Moana Hawaiian Meal for Monday Funday

Becca here with a fun idea for a meal to go along with the Disney movie Moana that is coming out on DVD next week.  To decide if it's one your family wants to view, my two favorite sites to read reviews on are Common Sense Media and Focus on the Family's Plugged In.  My husband and I have been able to visit Hawaii a few times, and I was excited to share a small part of this unique culture, with a quick and easy meal, with the kids as part of our "Monday Funday".

We started the meal off talking a bit about how pineapples grow.  We were using canned pineapple slices for this meal, but get fresh pineapple often enough that the kids know what one looks like.  However, they were all surprised to learn that pineapple doesn't grow on a tree!  This is a cool video by Dole, showing exactly how pineapples are grown.  The kids loved that our pineapple was Dole brand also ;)

Next, we talked about Hawaii being the 50th state added to the United States, when their grandparents were about their ages, in 1959.  Hawaii also is the only place on US soil that has a royal palace!!  After the kids' questions about the palace and royalty exceeded my previous knowledge, we skimmed this article and learned about the history of Hawaii's Monarchy being overthrown.  It's definitely not a cheerful history, but is a prime example of how money, power, and greed can lead to disastrous results.  The kids noticed and found it very interesting that the "Dole" name is also a key player in this story as well.

I tried to get a 'real' whole coconut, but Arkansas in February meant that I wasn't able to locate one.  So we ate dried coconut instead, and will save the cracking a whole coconut open experience for another day.

The final part of our meal was Spam Musubi.  If you haven't traveled to Hawaii, or aren't aware of their food culture, this might seem shocking or crazy!  However, as I was telling our kids, this modern quintessential Hawaiian dish is served everywhere; at the 7-11 gas stations, restaurants, and even the Sam's Club Cafe!  Spam's popularity rose during and after World War II, because it was shelf stable, and able to make the long journey to Hawaii without spoiling.  Some Hawaiian chefs in fine restaurants have included Spam on their menu.  I used short grain brown rice, cooked in my Instant Pot at 15 minutes on high pressure, and an onigiri rice mold to form the rice.  I just topped it with a small slice of Spam I had browned in a skillet, and wrapped the whole thing in a seaweed wrap.  I will say that I had several people that were very skeptical about the taste of the Spam Musubi, but everyone actually really thought it was tasty, and had seconds.  President Obama even made the news when he ordered Spam Musubi while golfing in Hawaii!

The natural next discussion was about the history of Spam, which was really quite interesting!

We ended the night watching Moana.  The movie was okay to me, but the graphics were really amazing, and that's not something I usually note or comment on.  The water and scenery were really beautiful!!

Let me know if you have a Moana Meal, and what your family thinks!! Enjoy!

Apple Party

Take a peek at a little apple party my sis and I had for our kiddos recently!  My girls and I were having a bit of a long week with my husband working a lot so I was trying to think of some fun, fall-themed activities to do.  We are crazy about apples so I thought a little apple party would be fun and easy to pull together.  

I checked out some apple books from the library, we ate a variety of apples, and painted with apples! 

I brought apple butter along too but it didn't end up getting opened. Maybe next time!

 The kids enjoyed stamping with the apples for a few minutes but then generally wanted a cleaner way to paint.  Except for this sweet girl!  She painted her whole entire apples. :)  

I hope you'll have an apple party of your own! 

Food for thought:

Do you think about food and menus, beyond the basic ingredients and flavors?  Do you ponder how often laughter occurs around your dining room table, or the serious look you caught on your spouse's face at the table that night? What I mean is, do you know that there is so much more to food than just food.  Think about it....a loaf of bread taken to a friend in need becomes an instrument of grace, a bag of groceries for someone running low on money becomes gold, a meal shared between friends becomes community.

This is the food for thought I encourage you to ponder today.  What language is food speaking in your life and family?  Is it an instrument to fuel your bodies and minds...and a happy thing to gather around for conversation, healing, and grace?

Or is food an enemy to you....always making you feel guilty with what you eat/not eat. Maybe it's just a form of stress to you, always needing to be prepared.

I'm not sure what it means to you, but I do know this-there is such a freedom in finding out how to nourish your body in a healthy way, but also let food become an instrument in your life as well.

This book talks about just that. 

I hope you'll give it a read

and give your food a little thought today. 

Blessings,

Sara

Favorite Cookbook(s)!

Hi everyone!  Growing up I remember my mom always asking for dinner suggestions as she made her weekly menu.  I was spoiled/blessed because my mom cooked delicious meals seven days a week!  As I've gotten older and now make my own weekly menu I can totally see why my mom was wanting suggestions!  I love collecting recipes because it's a thrill to me to look through my collection and pick out the menu each week.  Without a source of inspiration I'm afraid we would probably eat the same boring things over and over!

Of course, Pinterest is all the rage right now and I encourage you to pin our recipes!  But today, let's take a look at some favorite cookbooks of mine.  I have quite a few, but each of these are near and dear to my heart for different reasons.

Let's start with the bottom cookbook, What Katie Ate.  This cookbook is absolutely gorgeous!  I've mentioned it on the blog before because of it's awesome photography.  The author uses fresh, wholesome ingredients.  This isn't a processed cookbook at all!  It encourages eating seasonally and each recipe leaves me drooling!  This is food at it's finest folks.

