Thanks to Facebook, I not only found out my neighbor, Julie,  has a preschool, but I also noticed she did a fun, food activity with her preschool kids this week!

Rainbow Toast: In honor of St. Patrick’s day, of course!  Julie was so excited about making these with her kids, she couldn’t even sleep the night before! 

Here are Julie’s pictures:

So cute!  For the directions to make rainbow toast Click here!  She has other fun preschool activities too!  I haven’t shown Erica these yet! She will be super excited.  She’s my artist.  Try this anytime of year and let them paint anything they want.  Thanks Julie!

While I’m on the St. Patty’s topic, here was my St. Patrick’s Day muffins from last year:

Another fabulous blog with fun ideas for your pre-schoolers is Dresses and Messes! (also a very creative neighbor o’ mine!)

Have a great weekend!

Don’t forget to Vote for Pleasant Grove High School again today! You can vote everyday and get $3000 in our schools, just by voting!

Who is sick of being inside?  Who is sick of having their children stuck inside? 

Our elementary school is currently under construction. The workers created a dangerous and large pit in the school yard, causing our kids to not have recess outdoors for at least 2 weeks in January. Then there were “inside days” due to poor air quality, or weather! The poor teachers were going INSANE as you can imagine!!

So, we decided to have a beach party and play beach volleyball with a very light weight beach ball.  I’ve got a DRAWER FULL of these balls (since they pop, get lost, etc.) and they are pulled out in times of outdoor famine.  I asked my kids to put on some bathing suits, for the sake of the blog… but they weren’t interested.  They are getting too old to indulge me in all my ideas, I guess.

These balls are perfect! $0.50 each at oriental trading,…but I’m sure you could find them at the dollar store too.  (Or if you come visit our geocache, I’ve put some in there ) But these balls are so soft, they can hit things  (like a vase with flowers) without knocking them down, so they are perfect for indoor play.

Even the babies like to play!!

Adorable baby is my sisters!

PS I spent wasted 45  minutes this morning looking for the photos of the kids playing volleyball… and I can’t find the pictures ANYWHERE!!  You’ll have to imagine them playing in my living room, enjoying the “beach”! And they look like they are having a blast, of course!

My kids have never had coconut macaroons, and I loved them as a child.  So, I found this awesome recipe (one of the few without sweetened condensed milk).  The only thing this one (from Alton Brown) had was:

• egg whites, (totally healthy and good for you.  4 egg whites has 16 grams of protein)
• a little sugar, (this just makes it taste good)
• some coconut,  (also a power food!)

They turned out great!  I ate three. My husband had several.  But my kids, the little stinkers, weren’t exactly fans.  My husband and I were both shocked they didn’t like them.  However, I should have known. They have never liked coconut.  I had hoped these cookies would change their mind.

They were easy to make:  Coconut Macaroon Recipe (Food Network)

I whipped the egg whites until stiff

Slowly added sugar.  Then folded in the coconut and salt.  I actually added a touch of flour (because we are at high altitude and I always add flour to stuff.

Then we scooped onto parchment paper.

After they were cooked, I put some almonds on top, so they would be like little bird eggs.

Like I said,  not a hit with the kids! But soooo delicious!

Perfect nesting place for the wounded bird we found in our garage last summer.

I have a great opportunity for you. Pleasant Grove High School (in Utah County) entered a video contest to win $3000 for their Drama Department. And you know how our schools need money, right? All you have to do is vote for them! It will just take a second, and you can vote every day!! Go vote! Please vote! Save Drama!

Other coconut posts:

• Scientific Investigation

I can honestly (and shamefully) say, this is the first red cabbage I have ever bought!  It was just so beautiful sitting on the shelf next to the dull green cabbage I was there to get.   I couldn’t help myself.

So for dinner last night, we were searching the cupboards in order to include as many different colors in this salad as we could.  I had the kids help with this, so they had a bit of ownership in the dish.

Here is what we came up with.

• red cabbage
• green cabbage
• mandarin oranges
• blueberries
• shredded carrots
• Craisins

Then I added a coleslaw dressing and let it chill in the fridge for a few hours to penetrate.

Excuse me? What’s that you say?  Beautiful salad, but my kids won’t touch it?  I know, I know!  Let me tell you what we do in our house?

Every night for dinner we either have a salad, a side of cooked vegetables, or for the children’s sake; the veggies are pulled out of the casserole/ stir fry/ whatever one pot meal, we are having and separated on their plates.

With the whole meal on their plates (the vegetables being the star) we do not make a fuss. We do not force them to clean their plates. They are welcome to seconds of the other portions of the dinner, even if their vegetables are not all gone.  My hope is they will learn what a balanced plate looks like, by seeing it every night!

