Monthly Archives: November 2010

Day 143: patty melt and a mentor

School Lunches, , , , ,

Today’s menu: patty melt (whole wheat bread), baked beans, fruit cup, popcorn chips

I took the meat out of the sandwich and ate that. There was cheese on the patty of which I neglected to take a picture. The cheese had soaked into the bread quite a bit. Putting the patty melt in a plastic bag (crossing my fingers that it doesn’t release chemicals when exposed to heat) seems more environmentally friendly than placing the patty in its own paper box with plastic over it. Roughly several hundred to 1,000 single use paper boxes per day per student and, well, can it go on forever? Is there an unending supply of landfill space?

Confession: I’m a big fan of baked beans. They were my favorite food growing up. They tasted good to me today, a little on the sweet side. I don’t know what the ingredients are for these baked beans, but I have a can of Bush’s Best Maple Cured Bacon Baked Beans in my pantry and the ingredients are:

water, prepared white beans, sugar, mustard (vinegar, water, mustard seed, salt, natural flavor), maple cured bacon, salt, pure maple syrup, corn starch, onion powder, caramel color, tapioca maltodextrin, autolyzed yeast extract, bacon fat, natural flavors, and natural smoke flavor.

What is “maltodextrin,” “autolyzed yeast extract,” “natural smoke flavor,” and “natural flavors?” All wheat-based additives and MSG, correct? I almost distrust “natural flavors” more because I know something is being hidden from me…

it’s trash night here, but it’s trash day every day at school!

I liked the chips…

…but I’m a bigger fan of less processed popcorn

Popcorn is one of my favorite foods. I went through a stage post college where I ate a package of Pop Secret Homestyle microwave popcorn at least every other night. I wouldn’t do that now that I read ingredient labels (lots of trans fats) and also that many bags of microwave popcorn are lined with BPA (just like most canned goods). I will always love popcorn though!

***

Within the past few years, my school lost a teacher to a health problem no one knew about. He was close to retirement, but never made it. This man was “old school” in a teacher-behind-the-desk-work-copied-from-the-board kinda way. Had I judged him on his “traditional” ways and his decidedly 1970s glasses, I probably never would have had any conversations with him. Many new teachers dismissed him at a glance. But he and I became close because we were kind to each other.

He told me that I was different than other teachers (probably because I talked to him and treated him like a human being) and he gave me a small present for my son before he was born including a handwritten note on an index card that I still keep on my desk here at home. I’ll never forget his advice on parenting after I returned to work (he also had a son). He always had a laugh, a smile or a little comment for me in the hallway. Without fail he cheered me up. One time he explained his teaching philosophy to me in a sentence, “I take what each child gives me and I meet them there.” That was one of his many contributions to my life. I wish I had spent more time in his classroom.

I didn’t cry much at school the day we found out. I was in shock. Really? Him? But my sadness poured out randomly over the weeks and months following his death. In the car. Saying goodbye to a different coworker. Walking by his classroom. Other teachers sobbed that day. I couldn’t make eye contact with his closest friends in the school. Most people openly grieved. I wanted to as well, but I couldn’t.

The next school year, a new teacher took his place and re-did his “old school” room…completely. When I entered it for the first time, I could barely hold it together. I confided to someone how I felt and she said, “I know it’s hard. You know, I have grieved and knowing that he’s in a better place helps.” I’ll never forget him and his impact on my career. Here’s to you my old friend! I wish I could tell you about what I’m doing now. I’d love to hear your valuable perspective. I guess I’ll just have to assume that you’d love it. At least that’s what I’m going to pretend.

Day 142: chicken parm, liberty, and justice for all

School Lunches, , , , ,

Today’s menu: chicken parm, garlic bread, salad, fruit cup

So I looked down and today’s lunch (see first picture) and thought, “what are those white things?” They are onions in the tomato sauce on top of the chicken patty in case you wondered. The chicken tasted juicy; however, you can see that it’s not pure chicken meat. It’s mixed with some kind of filler to make it bouncier, airy almost.

spork tracks!

The garlic bread smelled divine. I haven’t had garlic bread in a very long time (now that I rarely eat bread), the last time being at least six months ago. I suggest roasting your own garlic if you want to make garlic bread at home. Roasting your own garlic is easy and the taste is out of this world (basically you will want to eat it alone!), but it does take about 30 minutes in the oven so you have to have a little time (you can prepare other stuff while you wait).

