Green is great, and purple is powerful!!  If your little one’s are not so into “green” smoothies, then let’s make them a purple smoothie instead.  Anthocyanins, a very powerful antioxidant, gives foods their deep blue – purple shade and researchers believe responsible for lowering heart disease and cancer risks, along with inflammation, and even has anti-aging benefits.  Blueberries have the highest concentration of anthocyanins, but they are also present in purple grapes, cherries, and purple cabbage.  I added spinach to this smoothie also, but you would never know anything green is in by it’s beautiful purple color!  Yes, spinach and cabbage are in here…and my girl’s BEG for this smoothie!  :)

This makes an amazingly delicious smoothie, and would also make a GREAT popsicle.  And if you have a juicer, juice all the ingredients and then add it to the grape juice concentrate and water mixture.

Look who couldn’t keep her finger out of the smoothie long enough to let me take a picture….

She was happy big sis was at ballet camp so she could keep this one all to herself!!  :)

Happy Smoothie Saturday!  Have a wonderful weekend!

I know, I know, spinach and sorbet?  But trust me you won’t even know it except for the gorgeous emerald green color!  This is a bright and refreshing sorbet that can be made in 30 second in your Vita Mix blender and is NOT loaded with sugar as so many are.  This recipe has 6 ingredients and they are all ones you can pronounce and find easily at your grocery store.

The temps are going to soar here in Hotlanta over the next few days so this would be perfect when you need something to cool you and the kids down.  My kids’s last day of school is today and my daughter is graduating middle school so this will be the perfect after school treat to celebrate!  My kids love it when I make green smoothies and green juices so I know this will be a welcome addition to our rotation!  It is a great way to get extra fruits and veggies into your kids and even better for them than what sits in the frozen food isle!  Make up a batch and freeze it into popsicle molds for a one of a kind treat!

Spinach facts:

• Vitamin K is provided,  almost 200% of the Daily Value in one cup of fresh spinach leaves (there are 3 huge cups in this recipe)
• Iron which aids your body in creating red blood cells that help get oxygen to all the parts of your body
• Vitamin C contributes to the healthy production of collagen, which ensures healthy skin, bones, teeth and blood vessels.   Vitamin C also has the potential for helping your body fight infections.  It is also necessary to make DNA, which is why it is so crucial during pregnancy.
• Beta-carotene is a powerful anti-oxidant fighting free radicals
• Chlorophyll is abundant in spinach and has focused help in the area of cancer (including treatment and prevention)

Bring on the summer and the spinach sorbet!

Chef Amy

Bars are a popular snack for all ages.  They are convenient for busy adults, easy to pack in school lunches, or for childcare facilities to give out.  One of the more popular snack bars served in childcare facilities and a popular choice at the supermarket are Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars.  Check out the packaging of this Strawberry flavor bar and key words like “Made with Whole Grain”, “Good Source of Fiber”, “Made with Real Fruit”, but let’s see just how real it is.

I took a look through the ingredients, all 46 of them, and I saw many you do not want to eat or give to your family.  Starting with enriched flour, on to artificial flavors, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, and red-40.  Not to mention several words I can’t pronounce.  If Kellogg’s really meant “take care of you”, as they have on their website, then they would consider taking out the additives.

Nutri-Grain bars are not the only offenders.  Special K bars had partially hydrogenated oils, food dyes, and BHT.  I had a good laugh while looking on their website where they describe the bars, “When you’re on a mission to look and feel great, you need a few secret weapons. Meet some of the best little snack bars around: Special K®Strawberry Cereal Bars!”  I haven’t read anything yet that says having partially hydrogenated oils, and heavily processed products will make you look and feel great!  Actually, they do just the opposite.  Partially hydrogenated oils are related to obesity, rising cholesterol levels, and other health risks.

We need to get these ingredients out of our bodies so we can maintain a healthier life!  

