Easy Apples for Kids

Burger King (shockingly) inspired me! They have/had the option of doing apples that look like fries. I thought it was genius. My kids love anything that looks like a fry.

I have had the problem, and maybe you have too, where EVERYTHING that is healthy is hard for a baby/toddler to eat. One of my little guys has hated apples because they are hard for him to eat.

Soooo, as I was moseying around Ross one day, I ran across this fry cutter!
I.LOVE.IT. I actually use it. It gets my kids excited about everything (because they look like fries!) It has mad things so much easier for my kids to eat, and even better, they eat it quickly!

Green Bags

Have you ever seen these before??? Can I just tell you that if you eat lots of produce, these.are.a.MUST!!!! I am 100% in love with these!

There are 10 "small" bags (really not so small, like normal produce bag size) and 10 BIG bags. They are reusable up to 10 times....and probably even beyond.

We eat LOADS of fresh produce and we haven't even used all of these once yet.

You wanna know HOW amazing these are??? Well, usually when I buy parsley, it is bad within a day or 2....mine has been sitting in my green bag, in the fridge...FOR OVER a week! No joke!

I bought strawberries, again, I didn't wash them just dumped them in to the bag, they were getting kinda ripe so I was worried. We ate them (after about 1 1/2 weeks in the fridge) before they got too ripe!

Spinach has been sitting in one of my large bags, oh...for about a month now. It STILL isn't bad! I just use it when I want to. Green onions, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes....seriously, SO.MANY.THINGS!!!!!!

I have found that there are some things that really don't work in there and usually they are things that you have to peel, like oranges and banana's. They ripen just the same for me.

Have you tried them???

Freezing Veggies

I often buy a whole bag of green onions or sweet onions or garlic and don't use all of it. I don't like letting things go to waste OR I find a REALLY good deal and I want to stoke up but veggies don't last. SOOOO, I freeze them.

So far in the last couple months I have gotten garlic, green onions, green, red and yellow bell peppers, sweet onions, red onions and strawberries.

How do I do it? I cut them into pieces, or with garlic I separate them and put them on some tinfoil (pictured below) put them in my freezer for about 5 hours and then take them off and put them in freezer bags or ziplocks. Stick em in your freezer and use them as you need. I LOVE THIS!

The GREAT Invention of Puree'd Beans

Since my confession about not eating healthy while I am pregnant, I have decided to be as healthy as POSSIBLE! While I do eat simple fruits and veggies I CRAVE...not so healthy things.

My mom introduced me to pureed white beans.

I have substituted them for Crisco, butter and oil and EVERY time it has worked out A.MAZINGLY!!! We have LOVED everything we have made. Our cookies called for 1 cup of Crisco (vomit) and we substituted it for 1 cup of pureed Navy Beans. Our muffins called for 6 T of butter, again, all 6 for beans and they were also FABULOUS!

I have this problem though...if I make a treat I eat ALL of them. I had to make some cupcakes so I OBVIOUSLY substituted the 1/3 cup of oil for 1/3 cup of pureed beans and NOBODY could tell. I only needed a few though so I made mini ones to keep and FREEZE. That way I would only eat them when when I wanted one, rather than ever time I see one! ....so here you have it, not healthy but MORE healthy.

Healthy, Home-made School Lunch's

I thought this was an AWESOME idea for back to school lunch's. Check it out!

http://www.theidearoom.net/2010/08/kids-home-lunch-ideas.html

Healthy Tip

MOVE!

If you want to feel more healthy. MOVE. Really in any way you can. Get off the computer. Turn off the tv. Run around with your kids or go "RUN" some errands. Do something standing if you watch tv or do some crunches. Keep moving as much as you can and set aside some time to REALLY exercise!

Healthy Tip

Are you eating healthy but don't feel like you are losing weight?

In "Resources for Foundations in Nutrition: Power Tools" they talk about eating a high fiber diet. They say that if you don't drink enough water you can be bloated, have gas, and more.

Also, Dr. Oz :) says that to get a correct weight on the scale you should drink plenty of water the day before.

I have noticed a HUGE difference when I drink water...not only in how I look but how I feel. Try it!

Healthy Tip

We are all gonna need to make treats at some point. If I make cookies I usually cook as many as I need and freeze the rest. That way when I want a treat I can take them out of the freezer. They are already in rolls so I just cut off ONE and cook it. Then I put the roll back in the freezer. If I bake a whole thing of treats I EAT THEM ALL! I do the same with brownies except: you bake the brownies. Cut them into small squares and put them in freezer bags in the freezer. Then you can take them out one by one and warm them in the microwave. They are still as good as ever.

Healthy Tip

We eat a LOT of beans. Why?

