I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that a a lot of kids out there like avocados. They are a healthy, nutrient rich fruit (yes they are a fruit) that are often passed off as a vegetable in sandwiches, salads, and of course, guacamole. Seeing as Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner, I realized those easy prepackaged containers of guacamole would soon be flying off the supermarket shelf. (more…)
Cookies are such an easy treat. They can be packed in a lunch box, stuffed in a mouth or held in even the tiniest of hands. But why fill those little hands and mouths with hydrogenated oil and high fructose corn syrup when you can bake an easy, fresh, and delicious treat which, by the way, tastes even better warm with a tall glass of milk!
Packaged cookies are a convenience that I’d guess most (if not all) of us have purchased at one time or another. They must be a viable money maker based on the number of brands and varieties that fill nearly an entire supermarket aisle. Yet, when I compared the ingredients on packaged cookies to those we can make fresh…well, there is no comparison. (more…)
We know how important it is to read labels on snack foods, boxed dinners and cereals but do we actually need to read the labels on yogurt? YES. If I’m learning anything during this journey it’s that you have to read the labels on everything. Yogurt should contain only milk, live yogurt cultures and any natural fruit they might add. Should. But many of the fruit flavored yogurts on the market contain a lot more than that. I’ve seen some that contain carrageenan, others that contain high fructose corn syrup and artificial colors, and some fruit yogurts that contain no fruit whatsoever. So how do you find yogurt that contains simply fruit, milk and yogurt cultures? Two ways: read the labels or mix up your own. (more…)
Granola. What image does the word “Granola” evoke for you? I’ve always felt the word “Granola” was synonymous with “health”. For me growing up, the word Granola evoked images of health food markets where you could barely fit down the aisle but you could find things like Wheat Grass and Hemp seed. But now Granola is common, good food and chances are you can find a healthy, minimally processed granola at the average supermarket. But not all Granola is the same and this is a perfect opportunity to discuss the importance (and ease) of reading labels.
A few nights ago we took our boys to see the holiday light displays on “Candy Cane Lane”. As we rolled our minivan slowly through the streets behind the rest of Los Angeles, we spotted a neighbor selling hot cocoa to benefit the Eagle Scouts. What’s more festive than a cup of hot cocoa, brightly colored light displays and holiday music on the radio, right? We bought each of the boys a cup and as they sat cozy in the back, sipping the warm drink and slurping the marshmallows out one-by-one, I realized that it was probably time to take a deconstructed look at instant hot cocoa. I was pretty sure those drink packets weren’t as innocent and idyllic as they seemed. Turns out I was right.
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Last week I mentioned that we’d delve into a couple of well-known holiday marshmallow traditions. Rice Crispy Treats are definitely up there on the list of the go-to recipes for cookie exchanges, school holiday parties, and as a treat for Santa after he’s made it down a few chimneys. But I’d bet that if Santa knew those treats contained a chemical banned in eleven countries and an additive suspected to cause abnormalities in the brain, hyperactivity in children and cancer, he’d probably pass. Just a hunch. (more…)
Last week a friend suggested we take a deconstructed look at breakfast bars. As a working mother of two under four, her mornings are busy and rushed yet she wants to provide a healthy start to her kids’ day. One day in a pinch, she picked up a nationally recognized brand bar for the following morning’s breakfast. Ten minutes after eating the bar, her son was bouncing off the walls. That little self-proclaimed “health” bar, had turned a quiet morning into a wild, stress-filled kickoff to the day.
Aren’t school mornings challenging enough? (more…)
It’s the third week of first grade at our house, and already my children are coming home with processed food requests from their friends lunch boxes. Yesterday it was for “those cups of white and brown pudding that everyone has”. Okay, guess we’re going to push pudding cups up on the list of Out of the Box Food explorations. (more…)
You know ’em, those long, sticky, peel-and-eat rolls of sweet chemicals your kids love? I just can’t bring myself to call them what they do on the package; “fruit” is just too far off what they actually are. Corn Syrup Roll-up could work. Or how about Artificial Color roll-up? To make matters worse, my kids don’t even want regular roll-ups in their lunch boxes anymore, they want the ones that stretch to nearly a foot long! So is it possible to make foot long real fruit roll-ups? You bet. (more…)
Conversation. That’s the goal of Out of the Box Food. It really is that simple. I’m not trying to change the world (yet), or make people eat a particular way. I’m not here to judge or critique. I’m certainly not perfect about feeding my kids wholesome, unprocessed food one hundred percent of the time. I’m a mom, I’m flawed, and I want to encourage as many people as possible to start a conversation about the dangers of processed food.