Here are some of the food additives in bars and the possible effects, and some other nutritional data I was checking for:

• TBHQ (Tertiary Butylhydroquinone) - This is a preservative that is a petroleum derivative.  Sounds yummy, huh?  Even in small quantity this preservative has been known cause nausea, and ringing of the ears.  There are also suggestions that it may lead to hyperactivity and asthma in children.
• Partially Hydrogenated Oils (trans fat) – Trans Fats are responsible for raising the LDL (bad cholesterol) and lowering the HDL (good cholesterol), and are linked to diabetes, coronary disease, obesity, and others.  Don’t let zero trans fat fool you.  Food companies are aloud to market 0g of trans fat as long as there is less than .5g per serving.  That doesn’t mean they reduce the amount of trans fat to get below the .5g mark, they just change the serving size.
• High Fructose Corn Syrup – All sugars should be limited in our diets, and high fructose corn syrup is no exception.  There is an on-going debate whether high fructose corn syrup is causing the obesity epidemic.  Princeton proved it may be the cause during a recent study.
• Caramel Color - There are four types of caramel coloring that can be added to food.  Two of the four are made with ammonia, and The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has asked the FDA to ban them.  The term ‘caramel color’ is very misleading when it’s actually ammonia, not caramel at all!  I avoid caramel coloring whenever I see it.
• Artificial Food Dyes – Not only are artificial food dyes linked to behavioral problems, diabetes, obesity, and asthma, the three most used food dyes (red-40, yellow-5, and yellow-6) contain cancer causing substances.  Like TBHQ, most food dyes are also petroleum based.  Get them out of your food!
• BHT (Butylated Hydroxytoluene) – A preservative that is added to keep fats from going rancid but is possibly linked to cancer.  This preservative is also common in cereals, gum, make-up and lotions.  There have not been enough studies to show whether this preservative is safe, so be safe and keep it out of your food.
• Sugar – Finding a store bought bar that does not have sugar listed as the first or second ingredient is next to impossible.  Be aware if you are buying these, there is more sugar in many of these than any other ingredient.  I tried to stick to bars that were lower in sugar or bars that contain natural sugar from dates.
• Fiber – Since many of us are eating bars as a snack to hold us over to the next meal, or in some cases as a meal replacement, fiber is very important.  If a bar is high in fiber it will help you feel fuller longer, control blood sugar, and regulate your digestive system.  I looked for bars to have at least 3g of fiber in them.

I set out to find the best snack bars that do not have any of the controversial ingredients listed above, and have good nutritional value also.  Making the right choice on the grocery aisle can make a huge difference in your overall health!  Say good-bye to the artificial ingredients at home and in your child’s school!   I believe organic and / or homemade is the best option, so I have included links to recipes, and some organic options below.  All organic bars are free from GMO’s and the artificial ingredients listed above.

NUT-FREE OPTIONS:

• Clif Kids Organic Z Bars - they are organic, non-GMO, most kids enjoy them, and they are available in most stores.  These bars have 3 grams of fiber, and 10 – 11grams of sugar.  They are a good source of vitamin B, C, Calcium, Iron, and Folate.  I found a box of 18 bars on amazon.com for $12.99!
• Cascadian Farm Organic Oatmeal Raisin Granola Bar (kids sized) - these are a smaller serving size than the other options but they still have 3 grams of fiber, and only 7 grams of sugar.  They are organic, non-GMO, and available in most stores.  I found a box of 8 granola bars for $3 at my local supermarket.
• Kashi Soft – Baked Cereal Bars - these bars all have 3 grams of fiber, and 9 – 10 grams of sugar per bar.  Kashi has come under fire for the use of GMO’s in their product while claiming to be a natural company.  These bars are not verified non-gmo but Kashi claims they are working to get rid of GMO’s.  Hopefully I can update this to non-gmo one day soon, but for now be aware these likely contain GMO’s! I found these on amazon.com for as low as $.50 a bar!
• Enjoy Life Gluten-Free Bars - these are another good nut-free option for gluten-free diets.  They are completely allergen-free, and non-gmo.  The caramel apple bars have 3 grams of fiber and only 7 grams of sugar.  You can buy these in bulk on amazon.com for $.71 a bar.
• Glutino Breakfast Bars - The apple breakfast bar has 3 grams of fiber and 11 grams of sugar and is a good gluten-free option.  Not all of Glutino’s products are free from GMO’s.

