Sometimes I can relax about what is in the food Avery gets when she is not at home. I can also never say that I feed her 100% healthy organic food all the time.  Sometimes its not available, sometimes I get lazy and run to the store by our house and sometimes I just don't want to fight about it. None of which I feel are valid excuses but I give them anyway.

One area that I will not back down on is dairy products and meats. I refuse to purchase meat or dairy that isn't organic or from a company getting as close as they can to organic without paying the cost to get certified. Remember if it says all natural, that can mean nothing at all unless you research the product you are buying. I do not want to feed my daughter or husband anything that is feed animal byproducts (which includes waste), given antibiotics before they are sick or genetically modified to grow into something unnatural. I personally don't eat meat but I feel if you are getting the best quality meat (which is usually locally grown and grass fed) you are not supporting the industries that are doing things horribly and instead choosing to give your family nutritious meat that isn't going to jeopardize your health to save a buck now.

I understand that the cost can be a very scary thing to many when it comes to organic, but after hours and hours of research it really isn't a choice for me to buy the other stuff. I can't willing put all that into my family on a daily basis, it is just not worth it to me. Too much research does point to these products not being good for our health (unless you are reading something funded by the companies that produce these products). I have learned that with finding local resources through CSA, farmers markets or growing my own garden that the cost is still the same every month for us. I no longer buy very much food from the center aisles of the store and make it a point to do what I can at home, even if my time is limited. Its just a choice I have made and can feel good about when I am fixing dinner.

I watch documentaries, study articles on the internet, read research, take health classes at a local college and read books all the time about this topic. It is one that I cant seem to get off my mind or budge on in any debate. I am choosing health now and in the future for my family so that instead of buying the processed foods that are so easy to want to buy, I choose to take the time and and make it at home.

Instead of buying the easy to whip in the oven chicken tenders that my daughter would eat for every single meal I decided to start making them at home. The organic selection was small and the ingredients were anything but healthy. I normally would just plop a piece of chicken on the grill cut it up and give it to her but apparently she "cant want to like that". She likes them being breaded, so I had to put on my thinking cap. I found lots of great ideas on the web and decided to just make what I could from what I had.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

ingredients

• two organic chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tsp milk
• zest of a lemon (you could use lemon pepper seasoning if you didn't want to zest the lemon)
• pepper

directions

heat oven to 400 degrees. place the whole wheat flour, bread crumbs, lemon zest and pepper into a bowl (just use enough of the zest and pepper to give a nice mixture of it in the bowl).  Mix everything together. place the milk and eggs in a bowl, mixing together well. dump chicken and milk mixture into dry ingredients and mix around until all chicken is well coated. place onto a baking sheet. cook for about 15 minutes.

I than placed the nuggets on a baking sheet and flash froze them for about 30 minutes and placed into a container in the freezer for easy grab and make! Avery eats them and says they are just fine, B tried them and said they were too small so not meaty enough for him.