Category Archives: Healthy Lifestyle

Day 1 – mini vacation eating challenge

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So Wednesday night we hit the road at 6:45pm with no snacks or veggie tray 🙁

We got on the turnpike and at about 8pm decided to stop at a service plaza because the boys were still awake and hungry. There were 3 options: Wendy’s, pizza hit and dunkin donuts. Pizza hut was closed. We chose Wendys and thought, we could get baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese, a side of chill, and a grilled chicken sandwich for the boys and give them the the grilled chicken with the potato. When we ordered at the service plaza, we were told that there was only one baked potato at the store. One baked potato. That’s it. We ordered it and instead opted for salads for ourselves with grilled chicken. But when we asked for the grilled chicken sandwich and the grilled chicken on our salads, we were told that we would have to wait 10 minutes because the grilled chicken had to be prepared.

They had plenty of french fries and the crispy fried chicken readily available but what not the healthier alternatives…. This made me realize that its not entirely Wendy’s fault. They don’t prepare it because there is no demand for it. They couldn’t dream of running low on french fries but the baked potatoes are less popular.

We ended up getting 1 baked potato, broccoli and cheese, a side of chill, 2 salads, and the grilled chicken for the boys.

The truth is we weren’t satisfied with our meal. We’re not used to the greens from the salad we ate…We like the dark greens. The options for salad dressing make the salad super sugary, instead of the olive oil and vinegar we’re used to. The cheese on the broccoli was obviously processed and gross and they put like 4 little stems of broccoli in there. The kids loved it though. The chili was ok.

The experience made me regret not having taken some prepared food in the car to have, or even some sandwiches on ezekiel bread. We tried to opt for the “healthiest” alternatives they had at wendys but really i’m not sure how much better we ate. I think the next time I do Wendy’s I would skip the salads all together and order a grilled chicken sandwich with no fries. And hope they have more baked potatoes because the grilled chicken sandwich would not fill me up!!!!! I eat healthy but I eat a lot!!!!!

 

 

Can we be poor planners, but healthy eaters?

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For the last year, our commitment to eating healthy has been such that we have planned our meals even when on vacation. (we took a cooler to disney world!)

But most people don’t want to plan so much. Our culture has become fast paced and spontaneous. People don’t want to take their coolers to Disney. We want easy, we want convenient, and we want fast.

Orlando and I are dealing with this precise issue this weekend. Last night we got in the car to drive to Cape Canaveral for my father’s speech at NASA. My dad told us about it a couple of weeks ago and told us to make a mini vacation out of it. But the truth is that we put off the mini vacation until the last minute. Between school starting for the boys, work schedules, working on this blog, and all the other commitments we have… We even forgot we were leaving on wednesday evening.
So yesterday after a full day of work and school, I packed some quick bags at 5 pm and got in the car at 6:45pm. Quite spontaneous!!! As soon as we hit the road the famous question surfaced… What are we going to eat when we get hungry??? For the first time in a long time we had no plan.

I guess this is a good experience for us because it is what most people go through. People pack their tooth brushes, clothes, and phone chargers… But people don’t pack their food. So from now until Monday I will blog about what we are eating and how we are managing to stay as healthy as possible during this spontaneous, poorly planned vacation. This will be an interesting challenge. Wish us luck!!!!!!

Spicy Quinoa Kimchi Fried Rice

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healthy alternative to fried rice

healthy alternative to fried rice

What we used:

  • 3 cups Quinoa
  • 2 cups frozen vegetables (stir fry mix) chopped
  • 1 fried egg per serving
  • 1 tbsp ginger
  • 2 tbsp garlic
  • 3/4 of a bottle of kimchi
  • (reserve some of the liquid from the kimchi)
  • 1/2 onion
  • Sauce – 2tbsp liquid aminos, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar, dash of red pepper flake – mix well (add to taste, we probably used 1/4 of what we made)

I’m reading a new fascinating book “The Body Ecology Diet” and I’ve discovered the benefits of cultured vegetables. Cultured vegetables are vegetables that are left to “ferment” in an air tight container for several days allowing healthy bacteria to form. During this fermentation period, the friendly bacteria reproduces and converts sugars and starches to lactic acid.

They become rich in lactobacilli (what we know as “probiotics”) and enzyme, vitamins A, B, and C and turn into an alkaline-forming food. In English, this basically means it is a food for health and longevity!!!!!

