Connie's Kitchen: Green Chippies and Mayonnaise Sandwiches

Here is another edition of Connie's Kitchen.

My Beautiful Mother's Senior High Photo

Its no secret that my family and I love food but we have all had to buckle down and work hard to keep the pounds off over the years. A general theme in my life right now is trying to lose this baby weight. I just started working out again and I have been cooking healthy meals so I am on the right track. When I was a little kid I could eat whatever I wanted. I was so skinny that everyone called me "Bean Pole" and my Mom let me eat anything I asked for. I remember Klondike bars every night after dinner. Mashed potatoes were probably served with dinner 2 times a week at least. My very favorite thing in the world to chow down on though were "Green Chippies". Green chippies were "Nibbles With Gibbles" brand chips in sour cream and onion flavor. They came in a light green bag and the chips themselves sometimes had a green tint from the flavoring. It was nothing for me to sit down and eat a whole bag, and I was so skinny that no one had a problem with it. I do not blame my Mom at all for letting me indulge. We ALL loved green chippies!

She wanted my sister and I to enjoy all the things she never had, and having food readily available was rare for her growing up. She even took me to the doctor when I was probably 5 or 6 because she was worried about how skinny I was. So bring on the green chippies!
Yes, in hindsight there were much healthier ways of putting some weight on but I was a kid and kids love junk and Mom loved us and wanted us to be happy. And I love her so much for that. She also made balanced meals liked baked chicken and green beans, vegetable stew was a favorite, and fruit salad was available all summer.
However, the green chippies caught up with me in the 4th grade and weight started coming on, and fast. So Mom took me back to the doctor to talk about what to do about me being so overweight. The doc said I was obese and that i should focus more on eating fruits and veggies. I also picked up on her talking about cutting back on lunch meat in my sandwiches..but never heard her mention not eating mayo.....hmmm

For the next few years after that weight was a big topic in my life. Mom tried to help me by having me do sits ups and push ups before I could have snacks. The picture above is of me in about 5th grade playing with my little cousin so you can see why she was trying to get me on the right track. She got me into sports like softball and tried to get me to cut back on portions and fatty foods. She would literally have me drop and give her 20 before eating a cookie and I say good for her! During that time I was a little confused about what all this meant and what fatty foods were. I remembered the doctor mentioning lunch meat and cheese was bad so I thought well OK! and started eating mayonnaise sandwiches as my light snack. Sometimes I would have a few "light" mayo sandwiches a day. Remember, the doc never mentioned mayo so....

Needless to say the weight kept coming on and soon I was shopping in the JC Penny Husky Kids catalog. When Mom found that it was pretty exciting because we were running out of places I could shop and still wear kids style clothes!! Thanks Husky Kids and thanks Mom!

Well, as a family we all grew up and started figuring out what healthy eating really was. My Mom even learned a ton about cooking low fat and low salt before she passed away and I learned a lot from her.

So when I was a kid one of my favorite things she used to make, that wasn't all that healthy but I still love, was spaghetti with meat sauce. It was simple. You brown ground beef, pour in a jar of Ragu, and boil a box of Giant brand spaghetti and you had one happy little chubby kid at your table asking for seconds.
So in honor of my favorite meal Mom made when I was a kid- I am making Spaghetti with Meat Sauce tonight for dinner but I do a much healthier version.
I won't go into the details because we all know how to boil water and heat up sauce. I will tell you that I use ground turkey instead of ground beef. I season the turkey with garlic, salt/pepper, and oregano and add that to a jar of my favorite store bought sauce. I usually spice that up too with more garlic, dash of red pepper, and a little red wine vinegar.
For noodles I use Dream Fields brand pasta noodles. Its low carb, so great, and tastes really close to the real thing. Its a little more expensive but worth it to me.
So that's it. Its a rainy cool Friday here in NOVA so comfort food is on the menu tonight.

Enjoy something warm and tasty tonight and tell the people you love that you love them often!

Here's me now with my little family. I love you!