Born and raised in Vancouver, BC, I am thrilled that the world got to discover our close-to-perfect corner of the world during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games.

I grinned with pride, as if I had made the clouds disappear myself, when the sun soaked our visitors and warmed them as they walked our streets.

I cheered inside when I traveled effortlessly through the Vancouver airport three times immediately before and during the Games. In fact, my experiences in the Vancouver International Airport in February, 2010, were the smoothest I have experienced to date!

And I applauded with gratitude the tens of thousands of volunteers who lined the streets of Vancouver giving directions and assistance to visitors and even residents like me. They were the oil.

But perhaps what stood out the most for me during of the Olympic Games here in Vancouver, BC was the quiet on the roads. The city and its visitors were indulging in the transit system put in place for the Games. I tasted it first hand and it was good – so very good.

When my son and I hit the downtown scene for a hockey game, I marvelled at the empty streets and the packed sidewalks. We moved with the crowds to board the skytrain and walked the final blocks to the venue.

Once we arrived at Canada Place for the game, even the security lines moved quickly and effectively. The whole experience was a lesson in efficiency.

Now that the Games are over, I hope those good lessons will not fade. I hope our government, and other governments, will recognize what can be achieved and will work to implement such strategies long term.

When transit is readily available, cost-effective, and reliable, people will use it. It worked for the world’s party. It can work every day too.

The popularity of microwave popcorn boggles my mind.

Why would one choose to spend more money, increase packaging waste and eat artificial flavors when the natural option saves money, reduces packaging waste, has no artificial ingredients and tastes better?!?

We all love to snack – especially kids. So in our house, we regularly use our hot air popcorn popper to indulge our cravings, while having a healthy, natural snack.

I purchase a bulk sized container of hot air popping corn and it lasts us months! My kids, especially my two year old, love the excitement of the popping corn and the smell that permeates the house.

After it is popped, I add a bit of melted Olive Oil margarine and a sprinkle of salt (not too much of course!) and we curl up on the couch for a popcorn party.

If your family is in the habit of eating potato chips, why not switch to popcorn to satisfy them? And if you have been using the microwave to pop your corn, this Year, break free and use a hot air popper.

And here is a popcorn popping tip from a veteran popcorn popper:

If you find your popcorn maker sends popcorn bouncing right out of the bowl and all over your kitchen, grab a tea towel and hold it loosely around the popper and bowl. Much less mess – but don’t hold it too close. That air is hot!

I am not sure how my family would survive without avocados.

I can always count on avocados as a quick, healthy way to feed my kids.

As babies and toddlers, avocados were staples in their diets. Both my kids loved to devour slices of avocados and I was so grateful that they were eating a food packed with healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, nutrients and protein.

And now as my children get a bit older, I still keep avocados as a regular in all of our diets. I especially love to add them to wraps. We eat all kinds of salad wraps, quesadillas, etc. and avocados are perfect for all of them!

Here is a quick wrap idea to feed your kids (or you!)

Avocado and Dried Cranberry Wrap

Ingredients

Flour Wraps - I use whole wheat, multigrain or high fibre white

Sliced or Diced Avocados

Light Cream Cheese

Dried Cranberries

Directions

Spread cream cheese on wraps and arrange avocado slices

Top with dried cranberries

Wrap!

Now, how easy was that? Enjoy!

During the winter, I miss the fresh produce of spring and summer. I long for my grocery basket brimming with berries and veggies straight from the soil at our local farmer’s market.

But fortunately, we have lots of wonderful frozen fruit and vegetable options these days to keep us going through these cold, long months.

My favorite frozen food that my family eats every single day is blueberries! We add them to cereal, smoothies or eat them plain. My kids love them, I love them, and they are oh so packed with vitamins and nutrients – it is win, win, win!

If you and your kids are missing the sweet pies and treats from the holiday season, but you are trying to trim off the fat this New Year, here is a super simple treat that I whip up for my family: Steamed Apples and Blueberries.