Among the benefits listed for cultured vegetables are:

  • Help re-establish a healthy inner ecosystem.
  • Great for weight loss
  • Improve digestion
  • Help eliminate sugar cravings!!!!!
  • Help cleanse your system
  • Great for your skin.

The Body Ecology has some basic recipes for making your own cultured vegetables, and if you make them in batches and eat it everyday, it is a much cheaper alternative than taking probiotic supplements. We plan to make them at home, but haven’t gotten around to it yet…so I went to Whole Foods looking for some ready-made cultured vegetables that I could try in the meantime.

What I found was Kimchi. Its a Korean condiment -basically fermented cabbage and other vegetables, with a mix of salt, vinegar and other spices. It was the only cultured vegetable food I found in the store. I bought it, brought it home and a little scared, tried it! I actually liked it and since I bought have used it in my scrambled eggs in the morning, in my salads for lunch, and in the quinoa fried rice Orlando made.

I posted this video of Orlando making the quinoa mainly because it was his first time making it. I thought it would be great for you to see how he creates his meals. He’s always trying new things and changing his mind and sometimes the meal isn’t working out and he figures out how to save it! I think its pretty cool to see his process…and at the end he always comes through.

So for now, Kimchi is a big star in our home but stay tuned….we will be making our own cultured vegetables very soon!!!!!

 

Simple, Fast and Delicious Healthy Dinner Recipe

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Once a week, usually on Mondays, but this week yesterday, Orlando calls me on his way home from work and says, I feel like eating something quick and easy tonight with little mess. This is music to my ears, because as lucky I am that Orlando cooks…the mess he leaves in the kitchen is no joke!!!!! So we have developed this simple staple that is just so easy to make and absolutely divine!

A nice piece of fish of your choosing
cauliflower mash
asparagus and leeks sauteed

VOILA!

This is really no different than a classic American meal of chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans or something like that. And for those of you who do not eat seafood, you can replace the fish with chicken of course…

But as boring as it may sound or look, the dish has flavors that blow me away and leave me completely satisfied. And let’s quickly touch up on the health benefits of the dish:

Our dish consisted of 3 non starchy vegetables and 1 lean protein with lots of omega 3 fatty acids. The seasonings used were kosher salt (less sodium than table salt and equivalent to sea salt), pepper, marsala wine (very little used and heat evaporates most of the sugar it contains), organic unsalted butter (much healthier than margarine or any fake butter), coconut oil (good source of fat), and lemon to drizzle on top of the fish (lemon is helpful for digestion and cleansing your body).

It is so healthy and satisfying that I just had to share it! Now, for the preparation:

Yesterday Orlando opted for HOGFISH. We love to buy our fish from a little market across the street called Captain’s Tavern. They sell wonderful fresh fish and the quality is spectacular. Caveat...I have never found wild salmon there so for the days we choose wild salmon we buy at Publix or Whole Foods depending on the better deal!

Orlando seasons it with a little salt and pepper and sazon completo and grills it on our handy little griddle. The griddle is great because he puts all the fish on there at the same time and they cook in about 7-8 minutes.

He used our basic cauliflower mash recipe – although he did do a variation this time that I thought I should share. Instead of adding milk which he normally does, he decided to use the water that the cauliflower was boiled in. The taste and texture still came out delicious but it is a much healthier alternative because you are eliminating milk and adding all the nutrients from the cauliflower that escaped into the water. I encourage you to try this variation!

And with the veggies he chopped them up and sautéed them in a pan over a little coconut oil seasoned with salt, pepper for about 8 minutes and a medium high temperature. When the bottom starts crusting he likes to deglaze the pan with a little marsala wine for 3 more minutes.

And of course as an added benefit…. since he made the fish on the griddle, he made over a pound of it and extra cauliflower mash so the kids will have a delicious dinner tonight!!!! As usual, since the veggies are the star in our meals, there was nothing left of those so I’ll have to whip up some green veggies for the kids!!!

Afraid my veggies will go bad Soup- a pleasant surprise.

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Talking to my cousin Stephanie the other day, she told me about some crazy concoction she invented the other day for fear that all the veggies she bought from Whole Foods would go bad. I was then reading an interesting book “The Body Ecology Diet” and it discusses the many benefits of soups and suggests getting creative with veggies that are about to spoil. What struck me the most was that the book suggests that making soup is fool-proof, meaning you don’t have to know how to cook to pull it off. Since everyone knows I can’t cook for the life of me, I had to try this.

