....Okay, I wouldn't exactly call myself a health nut...but lately I've been a lot more health conscious about things. I'm not sure why...but I think it might have something to do with my obsessively picky-eater...AKA: Spencer. He would live on cereal, peanut butter, celery, milk and fruit snacks and be perfectly happy. He rarely eats dinner because he just doesn't like it. (That's right, he'd rather go hungry all night long than try one bite of his dinner. It drives me CRAZY!)
As I've been dealing with this I've also been evaluating the things our family eats. My kids are growing and I'm having to buy more and more snacks which is becoming rather pricey. I'm definitely tired of spending the money but I'm also tired of seeing ingredient lists 30 lines long of things I don't know. Additionally, implementing more veggies has recently become a must around here. I love vegetables...well...except broccoli. But almost all other veggies I love! I just wish the other members of my family - ahem, Kyle - would be a little more enthusiastic about them. With these things in mind, I've started making a few changes around here.
For instance, I joined a farmer's market co-op. It costs $15 every 2 weeks and we rotate going down to the Dallas Farmer's Market. I've gotten two boxes so far, and I LOVE it! Picking up my produce box is like receiving a Christmas present every two weeks! I love being surprised at what's in the box. This has definitely helped me focus meals around fruits and veggies.
We've also been super blessed to receive all our beef from cows raised on the ranch my dad partly owns. It seriously makes a world of difference in quality, taste and nutrition, I'm not sure the last time I even bought beef from a grocery store.
I'm sick and tired of all the sugar, high fructose corn syrup (sorry, I don't care what the commercials say!) and preservatives that are in snacks like granola bars, cereal bars, fruit snacks, etc. SO...I decided that for now, I'll be making all snacks. Sure, they will have some sugar in them, but at least this way, I know exactly what we're eating. Here are a few things I've tried and come up with...
Fruit and veggies with dip - My kids are major dippers, so a few carrots or celery sticks and some ranch dressing, or cut up fruit with yogurt and they will go at it. I found some sugar-free caramel topping at the grocery store and let the kids have that with some fruit with dinner tonight. They loved it!
Dried fruit has now replaced fruit snacks. Today I let Spencer pick out some Craisins at the grocery store because he wanted "the same ones Grandma has." He loves them! If it's on sale, I'll splurge and get yogurt-covered dried fruit.
I stuck a bowl of pistachios on our kitchen table. My picky kid loves to crack them open and pop them in his mouth, plus this is a snack he can easily access that I don't care if he eats.
Pudding or yogurt pops - My kids love frozen Go-Gurts so I figured why shouldn't I start freezing my own yogurt or pudding in molds? A little cheaper and an instant success!
Homemade "Lunchables." (Crackers, cheese, lunch meat) Janelle likes these, but Spencer won't even touch cheese let alone lunch meat, so he just ends up with crackers. :) Janelle came home one day from school asking me if I could buy her one of these because lots of her friends at school eat them, I patiently explained to her that they were not very good for you, but that I would love to make her a homemade one. She bought it. :)
Homemade Muffins (zucchini, banana, peanut butter, blueberry)- Spencer is kind of iffy on muffins. Sometimes he loves them, other times he won't touch them. So I just experiment with them. I also usually replace oil with 1/2 applesauce (no sugar added) and 1/2 canola oil. I cannot taste the difference at all.
Flavored milk - I don't mind letting my kids have a little powdered chocolate or strawberry flavor in their milk, it helps them drink more of it. (Yup, milk is very important to me...I'd love to go organic on milk, but in reality it's just too pricey for the amount we go through in a week. Occasionally I buy it when it's on sale, but that's not very often.) I made the mistake of buying a pack of those small Horizon's Vanilla Milk boxes to stick in Janelle's lunches...I got it home looked at the nutrition facts and found there were over 20 grams of sugar in them!! I won't be buying those ever again! From now on I'll keep on sending milk from home in a little container with an ice pack! I also recently bought a small bottle of cinnamon vanilla fat-free coffee creamer to flavor milk with. Spencer LOVES this. I just mix a cup of milk with a teaspoon of the creamer and it's a whole new world of flavored milk! Spencer even prefers it warmed up.
Smoothies - a little fruit, yogurt, ice and milk blended and oila! A "milkshake." I also like to throw in a little ground flax seed for a fiber boost.
Homemade Granola Bars - I haven't tried them yet, but I think I am going to tomorrow. It can be just as expensive to make them if you buy pre-made granola, so this will be a two-step process. Hopefully they'll turn out.