#1. They are cheap.
#2. They are SO healthy.

I go as cheap as possible and buy them dry. I make massive amounts of beans and then freeze them so I always have them on hand. We generally only eat kidney and black beans. Maybe one day we will go out of the box and try some new ones.

Here is what I do.

#1 Get 2 lbs of beans.
#2 Soak them over night (follow directions on back of bag)
#3 Boil them for 1 hour and 40 minutes.
#4 Put them in 2 cup Ziploc freezer containers.

#5 Let them cool.

#6 Put them in the freezer for whenever you need them.

Healthy Tip

Selecting meat....

Generally the leanest meat is chicken or fish. I don't cook with much fish because I cant afford it.

What do you do when you get sick of chicken. Go for the lean ground beef and ground turkey.

BUY IT ON SALE. I wait until the 93% lean ground beef goes on sale and buy them out!

I come home and cook 2/3 of it(strain and rinse):
1/3 of it into taco meat and store it in meal size portions in the freezer.
1/3 into plain, cooked ground beef in 1 lb portions and store it in the freezer.
the rest of it I store raw in 1 lb portions in the freezer.

93% lean Ground Turkey:
This is what I buy when I can't find the ground beef on sale (Wal-mart). It is generally under $2 a pound but it comes in those nasty plastic things. I usually come home and store in the same way I do the ground beef. In the pic above I found it at Sam's Club....YIPPEE!

Healthy Tip

I LOVE food!

...so when my husband suggested we share a Cafe Rio salad I thought he was CRAZY. I tried it and we will NEVER go back. Restaurants have such large portions and we have become accustom to it. Don't get me wrong my husband is a BIG eater....but we have found that we are completely satisfied when we only eat 1/2. I am not kidding. Every time we go out to eat, we split it. We have never gone away hungry. NEVER!

Try it, you may be a skeptic but you will never go back. PLUS you save $$$

Healthy Tip

What is the best way to buy lettuce? Don't buy iceberg....period!

Iceberg has VERY little health value. Buy spinach or a spring mix instead. Even Romain would be better.

We generally use spinach for salad, sandwiches, casseroles and pretty much anything else we can put it in.

If you have a hard time swallowing darker leafy greens, buy the iceberg and then cut the spinach into small shreds and add it in.

Here is a website I found that backs my theory....I love it when that happens :).

Healthy Tip

When your kids need a snack give them healthy cereal instead of crackers. We buy big bags of cereal when they are on sale and my son LOVES to eat them as treats.

Healthy Tip

Eat whole grains, eat whole grains, eat whole grains, eat whole grains, eat whole grains!!!!!!!

The end!

Just kidding. Why eat whole grains????

It may be more expensive to buy but in the end it is really cheaper. This is how....

When you eat whole grains you get full more quickly than when you eat "non" whole grains. Therefore, you eat less so you buy less AND you eat less so you gain less. On top of that you feel better and you have more energy. Try it. Try it and you may I say :).

Examples of whole grains: Whole wheat breads, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, and corn tortillas.

Healthy Tips

Ever since I have leaned this tip (about 6 years ago) I have used it and L.O.V.E it! When you are shopping remember this simple way to calculate if the food is high, moderate or low in calories from fat.

Here we go:
Calories from fat / (devided by) Calories X (times) 100 = % calories from fat

Looks hard....well its not!

Example: Lowfat Strawberry Yogurt

Calories: 200
Calories from Fat: 10

10/200=.05

.05 X 100 = 5%

So what does 5% mean?

High Fat: >35% calories from fat
Moderate Fat: 25-35% cal's from fat
Low Fat: <25% Info from: Jennifer Turley, Ph.D. and Joan S. Thompson, Ph.D., R.D., C.D., Resources for Foundations in Nutrition: Power Tools. 2002.

Healthy Tip

I generally DO NOT us coupons. Why? Most coupons are for food that is not healthy. It is as simple as that. If I clip coupons I generally by crap food. There usually are not coupons for fruits, veggies and whole grains. HOWEVER, I have checked coupons.com and they have had coupons for whole wheat pasta lately. Check it out. You can print up to two.

Healthy Tip

PLAN YOUR MEALS!

I have started to plan my meals on Saturday before I go shopping. I pick about 5-7 things to make and I buy all the ingredients JUST for those 5-7 meals. Why do I do this?

1. I have saved SO much money!

2. I eat SO much more healthy.

If you don't buy things that aren't healthy you WON'T eat them. Therefore saving you money.

Also, this last week I didn't plan meals and we ended up with pizza and Taquito's. When you don't have something healthy planned you go for the easiest thing.

So, plan you meals!