So on Sunday, considering we were in this fake hurricane mode and I was stuck at home anyway, I gave it a shot and tried the following:

I started off by chopping up a ton of celery which was already wilting, ginger, garlic and onions and sauteeing them over some coconut oil. Then I poured in organic chicken broth that I had at home, some left over vegetable broth in the fridge that was about to go bad, carrots, cabbage, rainbow chard, squash, zucchini, and cauliflower. Its pretty much everything I had in the fridge, including leftover veggies from a vegetable tray we served at a get together we had. Instead of tossing the leftovers, I put them in the soup! I added about 5 cayenne pepper liquid drops, a little sazon completo, turmeric powder, and celtic sea salt.

I brought the soup to a boil, then simmered for 20 minutes (until the carrots were tender) and voila! I made the very first soup concoction of my own!!!!! I wanted the soup to be spicy because this pregnancy is stuffing up my sinuses, but when I tasted it I realized the cayenne pepper hadn’t spiced it up much, so I added about 5 more drops to my own personal soup and it made it spicier.

The verdict… I was pleasantly surprised!!! Orlando expected garbage and found it to be bland at first but after a few sips, he actually liked it. The next day I tried another variety and wasn’t quite as successful, it was totally bland…but that’s only because i’m learning to play with seasonings and really am an amateur!

Let’s face it, it can’t compare to the meals my husband makes and it can definitely use a lot of work, but the point is I’m proud to say my kids loved it; it was pretty good; and most importantly it was a bowl of health!!!!!

So the next time your veggies are about to spoil, think twice before you toss and try making your own soup at home. And if your kids are not old enough to drink soups yet, you can puree the leftovers and give it to them that way.

Good luck!!!! Please reply and let us know of any inventions you think are worth sharing.

Pineapple and Greens Smoothie

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This smoothie was particularly delicious:

1 cup of fresh chopped pineapple
(Frozen works fine but this pineapple was very juicy)
2 rainbow chard leaves
1 inch ginger root
1 banana
Water as base for blending

This smoothie is so light and fresh and great for hot summer days. And of course, filled with nutritious and healthy ingredients. Enjoy!!!!!

Fearless Friday Pizza

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Hello all!  Sorry I couldn’t get to last week’s Fearless Friday meal, but this pizza will more than make up for it.  We mentioned the cauliflower pizza a few months ago on the blog, and I thought this would be the perfect time to give you the recipe for a weekend treat.  This pizza has no flour at all!  The crust is mainly cauliflower and fat-free cheese.  The raw “dough” is EXTREMELY sticky, so don’t even think about doing this if you don’t have parchment paper handy.  You can buy it at any store in the same section where you find the aluminum foil.  If you do it on foil (or anything else for that matter) the pizza will stick and be inedible!!!

The first time I made this pizza I failed miserably (see sticky-problem above).  Then one day Caro told me she was in the mood for some homemade guacamole.  We searched high and low for crackers or bread to dip, but we didn’t have either at the house.  I told Caro that this may be a good time to make the crust, break it into pieces, and dip in the guacamole.

I made the crust and thought to myself, “do I dare make a guacamole pizza?”  And that is exactly what I did.  You can put any toppings you want on this crust, but the guacamole pizza was awesome.  I’ll give you the recipe for the crust and the guacamole and you decide for yourself what toppings you want.

GUACAMOLE:

  •                     3 Haas avocados (peeled and mashed)
  •                     1 lime  juiced
  •                     salt and pepper
  •                     2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
  •                     2 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
  •                     1 teaspoon minced garlic
  •                     1 pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)
  •                      1/2 a Jalapeno (optional)

Just mash it all up together.  You can use a blender, but don’t over-blend.  We still want some chunks in there.

CRUST: 1/2 LARGE head cauliflower (or 2+ cups shredded cauliflower) 1 large egg 1 cup low-fat (skim) shredded mozzarella cheese 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic (or fresh garlic) 1/2 teaspoon onion salt

TOPPINGS: The same mozzarella listed above and whatever toppings you choose (try my guacamole for God’s sakes!!!)

