Last week, reader Kendra asked for suggestions on getting her kids to eat beans!  What a great idea for some posts.  So this week is BEAN WEEK! I’ve got 5 ways to add more beans into your families diet.  Today will be #1.

First, why more beans?

• Beans are healthy! In fact, Joel Fuhrman recommends a full cup of beans PER DAY!
• Beans are cheap!  Food is not cheap, but dry beans can help you get control over your food budget.
• Beans last a very long time!  Besides having 50lbs of oats, we probably have 150 lbs of different dried beans.

So, Tip #1 Add them to baked goods

Are you still substituting applesauce for the fat in your baked goods?  I think bean puree turns out a better result.

The Journal of the ADA reports when pureed cannellini beans were substituted for shortening in Brownies for 25% and 50% of the fat, no difference was detected. (You can read the abstract here) “Yielding an acceptable and more nutritious product”.

So, while this practice is best when you replace 50% of the fat in cake like baked goods, we replaced 75% of the fat in a cookie (because I love cookies!).  They also turned out pretty good.  They were eaten at least. 

First, I used

• 1 can of white beans (I used Great Northern Beans).
• Placed them in a food processor (remember, mine is just a $25 Cusinart from Costco)
• Blended until smooth (I did not add any water).  It turned out the consistency of shortening

Then, I used the puree in this cookie recipe, replacing 75% of the fat for white beans.  So, the original recipe used 1 cup of butter.  I used 1/4 cup of butter and 3/4 cup of the white beans.

Printable recipe

White Bean Chocolate Chip Cookies

• · ¾ Cup Pureed White beans
• 1/4 cup butter
• · 1 Cup brown sugar
• · 1 Cup white sugar
• · 2 Eggs
• · 1 tsp vanilla
• · 1 cup whole wheat flour
• · 1 ¼ cup White flour
• · 1 TBL baking soda
• · 1 tsp baking powder
• · 2 ½ cup Ground oat flour (put regular oats in blender or food processor until the consistency of flour)
• · Chocolate chips

Mix pureed beans, butter, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla thoroughly. Mix dry ingredients together. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix softly with wooden spoon just until all flour is mixed in.

Drop by TBL onto cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 6 minutes.

Makes 3 Dozen cookies

So come back tomorrow for Tip #2 for getting kids to eat their beans!

• Day 1: Pureed Beans in Baked goods
• Day 2: Bean Dip
• Day 3: Chick-En nuggets, Falafel
• Day 4: Roast them!
• Day 5: Mixing them in

Eating actual meals (rather than from the bag, or standing at the refrigerator) not only is better for you, but also keeps your house cleaner.

My kids will stand at the pantry, take a handful of Cheerios, and walk away, leaving a trail of Cheerios on the floor, and at the pantry door.  In literally makes me insane.  As soon as I step on Cereal on the kitchen floor, I know they’ve been eating from the bag.

In a span of 30 years, you will most likely eat 30,000 meals!  According to The Pleasure Trap, “anything you are likely to do 30,000 times cries out for efficiency and organization”

The following is our menu plan for next week.  Head over to my sidebar to find the printable version along with the shopping list.  Happy Cooking.

Next week I will post some pictures and recipes to a few items on this menu.

Have you been with me long enough to remember when I couldn’t STOP posting dessert ideas.  I love dessert.  But one thing I’ve been mulling over lately, is the fact that although you can lower the fat or lessen the sugar of a dessert, generally there is nothing redeeming about the final product. Its still empty calories, void of nutrients.

This is why I’m trying to add fruits, nuts, seeds, etc to desserts, so there is something redeemable about them… and still DELICIOUS!

Therefore, tonights meal included a fancy schmancy specialty drink.   My kids named it PEACH SPLOOSHY! 

I added a jar of peaches that I canned in Sep. 04.  I still had 2 jars for some reason. I’m sure there was sugar in my canning process.  But I included the

• small mason jar of peaches, with the juice
• 5 oz greek yogurt (5 oz has 15 grams of protein!!)
• ice

The verdict! Everyone loved it.

Some of my favorite desserts I’ve posted here:

• Chocolate no-bake cookies remade
• Caramel corn; we make this one a lot!
• Pineapple popscicle; great for summer
• Cinnamon Almonds

I didn’t think it was neccesary to cut the stem off of a strawberry for my children. They are old enough to do something like that themselves!   Then I found this bowl of FINISHED strawberry garbage:

Seriouly kids? You might as well put your bath towel in the laundry after you dry your face with it each time… Oh yeah, you do that too! 

Guess I will continue to chop apples (I’ve found a few with only a bite or two in the garbage too ) Cut crust off of your toast, and cut your strawberries too. 

Should you buy organic Strawberries?  I don’t buy much of our fruit organic, however, out of any of the produce, strawberries are the most treated with chemicals.  After they are picked they begin to go bad so quickly, the chemicals are necessary for them to make it to your store and last awhile.

