So many blogs, so little time! Have you seen this one?  Although I am the world’s worst crafter, I love to look.   I wish I could make this Christmas Advent calendar, but I know if I tried, my dove would look like a piece of felt with a spec of blue dirt on it.  So, I won’t try. I’ll just enjoy what others can do.

My pumpkin hummus flopped like many of my crafting attempts.  I don’t feel bad.  I liked it of course.  My husband thought it tasted like baby food (but he doesn’t like hummus anyway), and the kids wouldn’t try it at all.

Here is the recipe from allrecipes. (I cut the recipe in half to fit my tiny food processor). If you like hummus, I’m pretty sure you will like this.

Give it a try!  The sourdough bread made it all that much better.

And hurry, before it’s too late. Enter Cathy’s giveaway to try some organic fruit puree!

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?)

Since I generally buy canned beans, or beans in bulk, I hadn’t spent much time on the bean aisle.  But on my last shopping trip, I noticed this gorgeous little bag of mixed beans for $2.99!

An entire meal for three bucks. And it included a seasoning packet.

With so much trouble cooking beans from dry, I stopped reading the directions, I have adopted my own method.

1. Pour beans into large pot in the morning.
2. Boil for 15 minutes
3. Remove from heat.
4. Cover with lid until ready to prepare dinner.
5. At about 4:00, I rinse the beans.
6. Refill with water.
7. Boil until beans are tender.
8. Depending on the type of beans, this may take 2 hours!!  I like my beans soft.
9. Keep testing beans till desired softness.

I was a bit disappointed with the seasoning.  There wasn’t much flavor to it at all.  Next time I will season it myself.  But with a handful of saltine crackers, my family at it up!

I got an A on my last Organic Chemistry test! I can’t tell you what a relief it was. I was getting worried about this whole back to school thing, but now I’m feeling much more confident!

Your kids need more beans!  They are such a perfect food.

After a conversation with some friends last night who declared “My kids would never eat beans!”  I got to thinking…. Is it the kids, or is it the parents  (You know who you are!) bad attitude towards beans that leaves them uninterested.  Maybe a little of both.

My kids were such picky eaters before I started this blog.  However, I wasn’t exposing them to a variety of foods like I do now.  Now, when there are no other options, and since children don’t like to starve… they eat!

So, onto my bean dish.

I want to start using my $50 Costco blender more.

I posted this recipe for Black Bean Burgers moons ago.   But this time, I put in my blender

• 1 can of black beans
• oats (because I was out of bread crumbs)
• salsa and an egg!

I know it looks gross, but, it is what it is.

Then I added the cooked rice separately because I wanted it a little chunky.

Then I poured about 1/3 to 1/4 cup on my cast iron skillet.

And then of course put the patty between some delicious whole wheat buns (with a bunch of ketchup).

Then TJ added more ketchup to the TOP of his bun. Such a strange kids sometimes.

We topped it off with some homemade french fries, and the kids Gobbled it up.  Most kids won’t notice you used black beans instead of beef.  You will notice, but its still delicious.

More beans our in my blog future!!! They are cheap, low fat, good for you, high in protein, high in THREE kinds of fiber, and did I mention CHEAP!!  Way cheaper than ground beef.

Other awesome bean posts!

Beans 101

Today’s post is brought to you by my 8 year old daughter!

chop  the    carits. cut  the  strobarys. put  in frozen bluebarys. cut a appel. chop up  frozen   charys. put it in a bole and eat.

With over 60 nutrients including a special fiber (beta-glucan) that helps to lower cholesterol, oats are a high quality source of whole grains.

I love oatmeal because it is so versatile. You can literally make a bowl of oatmeal, hundreds of different ways.  Here is one way my kids like it.

I prefer instant oats or quick oats (I think its less gummy and obviously quicker.  So, I use 1/2 cup quick oats, and approximately 3/4 cup water.

I cook the oatmeal with water in the microwave for one minute

Then I add a shake of cinnamon, and chopped apples.  Return to the microwave for 30 seconds to soften up the apples.

After mixed, I add applesauce and a tsp or two of brown sugar.

Then we eat!! This is so delicious and so filling.

Oats are

• inexpensive.
• You can always have some on hand since their shelf life is long.
• They are so satisfying on a cold fall morning.
• Kids love oatmeal if you start them young.  If they don’t like oatmeal because of the texture, try oat groats, rolled oats, or quick oats to see if it makes a difference with them.

Here is what cereal boy thought of it.

Other oatmeal posts:

Strawberry oatmeal

Oatmealpalooza

A proud moment:  Yesterday a friend from church gave us a package of microwave popcorn.  I didn’t realize how long its been since we bought microwave popcorn until one of my kids said, “You’ve got to be kidding! They put the butter IN the bag of popcorn!  Amazing!” Then the other child said, “Did they put salt in the bag too?”

Did you know 5% of children age 2-5 were obese in 1980, and today that number has grown to 12.4%!  While I don’t like to spend much time on this blog focusing on the problem, this blog post (sent to me by Lisa) offered many solutions!

Runnerdude said, “Another big culprit is our busy, non-stop lifestyles providing much less time for meal planing and preparing meals at home where you have better control over content and portion size.“

Are we too busy as a family that we don’t have time to make a decent meals for the ones we love?  If so, some things need to be cut from your life.  I am currently guilty of this one.  (which may get worse because I did not do well on my first chemistry test!)   On busy days, I simply don’t take the time to prepare healthy food for my kids or myself.

Second solution:

Exposing kids to a variety of fresh foods and eating them with your kids will help. Kids watch what you do. If they see you eating healthy foods, they’re more apt to eat healthy foods.