Directions:

1.  Shred the cauliflower into small crumbles.  You can use the food processor if you’d like, but you just want crumbles, not puree.  You want them to look like rice.  In fact, the process is called “ricing” the cauliflower.

2.  Prepare the crust:  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet and spray nonstick spray on it.  In a medium bowl, mix the cauliflower crumbles with the remaining crust ingredients.  Pat the “crust” into a 9 to 12-inch round on the prepared pan.  Spray the crust lightly with nonstick spray and bake for 15 minutes (or until golden).  Remove the crust from the oven and turn the heat up to broil.  Why, you ask?  Because the crust is already cooked.  We are broiling only to melt the cheese on top of your pizza.  Remember to leave the oven door open when broiling!!!  You want to keep a close eye on it so it doesn’t burn.

3.  Prepare the pizza:  Spread the guacamole or tomato sauce on top of the baked crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge.  Sprinkle 1/4-1/2 cup cheese on top (plus any toppings you choose)  Broil the pizza 3 to 4 minutes, or until the the cheese is melted and bubbly.  Cut into 6 slices and serve immediately.

Cauliflower crust with Guacamole Pizza

There you have it!  This pizza is awesome and isn’t hard to make at all.  The guacamole is even easier.  Enjoy the your weekend and please give us feedback to let us know your thoughts.

Read Ingredients not Nutrition Facts only

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When discussing food, the general consensus is to look at the numbers.

How many calories does it have?

How many grams of fat, carbs, protein, fiber?

When the numbers are low, people feel comfortable eating or drinking that product. We do this because we have been taught to do this. If you have ever battled with weight and have joined programs such as weight watchers or jenny craig, you learn point systems, calorie counting and portion control.

While I recognize that these methods can be effective, especially at the beginning when you have the most weight to lose, I believe this mentality can do your health more damage than good.

My theory is this. Who cares if you are consuming 500 calories a day if those calories are coming from foods that are bad for you? A few months ago, my mother attempted the HCG diet. Its the new big thing and everyone is losing weight doing it. She went to a DOCTOR and along with the HCG, he gave her a diet plan that she needed to follow. I was appalled as I read through it. It stated obvious things such as you can have unlimited vegetables, etc. Then it stated certain fruits she wasn’t allowed to eat. I thought, well, fruits are whole foods but they do contain sugar even though its natural sugar so maybe limiting those foods would be wise during a period of weight loss, okay, so I kept reading

…and then I saw it.

She could have unlimited diet soda. She could drink diet soda until her heart was content. Along with that were other products such as margarine, sugar free yogurts, sugar free ice creams, etc.

Diet Sodas and all these other “sugar-free” products for the most part contain an ingredient called “Aspartame.”

Aspartame has been linked to the following diseases:

  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Epilepsy
  • Chronic fatigue syndrome
  • Parkinson’s disease
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Mental retardation
  • Lymphoma
  • Birth defects
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Diabetes

The research shows that consuming Aspartame is terrible for your health. Plus it has been proven to stimulate your appetite and actually cause weight-gain in the long term. Yet my mom can have those products in unlimited quantities but has to stay away from fruits?

I am  insulted by that concept. Food is information for our brain. If we feed our brains good information, then we promote our metabolism, fat burning, and healing properties…our bodies are being told to function properly. Our livers, hearts, intestines, and kidneys need good information to work at maximum capacity. If we continue to feed our brains this garbage, our bodies respond accordingly. Isn’t it incredible that despite all the diets out there, the no sugar movement, and the low fat foods, obesity, heart disease, cancer and gastric illnesses are all on the rise? Is this just a coincidence?

I was at lunch the other day and our cousin was drinking PEPSI NEXT. It says proudly not the label – “60% less sugar!!!!” They are just screaming at you, Go ahead, Drink me, I”m a healthy alternative, I have less sugar than other sodas.  Then you read the nutrition facts and LOOK!!!!! Only 60 calories in 1 whole can. NO FAT! 15g of Sugars…well thats not too good because diet pepsi is 0grams, BUT it tastes more like regular Pepsi and its a lot lower in sugar than the regular one. You know what, this is not a bad option.

60% less sugar Nutrition info

THAT IS WHEN I URGE YOU TO READ THE INGREDIENTS!!!!

INGREDIENTS

Among all the other undetectable ingredients it has, there are 2 that you can easily recognize and pronounce… HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, and ASPARTAME. DOUBLE WHAMMY!!!! Two addictive ingredients that stimulate appetite, cause addiction, and are not metabolized in your body but instead go straight to your liver.

