By Lara
Yes, I’m living in Portland now and so it seems only appropriate that I pass along things from sites among the likes of treehugger.com. But this was just too disturbing (although at the same time, not surprising).
“McDonald’s Happy Meals Evidently Invincible”
Apparently, this woman did a yearlong experiment to see if her McDonald’s Happy Meal would decompose. It immediately reminded me of those Peeps experiments.
It’s still amazing to me that we don’t demand more of our food growers and restaurants. And even more surprising that we feed all this crap to our children…artificial food with no nutritional value and full of preservatives, food coloring and sugar. Then we wonder why they act out and cannot focus in school. The answer to me is pretty simple: I believe most kids are malnourished. They lack quality food and quality nourishment.
I believe the answer is just as simple: take that $4 from a Happy Meal and go buy some fresh produce, fruit, and lean protein. I think it’s time to start celebrating eating REAL food again. Food that we purchase, wash (with veggie wash of course), prepare and cook.
Make it a family event, if it’s only once or twice a week. Get your kids involved in picking out recipes, making the grocery lists and teach them about budgeting and shopping. Not only will they learn great lessons, they will learn the simple joys that can come from cooking.
Here’s an easy-to-make Banana Bread recipe to start. (I know the sour cream thing freaked me out too, but trust me this is the moistest, most delicious bread I’ve ever made!)
Sour Cream Banana Bread
Source: Chow.com
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 very ripe medium bananas, mashed (about 1 1/4 cups)
- 1/2 cup sour cream
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Coat a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with butter and dust it with flour, tapping out the excess. Whisk together 2 cups flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large bowl to aerate and break up any lumps. Set aside.
- Place sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes. Add bananas and sour cream and mix until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add flour mixture, and mix until just combined.
- Turn batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, the top is golden brown, and the bread is pulling away from the sides of the pan, about 1 hour.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Slide a knife around the perimeter of the pan, invert to release the bread, and cool completely on the wire rack before serving.