However, frozen strawberries need not be purchased organic. They are flash frozen at the point of picking, and preserved through freezing rather than chemically.

We love STRAWBERRIES!!  Putting strawberries on top any muffin, angel food cake, or of course shortcake is delicious for any child!!  Your kids will love helping you prepare these.

On a personal note: We were having an awesome weekend with my dad in town until my husband’s 03 Corolla got totalled on Friday by a 21 yr old uninsured motorist!  The max we’ll get from our policy is $3500 because I put liability only on that car. Pretty stinky, huh!

TUESDAY: Whole grains (oats)

Food is more than the nutrients they provide, it is also for our pleasure and a HUGE part of our culture. So in honor of pleasure and culture, I wanted to try to makeover some yummy no-bake chocolate cookies. 

There is a place for treats in our diet. When treats become a special event, they truly taste better and are more delicious.  A dietary habit of making treats commonplace diminish the pleasure of them altogether. 

I experimented with two batches of no-bake cookies on Sunday. These are the changes I made. 

 Both batches turned out exactly the same in taste!  There was absolutely no difference in sweetness. There is no reason to use the full amount of sugar in any baked goods.  Here is the recipe.

I intentionally added extra oats and some heart healthy nuts (almonds, peanuts, and walnuts), and some cocoa!  (my father-in-law’s eyes are still improving!!)  We need to be intentional about adding healthy, whole foods to our kids diet.  That is a responsibility that can not be delegated.

 

 Happy Cinco De Mayo!   I am soaking some black beans right now, and we are having taco soup for dinner.  Delicious.

This is the last day to enter to win some free Dole fruit. Go here.

TUESDAY: Whole Grains

The most forgiving place to change up your flours without too much impact on the final result is cookies!  You can replace white flour with wheat flour, oat flour, bean flour, etc. and they are still tasty as ever.

Substituting fat however isn’t so easy.  Its common to replace fat with pureed fruits like applesauce, but in cookies, I think the flavor and texture is compromised a bit.  My preferred method is to reduce the amount of fat by 1/2 and replace that half with a healthier fat, such as canola oil. So for example, this recipe originally had 1 cup of butter.  I instead used 1/2 cup of canola oil, and felt like the finished product had just as much flavor and was the perfect texture for us.

Other ways to substitute fat in cookies:

1. Reduce butter, but add corn syrup if you like a crispy cookie.
2. Use small amounts of yogurt or sour cream for a portion of the fat.
3. Use small amounts of egg whites to replace a portion of the fat.
4. Use Butter substitutes such as Smart Balance.

For Substitutions in things other then cookies, go here.

MONDAY: Fruits and Vegetables

Have I told you lately that I love you?

Have I told you, there’s no one else above you?

You fill my meals with sweetness

You make my snacks into treat-ness

Ease my hunger that’s what you do!

There are very few things in this world I am brand loyal to.  However, I make complete exception to DOLE!!! Dole has better canned fruit and better frozen fruit than any I have tried.  Dole frozen strawberries never clump together in a big unbreakable ice cube like other brands.  Dole canned pineapple is so much sweeter than the store brand, and I haven’t found anyone else that makes YUMMY YUMMY frozen cherries other than Dole.  In fact, my last grocery trip proves my love for Dole:

Frozen fruit and canned fruit are a great way to get your fruits in.  In fact, picked when ripe and flash frozen actually preserves the nutrients from the fruit.  Make sure you are not buying frozen fruit with added sugar.  Same goes for canned fruit. Check your labels and purchase canned fruit canned in its own juice.

Dole sent us some of their Fruit Parfait.  Its chopped up fruit in a delicious sea of yogurty parfait.  This was particularly exciting for my kids, because I never send a treat in their lunch to school. But when we got the parfaits, considering there is sugar in it, I put it in their lunch for dessert.  They loved it! We all loved it.  While there is 22grams of sugar in this dessert, I checked the Little Debbie treats at the store and some of those had 30 grams of sugar  (without any fruit of course).

More reasons to love Dole: 

1. Their site dedicated to SUPER FOODS. Find out what foods boost immunity, support bones, good for your skin, etc.
2. Their Super Kids Cookbook!!  All kid friendly recipes using my favorite foods, FRUIT!
3. They are sponsoring a giveaway.  Enter a comment on your favorite canned fruit, and I’m giving away one DOLE fleece jacket (size L), 5 coupons for FREE Dole fruit cups or fruit parfait, and $1.00 off Dole Frozen fruit.

Hurry, hurry, contest will end Wed. Night.

TUESDAYS:  Whole Grains

At merely 105 calories, 3 cups of popcorn equals one of your necessary servings of whole grains.  Popcorn can be so versatile. It can take on a savory or a sweet taste, depending on your mood.  Its easy to make, and very economical.

One problem I have had with making caramel corn, which we love, is that I never stopped to consider the amount of popcorn in proportion to the caramel recipe.  I would just pop some popcorn, then make a full recipe of caramel, and drowned the popcorn in it.  After the last batch I made, I realized it was way too much caramel for the amount of popcorn I had.  We did not need it so sweet and so saturated.