I urge you not to fall for this trap. This is NOT a healthy alternative. If you want to eat smaller portions fine. If you want to limit your caloric intake, fine. But put food in your body that helps you instead of hurts you.

Look for single ingredients; ingredients you can pronounce and understand. Learn about what you’re eating. Eliminate high fructose corn syrup and aspartame from your diet.  Eat real food. Your health will thank you for it.

Papaya Smoothie

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Yesterday I made a great smoothie in the morning for all of us.

PAPAYA AND GREENS SMOOTHIE

1 Papaya cut up in chunks
1/2 cup of leftover greens*
2 leaves collard greens
Juice from a freshly squeezed Orange*
a little extra water

This smoothie was the product of those last food items we didn’t want to go bad!

* I always buy Organic Girl Greens for our salads. I use super greens, 50/50 mix, spring mix, spinach, whatever I find. The last time I made a salad there were some greens left over that just didn’t fit in our salads and I didn’t want to throw them away. So I put them back in the fridge for the next smoothie. They made it into this one! I try my best to avoid wasting food.

* I only had 1 orange left in the fridge. Its easy to get the juice out. I bought this little cheap manual juicer at Target and its great for squeezing lemons and oranges. So I squeezed the orange I had and tossed in the juice for the base. There wasn’t that much juice so I had to add a little water to the smoothie to make it blend better.

The kids loved the smoothie.

Health Benefits of Papaya:

  • Papayas have antioxidant nutrients such as carotenes, vitamin C and flavonoids; the B vitamins, folate and pantothenic acid; and the minerals, potassium and magnesium; and fiber. Together, these nutrients promote the health of the cardiovascular system and also provide protection against colon cancer.
  • In addition, papaya contains the digestive enzyme, papain, which is used like bromelain, a similar enzyme found in pineapple, to treat sports injuries, other causes of trauma, and allergies.
DID YOU KNOW:
  • Women need about 400-800 mcg of folate per day if they are trying to get pregnant and during their pregnancy. 1 medium papaya has about 116mcg folate in it.

 

Back to School – Snacks for Kids

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Hi everyone! Its been a while since our last post, and there’s a reason for it…there has been sheer chaos in our home! We took the end of the summer to do some much needed upkeep to our home. Painting, redecorating, reorganizing…etc. Among which, the most important for us, is that we put both boys in the same room, in preparation for the new baby…wish us luck!!!! So finally the first day of school arrived and both boys started their journey.

On to food…

Now they go to nursery school so they are only there from 9am – 12pm. The way it works there is that each week one child’s parent is responsible for bringing snacks for the kids that week. Each week the parents go rotating until its your turn again. Then if you leave your child to stay past 12… for lunch bunch and kid’s club, then you are responsible for providing your child with his own lunch also. Of course every school has a different system.

So yesterday I pick up my boys at 12 and the first thing Orly tells me when he runs out of class is “Mommy, you know what they gave me for snack… doughnuts and juice”

Here I am trying to teach my kids a healthy lifestyle and they leave me for a few hours to go eat doughnuts and juice. The question is, what can I do?

Bring my own snacks for the teacher and tell her that my children are not allowed to eat that sugary stuff… then my kid will be the only kid in the class that can’t eat the snack while all the other kids enjoy it. Well i’m not willing to do that for 2 reasons. 1. I don’t want my kid to feel that he is deprived from eating anything because i’m afraid he’ll rebel against me later and become a junk food addict! 2. I don’t want my kid to be alienated or considered weird simply because of what I say he can and cannot eat, and we all know kids can be cruel. Or keep him out of school until he has to go, well that really only delays the problem, and I happen to love school and the development and routine that it offers children. So I sit here frustrated. My kids will spend the next 9 months having sugar shoved down their throat. Snacks, birthday parties, bake sales, Friday Pizza parties, holidays, school functions, you name it! Now i’m okay with my kid enjoying candy on Halloween. I’m not completely neurotic. But doughnuts and juice for snack at 10:30am on a regular day is just too much for me. In any event, I smiled and ignored the situation and made sure my kids ate good, healthy, balanced meals the rest of the day.

