The delicious crumb topping makes these the best blueberry muffins ever!

Servings: 12

What you need:

1½ cups whole wheat flour

¾ cup white sugar

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup Plain Greek yogurt (Chobani)

1 egg

1 cup fresh blueberries

Rocky Topping:

¼ cup white sugar

3 tablespoons cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup cold butter, cubed

1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners. Combine 1½ cups flour, ¾ cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Add to the flour mixture yogurt and egg. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

This delicious fruit smoothie is a nutritious way to get your fruit intake for the day!

Servings: 2 smoothies

What you need:

1 cup 100% juice (orange, clementine, apricot, etc)

1 cup frozen fruit (mango, pineapple, peaches, or mixture etc)

½ cup Greek vanilla yogurt

Add each ingredient to a blender and mix well. Serve and enjoy!

Be the hit of the party with this super easy, crazy good trail mix!

Servings: 12

What you need:

1 box of Oatmeal Squares cereal (or other squarish cereal)

2 cups light salt peanuts (1 container)

2 cups raisins (or other dried fruit)

1 bag of waffle pretzels

2 cups (or more or less) M & M’s

Mix and store in a large Ziploc bag or airtight plastic container.

Learn how easy and fun it is to make homemade tortilla chips. Add homemade salsa and guacamole to the mix and you’ve got a healthy and delicious snack that everyone will love!

Terrific Tortilla Chips:

12, 6-inch white corn tortillas

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

½ teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Brush both sides of the tortillas with oil. Stack them up and cut the pile into 6 pie wedges. Spread the wedges evenly on two cookie sheets. Sprinkle salt evenly over the wedges. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.

Sassy Salsa

5 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 vidalia onion, chopped fine

1 cup cilantro, chopped fine

1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeds and membranes removed, finely diced (*wear gloves to protect your hands and eyes!), optional

½ lime, juiced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Combine the tomatoes, onion, cilantro and jalapenos in a bowl. Add the lime juice and salt. Mix thoroughly. We can combine this with chips and guacamole?

The Best Guacamole on the Planet

2 ripe Haas avocados

1 lime

½ plum tomato, seeded and chopped

2 Tablespoons Vidalia sweet onion, diced

½-1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

Cut the avocado in half and remove the seed. Quarter the avocado and peel the skin. Place into a bowl and mash with a fork. Squeeze the juice of the lime onto avocado. Add chopped tomato, salt, Tabasco and onion and mix thoroughly. Serve immediately.

Wildtree’s granola mix makes this delicious, organic dessert a fun treat your kids (and you!) will definitely love!

Number of Servings: 30

Ingredients:

1 package Wildtree Hearty Morning Granola Mix (or regular granola)

1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup almond butter

3/4 cup honey

Method of Preparation:

Combine all ingredients together in a bowl. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Once chilled, roll about 2 tablespoons of the mixture into a ball. Makes 30 balls.

Granola bars sound healthy, right? They are certainly a convenient, on the go snack, but there are a few sneaky facts you need to know before choosing the right one for your family.  Some granola bars are great options, while others pay homage to the candy bar, packing a hefty dose of sugar and fat. Don’t be fooled by the “health halo,” including words like healthy, natural, fiber, low fat, or organic. These claims lure me to the box too…for a closer look.

How is a parent supposed to know which granola bar to choose? The Nutrition Facts Label and the ingredient list on each package can help guide your choices.  First, scour the nutrition facts label to check for sugar, fat, sodium, and fiber; then turn over the package and look at the sources of these nutrients on the ingredient list.

We’ve done some of the work for you.  Check out these randomly selected, kid-oriented options:

*Nutrition information obtained from www.calorieking.com.

Healthiest: We looked at overall qualities, but you may be focused on a single nutrient such as sugar or fiber. In that case, it’s easy to see how each granola bar fares in nutrient categories compared to its competitor.  Kashi TLC Chewy Trail Mix seems to be the overall best choice with low saturated fat, the least sugar, and a good amount of fiber.  Although its calorie content is on the higher side in comparison to the chart as a whole, it is still a reasonable amount for a snack. Pairing this granola bar with a 1/2 cup of milk would add protein and calcium to make it more nutritious, satisfying and filling.

If you want lower sugar content, aim for less than 9 grams of sugar per serving (a donut has 12 grams!).  For fiber, go for more than 2 grams per serving (5 grams per serving is considered a high fiber item). Is sodium a worry?  Shoot for fewer than 200 mg per serving.

