Theresa Albert is a nutritionist, best-selling cookbook author, and Food Network personality, and we're thrilled to have her with us for the next few weeks to provide her unique brand of cooking and nutritional knowledge. I shared with some of my colleagues the fact that I am working with the Chicken Farmers of Canada to help Canadians get wholesome, simple meals on their tables.  Luckily, my colleagues are some of the smartest, busiest women and mothers around. Even more luckily, they agreed to let me mine their lives and share their tips for doing just that.  What you will find over the next 6 blogs are those interviews.  The names have not been changed to protect the innocent; in fact, they are proudly displayed so we can all see that every family has its way of doing things and learn from each other! This edition’s interviewee:  Julie Cole Julie Cole is the Co-Founder of Mabel’s Labels Inc. (www.mabel.ca) and the proud mother of six. You can read her blogs at www.mabelhood.com/JulieCole and www.thebabymachine.com Follow her on Twitter @juliecole. Theresa: You run a successful enterprise plus parent 6 kids; can you share some thoughts on how you feel about the dinner hour? Julie: Well, I call the dinner hour “feeding time at the zoo”, so that will give you some indication of what dinner is like in my house! We have a very busy household full of active kids between the ages of one-year-old and 10 years-old. I actually feed the children quite early and they do eat separately from me and their Dad during the week. I understand that it is not ideal but it works for our family. My husband works late, and by the time he is home, some kids are already off at soccer games and dance classes. Plus, when the children come home from school, they are always hungry. I try to take advantage of that and get a healthy meal into them then, rather than having them snack. Theresa: Even when you are rushing around to soccer, ballet, music lesson or hockey how do you plan so you don’t have to resort to fast food? Julie: Planning is the key. I do find that feeding them before heading out to their activities cuts down on having to resort to fast food. That’s not to say they don’t get the odd Timbit thrown at them on the way home from baseball, but I always have snacks from home on hand. And keep in mind, fast food is not actually all that convenient for a big family – imagine a handful of kids all trying to eat meals in the car – it makes for a lot of garbage and it actually ends up being quite expensive. Theresa: When you do order fast food, what are the healthier choices? Julie: On the occasion that we do get fast food, I’m not really thinking healthy. Sure, I’ll make them get milk instead of pop with their fries, but they certainly are not swapping their burgers for salads. My kids generally order chicken anyways so although it may be breaded or fried, I’m counting on them getting some decent protein from the chicken itself. Theresa: Do you have a secret, “go-to”chicken recipe that pleases most of your kids and comes together easily so you can sit down to dinner? Julie: Not so much a secret, but my kids love dishes like Rogan Josh with chicken, as well as butter chicken. I love that I can make them in big batches and put them in the freezer. They freeze well and my kids will gobble it up! That makes life a lot easier for this busy mom entrepreneur! Theresa’s Wrap Up I want to be one of your kids, Julie! It sounds like loving, artful mayhem. I think you have it right on the money that a decent meal before activities beats snacking hands down. It’s pretty impressive that your kids like Indian flavours, you must have started them at a young age. A snack really has to be considered fuel that keeps the body going and blood sugar even so that an active child can stay that way (without the meltdown). Bringing snacks from home like whole grain crackers and pieces of fruit sure would beat the expense of fast food and the activity of ducking those Timbits! Thanks for your insight. DINNER - PLANNING AHEAD/VIDEO Planning ahead for dinner is important to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Nutritionist, best-selling cookbook author and Food Network personality Theresa Albert shows how to make a double batch of aromatic butter chicken, with lower-fat ingredient options. httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYrPvmxKFUo