Summer Survival #Nutritionandkids

At the beginning of the summer I always have high hopes of teaching my kids more about cooking and getting them involved in what they eat. I have visions of them eating healthy snacks everyday as I cheerfully teach them a lesson about nutrition or science. But in reality I still have to work and my patience is limited as the day goes on and as the summer progresses, I switch to more of a survival mode as to who will win, junk food or fruits and vegetables.

Here are some quick ideas that have saved our busy summer from completely slumping off into a dietary disaster.

1. With the plenitude of great produce during the summer it has been an easy task to cut and keep fruit available. I even added some to a skewer and froze them for an easy grab and go treat. 

                                   



2. We tried to "play with our food" more by doing food related science experiments. We made fresh whipped cream by agitating cream in a jar and dehydrated mangoes and pineapples to see what would happen when all of the water was taken out of the fruits. Both of these experiments took minimal prep and were easy to do. 

3. We tried to stay active everyday. Even with the really hot and humid temperatures we made sure that we had enough water to drink. 

          

4. When we ate out we tried to eat healthy! When we were taking a break from the rain at the beach we stopped at one of our local favorite places and they had the coolest "Greek Yogurt banana split" for breakfast. Topped with fresh fruit and nuts this Greek Yogurt made a healthy breakfast option for the kids. This is also easily created for a healthy and quick breakfast at home. 

With only 4 more weeks left of summer, I think I feel like I can continue to make it more healthy than not, which will make it more enjoyable for the kids and the adults! 

Have a great rest of the summer! 

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31 days of Healthy snack ideas for sports, after school and classrooms! Spooky fun!

October is one of my favorite months of the year. So many fun fall events to look forward to, a slight change in the weather (we live in South Florida) and mid season football. The only thing I don't look forward to is the large amount of candy, colored festive foods and sugar...sugar...sugar! 

Therefore, I wanted to come up with a daily fun snack idea to share with you to reach a healthy snack time wherever you are throughout the month. 

For the next 31 days make sure and check out our Facebook page: ABCD Eat Right to "like the snack", post your own snack ideas and share the snacks.   

Here are a few pics of ideas that will be posted 

throughout the month! 

Keep up with us on Facebook so you don't miss a 

spooky healthy post! 

ABCD Eat Right

And don't forget to printout your Halloween Bat Masks to wrap all of your whole fruit in! 

Earth Day Snacks- Recycled Trail mix, Deliciously "Clean" Dirt Cake, Rice cake world in your hands and much more....

Earth Day was established in the 1970's to promote the health of the Earth and provided educational opportunities to all ages concerning how they can improve and maintain the future of our planet. Typically children plant seeds or maybe a tree, learn about the life cycle of a plant or possibly visit a farm. Some people participate in a litter cleanup project or raise money with a fun run. This year combine your Earth Day festivities with healthy snacks. Here is a list of healthy snack ideas some were found on Pinterest and other healthy sites such as: AmericasDietitian.com and SuperHealthyKids.com

  1. A healthy tree (cucumber slices shaped like hearts hanging from a pretzel tree). There are a million different options we could do with different fruits and vegetables, have fun and make it your own. For the idea photographed above click here for the recipe.

2. The whole world in your hand snack – rice cake topped with low-fat cream cheese, blueberries and sliced grapes.

3.  Recycled Trail Mix: Click here for the recipe.  The label can be downloaded by clicking here.

 

    4.Deliciously "Clean" Dirt cake – Healthy version 2.0- Use granola as the topping above a layer of low fat chocolate pudding or low fat Greek yogurt. Fill in with gummy worms or Annie's gummy bunnies or yogurt covered raisins to look like rocks, and pretzel sticks to look like twigs. Click here for the recipe.

5. Blue-green popcorn- Use India Tree gel food colors to color the popcorn and agave nectar to sweeten it. For the original recipe click here.

  6. Ocean and Jungle smoothie- Blend together an avocado and soy or almond milk for the green, Then separately blend blueberries and low fat yogurt for the blue. Then swirl together. For the original recipe click here.

7. Kale Chips- Wash and tear into 2 inch pieces a bunch of kale excluding the stems. Toss with 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Massage in the oil and salt. Roast at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until crispy but not burned. 

8. Desert Dessert- Wash and trim a bunch of broccoli cutting off the tips of the broccoli. Spread a half of a graham cracker square with nut butter and place a broccoli floret on top of the nut butter.

9. Steamed Edemame
 

So whether you are writing about Earth Day in class or using some elbow grease cleaning a beach or planting a garden take a smart snack break and refuel your body with these healthier snacks.

Keep in touch:

Facebook: ABCD Eat Right & America's Dietitian

Twitter: @ABCDEatRight1

Website: www.ABCDEatRight.com

Brandi@ABCDEatRight.com

 

Cookie recipe for kids = YUMMY!

For another protein packed delicious addition to the

bento box try this recipe.

Quinoa Peanut butter and

flax seeds cookies

2 cups cooked quinoa

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup honey

1 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup ground flax

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips or raisins

Combine all of the ingredients above. Roll small spoonfuls into balls. Place on prepared baking sheet. Cook at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

Healthy Breakfast for Kids

I am always seeking out new ideas for a healthy start to the day. This week, in ABCD Eat Right's Newsletter, we focus on the importance of breakfast for a child. Breakfast keeps a child's mind focused and has been shown to improve their academic performance. Now that being said, not all breakfast choices are alike. Sticking with a protein, whole grain and lean meat or low fat dairy is a great choice to start the day off right.
This week I tried a new addition to the breakfast routine: Quinoa. This pseudo-grain has made a big buzz around our house lately and I have tried to include it in many dishes (you may have seen the quinoa crusted fish last week). I like it because its full of protein, vitamins, iron and fiber.

Here is what I made:

1/2 cup cooked quinoa ( I made about 2 cups at the beginning of the week in order to use it throughout the week)
1/2 cup granola
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt with honey
1/4 cup blueberries

I heated up the quinoa, granola and blueberries then added the yogurt. Blended and ate. Delicious.

Healthy Kids Snacks

This month I have been focusing on healthy snacks and packing a healthy lunch box. In the most recent Parents Magazine I ran across a recipe for Fruit Leather. I had memories of wrapping Fruit Roll-ups around my fingers and making fun shapes with my BFF Stephanie in Elementary School. Although we loved Fruit roll-ups as a kid, as a mom, I am more hesitant to buy the store bought ones for my kids. But making them at home...that's another story. I know exactly what goes into them: 4 cups of pureed berries and 2 tablespoons honey. Once I had this liquid mixture that, by the way, would also be tasty in a fruit smoothie, I laid down parchment paper on two  8x13 pans, preheated the oven to 200 degrees and slowly baked/dehydrated the fruit leathers for 4 hours. When it was done I cut up the fruit leather in strips and put them in the fridge. The kids enjoyed the healthy snack and it was super easy, albeit a bit time consuming on the cooking end. If you need a new way to present fruit to your kiddo try it out!