professor of family social science at the University of Minnesota, "Family meals are the strongest factor that we've come across in any activity that families do...It really tops them all as a predictor and contibutor of a wide range of positive behavior." As a devotee of team cooking through a cooking co-op for 25 years for my husband and 3 children, now 26, 22, and 16- I have the experiences and track record to say this is so true. Plus, for 25 years, I have clipped articles on the importance on dinner for 25 years and the University of Minnesota's studies were cited over 20 years ago in "Bottom Line" documenting the importance for families to regularly eat meals together. The benefits of dinnertime- a time to celebrate the day, time to come together and just be together, less risky behavior, eating less processed food impacts obesity, and less bing-eating and/or purging. All for a fraction of the cost of eating out or ordering pizza. This is why I started this web-site and have been blogging over 100 times. Go back and read my chats with Ginny and start team cooking. Never in history has there been an easier time to cook. You can do it!

The Time for Team Cooking is Now

School is in full swing, and now is the time to fire up your burners, get serious about cooking for a night to eat for a week. Sharing the resposibilities of putting a home-cooked dinner on the table regularly will save you money, calories and improve your health- mentally and physically- as you will eat more fruits and vegetables, cut down on processed foods, and free up time to excercise and enjoy time to talk with family/ friends. Tamar Adler describes her philosophy in "An Everlasting Meal"- "...what we eat and how we eat is linked to our happiness." She champions us amateur cooks. And she believes that "...cooking well is built upon a deep, preservation impulse." In the last 2 weeks, I have had the most memorable meals with family and friends. What we ate and how we ate it brought so much joy, my 16 yr. old son lit the candles last night even though his sister and boyfriend had retured to NYC. The candles signified good food and joy. I have discovered the Barefoot Contessa has some fabulous recipes that are easy and quick. Conversation is so easy with good food. The settings of West Traverse Bay, Notre Dame, Chicago, and Lexington, KY with friends, family and food taught me much about many topics and brought much happiness.

For Times Like These...Cook for A Night, Eat For A Week

"We may live without poetry, music, and art;

We may live without conscience and live without heart,

We may live without friends, we may live without book,

But civilized man cannot live without cooks." Author Unknown

And that is the key- civilized man cannot live without cooks. Cooking is a priviledge and yes it takes effort. It takes effort to get to work in the morning, but then there are rewards. Yesterday, our church"team" of cooks pulled off an amazing luncheon for our newlywed couple. The men made home-made bbq. We had all different kinds of fresh fruit and vegetable salads. To make an extra special salad. I sliced the lettuce on a diagonal and chopped up celery, purple onions, peppers, green onions, cucumbers(cut the seeds out), Trader Joe's chopped up veges, and plenty of delicious Hanover tomatoes. And then the home-made varieties of fruit cobblers and apple crisps followed by Jenny McCoys beautiful wedding cake- 3 layers- 3 flavors(coconut, vanilla almond, and lemon). It was memorable. September is coming- back to school. And why not get organized and start recruiting a team who is interested in cooking for a night and having enough to eat for the week. We want our government to cut back on it's debt; how about saving big bucks by joining a team of cooks? Yes we can do this!

The Salad Shocker

The following was written by Sarah Nassauer in the Wall Street Journal 7/27/11 and I am still in shock: "Despite decades of nagging to eat more leafy greens and colorful vegetables, the average American eats a salad at mealtime only about 36 times a YEAR. That's 20% less often than in 1985, when the average frequency was 45, according to market research firm NPD Group. Fewer than half of Americans--49%--ate at least one "leaf salad" at home in two weeks, compared with 75% who ate a potato dish and 81% who ate beef." The VP of NPD, who analyses people's eating habits says: "The single biggest problem with salad is making it. Cleaning, cutting, making sure you have fresh produce- tends to keep people away." Say what? In my cooking co-ops for the past 20 years, salads have been a staple in our menus- usually 50% of the time, a delicious salad was delivered- many times a bag of salad was accompanied by a baggie of cut up carrots, celery, cukes and grape tomatoes. In fact, my teen-age daughter's favorite meal was chicken caesar salad with a fruit salad and she literally said, "I wish all our meals were like this." If companies like Fresh Express and Earthbound Farm want to sell more bags of lettuce, then encourage and promote "team" cooking. If we are too busy that we can't cook one good meal a week for ourselves and our families, then we are too unfocused on what's important in life. The budget deficit is nothing compared to what America faces in health care costs from obesity, diabetes etc. which can stem from our poor choices in what we eat. What happened to "You are what you eat?" And I thought everybody wanted to go green. Go Green- and eat a salad a day!