My secret weapon!  PATIENCE!  It took NINE YEARS for Nathan to finally say he liked salad!  NINE YEARS!!  So, the awful truth of it all is: there is no magic formula except boring old patience and persistence while consistently offer vegetables to your kids.

And here is Nate, enjoying his Rainbow Salad, FINALLY!

Will your kids eat this salad?  What other foods of different colors would go well with it?  I was thinking there wasn’t enough DARK green, so maybe some baby spinach leaves?

Let’s be honest.  When you have a house full of kids, none of them are going to sit down for a plate of asparagus, drizzled with a delicious lemon sauce!  Maybe at a party for the Queen, but the only queen around here is my drama queen, Erica!

Since our house tends to be the gathering place, I find it helpful to have some fun foods on hand.  On typical play dates, the kids friends are only allowed to eat pretzels.  This has been our standing rule for a very long time! Otherwise, my food bill would consume me.   However, I of course make exceptions when we are babysitting, or kids are staying all day, having a late night, or spending the night.  These are my secret weapons! The things that get eaten 99% of the time we have other kids over.

GRAPES:  We had 4 kids over late on Friday night, with two of them staying all night.  These kids are great. Whatever food I put out, they eat. If I put out chips, they would eat the chips. But of course I didn’t put out chips, I put out grapes.

Within a few hours, they had eaten them all!   All $6 of them!

POPCORN: Need I say more! You can’t go wrong with popcorn!! We buy 8lbs at a time of popcorn kernels. (less than $0.20 for the entire bowl)

CHEX MIX While this may not be as popular around here as plain old popcorn, it gets eaten sometimes.  Although I have to admit, chocolate chips or M&M’s are usually the first thing to go.  I mix such things as

• popcorn
• pretzels
• dried fruit
• nuts
• chocolates
• cereal

Spread it out on a pan. Spray some butter flavored cooking spray and sprinkle with cinnamon. Then bake for a few minutes, just until the cinnamon sort of melts onto the mix.

 CINNAMON CRISPS or CINNAMON CHIPS

These easy “chips” were just made with whole wheat tortillas.  Sprayed with butter flavored cooking spray, and sprinkled with cinnamon. Baked until crispy. The neighbor kids love these. 8 crisps (one whole tortilla), approximately $0.30

Olives and cheese (one stick, $0.20 if I get the string cheese on sale.)  Or just a bowl full of olives.  Some kids like these, some don’t .  Completely unpredictable.

DRINKS: Water.  I always have plenty of cups.  We have the water dispenser on our fridge, and as long as there is cup access, they feel the comfortable enough to get their own water, anytime!  The benefit: I don’t freak out when it spills… and it ALWAYS SPILLS!

So, what snack food do you put out when there are extra kids in your home for sleepovers, hanging out, parties, etc?

After every life event I have the same thoughts,

After my next test, I’ll spend more time in kitchen….

After TJ’s birthday, I’ll make more bread…

After the PTA fundraiser, I’ll soak my beans, rather than get them out of a can.” 

And what happens next: Another bigger and more time consuming thing!

So as a result, this menu plan is going to be Crockpot week or:

“I have no time to be in the kitchen” plan, but if possible, I’ll stick the kids in the kitchen in my place.”

If you have a healthy recipe you think our family would enjoy for future menu plans, feel free to email me a link, or the recipe, and I’ll be happy to link to your recipes in future meal plans! Thanks!!!

Disclaimer: All my children are in school, and I actually send them sandwiches in their lunch every day. These lunches are ideas if you need variety! 

Printable Meal Plans

If there is ever something in my menu that I didn’t post the recipe or link for (generally because its in one of my cookbooks), feel free to email me, and I’ll get it to you. amy@superhealthykids.com

What to look forward to this week: (subject to change if something doesn’t turn out right)

• Party/ Finger food
• Red Cabbage
• Coconut nests
• Crockpot recipe
• Indoor activity idea

Yesterday it practically felt like summer, and this morning we woke up to a pile of snow!  Of course being the slave driver I am, I sent my kids out at the crack of dawn to start shoveling.  I hope we never buy a snow blower. (at least until the kids are grown, then we can buy one )

Once inside, they were ready for some hot cocoa!  Here is our healthy version:

• 1 cup low fat milk
• 1 TBL Agave syrup (or honey)  (if your kids are used to Nesquik or other sweeter cocoas, you may want to use 2 TBL
• 2 TBL cocoa powder  (the 100% cocoa powder)
• Mix together over the stove, or in the microwave until warm and dissolved.

If you love chocolate you will be happy to know a few things:

• Although it contains a little saturated fat, research is showing it may not block LDL receptors the way saturated fat from animal sources do!!
• Cocoa contains phytochemicals that can help your heart, skin, vision, etc.

