What’s the difference between fruit salad and fruit salsa?  Not sure? The only thing I could come up with is how finely you chop the fruit.  Another difference of course is eating fruit salad with a spoon, vs. salsa you have permission to dip other food into it.

My kids would be eating all day if I let them.  But when I have a snack on the table, at a predetermined time, they are pretty good about going for what I prepared, as opposed to pretzels and granola bars (their go-to snack of choice)

Tooty Fruity Salsa!!

We love fruit salsa with fresh fruit of course, but fresh fruit get’s eaten pretty fast around here, so many times I have to resort to my stock pile of frozen goodies.

This frozen bag had

• mangoes,
• pineapple and
• strawberries. Then I added a few
• frozen blackberries. 

I microwaved for 2 minutes at 30% power.  The fruit was still a little frozen, which I liked better for chopping.

For a mix-in for flavoring, we used

• drizzle of honey
• coconut
• grated ginger

We have also used mix-ins like

• Orange juice
• lemon juice or lemon zest
• agave nectar
• granulated sugar
• a little corn starch to thicken it up
• fruit preserves (like jam)
• Vanilla extract
• Yogurt

Then, we used whole wheat pita chips, sliced and baked with cinnamon on top.  We’ve also cinnamon baked some whole wheat tortilla’s in the past.

Great recipe for an after school snack, or anytime eating.

Related recipe: Tropical Fruit Salad with toasted coconut

This is how we garden at our house, and it actually works surprisingly well!

• Step 1: bury a few seeds (however deep we feel like)
• Step 2: Set up the automatic timer on the sprinklers
• Step 3: Wait for the harvest!!
• Note: We never weed after we plant.  We’ve weeded out too many vegetable plants that way, thinking they were weeds.  We also don’t thin our plants (too cumbersome) but this practice cost us our pear tree…dead after one season for having too many pears)

And that is how we have ended up, year after year with a run-away crop of CHIVES!   Despite our best efforts to dig it up every year, it keeps coming back in more and more abundance.  But I love the chive plant.  It makes a beautiful centerpiece, and delicious aroma, and they are good for you!!

This morning, we went out to cut a few for Omelets.

Trimmed with scissors (perfect job for the kids)

Chopped with help:

And mixed in with our Omelets.   (not how the Healthy Plate is intended of course)

Interestingly, you can eat any portion of the chive plant (including the flower).  With it’s light onion flavor, chives are perfect in many ways:

• Mixed with some light cream cheese or sour cream for a dip or a spread
• Add to your potato bar
• Add to potato salad or mashed potatoes
• Add to salsa
• Season cooked vegetables with chives, such as cooked carrots
• Make your own ranch dressing
• Add to potato soup

If you haven’t stopped by, I finally indexed my recipes!!  Head over to check it out.  In the coming weeks, I’ll try to add photos to the subpages.

Giveaway today! Chiquita Swag bag!

Last week we spent 10 hours in the car from Lehi, Utah to Newport Beach, CA!  I knew I didn’t want to not stop along the way for food, so I planned accordingly.  It’s not that I think we couldn’t get healthy food ON the road (a post for tomorrow), but my husband and I really don’t like to stop once we get going.  You know, we’d rather get there! So we plow through, full steam ahead and bring our food instead.  Here is what we brought to eat, that I felt worked for us.

The plan was: 

• Breakfast: Hard boiled eggs, homemade muffins, yogurt, apple slices.
• Lunch: Bagel sandwiches, string cheese, pretzels, carrots.
• Snacks: Trail mix, oranges, dried fruit

So, here is our new “Top Ten Healthy Food for a Road Trip”

1. Hard Boiled eggs- I don’t know when my kids started loving these things, but they can’t get enough of them!  They were perfect for the road.  The protein and the good fat in them make them a filling way to start the day. 
2. Pre-sliced bagged apples!  Lucky for us, Chiquita had just sent us some vouchers for their bags of fruits or vegetables. I redeemed them for this trip, and they were perfect.  As with bringing whole apples, the bagged variety never got bumped around and bruised, they were easy to eat, and left no core behind. Loved these (Head over to the giveaway page for today’s CHIQUITA giveaway!!)

   

