Dinner Table / Kids Food / Lunch Box

MmmmMac & Cheese

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What kid (or adult for that matter) doesn’t love macaroni and cheese?  It’s warm, gooey deliciousness screams “comfort food” –  especially on a cold winter day.  But a boxed product we’ve come to know as macaroni and cheese doesn’t even contain “cheese” in the pure sense of the word.  In fact, the word “cheese” is only found on the last line of a long list of ingredients.  So what do we do when our kids only want “the orange macaroni and cheese”?  And what if your kids cringe at the site of…ready…gasp…bread crumbs on top of baked macaroni and cheese?  Is this sounding familiar? (more…)

7 Comments
12/05/2010
Kids Food / Sweet Treats

Thanksgiving

As the sun rises on Thanksgiving day, I will reflect on my life’s blessings.  Above all else I am thankful for my husband and children who bring constant moments of clarity to a sometimes unclear world.  I am thankful for the support of my family, the laughter and comfort of my friends, and those special moments of peace, when I can center myself, breathe, and appreciate all these gifts in my life. (more…)

0 Comments
11/19/2010
Trick-or-Treat
Kids Food / Sweet Treats

Trick-or-Treat

What creeps you out the most on Halloween?  Goblins and witches?  Spiders and ghouls?  Or is it the load of processed, corn syrup-laden, artificially flavored “treats” that will fill your children’s smiling plastic jack-o-lanterns?  Bet I can scare you even more.   Did you know that some of those well known candies they’ll be  ingesting contain ingredients like TBHQ (a form of Butane)?  TBHQ, believe it or not, is an ingredient in many processed food items ranging from candy to chicken nuggets.  The following excerpt from author Michael Pollan discusses TBHQ in regards to it’s placement in a McDonald’s Chicken McNugget: (more…)

17 Comments
10/24/2010
Kids Food / Lunch Box / On the Go / Sweet Treats

…Jam.

Last week we deconstructed peanut butter.  This week we had to top it with a quick, healthy jam!  Making jam is a summer routine for my family but it requires a few pieces of special equipment, quite a bit of time, and in my case, a couple of scorching burns (none of which make for a fast Out of the Box Food alternative).   But since fresh, homemade jam can be such a treat, I knew we had to explore a quick and easy alternative for Out of the Box Food. (more…)

2 Comments
10/17/2010
Kids Food / Lunch Box / On the Go

Peanut Butter and…

When you think of peanut butter what ingredient first comes to mind?  Peanuts?  Good.  What else needs to be added to make it peanut butter?  Was your answer nothing?  You’re right!  Nothing!  But many of the nationally recognized brands of peanut butter contain other ingredients like hydrogenated oil and sugar.  I grew up on Skippy Peanut Butter so I automatically bought what I knew (or thought I knew) for my kids.  But now that I am looking at labels before buying products, I am steering clear of many of my good ol’ standbys.  (more…)

3 Comments
10/10/2010
Kids Food / Sweet Treats

Ice Cream Sandwich and Pimple Cream: The Common Ingredient

You ready for this one?  I’m not even sure if I’m ready to write about it, but it is DEFINITELY a food story that needs to be told.  Over the summer I took my boys to a popular indoor playground in Los Angeles.  You know the ones where your kids climb, swing, slide and basically wreak havoc for several hours in a padded room while you try desperately to tune out the constant drone of screaming?  Yup, that’s the one. (more…)

4 Comments
10/03/2010
Breakfast Table / Kids Food / On the Go / Snacks

Breakfast Bars – Amp Up or Fuel Up?

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…)

20 Comments
09/26/2010
Pudding Cups – Cup of what?
Kids Food / Lunch Box / Snacks / Sweet Treats

Pudding Cups – Cup of what?

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…)

6 Comments
09/19/2010
Corn Syrup Roll-up – Where’s the Fruit?
Kids Food / Lunch Box / On the Go / Snacks / Sweet Treats

Corn Syrup Roll-up – Where’s the Fruit?

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…)

55 Comments
09/12/2010