Guacamole

When it comes to Guac and avocados in general there are traditionally two camps of mamas. The first say that avocados are too fattening to deal with. The second claim that the nutritional benefits are worth it. Gosh, I'm part of each. I find myself saying over and over again on this blog that moderation is the key. Unfortunately moderation is not my strong suit, so I mostly have to steer clear. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good:
It contains more potassium than bananas, is the richest source of Beta-sitosterol, which blocks cholesterol absorption, as well as of antioxidants. The kinds of fat in avocados are all "good" fats and Californian avocados have higher fat contents than Florida's ones.

Calories in 1 cup of Guacamole made of avocados with raw onions, garlic, and lemon juice*: 367.53 and are almost entirely from fats though there's no cholesterol at all.

And all the nutritional label can be found in this article. And I must admit that it's quite impressive.

The Bad and The Ugly are one and the same. They are loaded with fat. Yeah, yeah, yeah it's the good kind. Whatever. If you eat more than the tiniest bit on a regular basis it will make you chubby unless you run marathons on a regular basis also. If you're a Weight Watchers gal you'll know what I mean when I tell you that one avocado contains 8 POINTS. That's alot.

So this one is an individual choice. It totally depends on your self control if you have a weakness for the stuff. But I have a tendency to say "It's healthy, right?" and chow down. If you can keep it together you should totally try and feed your family guacamole. Me? I better keep it to festive holidays and marathon days. Ha! I don't run marathons.

Sweet Tooth Sunday: Peanut Butter Fudge

This one was super easy and super sweet, just like I like it. I have had this recipe in a binder for over a year and finally got around to it. But what do ya know? It's right here on the World Wide Web. It has no redeeming qualities at all. It's only good for your soul, and that's important too.

This round is going to my dear friend, Jen, who has somehow slipped under my baking radar time and time again. But now she's in her third trimester and the girl could use some chocolate. It's coming, Jen!



Confession time: We had major sweets on Saturday. We went down to the Farmer's Market downtown and ate Quiche and French Macaroons for breakfast. I'm a recovering sugar addict, and so is my son, and the truth is that sometimes we fall off the wagon. We're new to caring. But I can't possibly regret the macaroons or the fudge. I'll try again next week.

Pierogies

I don't have a whole ton to say about pierogies. What I would like to say is that they are dang cheap! Money matters, too. And I'd also like to say that they are not bad for you, which is sometimes an improvement for me. They are cheaper and less damaging than a Happy Meal. And they just take a few minutes to saute. They are not particularly good for you, but they are cheap and I'm pretty sure they're a decent choice for lunch or snack. You can really fatten them up by piling on some sauces, but my kids like them in just a little butter.

We use Mrs. T's and you can find them in the freezer section. The nutrition label is linked. See you tomorrow! Sweet Tooth Sunday is a doozy.

Smooties:Round 1

There are one million ways to make smoothies, some healthier than others. Lazy as I am, I opted for the easiest possible route first. I bought a bag of smoothie mix and added milk, just like it said. I headed for the freezer section and bought a smoothie bag by Yoplait. I was in a crazy hurry, Abby throwing a royal fit. So I grabbed and left without totally analyzing the label. Here's the good stuff:
1. It's crazy easy. That's valuable to me. Big time.
2. There is a full serving of fruit in a cup.
3. High in Vitamin C because of the berries.
4. High in Calcium because of the milk.
5. Live active cultures from the yogurt. Live active cultures sounds a little creepy to me, but apparently it's a good thing. It aids in digestion.

Here's the bad:
1. While fruit, water, and yogurt make up half of the ingredient list (way up at the top; that's a good thing), they are followed by some unknown substances. That's really starting to bug me. So maybe I'll try a different way another day. And then maybe I'll go nuts and start putting some new-to-me things in there. Molly posted some excellent ideas in the comment section of the juice post.

The verdict: Will ate it like there was no tomorrow. Abby mostly wore it, the mess that she is. I ate it (yum) and gave Abby a bath as she was purple. I don't know if I would by it again. There was another discussion in the fruit post about benefits of fruit and liquids vs. the chemicals we sometimes have to use to get our kids to consume them. I'm on a quest to find an easy and healthier alternative. I'll keep ya posted.