Firemen Do It

I spoke with two firemen this week. One shared with me how his unit practices "team cooking."

There is the person who enjoys cooking and decides the recipes. This team is eating more chicken and low fat recipes and have been successful in many losing weight. Then the cook usually does the grocery shopping. But in return, those who don't cook, clean up. They enjoy sitting around the table together and sharing thoughts and life. Another retired fireman told me this week, he regularly ate meals together at his fire house. A very close friend and co- fireman for years, still get together once a week to go out to dinner. His friend lost his wife and enjoys this weekly time to get together. And at church yesterday, we all brought something to share after church. UMMMM- good! We had 3 different types of salads, fresh fruit, and home-made sour cream pound cake. Team cooking works in so many situations- get on a team, cook once a week, then no need to "fire-up" your kitchen the other nights.

Take, Eat and Live

Those words jumped out at me as we sang a communion hymn yesterday. The hymn was written by John Morison, one of the best poets of the Church of Scotland, in 1781- the same year we defeated the British at Yorktown. One of the definitions of take is "to carry something." So start team cooking and TAKE meals to others, EAT regularly together with friends and family and LIVE your life to the fullest. This can be your mantra for TEAM COOKING! Also it came out Friday - "Dinner Table Inflation Up Almost 5 Percent in One Year." Grocers are passing on the higher costs of food. Most salaries are not going up 5% so if you don't have a plan, try team cooking. And one more thought on LIVE. It's not living a good life to carry around extra weight and this issue of obesity is severe. My son went to a very good basketball camp last week and here was the menu for lunch each day: Pizza, Chicken fingers and biscuit, Pizza, Chicken Fingers and biscuit, and finally on Friday- Pizza. Humm....kids were excercising but not learning a thing on good food choices. What if they paid the same $$$ to a great cook to TAKE lunch to the courts- not a processed food distributor, and gave them an opportunity to provide healthier alternatives and a little more variety. I repeat TAKE, EAT and LIVE!

Improve Your Health with Team Cooking

Weight loss tips are in the headlines. One effective way to regain control of your eating patterns is to band with 3 other families who also want to eat more fruits, vegetables, fish and more healthy cuts of beef. All weight loss systems have a plan and if you know what's for supper, you can plan your breakfast and lunch accordingly. When working together as a team in planning, shopping, preparing and cleaning up, you can plan more time for a walk, run or tennis clinic or just taking the kids to a playground instead of stressing over what to conjure up for dinner. So maybe you are an empty nester. Team cooking can still improve your life. Studies on Altzheimer's show that aerobic exercise and strength training, even when done just once a week, can sharpen the brain and improve our mental faculties. Research now shows that even moderate exercise can cause the brain to increase in size and develope new brain cells. So, to find time for aerobic exercise, strength training, stretching and balance- you need team cooking. The summer is a perfect time to ease into it with neighbors or new-found friends. Sharpen your cooking skills so you can exercise more for real brain gains!