Ingredients

3 apples, peeled and sliced

2 cups frozen blueberries

2 tsp corn starch

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tbsp lemon juice

½ cup water

Directions

Toss sliced apples in lemon juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg

Add apple mixture, blueberries and water to saucepan

Cover and bring to a boil

Reduce heat and keep covered to steam apples (you may want to check periodically to ensure there is still enough liquid and it doesn’t burn)

When apples are tender, mix corn starch with a splash of water and stir into sauce to thicken

Once sauce is thickened, allow to cool for 3-10 minutes before serving

Serve warm (add a dollop of whipped topping or cream if desired)

I love long, hot showers. It is hard to resist standing under the hot stream of water while cocooned in my own personal steam room. I get my best thinking done with the warm water pounding down on my face. But as much as I may enjoy a long shower, I keep my showers as brief as possible in order to conserve water. However, trying to get my seven year old son to keep his showers short used to be a little more difficult!

When he got in the shower, he got lost in the warm mist. He would stand in there for thirty minutes if left to his own devices. I constantly had to holler, “Hurry up Jackson – you are wasting water!” But he usually ignored my nagging and chose to linger in the soothing comfort of the hot water. Tired of reminding Jackson to expedite his showering rituals, I came up with an idea! I would use my son’s competitive instinct to get him moving faster...

I suppose for many it goes hand in hand with Corn on the Cob, the melted stick of butter that everyone rolls their corn of cob in before dousing it with salt. I was raised that way too. I can still remember the plate of butter with melted impressions of kernels and a cob size valley in the middle.

But somewhere along the way, I stopped buttering up my corn. I stopped dumping salt all over it. I started tasting how incredible it was on its own. Now I am not crazy – a freshly buttered cob of corn is delicious. But I just can’t bear to take something so healthy and pure and corrupt it. So I skip the butter and salt – and, perhaps most importantly, I am teaching my kids to do the same.

When I pass my children a cob of corn, they don’t instinctively reach for butter and salt. They just eat it and enjoy the mouth-watering taste of fresh corn. And I find that training their taste buds on naturally flavourful and sweet vegetables like corn on the cob helps when I hand them a plate of other cooked vegetables...

I need to stock up on cloth napkins...

Don’t tell anyone, but I am using a baby washcloth for a napkin as I sit here munching my salad at my laptop. Yes, it is pretty sad when I am so short on cloth napkins that I turn to baby washcloths. But I least I am trying, right?

Now, before I start, let me assure you that I do believe in table manners, and I am not trying to raise uncouth children.

But I have to tell you a little secret about how I encourage my children to eat certain cooked vegetables...

I let my children eat them with their fingers.

I know – it sounds ridiculous right? But wait – hear me out. I feed my children tons of raw veggies, so they are used to dipping vegetables in salad dressing and eating them with their fingers. Something about eating vegetables like French Fries, makes the process less intimidating and inherently childish.

So, when it comes to a couple of cooked veggies, I add some childish spins. When I feed my little ones broccoli, I call them trees and insist that my kids are dinosaurs, ripping off the leaves and devouring the trees. It works like a charm on toddlers and preschoolers. And before you know it, their palates are accustomed to the taste and broccoli becomes a “go to” vegetable in the house.

Yellow beans? Well, that is just easy! I tell my kids they are healthy French Fries. They gobble them up by the fistfuls. Seriously.

Most children resist eating vegetables, but in our family eating in “courses” solves the problem!
I can still remember my stomach growling. I was hungry and cranky when I came into the kitchen looking for dinner.

“I’m hungry Mom,” I would whine almost every day while my working mother flew around the kitchen preparing dinner.

And on most of those days, she handed me a carrot stick, freshly peeled. My twin sister and I would readily accept the offering – we would devour almost all of the raw carrots and she would have to swat us away so she had something to cook.

We knew nothing else was coming before dinner and somehow veggies tasted so much better when we were starving and begging for food....

I am a light shade of green.

I have not arrived, but I am on the journey towards a “greener” lifestyle. Yet in all honesty, sometimes I get overwhelmed. Sometimes it can seem like there are so many changes to make, so many things I am doing wrong. I still drive a minivan, I shower a bit too long and I let my kids play in the sprinkler on a hot day – to name just a few.