A food scientist somewhere has found a way to replicate the amazing aroma of garlic for school lunch garlic bread, but I doubt that any garlic was involved in the making of this bread. It tasted convincing actually.

It smelled too good to resist,
but what benefit does it provide?
I just have to wonder what does the garlic bread add to this lunch? I realize that they need a grain to meet the USDA requirements, but the enriched, bleached flour, butter additives, etc didn’t add much to my daily intake of nutrients.
my trash
Whenever I flew on an airplane as a child, my dad would yell at my sister and I to eat the airplane food because, “you don’t know when you are going to get fed again!” It sounded so dire when he put it that way and so we ate up. But I never had a problem eating most foods, because I wasn’t very picky (just hated tomatoes – until I was 25 years old!). But as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized it’s not that important to eat everything if it doesn’t feel truly nourishing. I used to polish off every last morsel of school lunch, but now I just can’t do that.
***
I love hearing the pledge every morning. But what I love more is hearing the kids say the pledge. Some of them almost sing it, others mumble it, some try whisper to their friends, other state it plain as day. My goal is to be fully present during those moments, but often times I’m thinking about what’s going to happen after the pledge, what I’m going to do next.
But when I’m present in those moments, I almost always get choked up. I take in the children’s expressions. Occasionally a kid will say the pledge with fervor or sing the anthem with passion and I just feel like crumbling. They love our country. They love coming to school. They love to sing the anthem. It all comes together.
“I pledge allegiance
to the Flag
of the United States of America,
and to the Republic
for which it stands,

one Nation
under God,
indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.”

Did you know that each school treats the pledge routine differently? Some schools have the principal read the pledge every morning over the PA, other schools have kids read it, other schools have other staff read it. Some have the anthem first, others have the pledge. Some schools have the kids sing the pledge over the PA, or a musically inclined staff member sings it live, and other schools use a recording and many children who are hard of hearing or deaf sign it. Sometimes the quality of the recording played over the speaker is bad.

Some schools stop everything when the pledge or anthem is playing on the speaker with no walking in the hallways or moving around in the classrooms, other schools demand simple silence, and even other schools just go about their business during the pledge and anthem as if nothing is happening. It’s really quite amazing how different schools are….in so many ways. If we can’t even standardize the pledge between schools, how can we change school lunches in a meaningful way for all students?

The pledge is actually sort of heavy lifting for most elementary school kids: concepts like “allegiance” and “justice” are tough to grasp. It’s not exactly kid-friendly (but of course important — I’m not saying it should be kid-friendly). How many classes try to break down the vocabulary from the pledge? Do they know what they are saying? Is it meaningful to them or are they going through the motions?

Here’s where I delve into another totally random thought I would never speak aloud… Wouldn’t it be great if once a month kids could hear a Muppets song over the PA? Not in place of the pledge, but maybe the last Friday of the month just before they head out for the weekend couldn’t they could hear some Gloria Estefan or something? How ’bout this blast from the past:

Not exactly peppy, but beautiful and contemplative. Can you tell that I was born in the 1970s and my mom was a hippie? Please forgive this randomness and thanks for indulging me….