Called to Order

This was the title to a great sermon my husband gave yesterday. He cited Gen.1 and in the creation account, God created order out of chaos. We think of order and organization as being dry and restraining to our creativity when in fact order brings life and beauty. Our oldest daughter could not keep her room straight in high school- there was 1 foot of clothes, papers and books on her floor. Now that she is a marketing editor of a decorating magazine, she very much cares about order to her room and clothes closet as she implements her decorating talents in her own apartment. I have been taking a break from cooking co-op and I miss the order and rhythm that comes from knowing that if it's Tuesday, it's my night to cook. I miss the team approach to having an answer to what's for dinner. I miss the variety of other cooks sharing some of their favorite recipes. I miss the cost savings of cooking in quantity 1 meal a week and the cost savings of less waste- I hate finding a mildewed expensive red pepper tucked in the back of my refrig I thought I might need one day. So a call to orderly cooking and team work can bring beautiful colorful veges, fruits and meats to your table and can add spice to your life.

Team Cooking for the Summer

My son left for camp today so summer has officially started. Many cooking co-ops take a break in summer but I really don't want to eat out just because I have not planned. Plus the fresh fruits and veges scream out variety and healthy eating. I am most on my game with the rest of my life if I'm organized in this area of planning my dinners. It's time to see and spend more time with my neighbors. I need a tag-team approach because I like to cook, but not every night plus if it's Tuesday, it's my night to cook, but If it's Wednesday it's my night to take a tennis clinic. One team cooking convert goes home after work when it's not her night to cook, has a glass of wine, and sits down to talk with her husband. Make this summer special and try a new sport- team cooking!

Good Food As A Natural Antidepressant?

An interesting article in the April issue of Vogue discusses this possibility. "According to proponents of the food-as-antidepressant theory, deficiencies in certain nutrients are responsible for the current epidemic of low mood." Ya think? When you don't take time, at least once a week, to plan and cook a good meal and then sit down and enjoy it with family and/or friends, that is depressing. It's depressing to eat out too often and then add up the total amount you spent- knowing you could have saved a lot of money, calories and sodium in-take by eating at home. So the best approach to boost your mood is a "nutritioncentric approach"- cook yourself and load up on vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, fish, lean meat, poultry, and healthy fats. This week-end I went to a local farmer's stand and loaded up on fresh strawberries picked that morning. No vitamin C deficiency here and my mood is high! Go find a depressed friend, neighbor or co-worker and try cooking co-op, team cooking, for one month and see if you can't change the world!

Killer Combo of High Gas, Food Prices...

This from Consumer Nation- tracking the pulse of America's spenders- by Christina Berk. We know the price of gasoline has been rising. But with the huge events in the Middle East, we might soon see gas prices moderate but with energy costs over 6% of consumer's spending, energy takes a big bite out of our disposable spending. Fewer trips to the grocery store by having a plan (list) and less driving to eat out can save. Plus food costs have gone up 6.5% since the beginning of January. Why are food costs going up the most in a generation? There is more world-wide demand for food from a growing middle class in areas such as Chinia. By banding together we can defeat this Killer Combo. Now is the time to work on your cooking and meal-planning skills. Cook for your family and recruit other cooking co-op families. As Patrick Henry said, " We must fight." Fight for that time to enjoy your own home-cooking.

One In A Trillion

My husband and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary last week. He has always been creative about organizing special outings to mark our special day, but this year was exceptional. We started the morning at a light-filled chapel dedicated to the minister who married us, going over the wedding vows in the Book of Common Prayer. Then on to Charlottesville to tour Ashlawn-Highland- James Monroe's home near Monticello. We had a delicious lunch at a new find in C-ville. We then drove the Constitution highway to Orange, Va for a night's stay at the Inn at Willow Creek. The home was built in 1778 and after a $2 million renovation, this magical inn represented fox-hunt traditional with Elle Decor NYC modern edge. The food was absolutely over-the-top outstanding. The next day, we toured Dolly and James Madison's recently renovated home, Montpelier. Marriages get crowded with busy schedules and to take time-out and spend time with that special someone- no distractions- is such a blessing. That's also why we need to take time-out to enjoy dinner together as a family. It takes planning and some extra effort- think of the time it took my husband to plan and organize this celebration. And what are the odds of me meeting and marrying someone this special- one in a trillion!

RAMS RULE RICHMOND!!!

