Apples with Chocolate

At the after school program I manage, every Wednesday we do fresh-produce day for snack time. In the past, we've done fruit - pineapples, bananas, peaches, tangerines; vegetables - cucumbers, carrots with hummus, and zucchini. I enjoy exposing the children to more fruits and vegetables. I know their school lunches aren't all that great and all of them are on the free lunch program. I am pretty certain that all but one child eats the school lunches. The one who takes her lunch tells me that her grandma packs one veggie and one piece of fruit most days. (This makes me smile!)

So on a Wednesday in January, I served sliced Honey Crisp apples (my personal fave might I add), with melted, drizzled milk chocolate and sprinkled with chopped Spanish nuts. 

I suggest you get creative with your snack time. It surely makes eating healthy a real treat! Buon Appetito!

Choose, eat, and live well! =)

#Baltic Amber - My son's necklace

Right before my son fell asleep in my arms he asked me, “where is my necklace?” I felt for it on his neck and it was not there. Some panic hit when I thought he misplaced it at his new school and that it was sitting in the field the children play in every afternoon. I thought to myself, wait, just wait! It’s probably in the car. It has a screw clasp and has ‘fallen’ off a few times before (not really, it just works itself off with normal wear). I asked my son what happened to his necklace. He said he lost it at school. I said we’ll call and find out in the morning. After he went to bed, I searched all the places he was in since we arrived and before he went to bed. Nothing. Not in the car. Nowhere! Hmm. I emailed his teacher and hoped for the best. The next morning she had responded and said she forgot to mention that he had taken it off and didn’t want to wear it. Whew!

Why is this necklace so important?!  Because I sincerely thought my son had worn it nearly every day since April 2009 (or at the age of 7 months) but as I looked for some pictures to share I found that I am sadly mistaken. How I forgot that he didn’t sprout his first tooth until Mother’s Day of 2009 and the next tooth exactly one month later. The third and fourth teeth came within the next couple of months. You think you’re going to remember everything (or at least all the dates you hold dear to your heart, but you’re not!) So, we made it through the rest of 2009 without too many teething pain issues. At the end of the year, he started to cut more teeth and many at once.

I had learned about Boiron’s teething liquid and Hyland’s teething tablets to naturally treat teething pain in babies and had been using these resources since he cut his first tooth. I wanted something stronger but it had to be natural. My friend told me about Baltic Amber “teething” necklaces. I purchased one from Inspired by Finn. The necklace that we have is found on the preceding link. The necklace helped soothe him during the worst parts of teething and helped him sleep through the nights.

Here are some pictures of him wearing it in January 2010 – he was 16 months old and the most recent two years later in January 2012 at 40 months old.

So, to conclude, the next day at school, I saw his necklace in his cubby. I asked him if he wanted to wear it and he said yes. Later on I asked him if he was ready to have me put it away and he said no.

Though he doesn’t need the amber necklace anymore, people say it has become his signature mark. A few stones have fallen off but for the most part it still looks like it did when we first purchased it. It is high quality and the stones are individually knotted. When he’s ready to stop wearing it, I will put it away in his keepsakes box. Until then he can wear it as long as he wishes. I think it looks nice on him!

I do receive a small commission from Amazon.com if you purchase anything through their site using one of the links above (read my full advertising disclosure here). 

Thank you very much for your generosity in helping to offset the costs of website upkeep, so that I can keep sharing wellness resources with my community and beyond.

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Choose, eat, and live well! =)

Sausage and Veggie Stuffed Shells

I had the distinct pleasure visiting the home of Cooking and Kids’ owner, Vlada Vladic.  She wanted to share a savory dish but the catch was I had to help! Me? Yes! I thought how blessed I am to learn first-hand from an amazing mother who has a passion for cooking healthy. Just my kind of thing!

  

Cooking and Kids’ desires to “Help America conquer childhood obesity and related diseases, preparing children to pass on healthy lifestyles to our next generation by enabling young families to make permanent changes in their daily diets and lives… TOGETHER WE CAN DO THIS!”

Vlada offers cooking lessons in the student's home for up to 6 people for 2 hours for $100. This is a fantastic rate! To further inquire you may contact her through her website. She also creates live cooking videos from her kitchen sharing on YouTube. I highly recommend you subscribe to her channels, 57Vlada and CookingandKids. She is the winner of Food Network’s Family Feast Challenge 2010. You can enjoy her award winning recipe by visiting the article contributed by Barbara Rolek on About.com. 

I know you’re waiting on what we made so here it goes – Sausage and Vegetable Stuffed Shells.

Ingredients:

3 cloves of chopped garlic

¼ cup of olive oil

1 tbls of dry or fresh basil or parsley

¼ medium chopped onion

6 mild Italian sausages

½ cup shredded zucchini

½ cup shredded large carrots

12 oz of precooked jumbo shells 'al-dente'

1 egg

1 ½ cups of mozzarella cheese

2 cups of tomato sauce of your choice

Preheat oven to 360. In pan on stovetop, heat olive oil, add onions. Once onions are translucent add carrots but wait until they soften a bit before adding zucchini. Add sausage. While it's browning add garlic and basil. Remove from heat after all is cooked well. (We added an egg to keep the ingredients from separating.) Spoon the sausage mixture into the precooked shells. Top with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. Top with foil for 20 minutes in the preheated oven.  Remove foil, add parsley and place in oven for 10 minutes. The foil keeps the shells moist, cooks the egg and brings the food to the right temperature. 

Buon Appetito!

We served this dish with a nice side of steamed broccoli coated with an EVOO and butter sauce.

Cooking and Kids was also featured in my Jan-Mar 2012 Conveying Awareness newsletter. 

Choose, eat, and live well! =)

Green #Smoothie #Recipe

I'm in love with vegetables (and fruit)! I love nearly everything in the green department for vegetables. I know this is not a favorite color among many. So, I recommend two things: 1) blend up a smoothie and / or 2) eat whole food nutrition in a capsule or chewable!

This morning we made a green smoothie comprising of banana, pineapple with its core, fresh spinach and kale, water and ice. Fill Vitamix in this order. Blend for 30 seconds.

*Benefits of banana: potassium, rich in vitamin B6, elimination properties (think electrolytes)

*Benefits of pineapple: antioxidants and inflammatory properties, highest in Maganese, digestive benefits

*Benefits of spinach: antioxidants, carotenoids, highest in Vitamins K, A, C and folate

*Benefits of kale: cholesterol lowering benefits, Omega 3 properties, detox support, several dozen flavonoids, high in vitamins K, A, and C, inflammatory properties

What is your favorite green smoothie recipe? Don't have one? Try this one! Then share with me your favorite smoothie (one that you make). 

Choose, eat, and live well! =)

*WHFoods dot org

I do receive a small commission from Amazon.com if you purchase anything through their site using one of the links above (read my full advertising disclosure here). 

Thank you very much for your generosity in helping to offset the costs of website upkeep, so that I can keep sharing wellness resources with my community and beyond.

Subscribe to my blog here to never miss a post. 
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Download my free eGuide when you subscribe to my monthly newsletters for free.

Choose, eat, and live well! =)