Guest blog: School meals rules and regulations from the USDA

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A loyal reader (who wants to remain anonymous) compiled a terrific list of links for more information about school lunch from the USDA. If you want to learn more about school lunch, feel free to peruse this information. S/he looked it up because s/he felt it was important that I know more specifics about the policies. I agreed and thought why don’t we all learn together. I learned a lot from reviewing this information:
The basic information from the USDA:
Eligibility guidance for School Meals (policy for determining and verifying eligibility for free/reduced price meals)
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/guidance/eligibility_guidance.pdf
Food buying guide (purchasing for school meal programs, also includes information about the meal planning patterns and other resources)
http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/Resources/foodbuyingguide.html
Menu planner for school meals (different menu planning options, nutrient analysis, keeping menu planning records)
http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/Resources/menuplanner.html
also, a complete 10 hour curriculum for meal planning
http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/Resources/southdakotamenuplanningtools.html
Offer vs. serve regulations (information about the offer vs. serve regulations – in other words, the regulation that allows students to decline some food items)
http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/Resources/offer_v_serve.html
Recipes for school meals (also includes basics meal planning patterns)
http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/Resources/usda_recipes.html
School Lunch Fact Sheet (short Q &A fact sheet)
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Lunch/AboutLunch/NSLPFactSheet.pdf
S/he was unable to find a link to explain the funding for school meals. But added that basically funding is provided on a reimbursement basis. The school meal programs don’t get the funds “up front”. That means that the school meal program must fulfill all the obligations and regulations such as in the links above, serving an eligible meal (following all regulations as to planning, serving sizes and foods, correctly following Offer vs serve, if used, and so on) to an eligible student (enrolled in the school, any free/reduced applications properly done and so on), plus other administrative functions (such as record keeping). Monthly, the claim for reimbursement is sent to the state (if the state also contributes some funds) and federal governments. Then, based on the number of meals served, the reimbursement is paid.
Links with new, updated information:
Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report with suggestions to revise meal planning patterns. (complete 2010 report – warning: it’s 395 pgs!)
http://www.fns.usda.gov/ora/menu/published/CNP/FILES/SchoolMealsIOM.pdf 
A summary of the above report
http://www.eatrightmn.org/docs/IOM%20Report%20Final%20Slides%20%2011.24%20%20final-correct%20slide%20MDA.pdf
IOM website’s info about report:
http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2009/School-Meals-Building-Blocks-for-Healthy-Children.aspx
And the guest blogger recommends reading the book “Free for All – Fixing School Food in America” by Janet Poppendieck for more information about school lunch policy:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Free-for-All/Janet-Poppendieck/e/9780520243705/?itm=1&USRI=free+for+all+fixing+school+food+in+america+california
Per the guest blogger, these links address the food and some of the financial considerations(and even this doesn’t cover everything – there’s more – things like how food allergies and special needs must be handled and so on) . The food and menu are a big part of school meals (obviously), yet even all this doesn’t even start to address the crowded cafeterias, the too short mealtimes, the lack of recess, education about nutrition, the food system and respect for the food and all the other areas that impact meals/food, at school and elsewhere.

Open thread: Great question

Open threads, ,
This week a reader asked:

True story of the day: My second-grade daughter was a lunch helper at school today. With that she earned a treat. I think it is great that she earned a reward for helping in the lunchroom. It was 2 cookies and a chocolate milk. So guess what she chose to eat for lunch? The “treat” or the home-packed turkey sandwich, cucumbers (which she typically loves), and grapes? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bugged. How would you feel about that situation? What would you do?

Please help answer the question here or over at Lunch with Mrs. Q…. And I’ll be chilling out there to chat with you on Sunday night sometime after 8:30 pm CST

My response:

First, make sure to praise your daughter for a job well done. That’s why she got the reward and it needs to be acknowledged (I’d love to know how she helped in the lunchroom).

Then reinforce to her that cookies are for eating after lunch. I wonder if she didn’t have time to eat the sandwich. That’s the problem with food rewards for children: they typically eat them before healthy foods.

It’s worth a discussion with the classroom teacher. Ask about the food reward policy. Make sure that the classroom teacher is aware that your daughter didn’t have the opportunity to eat the lunch you packed. Depending on how you feel about your child’s school and how open it is, you could stop by the cafeteria and chat about the food reward system. Chocolate milk and TWO cookies seems excessive considering the short amount of time most schools allocate towards lunchtime (at home I typically limit myself to two cookies after dinner, but we eat dinner at a leisurely pace and then have ample time for dessert — it’s not the rush, rush of a school cafeteria). What kind of heavy lifting did she do?

Stickers are much better rewards for kids and in this case could be cheaper (although the cookies and milk are subsidized by the government). Maybe the PTA could subsidize the reward system in the cafeteria by providing some excellent stickers (like the large ones at the doctor’s office). The great thing about stickers is that they last all day and can be shown off long after lunchtime is over.

What are your thoughts?