Sushi - Janelle actually asked me if I could make this for her sometime. Not being a huge seafood fan, I was like, "Uh...." So no, I haven't actually TRIED it yet, but once I can get down to the Asian market for some seaweed wrappers, I'll give it a go. Apparently, her best friend brings sushi for lunch and it perked Janelle's interest. (Her school is so small they don't have food services so all the kids bring their lunches.) I'll probably try a kind of California roll with crab and avocado. I'll let you know how it goes. :)
Oatmeal Jam Bars - My kids really like Nutri-Grain bars, but I'm not crazy about buying them. I found a recipe for these oatmeal jam bars and they were a huge hit.
Yes, it definitely takes time to plan and execute these kinds of snacks, but I have a 4-month-old fussy baby who gets sick a lot, so I pretty much can't go anywhere, instead, to my test kitchen I go!
I'd really like to try homemade baby food when the time comes for that. With all the fresh fruits and veggies we now get, it should actually be pretty easy. If you have any great snack or healthy food ideas, send them my way! I'd love them!
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Kyle, Laura, Janelle, Spencer, & Annelyse
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9 comments:
I don't know what my deal is either, but I am becoming the same way. It makes me a little sick to think about what's in some of the things we eat. It mostly only bothers me when I really do know what's in them, but it's starting to bother me more and more. It's a good thing, I know, but it is making life a little bit harder! I love your ideas, I've done a handful of them, but you have given me even more ideas, thanks!
We make our own baby food. It's so easy and I love it. It's fun to make and I know exactly what baby is getting. Of course, she's pretty much past that stage now, but I still try and give her as much as I can when she'll eat it--it's where all the good stuff is!
So many great ideas! I've been thinking about this a lot lately too... we eat way too much sugar at our house. After I saw that Oprah on Food Inc. and whole foods, it made me wish I could go all organic, but it's so expensive! I'll definitely try some of your ideas though... thanks!
I love Emily's granola bar recipe but it's definetely not cheaper b/c I buy the premade granola. Let me know when you make your own granola how it goes.
Good for you! A couple of things: regular milk has 12 grams of sugar. Lactose is a sugar. So while that vanilla milk has added sugar, it's not a full 20 grams of it. Also, I'm pretty sure some craisens (and a lot of other sweetened dried fruits) have corn syrup in them. Something to look out for.
OH, and a couple things we like around these parts:
peanut butter balls. Dean won't eat PB sandwiches, but he'll down PB balls. My g'ma has an actual recipe I'll try and track down, but I usually just put some natural PB, honey, and powdered milk (not instant milk) in a bowl and mix and add stuff till it's easy to work with and roll into little balls. I'm sure you could add crispy rice cereal too, to make it more of a "treat" (maybe even dip in chocolate if you're really going for treat). It works nicely in between crackers too.
We also LOVE this clumpy granola. I have to restrain myself from snacking on it! It's a good base recipe and easy to change it up. Use some almond, maple, coconut, etc. flavoring instead of or in addition to the vanilla. Change out the nuts. Add wheat germ. Add cinnamon. It's dreamy.
Oh, and spinach in smoothies works really well if your kids can get past the green. Just tell them it's a leprechaun shake. =)
we love homemade granola bars, we make them all the time, and they are super cheap and easy. here's a link to the recipe:
http://flukeskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/04/elises-granola-bars.html
we love them crushed over yogurt, or plain of course, and we've tried them a million different ways (peanut butter works great too). pretty much anything you see at the grocery store in teh granola bar aisle you can make at home. good luck!
i always made my own baby food too, it's a lot easier than i thought it would be. i recommend buying a couple packages of those little 1/2 cup ziplock or gladware bowls. then you can make big batches and freeze them so you always have food handy to take wth you. ice cube trays work too, but you have to remember to transfer the food to a ziplock bag as soon as it freezes or it gets freezer burn really fast (within a day), and then it's not as handy for on-the-go.
your food co-op sounds great too, i have a bunch of friends in one, but it's too expensive for me, yours sounds a lot nicer!
good luck and have fun!
Hey Laura, My friend Marilyn, not sure if you remember her or not, (Barratt) she recently taught me about bean paste. It sounds kind of gross, but is soo good! Basically you take white beans, cook them up in the crock pot, drain the water off them, put them in a blender, and add water to them so they have a runny yogurt consistency, and then use them as a substitute for butter, or oil. You can put them in measured baggies in the freezer. We made cookies with them, and they were still soo moist, and didn't even have a bean flavor. I thought they were delicious! Then the cookie, muffin, cake, etc actually has vitamins, and nutrients to it, is much better for your body to digest, and actually helps your heart beat out that awful cholesterol in butter. :D
Celia- Thanks for your great suggestions! I've never tried spinach in smoothies, but I will definitely give it a go. What kinds of fruits do you use with it? And I can't wait to try your granola recipe!
Hanah- That is a GREAT idea! I will definitely be trying that. Thank you!!
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