Congratulations VCU! You gave us one memorable week. I was front and center at the pep rally to see VCU off to Houston for the Final Four. I was on TV and interviewed by the Washington Times and WRVA. Going to the VCU bookstore to get my family Final Four t-shirts and seeing throngs of people smiling and full of excitement. I didn't even mind waiting 30 minutes just to get out of the parking deck. Then Friday night, 10pm, waiting in another long line at the grocery store to get my food supplies for friends coming over to watch to watch the big game. The man at the check out said the day had been Super Bowl 2- everybody getting their party food. We came up short but it's amazing to put VCU in the same b-ball category as Kentucky. Also this week, I heard an expert from Boston discuss substance abuse and he encouraged families to think about what really makes them happy. Is it worth missing family dinnertime to make more money, go to one more meeting, gymastics for 7 year olds etc. and then not know what is going on in your children's minds? Before the big game, the team eats their meal TOGETHER. "The ball goes up...and there you are...a shooting star...it's more than a contest, it's more than a race...you reach deep inside." Have "One Shining Moment"-daily!

RAMS REACH FINAL FOUR! WE ARE HOOPSTOWN!

The celebration for the 400th anniversary of Richmond was good, but not this good! Richmond's Mayor Dwight Jones was quoted in the Richmond Times Dispatch's biggest and most special section ever: "VCU advancing to the Final Four is the stuff dreams are made of! This is a team of players who believe in each other, a coach who believes in the team, and a city that believes in dreams coming true... VCU is putting Richmond on the map like never before and we'll see the nation at the Final Four." This is a true story of an underdog, a Cinderella defeating major powerhouses. Same thing with food. Move over Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray, Jamie Oliver. You have powerful coverage that we little, everyday cooks don't get. We don't always cook in the most beautiful kitchens, but we have recipes and good, satisfying meal ideas that help our family and friends celebrate life on a daily basis. So Esther made home-made potato soup for our church supper yesterday and Rebecca brought a special apple crisp made from apples in her backyard. Umm-good. I will meet you Saturday at the Seigel Center to watch VCU-Butler. I plan to fix double decker turkey, havarti cheese, red pepper and bacon club sandwiches. How about becoming a dedicated reader of this blog in which I try to encourage you to celebrate life with your own home-cooked food. DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'...You too can cook with the best of them. Start coping by cooping Hoopstown! LET'S GO V-C-U!!!

Hoopstown USA: VCU, UR in Sweet 16

That's the headline of the Richmond Times Dispatch this morning. Only 4 times in 25 years have 2 teams from the same city reached the Sweet 16. The only other cities to accomplish this feat is Los Angeles and Philadelphia. But the news in our local paper also headlines that "Virginia ranks 22nd for health" and while Virginians are smoking less, we are getting fatter. Diseases such as higher blood pressure and diabetes go hand in hand with being overweight. The paper continues with "Special report inside: Working on a healthy future." Jodi Fuller, MeadWestvaco's director of global benefits says "Employers all across the country are struggling with how to contain (health care) costs." With increasing health insurance costs, many companies are trying to motivate employees to eat better and excercise more. I truly believe that if companies would entice employees to just try co-op cooking for one month, we could improve health by encouraging healthier eating patterns. Entice? Offer early leave one day for healthiest, best tasting recipe- most creative monthly calendar, best logistics in delivery etc. What if Richmond could be Hoopstown AND Coopstown? So if someone asks you how you are coping with all the tragic news in Japan, Middle East, high costs of fuel and food, your response could be I'm coping by cooping. GO VCU, UR and my hometown TARHEELS!