And now for two completely random topics:
1. Thanks, you guys, for all the great comments. I love how interactive this is becoming. I love to hear the different thoughts and questions. I don't know all the answers being totally new to this endeavor, so I'm learning alot from the research and from you.
2. If you happen to live in Houston, tomorrow is the Flavor Fest at Discovery Green and we'll be there cause we like to eat. :)

Suh-weeet Potatoes!

I am having a super sweet day because my favorite blog, Ohdeedoh, just blogged US! Can you stinkin' believe it?! So yay for that!

So since I'm feeling so sweet I thought we'd go with that theme. So today we're talking sweet potatoes. Today's research comes from the good folks at Wiki, and states that:
Besides simple starches, sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta carotene (a vitamin A equivalent nutrient), vitamin C, and vitamin B6. Pink and yellow varieties are high in carotene, the precursor of vitamin A.
In 1992, the Center for Science in the Public Interest compared the nutritional value of sweet potatoes to other vegetables. Considering fibre content, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron, and calcium, the sweet potato ranked highest in nutritional value. According to these criteria, sweet potatoes earned 184 points, 100 points over the next on the list, the common potato.(NCSPC)
If you feel like reading more, just click the above link and you'll discover in that very article that Oprah wants us to eat more sweet potatoes. And who are we to question Oprah?

Today I was in a bind and went to my freezer and found some frozen sweet potatoes and baked those up. I'm sorry to say that those particular fries were totally sick. They had apparently already been fried, and to get them to taste any kind of decent you'd want to fry them again. I didn't. I baked them. And they were gross. So you'll want to pay attention when you buy them in the freezer. Make sure they haven't been fried and you're going to want to bake them. They're great if you do. Of course, you get bonus mommy points if you make them yourself. It's actually not that hard, and doesn't take long. I won't lie, I'm lazy as can be when it comes to complicated snack prep. This is not complicated.

And now, some recipes...
Coconut Ginger Sweet Potatoes, I'm freaking out just reading this one. This will happen.
Sweet Potato Fries with Chipotle Mayo Dip
Sweet Potato and Bean Soup. This sounds great, though not extremely spring-ish. But we talked beans last week, so what the heck. Bookmark it.
Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes. Spicy, maybe just for mom and dad if your kiddos aren't into spicy. Mine are. So we'll try these. But it's a twist on the original Crash Hot Potatoes. My Canadian friend, Matt K, said these were the best potatoes he'd ever had. And this guy eats some gooooood food often. He would know.

Is Peanut Butter Healthy?

Yep, surprisingly enough for me, it is. Pretty much. In moderation. I don't do moderation very well, but if you can handle it, peanut butter is good for you because:

It helps you lose weight
Calling peanut butter a diet food, with 180 to 210 calories per serving, may seem counter-intuitive. But it has the enviable combination of fiber (2 g per serving) and protein (8 g per serving) that fills you up and keeps you feeling full longer, so you eat less overall. Plus, there's nothing more indulgent than licking peanut butter off a spoon--and indulgence (in moderation) helps dieters fight cravings and stay on track.

It's packed with nutrition
A serving of peanut butter has 3 mg of the powerful antioxidant vitamin E, 49 mg of bone-building magnesium, 208 mg of muscle-friendly potassium, and 0.17 mg of immunity-boosting vitamin B6. Research shows that eating peanuts can decrease your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic health conditions. One study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that consuming 1 ounce of nuts or peanut butter (about 2 tablespoons) at least 5 days a week can lower the risk of developing diabetes by almost 30%.

It's got the good fat
Peanut butter is chock-full of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. A recent study found that insulin-resistant adults who ate a diet high in monos had less belly fat than people who ate more carbohydrates or saturated fat. PS: If you're buying reduced-fat peanut butter because you think it's better for your waistline, save your money. The calories are the same (or even a little higher) thanks to the extra ingredients that are added to make up for the missing fat (including more sugar).
All of this is coming from this article.