So, go enjoy the last few days of winter (crossing my fingers) and relax with your kids and some cocoa!

P.S. One of my first posts was about how TJ was completely addicted to Nesquik!  He truly drank it every day!

Ahhh salt.  We have to have some.. but not too much. 

I’ve never been concerned about buying healthier salt.  I never wanted to pay extra money for something we should be cutting back on anyway!  And I’m pretty skeptical about most products touted to be healthier.  A recent recipe got me curious enough to check out some Sea Salt at the store.

Upon arriving at the store and looking at the sea salt, I noticed almost all of them said they do not contain Iodine!  A- Wha-Whaaat??   I’m love my iodized salt. Without it, we would be a nation full of goiters!  Who wants a goiter? Not me!  I almost didn’t want to buy the sea salt. But for $2.50, I gave in cause it had the little turny thing that grinds the salt.

So, what is good about sea salt:

Pro’s:

• Sea salt is minimally processed- right from the sea.
• People may prefer the taste
• People prefer the texture
• Trace minerals are present

Con’s

• It’s More expensive  (but really not unreasonable)
• The main composition is sodium and chloride.. same as table salt.
• It’s still salt, which means… cut back!
• The trace minerals are probably quite insignificant unless you are consuming large amounts… to which it’s not good for you anyway. 

My kids like to add salt to their cooked vegetables and their eggs.

But remember! The Dietary recommendations are no more than 2400 mg  (or 1 added tsp) of sodium per day. However for children under 8 it is recommended no more than 1900 mg per day.  I’ll be honest, I never feel good about adding salt to my kids food, so why spend the money on sea salt.

Random fact: Did you know that the lasagna at Macaroni Grill has 3900mg of sodium?

What’s your opinion?  Sea salt? Love it or leave it?

My other sodium post:

• Pillar of Salt (where I track my kids sodium for a day.. although this was two years ago, so I think we would be healthier today if I did it again)

Recently, as I’ve taught the 1st grade and preschool classes about eating more fruits and vegetables I explain that fresh, frozen, canned, dried, and Juice all count!   Although my kids don’t eat much dried fruit other than mangoes and raisins, they really love fruit leather!

Stretch Island Fruit (my favorite dried fruit company who is not compensating me in any way for saying that)  is collecting data to determine how much fruit our kids are really eating.  I love being part of survey’s.  When I’m not and the news says, “ 56% of American’s don’t wash their hands after they go to the bathroom,” I want to yell…”NO ONE EVER ASKED ME!!!”  That’s why I like to be asked.   Stretch Island said,

Our ultimate goal for this survey is to gather feedback from a significant number of people in order to identify solid statistics about fruit intake and, ultimately, educate people about the importance of fruit consumption. 

I thought it was a great idea for a survey, so I wanted to share it with you all.

We buy fruit leather at Costco all the time.  When we are out of fresh fruit, the kids grab a fruit leather to stick in their lunch.  Stretch Island Fruit strips are all fruit, and no sugar!

Here are my kids eating the Fruitabu Strawberry rolls. 

So, if you would: Here is the Survey.  19 questions, but it will only take you a minute of your time.  Be part of the results!!  It will be available to take until March 12th.

I offered Four, 9 year old girls some of this Brushcetta, and all four gave it the thumbs up. They even came back for seconds!  I was worried it would be a a little too fancy for my kids (since we are as UN-Fancy as they come).  But I presented it as “It’s kind of like “toast-pizza”, and they were all over it.

My hidden reason for mixing up some of this was for the GARLIC!!  Garlic contains Allicin, which is shown to be a powerful antibacterial and antiviral agent!  And of course is Garlic vital in fending off Vampires!  Unless you don’t want to fend off certain vampires.. you know who you are.

So, the recipe:

In a small bowl combine:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• some oregeno (I used dry)
• some basil (I used fresh)
• some rosemary (I used fresh)
• and pressed garlic (I used 4 cloves)
• Salt and pepper

Then I took some toasted whole wheat toast.  Spread the olive oil mixture on top.

Topped with finely chopped tomatoes and a Parmesan/ Asiago cheese blend.  I then re-toasted in the oven for just a minute, while the cheese melted a bit.

The verdict:  Cute neighbor girl to the right of Erica said, “I want my mom to have this recipe!”  So, here you are!

MMMM.. This post made me think of this VERY OLD post, where we dipped bread in balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  YUMMY!

 Boy, I sure feel like I’m doing just about anything (like blogging) to NOT write a   Biochemistry paper.   I’m struggling here.  I’ve got 650 words and it is supposed to be 1000, and I literally have nothing else to say!  And it’s due tomorrow!!