3. Frozen water bottles-  My husbands idea really, but it worked great!  If my kids are holding a water bottle, they will literally drink it all in one gulp, and then have to pea every 20 minutes.  And since we don’t like stopping every 20 minutes on the road, freezing the water and letting it slowly melt, self regulated the drinking! They could hold their bottle, and take sips as it melted.  Genius!
4. Baby carrots-  My kids have slowly been weaned off the NEED for dipping their carrots. Don’t get me wrong, they love to dip, but they will also eat them plain.  And with long car drives, the boredom and mindless eating sets in, and baby carrots are the perfect cure.
5. Trail Mix- (single serving sizes).  You can make these yourselves, or buy trail mix in 1 oz bags.  I bought them this time, but we’ve done both.  I prefer the single serving because in the car, with everyone dipping their hands in a big bag, it tends to get messy.  And I love portion control!
6. Bagel Sandwiches- I finally figured out the problem with bringing sandwiches on road trips.. THE BREAD!! On the road, bread gets squashed, limp, stale, whatever.  So I bought some pretty hardy whole wheat bagels, some deli meat, lettuce and provolone cheese.  The bagels held up well. I put the fillings on (we didn’t even need spread the bagels were super moist), and we ate!  I will never bring bread for sandwiches again on a road trip, only a hearty bagel!
7. String cheese- Nice little source of protein, a little calcium.. and kind of a treat to my kids.
8. Pretzels- While pretzels aren’t that special, and completely devoid of nutrients, they do make a clean snack, and after all.. we like clean snacks when it comes to road trips.
9. Dried fruit (in little boxes). Remember when you only used to be able to buy raisins in little boxes?  Now you can buy anything.. dried apricots, dried craisins, dried apples.  And if you really feel like forking out the money, you can get these boxes of dried fruit with Sesame Street Characters on them
10. And our tenth best , healthy, road trip food,  Cuties!  While oranges get pretty drippy and messy, we’ve had good luck with the cuties.  And if you are my kids and are thirsty because your parents froze your water bottle… cuties are thirst quenching!

What not to bring:

1. The muffins! Complete mess! They got squished, the bag tipped over, and then the kids stepped on them! Never again!!
2. Candy- just makes the kids cranky and more thirsty!!

So, now you share… What works on your vacations or road trips?

Related post: Our last road trip

Although I hate to be in charge, I love helping out at the class holiday parties, at the kids school.   However, my running BFF, Eliece, is in charge of her son’s 5th grade class Valentine Party this Friday.  She wanted to put a healthier spin on it, considering they’ll get plenty of candy when they exchange cards, so this is what she came up with!

Heart Healthy Valentines Party!

5 FUN ACTIVITIES THAT ENCOURAGE HEART HEALTH

1. Our HEART needs Exercise:

• throw a bean bag onto a poster-sized grid with different exercises in each square
• roll dice (or spinner)
• do the exercise the bean bag lands on that number of times (or for that many seconds)

2.  Our HEART needs Friends:

• She made a game , A paper grid they get friends to initial. For example:  someone who has read all 5 Percy Jackson books, someone with a clean desk, someone who takes dance lessons, someone with the same birthday month as you they have to get a different person to initial each box (there are 20) then they get a prize (bouncy ball).  Click here for the game download.

3.  Our HEART needs Hobbies/activities you enjoy

• Craft:  Make a key ring that says I (heart) ______________
  It is actually a clip they can put on their backpack, so clips, string, alphabet and heart beads.  Example:  I basketball    or Imusic  (whatever they like doing)

4.  Our HEART needs to Serve

• make a gift for teacher:   each child writes 3 specific things they like about Mrs Day.  Put them all in a jar for her to read

5.  Our HEART needs Healthy Food

• make own trail mix (Ziplocs, pretzels, fish crackers, raisins, m & m, etc.)
• fruit shish-kabobs (skewers, apple chunks, pineapple, grapes, strawberries)
• water

Some great ideas, right!  Changing Valentines from a sugar fest is a healthy way to show your kids you truly love them!

I just finished watching Food, Inc.  Great Movie! The take home message is to buy local, and in season food! If you haven’t seen the movie yet, did you know you can download and “rent” the movie to watch from Amazon for $2.99!  I just realized this!  Right under “Buy”, you click WATCH IT NOW, $2.99 to rent.  

Although I’ve mentioned them before, after watching the movie, I was so glad we buy our meat local (beef and pork at least).  If you live in Utah and are looking for a local meat supplier, you must check out The Christiansens farm for well fed, well treated, organic, and super awesome meat!  Hollie Christiansen is my neighbors- sister.. which is how I found out about their farm. 

Last night, I pulled out our bag of frozen Edamame to snack on while I prepared dinner.  The kids devoured it! I forgot how much they liked this great snack the first time I bought it.  It’s definitely coming out more often this week.

As always, head over to the side bar, or Menu Archives to print the menu!

Don’t forget…. Monday is the last day to enter for Crest Pro-Health supplies,

and FRIDAY is the last day for the V8-V Fusion Visa $100 Gift card!

As a matter of business, when you click on my RSS feed to the right, this does not include a feed to my giveaways (or my health journal that I never have time to update) .  So just know, when I choose a winner for contests, I will post it on the giveaway site (although it won’t come through if you RSS feed my kids blog).  You do not need to check however, because I will always email the winners!!

I got this adorable letter from PBS Kids.  I posted once about the cute new show they have about eating healthy.  Here is their second communication with me.

Dear Potential Lunch Labber:

I am Professor Fizzy, host of FIZZY’S LUNCH LAB, a new Web-only property launching November 16 on PBSKIDSGO.org, and I am in need of your help! The holiday season is quickly approaching and Fast Food Freddy, proprietor of the high calorie, unhealthy fast food theme park “Greasy World” is licking his chops in anticipation of sugary sweets and fatty goods interfering with the healthy habits of young Lunch Labbers across the country.