Now, alot of moms go for the tried and true Ants on a Log as a fun way to do peanut butter. Not my kids. You can't fool them. They know celery is a vegetable and they'll just run away. This goofy picture is how I managed to get peanut butter into the kids today. Abby didn't fall for it. But Will did. I spread a little bit of PB on about 5 pretzels. That keeps the serving size down, but he did not complain. Why? Because I put a few sprinkles on it and he thought it must be his birthday or something.
*Sidenote: I think he'll eat anything if it has sprinkles on it. Try it. The sprinkles aren't all that unhealthy.

Is Peanut Butter Healthy?

Yep, surprisingly enough for me, it is. Pretty much. In moderation. I don't do moderation very well, but if you can handle it, peanut butter is good for you because:

It helps you lose weight
Calling peanut butter a diet food, with 180 to 210 calories per serving, may seem counter-intuitive. But it has the enviable combination of fiber (2 g per serving) and protein (8 g per serving) that fills you up and keeps you feeling full longer, so you eat less overall. Plus, there's nothing more indulgent than licking peanut butter off a spoon--and indulgence (in moderation) helps dieters fight cravings and stay on track.

It's packed with nutrition
A serving of peanut butter has 3 mg of the powerful antioxidant vitamin E, 49 mg of bone-building magnesium, 208 mg of muscle-friendly potassium, and 0.17 mg of immunity-boosting vitamin B6. Research shows that eating peanuts can decrease your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic health conditions. One study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that consuming 1 ounce of nuts or peanut butter (about 2 tablespoons) at least 5 days a week can lower the risk of developing diabetes by almost 30%.

It's got the good fat
Peanut butter is chock-full of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. A recent study found that insulin-resistant adults who ate a diet high in monos had less belly fat than people who ate more carbohydrates or saturated fat. PS: If you're buying reduced-fat peanut butter because you think it's better for your waistline, save your money. The calories are the same (or even a little higher) thanks to the extra ingredients that are added to make up for the missing fat (including more sugar).
All of this is coming from this article.

Now, alot of moms go for the tried and true Ants on a Log as a fun way to do peanut butter. Not my kids. You can't fool them. They know celery is a vegetable and they'll just run away. This goofy picture is how I managed to get peanut butter into the kids today. Abby didn't fall for it. But Will did. I spread a little bit of PB on about 5 pretzels. That keeps the serving size down, but he did not complain. Why? Because I put a few sprinkles on it and he thought it must be his birthday or something.
*Sidenote: I think he'll eat anything if it has sprinkles on it. Try it. The sprinkles aren't all that unhealthy.

We Actually Rotisseried a Pineapple.

Apparently 'rotisseried' is not a real verb, but that's what we did. I got a sweet little recipe that said that I should simply marinate the pineapple in brown sugar and lime. And so I did. And whoa, that's a good combination! Then we took the pineapple and stuck it on the rotisserie. I'll admit that I have a set-it-and-forget-it rotisserie. But it's hard to forget because they're sort of mesmerizing. So that's how we got our pineapple in yesterday. Even though we marinated it in the sugar, not alot of that sugar ended up on the pineapple (at least that's what I"m telling myself).

Here's the abbreviated version of today's research, and why pineapples rock the house:
1. They're aid in digestion. It's suggested to have a little slice of pineapple after eating if you want to help out with all kinds of tummy problems.
2. Lots of beta carotene means they help fight macular degeneration and other eye problems.
3. Lots of vitamin C means good prevention for coughs and colds.
4. They're a natural anti-inflammatory. That's great news for people who suffer from arthritis and sinusitis.
5. They reduce the risk of blood clots.

If you want to hear more about all this wonderfulness, then read this article.

And now you know. I had no stinkin' clue that pineapple was so good for you. I mean, they are sort of delicious, so how can they possibly be that healthy?!

As with most healthy foods, they are best unaltered. But whatever, I need some dressing up. Yesterday Will had some crushed pineapple on some cottage cheese. And then when he saw me soaking the pineapple in sugar he said, "If you put sugar on it then it's not healthy anymore." Who is this kid?! Another way to dress them up is to save some of that grilled pineapple and put it on some oatmeal in the morning. It was a great idea if I do say so myself, but it didn't work out because we ate the whole thing! Here are some recipes that star our precious pineapple:

Grilled Malibu Chicken
Pineapple Chicken
Fajitas
Pineapple Pie. mmmmm.... I'm sure the bad stuff in here cancels out the good stuff, but everybody needs a good pie recipe.
And if you want a healthier sweet tooth option, check out last week's Sweet Tooth Sunday episode.

