Shopping List:

• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Natural Peanut Butter
• Peaches
• Graham Crackers
• Late July Mini Organic Peanut Butter Crackers
• Jamba Juice all fruit smoothie

I have four day’s of kiddie snacks for you. This was a very busy week so coming up with creative snack ideas was a little challenging. Once or twice per week, after M wakes from her nap, we go to the grocery store. There’s a Jamba Juice inside the store so if the timing is right, we split a smoothie for her afternoon snack. I always order a 16oz all-fruit smoothie and have them split it into two small cups. These little cups are the perfect portion size for little hands. Plus, M loves having a cup all to herself .

Get Interactive With Your Kids!

Studies have shown that children learn best when they interact with things and ideas to promote mental activity. This helps them preserve new learning and incorporate it with what they already know. These websites below are a great way for parents and their children to explore and have fun while learning about nutrition and help encourage children to be active and eat a variety of healthy foods. They are kid-friendly and have fun games that children, especially elementary students, will enjoy!

Nutrition Explorations (http://www.nutritionexplorations.org/kids.php)

This is a great website for children to play games while learning more about nutritious foods. The games are different for lower and upper elementary students.  From these games, children can learn to identify and classify foods into the five food groups, create combination foods, and identify the health benefits of each food group.

This website is part of the Fuel Up to Play 60 Movement sponsored by the National Dairy Council and NFL.

Nutrition Fun for Kids (http://nutritionforkids.com/kidactivities.htm)

This website is full of activities/puzzles, ideas for “things to do,” and recipes. It also provides links to more helpful nutrition websites.

The rest of the websites are from an excellent children nutrition website called Super Kids Nutrition (http://www.superkidsnutrition.com/). It is a great website full of resources that helps convey important nutritional information in a fun and entertaining way.

Super Crew for Kids (http://www.superkidsnutrition.com/sckids/index.php)

This colorful website is great for kids of all ages to learn about nutrition in a fun way.  Activities include coloring pages, puzzles, and experiments that can be done with family. There are also activities in Spanish as well!

Kidnetic (http://www.kidnetic.com/)

This is a fun website that can help parents and their children learn about healthy eating and nutrition. There are games and activities that children can get involved with to expand their knowledge about nutrition. There are also articles about nutrition and physical fitness for parents and children to read. To make this website even more appealing, there are great recipes that are healthy and that children will love!

Nourish Interactive (http://www.nourishinteractive.com/)

This website provides parents and children with lesson plans and online interactive games about nutrition. It also provides coloring books and storybooks for the children. Also, there is an activity involving My Plate* to get children thinking about food groups. There is also a fabulous recipe section!

* For more information, please visit http://www.choosemyplate.gov/

KidsHealth (http://kidshealth.org/)

This website provides the latest health information for parents, kids, and teens. It includes interactive articles, recipes, and video clips. There is also information on illness and injuries and how the body works.

The Leafy Greens Council (http://www.leafy-greens.org/lessonplans.html)

This website is a great tool for teaching children about the nutritious advantage of green leaf vegetables using language arts, math, social studies, and science/health. The five dinosaur cartoon characters dressed in baseball uniforms makes this website very kid-friendly. Materials such as trading cards, posters, and book covers are available through this website.

Which interactive websites do you recommend for kids?

Congrats to Randi S.!!! You are the owner of this lovely Vintage Lighthouse Dress! You will be receiving an email from Shabby Apple shortly

Perfect for Spring & Summer, this sunny double layer dress sports an under-bodice of butter-yellow cotton voile with a bright white bow belt. Pleats at the collar and waist finish it with an expertly tailored appeal. This delightfully done-up dress will take you from the upper deck to an evening stroll around the lighthouse in no time.

If you haven’t had a chance to checkout Shabby Apple, here’s a little info: Shabby Apple is a vintage inspired online clothing boutique selling women’s dresses, casual dresses, skirts, and women’s apparel. Being a big fan of vintage inspired clothes, I immediately fell in love with so many of their dresses!

How to win: Become a fan of Shabby Apple’s facebook page & leave a comment on this post. One entry per reader please.  This giveaway will be open until Thursday. Good Luck

Shopping List:

• All Natural Unsweetened Applesauce
• Bananas (organic if possible)
• Natural Peanut Butter
• Sunflower Seed Butter
• Pretzel Snaps (Snyder’s of Hanover)
• Fage Greek Yogurt & Fruit Cups
• Graham Crackers (all natural)

I didn’t quite make five days of kiddie snacks this week, but I figured three days were better then none. I was a little heavy on the graham crackers this week, but M didn’t seem to mind If you are new to my kiddie snacks feature you can read all about it here. I’ve gotten great feedback so far. I’d love to hear what you feed your kids.

The recipe has been floating around the web for years now. This is one of the quickest, easiest weeknight (or any night) meals out there. I had the pleasure of tasting this soup for the first time over a year ago. A friend of mine made it for a neighbor and lucky for me, there was plenty leftover. When I ask her for the recipe she referred me to this one. I was surprised how easy it was.

Here’s your shopping list for this meal.

• 1 pound turkey sausage
• 1 onion
• 2 32oz containers chicken broth
• 28oz can diced tomatoes
• 9 oz package cheese tortellini
• 1 bag baby spinach
• grated parmesan cheese
• spices – dried oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper

Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add your chopped onion. Remove the turkey sausage from casein and add to pan. Cook until onions are tender and sausage is cooked through.