• Larabar - when it comes to simple ingredients it doesn’t get any better than Lara Bars!  Some of their bars have just two ingredients!  The cashew cookie bar (made of cashews and dates), has 3 grams of fiber, 18 grams of sugar, none of which is added sugar, and is a good source of magnesium, and cooper.  They are non-GMO, kosher, and gluten-free.
• KIND Bar - a favorite on the go snack of mine!  These are very filling since they are mostly nut based.  The upside is they hold up well in your purse, or at the pool, but obviously not good in nut-free environments.  The Mango Macadamia bar has 4 grams of fiber, 10 grams of sugar, and a good source of calcium, folate, and Vitamin D3.  They are non-GMO, kosher, and gluten-free.
• Pure Bar - a household favorite here, these are organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, vegan, filling, and have a simple list of ingredients.  They are high in sugar compared to other bars but most of the sugar in these bars comes from dates, not refined sugars.  Most of their bars have 4 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, but they are higher in sugar than other bar at 17 grams of sugar.  If they are not available in your local supermarket you can find them online, check out their website or amazon.com.

While those are some the best options for bars, I don’t think bars are always the best options for snacks.  Here are other options for snacks that are store bought or easy to make:

• Make your own trail mix – add a combination of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit to a bag and keep in your purse so you always have some on hand.
• Fruit – keep an apple, orange, blueberries, or grapes in a ziplock bag in your purse for a quick snack
• Revolution Foods Fruit Mashups
• Strawberry n’ Cream Smoothie – it has oats, coconut milk, strawberries, and a date.  Sweet, filling, nutritious, and can be made in minutes.
• Green Smoothie
• Crackers and Hummus
• Rice Cake with a packet of Justin’s Peanut or Almond Butter
• Air-popped Popcorn
• Baby carrots, celery sticks, or ants-on-a-log
• Greek Yogurt
• Homemade Granola
• Quinoa Protein Bars – these need to stay in the freezer so they are not great for on the go snacks but perfect for at home.  Make a double batch and keep them on hand for a last minute snack.
• Frozen Peanut Butter Banana Bites  - like the quinoa protein bars, these are also kept in the freezer but they make a great afternoon snack.
• Trail Mix Muffins – these are a great gluten-free, nut-free, vegan option!  They are sweetened naturally using maple syrup and dates.
• Homemade Larabar – I found this recipe in a search, only two ingredients, cashews and dates.  I’ll have to give it a try!

Healthy Snacking!

• Best Breads post
• Best Cereal post

Please take the time to vote for us as Top Foodie Mom on Circle of Moms.   Your vote means a lot!

Victoria

Summer is on it’s way and with the wamer temps here to stay it is a great time to fire up the grill!  I love grilling vegetables as I think it totally deepends their flavor and makes them way more interesting!  Don’t be intimidated if you have never grilled veggies with a couples go rounds at the grill you will cooking like a pro!  If you have left over grilled veggies try this recipe for Grilled Vegetables with Quinoa and Pine Nuts.

Great tips for grilling vegetables:

• Make sure the grill is preheat for 10 min and grates are clean.
• Use a basket made for the grill so you can just toss and away you go.
• Lightly coat veggies with olive or canola oil to avoid sticking to the grates.
• Drizzle veggies with balsamic vinegar after they come off the grill.
• Small veggies like baby mushrooms or baby tomatoes are better skewered so they don’t fall thru the grate.
• Cut veggies to equal size to ensure even cooking.
• Veggies are done with tender and slightly charred.
• Keep the grill cover closed in between flipping to speed up cooking time.
• to grill corn on the cob, soak the cobs with husks on for several hours or all day – place directly on heated grill and turn when charred.  When done, pull back the husk and enjoy!
• Lay vegetables perpendicular to the wires of the rack so they won’t fall into the grill.

