How-To Get The Kids To Eat Their Vegetables?!

Everyone already knows about putting peanut butter in celery, topping it with a few raisins and calling it "Bugs On A Log". Then I thought maybe an apple could be cored at the top and center only, leaving the bottom closed and filling it with peanut butter and raisins, but that's a fruit and not a veggie! A while back our family brainstormed this very problem of how to encourage the kids to at least be willing to give those vegetables a try and here's what we came up with:
~ Veggies-On-A-Stick. Use a little toothpick and line up cherry tomatoes, olives, squares of bell pepper, or whatever you think you can get away with!
~ Disguise them by blending them into sauces, like carrots into spaghetti or tomato sauce (compatible colors). They can be chopped tiny and hidden in meat loaf, meat balls and casseroles. We have been known to blend spinach into our citrus smoothie! (And yes, that's my poor blender pitcher that got melted when I took it somewhere and was left to drain on the stovetop!) Here's what I put in my Citrus Smoothie:
1 Can Pineapple with juice
2 Oranges
a handful of Fresh Baby Spinach (The older it gets the stronger the flavor)
and 2 C. Ice
You can start out with less spinach and gradually increase the amount to give the kids a chance to get used to the flavor. But it's a nice sweet way to eat your greens! This makes at least 2, 2C. servings.
~ Veggies get a very nice flavor when sauteed in coconut oil, plus you get benefits like, 1. It's a fat that doesn't harden with higher temperatures, and 2. It actually helps with weight loss!

~ Let the kids become involved with food. Allow them to grow a vegetable or two in their own corner of the garden. They can help prepare their own salad. Let them create! Some parents become concerned when their kids want to "play" with their food, but if that play will encourage them to eat it (and isn't too messy), why not?!

~ Here is also a place to go for a chart to help them want to eat a rainbow of veggies!

I can't promise what will work for your youngsters, but maybe these little tips will help get your juices flowing and you'll come up with something innovative and new. Then you can share those with me! ...PLEASE?

You can click here for Google Image's, "kids veggie creations", or click below for photo sources and lots more info:

Rainbow Chart.............carrot butterfly................. pirate.................girl with garden cabbages

Fun Fabulous Fruit!

What person out there doesn't enjoy picking up a cold piece of their favorite fruit on a hot summer's day and biting into it's cool mouthwatering sweetness? Or drizzling a bit of milk over a warm fruit cobbler or crisp? Fruit is wonderful all by itself, just as God created it, or YOU (or better yet, the kids) can get creative. There are so many things that can be done with fruit. It's breakfast time here at my house, so off to the kitchen to do just that ~ create...! ...OK Here they are:

Poking two holes in the apple will make it easier to get the pretzels in for the ladybug's antenae, and the raisins are stuck on with peanut butter.

It doesn't take much fruit to make these little critters so use your leftover canned fruit to make this yummy Mixed Fruit Cobbler:
In a sprayed 8" square pyrex put remaining fruit from -
1 15 oz Can each of Fruit Cocktail, Pears and Peaches drain juice (about 2C.) into a saucepan, cutting the fruit halves into slices
Sprinkle with Raisins
Add to the juice in the pan -
2 T. Corn Starch
4 Packets Truvia, or sweeten to taste with other sweetener
1/4 t. Cinnamon, if you like
Bring the juice mixture to a simmer stirring constantly until it bubbles and thickens. Pour it over the Fruit. Now you're ready for the topping:
1 C. Flour (I use whole wheat)
3 Packets Truvia or Sweetener to taste
1 1/2 t. Baking Powder
3 T. room temp. cube margarine
1/2 C. Milk
Stir together and drop by tablespoonfulls onto the top of fruit. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. If desired, pour a bit of sweetened milk over warm cobbler to serve. Options: If you don't want to take the time to make a cobbler, the fruit can be spooned over waffles or pancakes. You can also add the leftover pineapple to the cobbler which is yummy, but this time I'm saving it for a smoothie!

Edible Flowers?

Yes! There is a long list of them! You do have to be careful about gathering them yourself. Some flowers can be confused with others that could be harmful. But if you know your plants and want to harvest them yourself for use in salads , as garnishes
or in the water, select them from plants that are not near the roadside or anywhere where they may be subjected to auto exhaust or other toxins. Plants from the florist are treated and are not suitable for eating. Also, find out what they taste like first, and when you find ones you like, you could include them in your garden! Hmmmmm, do I see another blog post on the horizon?

Picture and Info Source here

Water

H2O. It's at the very foundation of the pyramid. Everyone requires it. But the water that's available to most of us has had chemicals added to it in order to make it pure. What does that mean?

Logic tells us that if chlorine - a toxic poison - is put in there to kill harmful bacteria, that even in small amounts, it's probably not too good for us either!

Then there's synthetic flourine or flouride. Flouride is a waste product of aluminum and is toxic. Too much fouride causes the teeth to turn a mottled brown. It also contributes to alzheimer's. Paul Bragg's book on Water is an eyeopener!
I figure that anything we can do to make an improvement on our health is valuable. Bragg advises investing in a water distiller. We have chosen to go with an on-the-counter purifier. We had an Amway E-Spring but wanted to find a smaller, less expensive but still high quality unit that would remove not only the chlorine and flouride but much more, and we went with the Aquasana; our water is not just better tasting but cleaner, too!
Bottled water has the drawback of leaching plastic from the bottle. When I take water with me, I refill the bottle from the purifier so the water is fresh.
And if you're going to infuse your water with oranges, strawberries, cucumbers, or edible flowers, etc., you'll want to be sure to wash them. :) Here's to your health!

Picture and Info Source here

The University of Michigan has nailed it!

(Shouldn't this be a preventive?)

Welcome!

...to my little how-to infoblog!
My daughter, Suzanne told me of an idea she heard about called How-To Tuesday, where participants share what they know on their blog, with links so that interested readers can enjoy finding out what others have learned. So far I've posted 2 "How-To's" there but I seriously didn't think I had all that much to share. Then I wrote a list and came up with over 30 blog possibilities, and only 4 of them were non-food related!
Now here I am beginning a new blog, excited to be helping others as well as myself to a healthier lifestyle. It is my hope that here you will find interesting reading as well as answers to how you may tweak your diet for the better without having to take as much time and $ in the learning as it took me. Enjoy, and...

HAPPY EATING!

Picture and Info Source here