Guest Blogger: Eating Rules visits Olivewood Gardens

Guest Blogs, ,
Andrew Wilder is a healthy foodie who thinks Eating Rules! He believes that although health and nutrition information is complicated, eating healthful, delicious food doesn’t have to be.
Recently I had a unique opportunity to visit the Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center, an urban, organic garden in National City, California, just south of San Diego.
Olivewood Gardens’ mission is to educate students, teachers, families, and volunteers to be healthy and active citizens. It is a destination for children from the surrounding urban community to explore connections between plants and history, science, art, literature, math, and nutrition, where learning is centered within the context of an organic garden. Organic produce is grown and harvested for nutrition classes, cooking demonstrations, and workshops.
I caught up with Amy Carstensen, the Executive Director, at her home in San Diego. It was lunchtime for her two young boys, and they had in front of them vegetable soup, sugar snap peas, and peanut butter sandwiches (sans jelly) on whole wheat bread. Amy asked them, “Does our food come from the farm or the factory?” Both enthusiastically replied “Farm!”  (Lest you fear that Amy is depriving the boys of any junk-food joy in their formative years, yes, they went trick-or-treating and yes, they have an occasional factory-produced snack.)
Once the boys had finished lunch, we headed south to the Learning Center, which is perched on a hill at the end of an unassuming residential street. A bright-yellow, impossibly-quaint Victorian manor serves as the centerpiece of this seven-acre property, surrounded by gardens, lush grass, a chicken coop, and a few stately palm trees to remind us we’re in Southern California.
Their operation is relatively new — just a couple of years in the making. The home, originally built in 1896, was purchased ninety years later by Wal-Mart heirs John and Christy Walton, who created an organic garden there to help their son successfully defeat cancer with a nutritious, vegetable-based diet.
In 2006 the Waltons donated the property to the International Community Foundation, with the request that they keep and maintain the garden. Through a serendipitous series of events (both good and bad), the ICF was able to expand it into a flourishing program.
 
On one side of the house is a half-acre demonstration garden, showcasing what people could do in their own backyards or patios: Dozens of plants in above-ground planter boxes, rows of tomatoes, a flower tunnel, a “pizza garden” (all the ingredients you need for pizza toppings, in the shape of pie slices), and even an unassuming, un-oderous compost pile.
On the other side, a gently-sloping hillside presents row upon row of vegetables.  My favorite?  The line of Brussels sprouts (which I had never actually seen growing before) — delightfully Seussian! A fruit orchard is in the works, too.
They also have a chicken coop, of course, with a flock of eighteen ladies and a handsome rooster, appropriately named Oliver.
Amy then took me into their demonstration kitchen. The home’s original kitchen is just large enough for ten kids to gather ’round and learn how to make Pumpkin Lasagna with Swiss Chard.
Wait, what? Fifth graders are making Pumpkin Lasagna with Swiss Chard? With a little help from the adults, yes. More importantly, they’re eating it — and wanting more.  And that just happened to be the most recent presentation in the kitchen (apparently their pumpkin patch was prolific this year). 
With the help of more than 60 chefs volunteering their time and expertise in both in the garden and the kitchen, along with many other volunteers, Olivewood Gardens has already served over 2,000 people in their community.
This isn’t just a one-time field trip for the kids, either. They visit four times a year, so they build a relationship with this place and with the food that they are growing, harvesting, and eating.
As a former teacher, Amy understands the requirements of the education system (curriculum! testing!), so she’s been sure their program fits directly into the grade-specific curriculums. 
Before their visit to the gardens, Amy and her crew offer a science-based, in-class lesson for the kids. During their visit, a class will be split into three groups of ten, and over the course of their two-hour field trip will spend time both in the garden — getting their hands dirty, planting and harvesting — and in the kitchen.  They make sure that every kid goes home with a recipe, too.
Near the end of my visit, I asked Amy about school gardens. Although she’s supportive, of course, she pointed out a big logistical problem — they are usually started by a dedicated teacher or parent, and when that person moves on, the school is likely to end up with a brown field if no one new steps up.  The advantage of Olivewood Gardens — and others like it — is that it is its own entity, and will last beyond just the one volunteer’s contribution.
Before we parted ways, I asked Amy for a call to action. First, she said that we need to focus on “doing better,” not necessarily “best.”  (A philosophy I frequently espouse on my own site.)  She also suggested that people create a “salad club” at their work or school. Once or twice a week, try having a communal salad day — everyone brings in some fresh, salad ingredients, and you make a huge salad that you all share.
Perhaps most importantly, parents must go to their kids’ schools and see what’s really happening in the cafeteria.  Food isn’t always what it seems (good or bad), and you can’t really tell from the menu what is really on offer.  The bottom line?  Parents need to be active and involved.
What I love most about Olivewood Gardens is its optimism. The historic house, the well-kept and flourishing gardens, and the entire community are all working to help kids understand where their food comes, and why fresh, wholesome food is so wonderful.
Olivewood Gardens is funded by grants, corporations, and personal donations. To learn more, please visit the Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center website, become a fan on their Facebook page, and please consider making a donation to support their important work.