Chef Amy

Summer is in high gear already and this is our first week out of school!  Summer camps, the pool, lunch dates, and trip to the new Legoland in Atlanta, and a beach trip on the calendar.  It’s going to be a busy one around here!  I started making these muffins a few weeks ago and they have been a big hit.  These will be perfect to pack to take to the pool, for a road trip, or for breakfast on the go this summer.

I made these using sunflower seeds since my daughter’s are involved in camps that are nut-free but any nut or seed would work great, and same goes for the fruit.  We used a combination of raisins and dried cherries but any will do.  I haven’t tried it with blueberries yet but next time I’ll try adding frozen blueberries to the mixture in place of the dried fruit.  You can mix and match whatever combination you like best!  Just make sure the chia seeds are included since they act as the glue to hold everything together.  And the best part, there are no refined flours or sugars in this recipe!  It is sweetened naturally using a little pure maple syrup, dates, and the dried fruit.  These are gluten-free, nut-free, and vegan.

The muffins are super easy to make.  I blended the dates with milk, poured that over all the other ingredients, mix it all up, and spooned it into a muffin pan.  I let the girl’s jump in and help me measure all the ingredients out and fill the muffin pan.  The only downside to letting them help out is the extra mess.  Holy cow do they know how to create a disaster zone in the kitchen!  Oh well, the experience was worth it and the fact that they beg to help cook means so much.  Now, if I could get them to beg to help clean.  ;)

Enjoy!

Don’t let the ‘cream’ in the name scare you away!  This smoothie doesn’t have cream or sugar added, but it’s creamy and sweet enough to be called strawberries n’ cream!  Earlier this week I posted the homemade healthy granola, and mentioned I use oats in my smoothies but realized I haven’t posted a smoothie that uses oats in a while.  I had to change that and no better smoothie to do so than this one!  The date, cinnamon, and pure vanilla extract add the extra sweetness, while the oats and frozen banana add the creaminess!  Naturally sweet, delicious, and the perfect smoothie to fix a sweet craving!

Happy Smoothie Saturday!

Today is the last day of school for many kids in the Atlanta area, so let’s start summer off with watermelon lemonade!  Since it has been warming up here I’ve been using my juicer more to make lots of yummy juices for us to enjoy in the morning or late afternoon.   This will also freeze well for popsicles or in ice cube trays to sweeten water.

Many researchers and dietitians believe when we keep our blood levels slightly alkaline, we can maintain a healthier life with more energy, and possibly less disease.   Fruits and vegetables being the alkaline foods, and refined sugars, meat, and breads being some of the acidic.  I can’t speak of the scientific studies, but I can say, since switching to a mostly plant based diet a few years ago, I feel better than ever!  Watermelon and lemons are two of the most alkaline foods we can eat, mix them together and you have a great summer time drink!  I did not add any sweetener to this because I like the slightly tart taste the lemons give this, but if you want it sweeter, just add one tbsp of honey, agave, or sweetener of your choice, maybe even a little mint or basil too!  I will definitely try adding basil to mine next time.

I used my juicer to make this, but if you do not have a juicer you could blend the watermelon and pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve and then use a citrus press or reamer for the lemons.  You may not get as much juice as I do from the juicer but it will still work.

Have a wonderful day!

Victoria.

After reading Vicky’s post the other day about the Best Bread it got me thinking about other dishes that have bread as the main ingredient. What other than French Toast? Kids love to dip anything but what is commercially prepared is never a good option. Here is an easy recipe that you can make today or whip up a batch this weekend and have plenty for next week!

You can buy French Toast sticks in the freezer section – but do you really know what is in them? Most of them are deep fried leaving you with tons of grease and an upset stomach!  Kellogg’s Eggo French Toaster Sticks have 2 kinds of dye in them, a laundry list of ingredients, not to mention there is 25% of your sodium in a serving – really why on earth do they put that much salt in those things? To make them taste better I guess – load them with fat, salt and sugar and you can make the poorest quality food taste better but guess who ends up paying the price? Our waistlines and our hearts and that of our kids – is it really worth it?

