As you know I’m a huge proponent of real food, Outside of the Box. You also know that I believe it’s really important to feed kids real food as soon as they can start eating it. For the past couple of months, I’ve had the pleasure of helping Derek, Christie, and Baby Olivia with healthy, simple meals. Baby Olivia is a really good eater: Beets, avocados (her fave), carrots, pretty much all veggies, fruits, and even quinoa. Realizing that she may enjoy a cracker now and again. I decided to show them how to whip up her very own cheese crackers — no Goldfish or Cheez-Its — Outside of the Box goodness. She really enjoyed them and so did we.
Recipe forthcoming in the second edition of “Shop, Cook, Eat: Outside of the Box.”
Chrisetta Mosley
I am a product – and now a survivor – of childhood obesity. As a child, my family always told me that my extra weight was merely baby fat and I’d eventually grow out of it. I never did. Instead, my childhood is filled with memories of not being able to ride a bike, flattening its training wheels from being over the recommended weight, and avoiding P.E. classes by any means necessary. For years, I wore my fatness like a wounded soldier wears a Purple Heart - with pride. I owned the look. I dressed it up. I worked the room. There wasn't a skinny girl who intimidated me. I made sure my hair was laid just right. Nails polished. Outfits coordinated to the tee. Accessories to compliment every outfit. But everyone has a breaking point, and mine came in the spring of 2004 when I tipped the scale at nearly 400 pounds 388 to be exact. I was MISERABLE trapped inside of that body. I no longer wore my Purple Heart with pride. Rather, I was ashamed and frightened. Ashamed that I had allowed food to become my everything – frightened I would die because of it. Drastic times called for drastic measures... Today, I’m bound and determined to live a better, healthier, active lifestyle. I realize I’m no longer a passenger in my life, I’m the driver. I’m overcoming my inhibitions and I’m slowly but surely saying farewell to my old childhood nemesis, obesity. For once and for all, Farewell Fatso!