Gotta Love Quesadillas!

Last night I was chatting with my sister-in-law about cheap, easy, take-along food. Fitting all of those criteria is ridiculously tricky, but I promise you I'm going to find something. Several somethings. So I'm starting with quesadillas. Today I made Abby a pretty darn healthy-ish quesadilla, and it was easy peasy. I stuffed it with a little bit of rotisserie chicken, pico de gallo, and black beans (glued up with some monterrey jack cheese). The cheese adds fat but also protein. That's a tricky one to tackle on a cheesy day, so I'm not going to go there quite yet. But I will tell you that I have switched from cheese quesadillas to throwing sneaky stuff in there. It's kind of a vessel to hide stuff in. And though I don't go over the top with the healthy thing, you could do whole wheat tortillas. You could do spray butter, but I just don't do all that. Even given those things I'd have to say that I'm pretty smug with myself for this little lunch for several reasons:

1. I'm using leftovers! The beans and pico de gallo are from two nights ago (and now have a new life!). The rotisserie is something I picked up thinking I could pick it over and make several things out of it. And I think it's going to work out.
2. The stuff I shoved in there is all good stuff.
3. She's actually eating it.
4. I'm able to blog this while she's eating it. Go me!
5. It's dead cheap. Tortillas and cheese... you don't get much cheaper than that. Beyond that, throw in whatever you have on hand that can boost it.
6. It's easy.
7. It's portable.
8. My kids love to help make them. Even if they just sprinkle the cheese they think they helped.

So yay for quesadillas!

Here are some tips for keeping them healthy. And here is a fabulous looking recipe that I will be making really really soon. Maybe for dinner.

Sweet Tooth Sunday: Cake Balls

Today we are headed to a Benefit for a local family and I've made up some cake balls to throw into the bake sale. I love cake balls, but they are not for the weak or frail. My husband finds them to be repulsive. I think they'd make a great food dare. If you've never made cake balls and you need the whole low-down, then go check out this tutorial with Bakerella and the Pioneer Woman.
But I'm a simple girl, so I'll break it down here.

Bake a box cake. Crumble it up and mix in a whole tub of frosting. Whatever sounds good. My favorite combo is lemon and lemon. Mix that up and make it a mush. Put it in the fridge for a while. Then roll them into little balls. Put it back in the fridge. Then melt some chocolate (I like white chocolate coating), dip the balls, sprinkles, and put them back in the fridge. They are pretty seriously intense. You could probably bet people money. Like maybe they couldn't eat 5. I think even the most hard-core food betters couldn't handle 5. They're small so they look conquerable.

Next time I think I'll try this recipe for Cookie Dough Truffles. Yum.

So, let's have a look at how Sweet Tooth Sunday worked out. Pretty well I think. There was minimal cheating. I stopped myself from baking several times. It got a little tough around Wednesday, but we worked it out. Birthday cake on Friday. I'm not keeping them from cake at a party, though. They survived the week. So here we have it.

What do You Think About Juice?

Around here we just don't keep juice in the house. Don't get me wrong, the kids love it. I just don't get it. No real reason besides the fact that they don't miss it if it's not here. They love it at other people's house though we've discovered that Abby totally gets the runs when she drinks it. I mean it's BAD.

But I was wondering if it might be a good way to sneak in a fruit. I mostly found out that most juice is junk. High in calories and sugar, usually not enough of a fruit benefit to really benefit. I think I've found that they are more bad than good. And my whole quest here is to find stuff that is more good than bad. I'm certainly no angel. For real.

I think I have found a juice that is more good than bad. It's made by Mott's, the apple sauce folks. The one I got is called Mott's Medley in the tropical flavor. I actually thought it might be good with a little rum. For me, not the kidlets. :)

It includes 2 servings of fruits and veggies. First ingredients being water, apple, grape, and carrot juice. Mostly recognizable ingredients. It's still got 140 calories and 29 grams of sugar. So it's kind of a tough call. But for right now, since I am aiming to make improvements (and I'm trying to up the fruits and veggies around here), I'm going to take the sugar down for the produce benefit. I don't even know if that's the right answer. What do you think?