It didn’t take me anytime at all to put this together and it was just as easy to make a double batch and freeze some for breakfast next week. You can spread peanut butter and jelly or cream cheese and berries or bananas in the middle for an easy school lunch. I used the Nature’s Pride Hearty Whole Wheat with Flax Bread and it worked beautifully. Each slice is full of 22 grams of whole grains, 3 grams of fiber, and 5 grams of protein. Once I had the liquid mixed up it didn’t take long to get this on the griddle and cooking away. I made a big Ziploc bag full and they kids have eaten off them all week, even had them for a snack after school with fresh fruit.

I hope your find them easy to make and enjoy them as much as my kids did. Who can resist yummy cinnamon French Toast fingers? Just remember to serve them with pure maple syrup or fruit juice sweetened jam. It really hits the spot!

Chef Amy

This is a favorite recipe of my family as well as my clients.  I had a requests this week to add this to the blog – so Melissa here you go!

Sweet potatoes and sweet onions help give this recipe it’s name as well as add amazing flavor.  Even if you never thought of combining these veggies I think you will be surprised as to how well they all complement each other.  I love recipes that are simple and straighforward and can quickly go from my cutting board to the dinner table.  I have used this not only as a side dish but I have mixed it in with a rice or quinoa and vegetables to change things up a bit.  This week I also tossed it into my salad along with some leftover quinoa and feta – the results were fantastic and the flavors were a party in my mouth!  I highly recommend it!

I know that the dinner hour can be hectic but it doesn’t have to be – enlist your kids to help peel the potatoes while you peel the beets (they can stain so be careful!)  Have the kids line the cookie sheet with foil or help toss the veggies and spread them out onto the pan.  I know it may take an extra minute or two but you would be surprised how fast they learn and the bonus is they are more likely to try new foods if they are involved in making it!

During Christmas I prepared this and my dad turned his nose up at it as he “thought” he didn’t like beets.  I insisted he at least try as we hold to the three bite rule in our house.   My kids were all giving him a hard time for not wanting to try and he eventually gave in.  Well turns out he asked for seconds!  Guess who changed his mind!!  It’s possible no matter how old you are to try new things and love them!

I love making this during the holidays as the colors look like jewels all ruby and golden as they come out of the oven!  I eat this dish year round because I love it so much and I hope that you find it become a regular in your home as well!

Chef Amy

I always have an abundance of oats in our house.  I use oats for oatmeal, baking, and smoothies, but I have never tried making our own granola.  Last week we were at Whole Foods and they were sampling Ruby’s Gold Golden Granola.  I wasn’t sure what the girl’s would think of it since we don’t normally buy granola, but when they liked it I knew we should try and make our own.  It took just a few steps, a couple ingredients (all of which I already had on hand!), and the girl’s could get their hands dirty helping.  It was worth it for delicious, homemade, vegan, gluten-free granola!

Most recipes I pulled up had canola oil or butter as a base but I wanted to avoid adding those, and also avoid adding brown sugar.  Don’t worry, this granola is not lacking any flavor!  I used coconut oil in place of canola oil.  Coconut oil is a great alternative to other oils when baking, not only does it add flavor but lots of health benefits too!  Coconut oil has antibacterial, and antioxidant properties in large part due to high amounts of lauric acid.

This granola would be a sweet, tasty, and filling snack alone or added to yogurt!  Now that school is ending, this would be a great homemade gift for the teachers!  Package it together in a mason jar, or the 34 oz. Hermetic Glass Jar from Container Store, and give it as a gift!

Also, please go vote for Green Plate Rule on Circle of Mom’s.  We’ve been nominated for Top Foodie Mom Blog.  It only takes two clicks – this link, then the thumbs up.  We appreciate your vote!!  Have a great day!

Victoria.