Guest blogger: Good Guide

Guest Blogs, ,
As a nutrition professional who spent most of her time in graduate school studying how schools can help prevent obesity, I’m honored to be contributing to Mrs. Q’s blog. I’m sure many of her readers will agree with me when I say that the “behind the scenes” perspective provided through this blog is invaluable and frankly, unavailable elsewhere. I started following Mrs. Q back in January, and so have watched the blog evolve to cover food and nutrition issues beyond school lunch. Recently, there were two posts on corporations, one general post about Nature’s Path and another open thread inquiring which companies we trusted. Based on the comments on these posts, it’s clear that there’s a desire to support companies that are trustworthy. 
To me, this desire is a sign that we’ve begun to realize that our shopping decisions influence the marketplace. We, as consumers, can get companies to make better products by selectively purchasing products we want from corporations that represent our values. Sometimes, though, it’s incredibly challenging to figure out which companies are really reputable. The company I work for, GoodGuide, is trying to support that exact goal. Our mission is to help consumers make better purchasing decisions – better in terms of the product’s healthfulness, impact on the environment, and influence on society. 
We do this by rating a wide array of consumer products on hundreds of health, environmental, and social attributes. For food, the health scores are based primarily on the nutrition facts panel, while the environment and social scores are based on company-level data. The ratings fall on a 0-10 scale, with higher scoring products representing better purchases. Here’s an example that highlights what I mean:
Annie’s Homegrown Organic Macaroni and Cheese
GoodGuide Overall Score: 6.6 (Health: 5.6, Environment: 7.9, Social: 6.2)
Kraft, Original Supermac Macaroni and Cheese Dinner
GoodGuide Overall Score: 5.2 (Health: 4.8, Environment: 5.2, Social: 5.6)
From this example, you can see that the while the health scores are somewhat similar (Annie’s does slightly better because the product is certified organic by the USDA), it’s the environmental and social scores that really push up Annie’s product. You can do product comparisons in many different categories, including breakfast cereal, pasta, baby food, and 15,000 other food products. Additionally, you can how companies rate on a whole host of metrics (see how Nature’s Path does).
I will be the first to say that GoodGuide makes some necessary assumptions. (If you’re curious, I invite you to read about GoodGuide’s ratings approach and history). When it comes to food, we mostly focus on packaged goods, as these are the items with UPC codes and nutrition data that can be analyzed. We do rate fresh items when possible, and these products usually score the highest on the rating spectrum. My hope is that people will compare products between categories and realize that the more processed foods aren’t the way to go. It’s important to be realistic though – that’s not the way most Americans eat. If GoodGuide can help people make small switches, it’s the first step towards improving health and supporting companies that deserve our hard-earned money.

*** NOTE from Mrs. Q: I receive no payment for guest blogs. I like to feature people, products, and ideas that are related to food and that interest me on days that I don’t have regular content to share. ***Sheila Viswanathan, as part of GoodGuide’s Science team, focuses on rating food products and educating individuals on how to make healthier dietary choices. She received her doctoral degree in Nutrition and Public Health from Teachers College, Columbia University and is certified as a registered dietitian. GoodGuide, based in San Francisco, California, seeks to provide authoritative information about the health, environmental and social performance of products and companies. Over 60,000 personal care products, household chemicals, toys, food, and paper products are currently rated by GoodGuide.

Day 141: hamburger and "year round" school

School Lunches, , , , , ,

Today’s menu: hamburger, whole wheat buns, broccoli, banana, ketchup

I’ve had this meal many times before just like most of the other lunches I’ve eaten. I was a little surprised to have broccoli again today considering I just had it yesterday, but I think it was a last minute substitution. It was in sharp contrast to the broccoli from yesterday. That broccoli was brighter in color and this poor broccoli looks like it had a hard day.