Next, add you garlic powder, dried oregano, tomatoes, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil.

Add you tortellini and cook for about 7 minutes. Add your spinach and stir until cooked.

This meal takes at the most 30 minutes from start to finish. I finished off the meal with a slice of garlic bread.

Tortellini Spinach Soup

• 1 pound turkey sausage
• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 6 cup chicken broth
• 28oz can diced tomatoes
• 9 oz package cheese tortellini
• 3 cups baby spinach
• grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1tsp garlic powder
• salt & pepper to taste
• grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Remove turkey sausage from casein and cook in large pot over medium heat. Add onion to pot. Cook until the sausage is cooked through and onions are tender. To the pot, add your oregano and garlic powder. Add chicken broth and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Add your tortellini and cook for 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat and add in your spinach. Stir a little then cover until spinach has wilted. Add salt & pepper to taste. Ladle soup in a bowl and garnish with a little parmesan cheese if you like. Enjoy!

When we moved to San Diego we were fortunate enough to buy a house that has eight fruit trees. Four of those eight trees include two Valencia Orange trees and two Meyer Lemon trees. With December & January being a peak time for citrus we have oranges and lemons falling to the ground by the dozen.

After making endless amounts of orange juice and lemonade, adding booze to the mix was the next obvious step.

All you  need for this cocktail is a few oranges, a lemon, tequila, grand marnier, & simple syrup (which I forgot to put in the picture)

Valencia Orange Margarita

• 3 oz fresh squeezed Valencia oranges
• 1 oz fresh squeezed Meyer lemon
• 2 oz tequila
• 1 oz Grand Marnier
• 1/2 oz simple syrup

Rub an orange slice along the rim of a cocktail glass and coat with kosher salt (optional). Fill the glass with ice. Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, shake for a few seconds, pour over ice and enjoy .

Shopping List:

• Veggie Fries
• Pears
• Apples
• Oranges
• Snap Peas
• Baby Carrots
• Babybel
• String Cheese
• Stonyfield Yokid’s Yogurt Squeezers
• Hummus
• Wheat Crackers (I used Kashi)
• Nilla Wafers
• Graham Crackers
• Sunflower Seed Butter
• Strawberries (can be subbed for other fruit if not in season)
• Annie’s Graham Bunnies

Welcome to the new Weekly Bite feature Five Day’s of Kiddie Snacks. I came up with this idea mainly to prevent myself from falling into the goldfish rut. There are day’s when I get so busy and M’s hungry, so I grab a bowl, fill it with goldfish, and call it a day. I’m not sure how long this feature will last, but as long as I continue to come up with new snack ideas, I’ll post them. My goal with snacks is to incorporate all the fun food kid’s love, but balance them out with fruits, veggies, and low-fat protein options. Each post will include a shopping list to make planning a little easier.

I’d love to hear what snacks you feed your kid’s, or what snacks you eat. I’m always looking for new ideas

Sloppy Joe’s were one of those foods I always seemed to forget about. I went years without making sloppy joe’s, then out of the blue I started making them a couple of years ago mainly because of how simple they are. I love them because they are quick, easy, and healthy. The addition of black beans adds a nice fiber boost. Here’s how to make this quick & easy meal.

In a large saucepan, cook your ground turkey and onions. Once the turkey is cooked add in your steak seasoning and brown sugar.

To your meat mixture, add in black beans, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, & pepper. Stir until everything is combined and cook for 10 minutes over medium heat.

Serve on a toasted bun & enjoy! This has become one of M’s favorite meals. It’s a little messy for her, but she loves it. We like to serve it with a little cheddar cheese on top.

Turkey Black Bean Sloppy Joe’s

• 1 lb lean ground turkey
• 1 medium onion (chopped)
• 15oz can black beans (drained & rinsed)
• 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon steak seasoning (use whatever your favorite is)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 5 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Spray a large saucepan with non-stick cooking spray. Cook your turkey over medium heat. Once the turkey is cooked through add in your onions, steak seasoning, and brown sugar. Cook for additional 5-7 minutes or until onions are tender. To the turkey mixture, add your black beans, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, and pepper. Mix well and cook over medium heat for additional 10 minutes. Serve in a toasted bun & enjoy

It’s the New Year! This means we can start doing crazy things like shove raw spinach in our mouth and add oats to smoothies. Right?

All kidding aside, green smoothies are a favorite of mine (and my kid’s). I love getting all the health benefits of an entire bag of baby spinach without it tasting anything like spinach.

If you’re new to green smoothies, the thought consuming a bag of spinach in liquid form may not sound appealing, but trust me… this smoothie tastes nothing like spinach. If fact, it tastes exactly like a banana smoothie. I recently started adding raw oats to my green smoothies and love the added fiber and texture. It makes for the perfect breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack

Spinach Banana Oat Smoothie

• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2 cup raw oats
• 1 cup low-fat milk (or soy milk)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3-4 cups raw spinach

Place the banana, oats, milk, & honey in a blender. Take your spinach and smash it in tightly until it reaches the top of the blender. Blend until creamy and smooth. Pour in a glass and enjoy!

Since spinach has no flavor, this smoothie will take on any flavors you put into it. You can add frozen berries, pear, yogurt, mango, peanut butter, etc. There are no limitations. Have fun with it all while being healthy