Holding the Holy Grail

I have in my hands Lucy Page Simons cookbook- Recipes from Kith and Kin printed in 1979 "as an attempt to chronicle some of the recipes of the past generation of very good cooks in our common and in-law families." Lucy was a fabulous cook who blessed our church with those incredible home-made white Parker house rolls, numerous cakes and even home-made ultra thin Moravian Christmas cookies. It was Lucy who got me thinking about exciting the taste buds with quality home-made food- not just settling for last minute thrown-together packaged volume. As she fought Leukemia, she lamented her food tasting like tin due to her chemo treatments. Julia Child was a wonderful cook, but it will be my priviledge to try to follow Lucy's blazed trail of putting the energy and love into serving others with a ministry of good home-made food. How about you? Band together with cooks better than yourself and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Appreciate Your Taste Buds

I am out with a horrible cold and one bad side effect is that food has no taste. How we take out taste buds for granted. Cooking co-op brings a variety of foods to your table. Plus you learn new recipes because everyone is putting their best foot forward. Since you are only cooking once a week, more energy and creative talents can go to work to come up with memorable meals of substance. Appreciate daily your sense of taste by eating quality!

My 100th Post-- Count the Cost

One of the world's largest suppliers of rice and cotton, Olam International,said in a Bloomsberg TV interview 2/14/11 that corn prices will escalate to a record, pushing up food inflation costs and thus increasing hunger. They believe that the climate around the world is changing and that will cause massive disruptions. Corn is involved in much of the food we eat- animals feed on corn, drinks contain corn fructose and the owner of Montana Bread mentioned that when corn prices are high, wheat fields are instead used to plant corn, causing less supply and higher prices for wheat. Now add higher fuel cost to all this, count on your food costs to go up. Look what I read last night in "American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism 1865-1900" by H. W. Brands. We can learn from the industrial giants. Andrew Carnegie (the steelmaster)"...obsessed over cost because it was the one part of his business he could control. Carnegie never wanted to know the profits...He always wanted to know the costs...Carnegie's genius ...was his talent for organization." John D. Rockefeller, creator of the Standard Oil empire, was also "...relentless [in his] pursuit of efficiency." It's time to count the costs- know what it costs to make a meal verses eating out and then work on the efficiency of cooking in quantity with cooking co-op. That is capitalism at it's best!

Presidents Need Wisdom

Happy President's Day! I love history and this country is so blessed that just the right leaders and Presidents have been at the right place at just the right time to guide our country through many stormy "seas" of opinion and need for action. In Sunday school, we are still in the 1st chapter of Daniel. We discovered Daniel was given wisdom to solve dilemmas and that wisdom is needed when there are shades of gray. Just like our political leaders today, we adults need wisdom to deal with the daily dilemmas we face. And we parents need to exhibit right thinking in our family settings. So last week, Ron came to our office for a high priority meeting. He outlined the new regulations coming down the pike in our industry. As he was introduced, we found out he graduated from Williams College undergrad and Georgtown Law School. I went up to Ron later, thanked him and commented on his education. I found out he went to Woodberry Forest for high school. So I asked what his family did about mealtime as he was growing up. He shared his mom was a maid and his father a chauffeur. He said they regularly ate meals at the dinner table with the TV turned off! I respectfully ask that you conduct your own test for one month- either cook the meals yourself or recruit help through a cooking co-op to solve the dilemmas we face in education, soaring costs of food, obesity... just to name a few. You have just enough time to get organized for the month of March. Bring March in like a lion... hum.. Daniel and the lion's den!

It's Truly All About Food

WOW. What a week-end! It started well going out to eat with long time friends that we don't get to see much after my son's high school b-ball team beat their arch rival. Then Saturday night the men of the church fixed a beautiful and delicious Valentine's dinner followed by challenging games like each couple trying to gift wrap a box with your left hand. Then in Sunday school, we started the 1st chapter of Daniel. Guess what? It was all about food- the Lord blessed Daniel, had him eat veges and in "matters of wisdom and understanding" the king found Daniel "ten times better" than all the other wise men of the land. Since we had left overs, we had a another great meal after church- we looked like a crowded Last Supper. Then I made a healthier Brunswick Stew for my son's b-ball coach's family who's wife just had major surgery and will be out of the kitchen for a while. I used quick cooking barley instead of the hash browns. Taste good and healthier and I'm thrilled at my creative twist. Then, Lisa(cooking co-op expert and friend) and I surprised our 5:30am tennis gang with a beautiful bouquet of candy bars and home-made french toast to remind them not to forget Valentines. Maybe the guys let us win a few more games, we had fun talking around the table, and our week is off to a good start. What wisdom we gain by sitting around a table with family and friends and enjoying communion! Amen.