To keep Freddy and his half-baked schemes at bay, I am sending you six Lunch Lab tested recipes for delicious, nutritious foods.

Your mission, should you chew and digest it:
* Visit PBSPARENTS.org/nutrition/ to download and share healthy recipes from FIZZY’S LUNCH LAB that families can prepare together this holiday season.
* Join me and my friends in FIZZY’S LUNCH LAB (PBSKIDSGO.org/lunchlab) as we prepare tasty snacks, investigate the difference between good and bad food, and learn what happens once the food you eat goes into your body.
* Learn more about me, Mixie-Bot, Sully the Cell, Corporal Cup and the rest of the gang and our mission to help families make smart food choices together by downloading the full press release.

There are so many different ways to make a smoothie, your kids should never be bored.  While not packed full of fruits and veggies, this smoothie sure made a great treat. We called it the Orange creamsicle smoothie.  I’ve seen different versions on many different websites, but I kept ours simple:

• 1 Cup vanilla yogurt
• 1 cup Orange juice
• 24 ice cubes

Put all ingredients in a blender.

  And drink

(Those are sunglasses that the lenses broke out of. She loves to wear them and “trick” people into thinking she wears glasses.  She wants braces too. Remember those days?)

It’s been a great long while since I posted anything about kids and exercise.  Getting them off the couch in winter (or any cold weather) is more of a challenge, than when the sun is shining.  Lets be honest though, its usually not their fault. They would be happy running around in their underwear in a snowstorm, if I would let them.  I however was meant to live in Southern California, where you can play comfortably outside all year long.   Then OF COURSE I would be outside with my kids more often.

But yesterday, I had a reason to get moving.  We got a coupon for a free family day at our rec center pool (indoor pool that is). It expires soon, so we headed out.  The great thing about swimming  in a public pool during fall and winter, is you have the pool to yourself.  Even on Saturday afternoon.

I wish I could say I swam with them. That’s what a good mother would do.  But as soon as I get wet, I get so cold that I want to go home.  I like to blame that on my thyroid.  So instead, I brought my big, awful GRE study guide, and hung out on the side of the pool, book open, pretending to study, but really people watching.

Have you heard about the miracle fruit? My kids and I were watching the Science channel last night and they did a segment about this berry that literally changes the taste receptors on your tongue.  For an entire hour after eating a berry, everything tastes sweet… Including Tabasco sauce and broccoli!  This could literally make any child eat vegetables! Crazy huh.

Decided to mail my camera into Olympus for them to fix the lens.  I don’t need to ruin by taking it apart.

Come back on Monday for another giveaway. Do you like my rhyming hints to what the giveaway is?  Dreaming Fireflies!  You won’t want to miss it.

	Breakfast	Lunch	Snack	Dinner
Monday	Orange Creamsicle smoothie	Sweet potato Risotto	Cottage Cheese and peaches	Black eyed peas with brown rice
Tuesday	Bran Muffins and Bananas	Pita with sprouts, lettuce, tomato.	Mixed nuts with raisins	Sweet potato soup
Wednesday	Breakfast Burritos	Caesar salad and whole grain roll	Pumpkin hummus on sourdough	Pizza
Thursday	Oatmeal with craisins, vanilla and cinnamon	Noodles, broccoli and parmesan.	English muffin with peanut butter and banana slices	Chicken with wild rice and parmesan
Friday	Whole Grain cereal with soy milk and berries	Whole wheat sandwich, honey and almond butter	Veggie Tray	Chicken salad with creamy orange dressing, pecans and cranberries

Something is stuck UNDER my crappy camera lens.  I took the whole camera apart thinking I could somehow get access in between the lenses, but all I got was shocked!  And the lens never came off.   Anyone have ideas on how to fix this?

Every picture I take has a “soft focus” edge on the bottom of the picture. I don’t know what to do. I’d get a new camera for Christmas, but I already got this laptop for Christmas.  So, I’m out of luck until next year!

Anyway, I’m in some sort of root vegetable craze.  Not only do I love Russet Potatoes, and red potatoes, but I really love Sweet potatoes!  For any meal, they are so filling.  My kids really don’t need to eat anything else.  So here is a little potato 101.

Our grocery store sells two varieties of sweet potatoes.  Although BOTH are technically sweet potatoes, they call one a sweet potato, and the other a yam.

Have you ever noticed a difference?  Here is how we use each:

SWEET  POTATOES:  (with white flesh)

• Just like a baked potato (butter, salt etc.)
• As Sweet Potato salad.

YAMS: With the orange flesh

• Sweet potato fries
• In a casserole with brown sugar.
• As a baked potato with sweet stuff on it like cinnamon and brown sugar.

Is one healthier than the other?  YES! Yams, with its rich orange color has more vitamins.  The more colorful your fruits or vegetables are, the more nutrients they have.