So I only have 2 options left… make sure that my kids are eating well the rest of the time at home with me, and try to educate parents and create a community of awareness to see if we can improve what we feed our children. And I say create awareness because I don’t think this mom meant any harm by bringing doughnuts for snack. We all want what is best for our children. I think the issue is that a lot of people view food as weight-related exclusively. Most children don’t have weight problems (although children obesity is on the rise)… so in parents’ eyes… they think what they feed their children is not a huge issue because their children do not have a weight problem. So the mentality is “my kid doesn’t really have to worry about not eating that doughnut until he’s older.” Because the truth is that the kid is going to go to the playground and burn off whatever calories he consumed from that doughnut in a minute. So the parent sees the doughnut as a fun treat and they’re just kids after all and they can afford it so why not give them a small pleasure? The problem is that its not only about weight anymore. It is now becoming clear that food does affect your health. And furthermore, the flavors and tastes you develop now will largely influence you in your adult life. Sure you can acquire new tastes and learn how to eat healthy as an adult,( my husband and I did), but why not make it easier on our children and give them a foundation now…so the learning process is not so difficult later? I realize that one doughnut will not harm my child…but I definitely want to stop creating a sugar addiction in our society because it is serious and our health is suffering as a result of it. Here are some ideas I thought would be good to share for our kids to eat at school…and as always, my research continues so your feedback is welcomed!

Good Snacks to take to your child’s School

Water instead of juice – a lot of juices come with sugar added (even organic ones) which is completely unnecessary. Some juices are 100% concentrated juice and that’s not terrible for kids and does have nutritional value. However, when you’re drinking fruit juice you are eliminating all the fiber from the fruit. So, for me, I find that water is a better option. Especially in our case because our children consume huge quantities of fruit daily. Whatever minimal nutrition they would derive from the fruit juice they are getting from actual fruit.

Fruit – Grapes are a great snack for kids because kids love bite sized foods. (For certain ages, the grapes must be cut in half to avoid choking hazards). Sliced apples, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries. Cut up pineapple pieces. Mandarin oranges. Any fruit that you can give in bite size or can be chopped up into small pieces (that are not choking hazards) is great for snacks.

Raisins – my kids love raisins. Raisins are super high in sugar but if you buy raisins where there is not sugar added, then it is still a whole food and is a good source of fiber. I also found this awesome treat. Plum amazins. They have half of the sugar that raisins have and are delicious. I’m using them in my salads no instead of cranberries and the kids love them. These are a great snack.

Granola – a good quality granola that is not super high in sugar is great for the kids and has a good amount of protein. Its delicious to give them some fruit with granola or yogurt with granola. I buy organic granola from Whole Foods.

Greek Yogurt– Oikos is a great yogurt and they sell small ones that are perfect for kids. You can buy these yogurts with fruit added and your kids are getting good probiotics and a delicious treat.

Baby carrots and celery sticks – carrots are one of the few vegetables that I have found are easy snack foods. I’m always looking but so far this is it. You can always offer a little dressing to dip in the carrots or celery sticks to add flavor but I would offer them alone first and see how they like it. In my case, I give my son celery sticks with a good quality peanut butter but for school, this can be a problem due to the large nut allergies that children have. (So if your child is not allergic to peanut butter, that’s a good option for a home snack.)

Instead of candy, offer Dark chocolate – If you want to give your child a sweet treat, try some dark chocolate instead of candy. Some consider dark chocolate to be too bitter, but I find that small children acquire a taste for it very quickly. Exposure is everything. You would be shocked at the things your kids would eat if they were exposed to it. In my case, I buy 86% chocolate for the kids as an after dinner treat – same treat we give ourselves! And my kids literally beg for the chocolate! To them, chocolate is chocolate and they view it as candy. So if they eat a good portion of their food (I don’t force them to finish their plate but I do want to make sure they eat), I give them each a piece of dark chocolate afterwards. Ghirardelli offers these dark chocolates cubes wrapped in individual pieces already, so I think that would be a fun option to try for snack at school. It does have added sugar but its 86% raw cocoa so the 14% is not too significant. I’m actually going to try it during my turn for snack week at school and see how it goes. The younger the kids are when you expose them to these tastes, the higher the chances they will grow to love them.

Do you know of any healthy, allergy-free snacks that are good for kids? If you do, please comment on this post and offer suggestions to parents who are desperately looking for good alternatives for their kids.

Cheers to a great school year for all of our children!!!!