Then measuring my popcorn, and cutting the recipe in half, I believe I have made the perfect caramel corn.  Lightly coated, with half a recipe, this caramel corn does not make you sick after a few bites like my caramel corn of the past.

I simply used 1 full cup of kernels.  (If you pop it in the microwave in paper bags, I popped 1/3 cup, three times.  Then used this recipe, cut in half of course! I added some pecans to the popcorn, took the unpopped kernels out, and we all loved the result.  Not too sticky, not too sweet, not too much! Just perfect.

Some benefits of popcorn you may not be aware of is 3 TBL of unpopped popcorn has:

• 4 grams of protein
• 120 calories
• 1.5 grams of the good fat
• 6 grams of fiber!!! BONUS
• It is rich in vitamins and minerals such as vitamin B

Related popcorn posts:

Popping in the Microwave

Another microwave idea in casserole dish

Popcorn Balls

MONDAY: Fruits and Vegetables

There is a fond place in my heart for Orange Julius. I worked there the end of my senior year.  I lost weight, met two of my summer boyfriends there, and learned how to make an orange julius. 

Every morning we were met by a dozen boxes of fresh oranges we had to juice.  Then all I remember about the drink itself was fresh orange juice, ice, and a powdered mix.  I can only image the powder probably had sugar, dry milk, and maybe some powdered eggs (but obviously I can’t be sure).

Seeing some shriveling up Clementines on my kitchen counter gave me the idea to give the drink a try again.  Instead of juicing, I put the whole oranges in the blender (minus the seeds), some milk, vanilla, powdered eggs, and some stevia in place of sugar.   I wrote the recipe here, although it may change as I perfect it… it tasted a bit too milky for my personal taste.

These drinks can be a delicious, healthy dessert for your children.  With loads of vitamin C, I also would also feel good about offering it as a healthy snack for your kids.

A word about fake sugars:  While I want to avoid the controversy about fake sugars, all I will do is state my opinion.  I am uncomfortable purchasing products with Splenda and aspartame for my kids.  First off, I think Splenda leaves a horrible aftertaste!  Especially in yogurt, I can not even stand it.  
Secondly, the chemical makeup of these fake sugars make them too unnatural for us to use in our diet.

Then comes Stevia:  The people from Steviva sent me some sample bags of stevia sugar.  I have always wanted to try this because I understood it to be a healthier alternative.  From their literature: 

• One bottle of Steviva stevia powder is equivalent to nearly 50 pounds of sugar with 0 calories, 0 carbs, and no fillers, additives, or Maltodextrin. 
• Unlike Most brands it is 100% natural in every sense of the word. 
• It increases energy and aids digestion by stimulating the pancreas, and it does no harm to healthy teeth. 
• Overseas…since artificial sweeteners are banned in Japan, Japanese are its greatest consumers.  Its what they use to sweeten their Diet coke (instead of NutraSweet)!!!
• Stevia is an all-natural herbal product with cenuries of safe usage by native Indians in Paraguay. 
• It has been consumed safely in massive quantities (thousands of tons annually) for the past twenty years.

While we are actually trying to have less sweet things around (fake or not), there is occasion for me (when I feel like sneaking treats without my kids noticing) this might possibly be a good, low calorie alternative.   Better on the waistline!

I once had a friend who was trying to sneak some chocolate so her kids wouldn’t notice and ask for some too.  One of her little ones said to her, “Mom, where’s the chocolate? I smell it in your mouth!”

We significantly cut back on our sugar intake yesterday. I didn’t have any. The kids had 1 TBL of syrup on their waffles(about 8 grams sugar).  I posted in May a rundown of how much sugar we ate in a typical day, and I know we can do better.  My plan is to keep our intake below 12 grams of sugar per day.  While I don’t practice eliminating foods from our diet, too much sugar in ones diet leads to eating lower quality, less nutritious foods at the expense of sugar laced goods.

Eating less sugar doesn’t mean you can’t eat sweet foods.  I was on the hunt for some no sugar desserts.  The book I got from the library had recipes with ingredients I normally don’t have on hand.  And, unfortunately most of my google searches came up with desserts that had splenda as the sweeetner, which I don’t care for.  I finally found one on Allrecipes, using mashed bananas as sweetener,  and made them.  Once again, I liked them (because I ususally like everything), however, they did not go over so well with the family. 

The Husband said, “gross“.  The Flip-flopper and Ketchup boy said, “Don’t like them.”  But Cereal boy said, “they are OK, but there isn’t really any flavor in them”.    I thought they tasted kind of like a bland banana bread.  They could have used less butter (which some of the reviewers did).

Things less sweet will be an aquired taste.  Once we get used to less sugar in things, food will finally start to taste better.  In the meantime, if you have any links to recipes that use fruit as the sweetner rather than sugar or splenda, please let me know.  I will do my best this weekend to come up with one that is a crowd pleaser.