Healthy Summer Snacks!

What do you feed kids when they are starving?  My younger two are growing like weeds these days & really need some extra food to keep them going.  What do YOU reach for when the energy levels are low?  Healthy or not?

1.  Full meals  I try to make sure they are putting away meat, vegies, carbs & good fat at each meal.  This helps them make it to the next meal if we cannot snack without getting really cranky!

2.  Fruit  This is my first question to them.  Have you had some fruit today?  We don’t eat a lot of fruit at meals so they need to get this through snacks.  Apples, oranges, grapes, bananas, pineapple etc  Elizabeth loves apples & can go through a couple a day!

3.  Trail mix  Peanuts, raisins, & m&ms(a few)  I think Joshua would live on this stuff.  Daddy lets them add other stuff—like marshmallows. 

4.  Nuts  We always have almonds in the house.  Not everyone likes them but this is my little snack I have before fixing supper(when I am starving) so I don’t start snacking!

5.  Yogurt & peanut butter dip  We don’t do this often but is sure is good.  Apples are delicious dipped in this. 

1 cup Stoneyfield French Vanilla yogurt

1-2 T smooth peanut butter

6.  Smoothies  Nothing better on a hot day!

7.  Popcicles Well maybe this is better.  Freeze your smoothie recipe for a healthy alternative to frozen sugar.

8.  Sandwiches  Sometimes a little snack won’t do it.  When we go for a bike ride or a long walk.  I will pack peanut butter & jelly sandwiches.  Also peanut butter & crackers or cheese & crackers are crowd pleasers.

9.  Popcorn  Regular or Kettle corn---mmmm love it!

10.  Cheese sticks or slices of regular cheese   Mix it up.

11.  My favorite snack right now—Apple cut in to 4 pieces, topped with peanut butter & sprinkled with sunflower seeds.  Nothing better!

Linked up at Tasty Tuesday, Delectable Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, What’s On YOUR plate, & Fun with Food Friday

Bloggy Progressive Dinner: Wellness Tea

I am not a holistic girl--just not there yet.  On the other hand I HATE being sick and going to the doctor.  So as we go in to Christmas season this is my defense against all those little bugs we often get to share with family.

A friend recommended to me to try taking Echinacea or drinking Echinacea tea.  She used it last winter to battle the little colds that came in their house.  She also has a house full of kids and realizes one little cold can last for a month or two once it makes the rounds to each little person.

Her method

Harvest the leaves from her plant and dry them.  At the first sign of sniffles, sore throat or runny nose start drinking the Echinacea “tea.”  It is much more effective if you can do this before the sickness takes hold.  It strengthens your immune system and helps it fight off the illness. 

How to make the tea.   Boil a mug of water.  Place a 1-2 teaspoons(estimate here) of leaves in a paper towel or coffee filter and place it in the water to steep for 2-3 minutes.  My friend’s kids would just drink this as their “tea” several times a day for about 7 days.  Don’t stop drinking the tea early or the cold may come back.

My method

Tea(real tea) with breakfast.  As we’ve had some sore throats and sniffles around here I have been faithfully making a pot of Echinacea “tea” each morning.  Sometimes we will have a pot later in the day but we have been pretty faithful to drink it at least 3-4 mornings a week.  Everyone, not just the sick one.
My favorite tea is French Vanilla from Bigelow.

I boil a kettle of water on the stove as we wait for muffins, oatmeal or eggs.  Then in this cute tea pot I have I put 3 tea bags & then put my mesh strainer in filled with dried Echinacea leaves.  

Pour the boiling water over the top of the leaves & steep for 2-3 minutes.  I add a teaspoon of honey to my kids mugs and I use a few drops of liquid Stevia.  However, you wouldn't need to do the sweetener because my kids claim that there is virtually no taste.  That is all there is to it.  My little people and I haven’t caught the bugs that Daddy and big brother have caught.  The guys don’t drink the tea as they are out of the house when we have breakfast.

Usually I post a money saving Monday tip so this is a two for one post!  This tea is saving me money because my mother-in-law has flower gardens full of Purple Coneflower(aka Echinacea) in the summer.  I went over there as all her plants were done flowering and harvested a TON(well not really) of leaves for our “wellness tea”—totally free.  It also has saved us at least one or two trips to the doctor.  Money saved!!!

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Cooking During Stolen Moments @ the Bloggy Progressive Dinner: Drinks/Appetizers

Healthy foods

It seems like I have been on a serious healthy food kick since the first of the year. Probably has something to do with the fact that I would like to loose 5-10 lbs. The scale is inching down with regular workouts & watching my intake(sigh).

Two healthy things we do consistently.

1. Bake things from scratch. Bread(honey wheat), hamburger buns, biscuits, pie crusts & yes cookies. I feel so much better about what we put in our mouths when I know how it has been made.

2. Eat greens. We have a salad most evenings & some lunches. Ours are made with a combo of green leaf, romaine & spinach. Everyone gets a helping--no ifs ands or buts. We also usually have at least one if not more fresh vegies on the table. Carrots, peppers, cauliflower, cucumbers, etc.


I know there are a lot of other things we could be doing but these work for us. I'd like to see us eating more unprocessed foods and less processed. One habit at a time. We do make most of our meals from scratch but some days for the sake of convenience we use a mix or something not homemade.

Somethings I buy that are processed & I am not willing to make.

Animal cookies, yogurt, chips, cottage cheese & cereal. None of these things are reasonable for us to undertake making at home. I think the biggest area I use store bought food is in snacks. We eat a lot of fruit but also lots of vanilla wafers, rice cakes, & crackers. Maybe finding time to bake more & use that as our snacks will be our next habit to work on in the area of healthy foods.