Organic meals prompt trip to see Oprah

Few kids get this excited to see bread.

Squeals of excitement met the sweet aroma of yeast on Tuesday as Michele Sheets dug her knife into freshly baked bread.

As her 3-year-old held up a slice, she swiveled back to the bread machine to retrieve another pan of dough. Taking her rolling pin from her daughter, she set to kneading it with practiced ease.

No sweat.

"I cheat with the bread machine by using the dough cycle," she confessed with a laugh as she flicked on flour. "I have five kids. I can't make every single thing from scratch."

And yet, she very nearly does.

The 33-year-old mother insists that it's easier than it sounds, the family making its own bread from fresh-ground wheat, fixing its own salad dressing from organic yogurt and mayonnaise, growing vegetables in its own garden.

Her five tots even help collect eggs from the chickens in the backyard pen.

"They're learning where food comes from, not from a grocery store or a package," she said.

Maybe it's because of their all-natural diet that the five Sheets children, ranging from 1 to 8, are so cheerful, healthy and well behaved.

Michele is at least convinced that organic living is giving them a better future.

"I want my kids to live a long, happy life, and certain foods can contribute to behavioral problems, illness and diabetes," she said. "I don't personally want to be responsible for that for my children."

It's that attitude that landed her a free ticket to see Oprah.

The brunette housewife, who also works part-time from home as a market research analyst, won free tickets to her favorite show last month after writing in about the organic lifestyle she labors to provide for her family.

"It was so exciting," she said. "Nothing like that happens to stay-at-home moms in Idaho."

She looked into getting tickets for Oprah when she heard that her favorite celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, was slated to be on to discuss organic cooking. But Michele was dismayed to find that thousands apply for the lottery-selected seats.

She settled for writing to the show about her family's lifestyle and how much nutrition means to her.

"I didn't think I'd hear anything back. I've written Oprah 100 letters," she said.

But shortly after, Harpo Productions called with the news that Oprah had read the letter and set aside free tickets for Michele and a friend to attend the Feb. 18 show in Chicago.

"Her immediate reaction was, 'We just can't afford it, the cost of airfare and the hotels,'" said her husband, Jeff. "So I told her to think about it, and while she was at her MOPS meeting, I booked the airfare and hotels and lined up the cabs. When she came home, I said 'It's too late, I booked all the stuff, so you've got to go now or we're going to lose a lot of money.'"

It was worth it, Michele said.

The early morning shoot included some pleasant surprises, like being called ahead of the crowd to be seated in the third row behind Ryan Seacrest, the American Idol host.

But for Michele, the peak thrill was watching Oliver prepare an organic meal and discuss the dangers of an unhealthy diet.

"It was so appalling. They brought out these giant caskets and said there's a huge market for them now because people are so obese," she said, adding the show aired last week.

Good nutrition is an issue that Michele, who grew up on processed and fast foods, has been keenly aware of since about four years ago.

At the time, her newborn second child was suffering a nasty allergic reaction to Michele's milk.

"It was something I was eating. I worked with the doctor taking everything out of my diet," she said. "That's when I started cooking everything from scratch."

Now she's an expert, Jeff said.

In addition to home schooling her children, Michele prepares nearly every meal from scratch with all organic food, be it pizza or waffles.

"She's extremely well organized," Jeff said. "She will sit down after the kids are in bed on a weekend night and she'll line out the complete menu for the week, so when she goes to the grocery store she only gets exactly what she needs."

He sees the effect it has on the children: They prefer green beans to hamburgers, and they know the ingredients of everything they eat.

The family isn't "granola," he emphasized. Just healthy.

"It's really about making the right choices, and teaching our kids to make the right choices," he said. "They'll grow up knowing what it's like to eat real food, and hopefully they'll pass that on to their kids."