The Might Mango

Guess what?! Mangoes are stinkin' cheap right now. 2 for $0.88 at HEB yesterday. So I got a bunch. And they're fruit, so I figured they were healthy. But I had no idea how healthy until I did my little research for the day. Get this:

Low in calories and high in dietary fibre, mangoes are packed with vitamins, antioxidants and minerals. Recent studies suggest they are also powerful cancer-fighters.

But that's just the chosen blurb. The rest of the article spells out that they are also ridiculously high in vitamin C (25% for the day) and potassium and a bunch of other good stuff. Now, I don't really know why potassium is all that great for you, but I know that it is. And that'll just have to be a topic for another day. But as for now, I know you should eat mangoes. The kids loved loved loved them just all by themselves. But if you want to do something with them, here are a few ideas from my favorite foodie site, Tasty Kitchen:

Mango Blackberry Salad with Honey Lemon Drizzle

Honey Lime Grilled Chicken Salad
Easy Mango Salsa; the ketchup makes me nervous, but to each his own.
Mango Mojito; you know I only care about your health.

The Scoop on Legumes. Beans, baby.

Here's a lovely blurb about legumes that I found on a little website that's kinda cool. It's going to tell us why we should eat beans.

1. They are low in fat.
2. They are high in protein.
3.They have folate (say foh-late), potassium (po-tass-ee-um), iron and magnesium (mag-neez-ee-um), which are all good for your body.
4.They have lots of fibre which means that your body doesn't digest it all, and what's left acts as a broom to sweep out your digestive system, keeping cholesterol levels down and helping your heart.
5. They have phytochemicals (fy-tow-kemi-kals) which are compounds which may help prevent diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

What I'm talking about is beans. Black beans are big in his house (with some fresh pico de gallo and sour cream). Red beans, kidney beans. All that. So eat some. In a bowl, tortilla, nachos, dip, whatever.

To tell you the truth, I didn't know the difference between a bean and a legume. And then I started reading this article about it. But then I stopped because I didn't know it was that complex and I actually don't care all that much. But if you do, read it here.

How Bad is French Toast?

Brandon made french toast this morning. Super tasty, and I'm thinking it's a nutritional upgrade on our special morning breakfast. Let me clarify..."special" means not toast and not cereal. So the special breakfast is usually Krusteaz pancakes and syrup. So today it was french toast. It's not super healthy. We used white bread *gasp* and dusted it with a little powdered sugar. But I'm pretty sure the small amount of powdered sugar was way less than the syrup we usually use. There's some egg protein in there. And I added some sliced strawberries. I have to say that I believe that french toast has to be kind of healthy (or at least not that bad) because my friend Jorja makes it and she doesn't feed her kids crap. In fact she makes a bunch, freezes it, and nukes it for breakfast. She's so clever.

We just made straight up, no fuss, french toast, but I found this recipe for low fat pineapple french toast that looks promising. I think I'll try it sometime. I'll let you know how it goes

What's the Scoop on Greek Yogurt?

Today I'm learning about Greek Yogurt. What's the deal? Is it really better for you? From what I'm gathering, yes - it actually is. Here's what I learned from the Google.

New York-based dietitian Heather Bauer likes Greek yogurt for its lower sugar and higher protein content, which, among other things, makes you feel fuller. On her website, Bauer lists other benefits and also provides some additions and variations to make it into a sweet or savory snack or meal. Of course, regular nonfat yogurt is a good nutritional choice, too, so pick whichever floats your boat. Low-fat options are OK, but watch out for the full-fat versions of both regular and Greek yogurt, which can be heavy in saturated fat. This is coming from this article.

and some more info here:
Greek yogurt is a great source of protein with almost twenty grams on average per eight ounce serving. Compare this to the typical nine to 13 grams seen in most standard yogurts. More protein makes it easier to resist the office doughnuts since protein makes a person feel fuller and more satisfied. Despite its high protein content, Greek yogurt is lower in carbohydrates than most standard commercial yogurts making it a good choice for keeping blood sugar levels under control. The fat-free version is also low in calories, with only 120 calories per eight ounce serving. Other health benefits of Greek yogurt include lower sodium content than standard yogurt – usually almost half as much as in most non-Greek brands.