Couldn’t agree more!  Kids should be exposed early and young to a variety of foods!

And here is my favorite one:

Take a walk with your kids each afternoon before dinner (even if it’s only 15 or 20 minutes). This also provides you time to talk to your kids about their day.

I am going to do this!  I think this is the best way I can get away with my kids and connect with them after we are away from each other all day.  There are so many things at home that distract me.. the phone, email, dinner, etc. that my kids don’t get my full attention.  If I can’t spare 15 minutes to walk with my family, then we really have too much going on!

Remember: Teach healthy habits to your kids young.    Kids overweight by the age of 8 will most likely become overweight adults.

Related articles:

Childhood obesity with Jared

I love the days when my husband makes dinner.  He has been getting really creative lately.  His meals are always super fast, because he doesn’t think about dinner till 5:00pm.  His meals are always with ingredients we have (no last minute grocery store trips).  They are always inexpensive  And usually they include tomatoes and beans.

Here was the most recent meal he’s made for us:

• Tomatoes
• peppers
• can of black beans
• frozen corn

He grilled a tortilla, cheese, and the veggie mixture and called it taco pizza.

The kids liked it, I loved it. But I already made something called Taco pizza a few months ago. His was faster though.  Mine included making whole wheat pizza dough, etc.

My husband wanted me to let my blog  readers know, he’s there for you!  When I am too busy studying chemistry to take pictures of meals.. when I’m preoccuppied with the PTA that I’m not thinking  of ideas to help y’all get more fruits and veggies into your kids,  he’ll step up and do it for me!  He really is great!

Juice Week!!

This syrup is so delicious I couldn’t wait to share it!  I used an bottle of a strawberry/ banana fruit juice blend that was in my pantry. 

I made my kids pancakes this morning, using my Master Pancake homemade mix.

Then I made the syrup using

• 2 cups juice (I used the strawberry banana blend)
• 2 TBL corn starch (mixed with a little cold water so it would dissolve.

On the stove top, I stirred the juice and corn starch together on medium heat for about 8 minutes, turned the heat off and let it sit for a few extra minutes.  When used the morning of making it, its PERFECT.  If let to sit, it tends to get a little gelatany, but can be warmed up and shaken to get it a little more syrupy.

I LOVE syrup made from juice.  Unless you want to fork out tons of money at the grocery store for a sugar free, HFCS free variety, its an economical way to get your kids to love some whole grain pancakes, french toast, or waffles.  Its like topping your pancakes with berries, only not because some kids rather have syrup!

Tip of the day:  Keep some juice pouches or juice boxes (100% juice) on hand for some impromptu syrup.  Then you don’t have to open an entire bottle of juice.

Other juices you could try to make syrup with: Coconut juice! Apparently its all the rage right now.

Don’t forget to enter the Tropicana giveaway!

Just like I don’t have an awesome, expensive blender, I also am lacking a juicer.  I guess its for the best, because I would add carrot juice to my kids drinks, where I should just be making sure they are actually eating the carrots.  This week however, I’m dedicating to all things JUICE!! 

Let’s start with my kids favorite thing to do with juice. POPSICLES!! No need to purchase expensive juices for this most delicious way to get fruits and veggies into your kids.  Here is what we do:

• Canned fruit (100% packed in its own juice). We go through tons of canned pineapple. We buy our canned fruit packed in its own juice (no sugar), so I can drain the pineapple juice into our popsicle molds.
• When juices pouches go on sale!  We can get 100% fruit box/ or fruit juices for 15-20 cents per juice box (ocassionally).  Stock up and pour that juice into a mold.
• Mix expensive vegetable juice/ fruit blends with in-expensive apple juice.  Pour that into your popsicle mold.
• Fruit about to spoil.  I’ll puree old fruit about to spoil, dilute it with apple juice, and pour it into a mold. 
• The bottom of the pitcher.  You know, the part of the juice that all the heavy stuff has settled and no one will drink!  Pour that into your mold.
• Pour half juice, and half yogurt into the popsicle mold.  This gives the kids a creamy/ crunchy popsicle.
• Always be on the lookout for popsicle molds.  I seem to see them all the time when I’m not looking, then once I decide to buy them, I can’t find them anywhere!!
• Go the old school route.  Remember when we used to use a small paper cup, fill with juice, line it with plastic wrap, stick a popsicle stick into the center and freeze!  those were the days.

Just remember to read labels here! As with anything, you are looking for pure ingredients.  MANY juices add sugar or High Fructose Corn Syrup! DON”T BUY IT!!

SHK NEWS:  I’ve  been invited to spend the weekend in Chicago with 9 other awesome bloggers to learn all about Tropicana’s new “Get your Fruit On” Campaign!!   Stay tuned this week for:

1. AN AWESOME GIVEAWAY
2. More Juice ideas all week
3. Follow our adventures on twitter at #tropicana
4. And, if you have any questions for the Tropicana people (including their dietician) let me know so I can ask.

The other bloggers I can’t wait to meet in Chicago will be:

Kristen Seymour www.thatsfit.com

Laurel Moll www.laurelonhealthfood.com

Melissa Garcia www.consumerqueen.com

Jenn Walters http://fitbottomedgirls.blogspot.com/  

Michelle Stern http://whatscookingblog.com/

Fitz Koehler www.fitzness.com/blog/

Sarah Fulghum http://totallyher.com/

Cristin Jones http://www.self.com/fooddiet/blogs/eatlikeme

Maridel www.vitaljuice.com/everywhere