Next up we have Help! My Apartment has a Kitchen.  I received this from my sweet Grandma way back when, during the days of single living in a condo. It has really basic recipes with few ingredients that are tasty!  It taught me so much as I learned to cook on my own and provides many staple recipes I can go back to again and again.

Last, is Sugar Pie and Jelly Roll, a delightful book filled with original watercolor illustrations as well as delicious recipes for baked goods!  This book has my favorite pie recipe (ever) in it, chocolate chess pie.  It is beautiful to look at and I have been so pleased with each dessert I've made from it so far!  I've had this cookbook since college, so that's saying a lot.

Now it's your turn to share!  What is your favorite cookbook? 

"Return To Sunday Dinner" Book Review



As part of Thomas Nelson's group, BookSneeze, bloggers are able to receive a free copy of a book, in exchange for our honest opinion of the book.  When I see a cookbook that is available, I am always excited to have the opportunity to review something, and hopefully gain inspiration for new recipes to try! 

 

 



 When I received "Return to Sunday Dinner: The Simple Delight of Family, Friends, and Food", I was already so pleased with the appearance of the cover.  The striking photography, colorful stripes, and the wording was appealing right away!  As I began to read the introduction, I liked Mr. Cronkite's vision for this cookbook immediately.  One of his main goals for this book is to remind the reader of their own memories of Sunday dinners.  This will look very different for various people, but for most of us, there was some form of gathering with family and friends that took place.  A time of fellowship and rest.  This tradition has faded slowly through the years for many families, and Mr. Cronkhite is encouraging the reader to revive the Sunday dinner!

Each chapter is clearly labeled with a Title, and what menu items will follow.  There are many unique chapters and meal ideas, and this book would suit many different tastes.

The photography in the book is beautiful!  It makes the reader excited to try the recipes, and it almost seems as if you can smell some of the delicious foods through the pages!

Another feature of this cookbook that I really love is the section at the end of each chapter titled 'Easy Time-Saving and Do-Ahead Tips.  It specifies things that can be done on Saturday night, and also Sunday morning, to make the meal prep for Sunday dinner much easier! 

I really like the concept of this book.  I agree with Mr. Cronkhite that Sunday dinner is a fading concept, and needs to be revived!  So, invite your friends and family, and share a time of food, fellowship and rest with one another!

Book Talk: Made to Crave Devotional

Hi friends! Today I'd like to introduce you to a book, and topic you may be familiar with. This whole thing of craving God, and not food. I know as a woman it is often my gut reaction on a good day, bad day, or in-between day, to reach for food! Although I certainly think as human beings with God-given tastebuds we will crave certain tastes at one time or another, I don't believe that running to food to fill our emotional tanks is necessary or healthy.

This isn't something I struggle with on a huge level, but as my daughter is growing I've realized I'm not okay with this for my life, even a tiny bit. She is watching and learning after-all! I was intrigued by this book and found it on amazon.com.   Afterall, it seems that this topic is one that most Christian women just don't touch or God forbid, talk about.

There is actually a main book called "Made to Crave", that details the author's own personal struggle and FREEDOM from craving food and satisfying emotional needs in that way. I haven't read this book. By accident I ordered the devotional instead and have found it is just what I need.

I don't want to give up too much about this book because I'm truly hoping you'll read it and pray through this for yourself! However, one of the first things that stuck out to me about the devotional was the author's way of pointing out that the number on the scale does not define us. In our day and age, everyone it seems is about "the number". And most of the time we feel like we're not hitting it! 

The biggest point I have taken away from this book so far is that there are other ways we should judge our success in being healthy, other than if our number on the scale has hit rock bottom.  Did we eat out of hunger and health for the day, or out of an emotional need? Did we honor God with the foods we put into our bodies, or honor our selfish desires? 

These are the questions that lead us to judge our success. This isn't to say I don't ever believe in having a treat-I certainly do! I also believe in stepping on the scale...I think it's an important part of our health to make sure we're within a healthy weight range.

However, I want God to be pleased with how I'm treating my temple, both inside and out. Guilt trip after an unhealthy treat.....dependence on food from an emotional struggle? I'm choosing to say no.

I hope you will too. :)

Blessings,

Sara :)

The Family Dinner

Growing up we always had family dinner. We sat together, talked about our days, giggled (way too much sometimes), and ate together. As I've grown up and become a mom myself I've realized this is a charming idea, but not reality to many. I think it should be both-a charming idea and reality!
I checked this book out from our local library and was so impressed! It's currently on my amazon.com wishlist! Right now dinner time is all about getting my little one to pick up her own bites. But the dynamic will change as she gets older.
This book is all about different ways to make family dinner time fun and enjoyable for all ages at the table !
From conversation starters, to creative ways to involve your kids in the cooking process, this book includes many great tips! The focus isn't on a picture-perfect dinner table. It's on creating memories, and making dinner time about more than just the food on the table.
I also stumbled upon the author's website that is a great additional read!
You can find it here:
The Family Dinner by Laurie David
I hope you'll check it out!
Sara :)