All that being said, I think I found a keeper. My kids DEVOURED this. Me too. It has 0 grams of fat, 100 calories, and 10 grams of protein. I don't think that's too terribly bad. This is from Brown Cow. It has nothing in it that sounds funky artificial. It's just made out of stuff from the Earth. 13 grams of sugar. We eat fakey stuff all the time, but something about it doesn't feel quite right. I suppose that's a topic for another day. But for today, I'm feeling like this stuff is not only NOT bad for you, it might actually be good for you. And tasty. So try it.

Why Should I Care About Protein?

Why? I don't know. It's one of those things that I know is good, but don't know much about why. So I did a little research. Here's a little blurb about why protein is important to kids. The whole article is really informative and down to earth, so check it out here if you want more.

You probably know you need to eat protein, but what is it? Many foods contain protein (say: pro-teen), but the best sources are beef, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, nuts, seeds, and legumes like black beans and lentils. Protein builds up, maintains, and replaces the tissues in your body. (Not the tissues you blow your nose in! We mean the stuff your body's made up of.) Your muscles, your organs, and your immune system are made up mostly of protein.

The Incredible Edible Egg

Let's talk eggs. I'm thinking eggs are more good than not, don't you think? Maybe I'm wrong. And I'm totally open to wrong. In fact, as a little sidenote, I am NO expert at all. I'd like to get an expert on here to help me sort some of this out, but basically we're learning together.

Anyhoo, if you know something I don't or if you think I've got it backwards, let me know in the comments section. That's what it's all about.

Back to the eggs. I'm all about convenience, and I've found that boiling a bunch of these babies at a moment when I can bails me out of a snack attack later. Today the kids had an egg for snack instead of the back-up animal crackers. Which are totally cookies. Call them what you want but those are cookies, no?

But here's what some expert says here:
General dietary recommendations from the American Heart Association are that adults eat no more than 3-4 eggs yolks each week. There aren't any formal recommendations for children, but like adults, it is recommended that children limit their intake of cholesterol to 300mg each day. Since an egg contains about 213mg of cholesterol, eating eggs too often can cause your child to have a diet that is high in cholesterol.

Eggs can be a healthy part of your child's diet though and shouldn't be avoided altogether. In addition to being high in cholesterol, eggs also have a lot of benefits, including being high in protein, iron, minerals and B vitamins.

So all in all, my verdict is that I'm going to keep making the eggs, but not so many. Not an everyday thing. That's too bad. I was thinking they could be a super easy everyday thing. I can handle that though.

Sweet Tooth Sunday: Pineapple Lush Cupcakes

Today starts the first installment of Sweet Tooth Sunday. It'll let me get my bake on (one of my favorite things in life) and hopefully will help limit our sugar intake to once a week splurges. More on sugar later. Today's recipe is supposedly a little healthier than the cupcakes I normally make. And I have to say, with the weather heating up, a lighter option is working for me. It's angel food cake topped with whipped cream, instant pudding, and pineapple. I'm a sugar specialist and this one hits the spot.

You can try it. The recipe is here.

confessions and cast of kidlets

i'll have to start by admitting that i'm completely guilty of jipping myself and my family nutritionally. so i think we'd better start there, with brutal honesty. but i'd like to change that. i actually suspect that i'm not the only one. so i'll just begin by clearing the air and letting you know about my offenses in the kitchen. and then we'll start working on it.

*i'm a sugar fiend. and consequently, so is my four year old son, will. i crave it in a big way and have been known to whip up some cookies at 9pm out of desperation. of course, i share.

*i don't serve enough produce. at all.

*i serve carbs for breakfast. pancakes with syrup, muffins, toast, waffles and syrup, sugary cereal.

*i use entirely too much processed foods. i'll be honest and say that i know this is a bad thing, but i have no idea why. i know there's alot of salt in these frozen ready-to-eat meals, but i don't know so much about salt either.

*we don't always eat together or even the same thing.

*we rarely eat leftovers

*we eat full fat everything.

so with this blog i intend to minimize some of these habits (not eliminate. i have no intention of being that good or working that hard). i also hope to educate myself, and maybe you, about the pros and cons of how we eat.

so let's get started.