It’s mystery meat but no surprise to me!
Trashy trash

my finger snuck into the shot…
now I’m going to have to cut it off so as not to out myself
***
Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day so there is no school for me. I know many schools don’t cancel school for this holiday, but my district does. Then on Friday the teachers have a professional development day so it’s a non-attendance day for students yet again. I feel like there are a lot of professional development days on the calendar, especially in the first half of the school year. I feel some guilt over it because I worry the students aren’t getting a lot of academics at home. Selfishly though I like my teacher inservice days because I do learn something (not always, but most of the time) and I can get a lot of paperwork and organizing done in my room.
A reader sent me a link to an article: Year-Round School Gains Ground in US. I discussed this before on the blog, but I wanted to revisit it.
First of all, “year-round” school is a misnomer. Basically, it’s just a shorter summer. In my district there are already many schools doing it and it only means that summer vacation is just about six weeks long instead of 10-11 weeks. Those other weeks off are sprinkled throughout the year. One of my friends works that schedule and she told me she loves it. She is single, at least 25 years older than me, and travels all over the world with any spare time she has. She has always wanted to travel in the Fall, but she never could because she was working. Now she gets a two-week break in September/October and can jet off to exotic locales all four seasons.
But the change in the school calendar is being put in place not for teachers to take vacations: it’s so that students benefit from a shorter summer off. I see regression in skills come September. Many of the students I work with are not getting a chance to do much with themselves over the summer. Even with a plethora of park district programs available, my students’ families can’t afford them or if they can, they don’t have transportation. My students play too many video games at home. It’s surprising how many people have multiple gaming systems. I may never understand that as an adult, but I do remember being obsessed with my friend’s Super Mario Nintendo game in fifth grade. It’s powerful stuff and luckily for me my mom banned video gaming systems from the house. It seemed positively Draconian, but now video games at home are even more ubiquitous.
I think that another reason “year-round” schedules are powerful is that children have trouble with transitions. I also have difficulty with the dramatic transition from crazy school days in June to boring laundry at home. Alternately the build-up of my anxiety with the start of school in August is overwhelming (although I might be a special case). Regardless, if kids are in school more often, the transitions would not be as big and potentially scary.
The article mentions at the end that many ELL (English Language Learners) spend the summer months immersed in their home language and that the transition back to English can be challenging. I would say that the typical child with average abilities and literate and supportive parents can handle going back and forth in two languages. It’s the kids with special needs who are learning two languages who can’t readily slide between the two languages.
One of my coworkers is of Mexican descent and speaks perfect English and Spanish. I asked him if his parents spoke Spanish at home and he told me that they didn’t. So I followed up, “Where did you learn Spanish?” He replied, “My siblings and I spent every summer with abuela and I learned how to speak Spanish because that’s all she knew.” So shortening summer in his case would have meant that he lost out on an amazing experience with his abuela (grandma). Changing to a “year-round” school schedule is not a plain and simple decision.

Day 140: chicken nuggets and catching up with Mr. Q

School Lunches, , , , ,

Today’s menu: chicken “fingers,” broccoli, apple, bread (kids take two for their two servings of grain)

Hey, not a bad lunch! Fresh broccoli and fresh apples. The chicken finger/nuggets were on the dry side, but allright…I’m concerned that they have the same kind of fillers that chicken nuggets have just with a different name. Interesting article on the chemicals in fast food chicken. I wonder if any of those ingredients are in my food.

Let me out! I’m broccoli yearning to be free!

I poured the broccoli straight into my mouth. I meant to have a good look around the cafeteria to see if the broccoli was eaten or thrown away, but I got distracted. I’m thrilled to see fresh broccoli and I’m also happy that there is less packaging associated with this veggie side than others.

***

My husband could be described as a “non-cook.” He can boil water, fry eggs, and use a microwave. Mr. Q does know how to make one special dish, but he hasn’t cooked it in more than a year. Daily meal prep is what I do and I love to cook.

I have encouraged him when he has mentioned an interest in cooking. He told me before that he is intimidated by some recipes and when we have cooked together before (years ago) he wanted to measure everything perfectly. I also am intimidated by a lot of recipes so I understand. Recently, we went to the library and my husband picked up a book:
My husband checked out a cookbook!
Hubby loves to eat Indian food and he told me why not learn how to cook what he enjoys?  Then he went out and bought a fish:
a whole fish on the kitchen table!
Last week we cooked together for the first time since our son was born. He did the fish and I did the veggies and rice. The kid was strapped in the high chair and demanded samples while we bustled around. I can’t begin to tell you how much I enjoyed myself having my husband by my side in the kitchen. Usually it’s me by myself rushing around while my husband plays with our son in the other room. It’s great to have company in the kitchen. (He braised the fish whole — google “braised fish” for a wealth of truly easy recipes — delicious result!)
Over dinner I asked my husband, “Do you want to start a blog about your adventures in cooking?”
He said, “I have no interest in sharing my cooking with anyone but you.” I respect that so I didn’t snap a picture of the final product.
Later I asked, “Does your new-found interest in cooking have anything to do with Fed Up With Lunch?”
He thought about it for a little while, “Well, our family is undergoing a food transformation and most likely it’s related.” Then he paused and said, “If nothing else comes out of your blog, at least our family is eating better.” I was a little verklempt.
For more information on Mr. Q, he answered your questions in May.