How American Mothers Could Be Superior

Interviews with the "Tiger Mom" continues as we hear her marching orders about how she chooses her children's daily activities. In talking with a business school professor who specializes in behavior decision -making, he said the down-side of this kind of up-bringing is a lack of creativity and innovation. One thing we know about Bill Gates, Billy Jean King, Katie Couric to name a few- the importance of the dinner table and the family meal in their lives. American mothers could be superior if we get back to this basic. Just this week, I spoke with Betsy. She started her first cooking co-op after reading the Richmond Times Dispatch article, "Cook for a night, Eat for a Week" in Feb, 2009. She is still loving the way it orders her and her family's life. She says she wants to "shout it from the rooftops" the benefits of cooking co-op. She shared with her 11th graders that she knew what her dinners would be for the next month. They wanted to see her menus and they too are fascinated with the cooking co-op concept. Food costs are on the rise and in this jobless recovery, families, like our government need to find creative ways to cut costs. the time for this up-rising in the kitchen is NOW!

Super Bowl Recipes and Bribe Your Athletes

First, try my Brunswick Stew recipe under the Recipe tab here on my website. This is cooking in quantity. It's best cooked the day before, fish out the chicken, cut up the chicken, put back in your slow cooker and it's ready for your family and friends the next day. Next, go to the Helpful Resources tab on this website. Follow these clicks: youvegotsupper/ Browse Recipes/ Turkey/ Double Decker Turkey, Bacon and Havarti Sandwiches. This draws rave reviews from husbands and teenage sons. Just find a round loaf of bread- Montana Gold in Richmond, VA makes delicious round loaves- cut a wide hole in the top, tear out the bread inside and layer the ingredients. And food can be a great bribe. To add a focus factor to our son's rec league basketball game today, we promised him pizza if he had a good game. Well, he really had a "goal" to shoot for- he made 20 points and his team won by 3 points against a top team. Incentives work!

"Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior"

This article was in the Wall Street Journal this week-end. If you are interested in better parenting skills, this article will give you "food" for thought. Chinese mothers believe "academic achievement reflects successful parenting" and if children do not do well in school, the parents "were not doing their job." Chinese parents believe "nothing is fun until you're good at it." To do well, it takes work and practice, practice, practice. I very much believe a vital part of successful parenting is regularly having family meals in your own home with TV, phone, video games off. And the discipline of planning, shopping and cooking your dinners exhibits to your children a degree of discipline you also expect of them. The Chinese think "rote repetition is underrated in America." The rote repetition of dinnertime is a start. Did anybody watch college basketball this week-end? Under Dean Smith, UNC players were expected to always make their free throws. Today, there is no one in the ACC with a worse free throw % than UNC. No one wants to practice. And free throws, dinnertime, and absolutely nothing is fun until you are good at it. Parents- practice starts with us. Let's do our job!

Try Adventure in the New Year

A couple of definitions for adventure: A thrilling experience; to run risks. Our family did that over the Christmas break. Our oldest daughter went down-hill skiing for the first time and loved it despite frigid temps. The rest of us went 8 hours away to Georgia to visit a family we had never met. Our daughters are great friends that met at camp and we loved their daughter. So off we go to a family farm to deer hunt, enjoy picnics and all sorts of delicious food, sift through dirt to find Indian pottery, see and learn history and be blessed with wonderful fellowship. The original part of the house dates back to the late 1700's and this farm has been in the family since the 1800's. I have never been deer hunting but I took my camera and a book and climbed up a deer stand for 2 hours and enjoyed the beauty and fresh air. I didn't see a deer but my son did! We took a risk this family might not like us but what a thrilling experience we had enjoying the outdoors, new experiences and especially making new friends. So why not run a risk that your cooking might not always be perfect, but try a cooking co-op adventure, make new friends and have a weekly plan for making dinner more than mealtime.