Unhealthiest: Hershey’s Reece’s Sweet & Salty with Peanuts seems to be the least healthy with the highest calorie, fat, and saturated fat content, along with moderate to high levels of sugar–but I bet it tastes good.

What are your criteria for choosing granola bars for your child?

Disclaimer: This is just a small representation of a single flavor from each of many popular brands on the market, not of all bars available.  Nutrient content may change with different flavor options within each brand.  The purpose of this chart is Nutrition Facts label education, and not specific brand recommendations.

Crackers, pop-tarts, chips, fruit roll-ups, and cookies. How many of these items are in your pantry?

As a nation, we love convenience and efficiency. Boxes and bags are easier to handle than pots and pans and easier to use than peelers and knives. For the busy parent (and what parent isn’t busy?), it’s easier to rip into a bag or open a box for the nagging child in the backseat, or getting to your next mommy task quickly.

Convenience foods may appear several times a day in the diet of a child. School events, day care, and other family homes expose your child to processed foods and consumption can mount quickly. Not only are we tempted by the convenience, our children think they taste good too!

Food commercials target and entice our little ones. If you have ever shopped with a child, you see firsthand, the impact of advertising. Children remember tag lines, colorful box decorations, and chummy characters. When they find these products in the store aisles, be ready for the onslaught of begging, negotiating, promising, and all-out tantrums if you don’t buy the desired product!

What’s a parent to do?

Take charge:  Determine how many convenience items you will allow in your home. If you are liberal with processed foods in the pantry–your child will be liberal in eating them. Replace bags and boxes, colors and dyes, and unidentifiable ingredients with satisfying “real food” snacks such as whole wheat bagels with peanut butter, whole grain cereal with low-fat milk, or low fat yogurt with fresh fruit and granola.

Set Limits:  If bags and boxes are a part of your regular diet, try adjusting your purchases and eating habits to skew to healthier foods. Try to aim for 90% of your child’s daily intake to come from healthy, “growing” foods such as low fat dairy, lean meats, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Leave the remaining 10% for “fun foods”– soda, cookies, chips, and candy. Placing the emphasis on healthy foods and allowing occasional and small amounts of “fun foods” keeps the balance in favor of good nutrition.

Talk About It:  Create opportunities to talk with your child about healthy foods and not-so healthy foods. Differentiate the two, keeping a neutral perspective. Emphasize foods that come from the earth and those in their natural state. While the temptation to eliminate and label processed foods as “bad” may exist, it is better to acknowledge their presence, taste, and usage on an occasional basis, so that your child will be able to navigate the wide world of food as he gets older.

I cannot tell you how many times I have offered a child a plate of fresh fruit or veggies to have the mother grab it from me and say, “Oh, he won’t eat that.” What that really means is, “I have conditioned my child not to eat that.”

Yes, kids can be picky eaters, but that does not mean that we need to condition them to only eat chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and PB&Js. I have two toddlers who have a mind of their own when it comes to food like the rest of the world. But I have found several super healthy snacks and foods that my kids inhale without a struggle. Here are 5 of our favorites:

1. Sweet potatoes – one of the most nutritious foods on the planet. And kids love anything “sweet”, right? When I’m in a rush, I nuke several large sweet potatoes in the microwave for 5-8 minutes. Then I sprinkle them lightly with organic brown sugar and a tad of cinnamon. My kids always ask for seconds – and the leftovers are packed in their school lunches the next day.
2. Kale chips (I stole this from Gwenyth Paltrow’s cookbook – thank you Gwenyth!). Kale is also one of the most nutritious foods on the planet. It’s a leafy green found near the broccoli section in your grocery store. To make kale chips, wash the kale, tear the leafs off the stems in 2-3 inch chunks. Place on a cookie sheet, drizzle in olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes. And then you have a super healthy substitute to potato chips that can also be used on sandwiches in place of lettuce or mixed into scrambled eggs.
3. Milk shakes. Well, not the milk shakes you might be thinking of. Super healthy milk shakes look like this: Toss handfuls of any fruit into a blender (strawberries, blueberries, peaches, bananas, apples, watermelon, kiwi – anything!). Add milk and ice. Then blend. It’s that easy! In our house, when we ask the kids, “Who wants a milk shake?” we receive the unanimous shrieks, “MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
4. Cucumber salad (I stole this one from my German mother-in-law). Cucumbers by themselves are easy for kids to enjoy. If you want super delicious cucumbers follow this recipe: Cut the cucumber in very fine slices. In a bowl, mix ¼ cup tasty vinegar, ¼ cup sour cream, salt, pepper, sugar and sprinkle with dill. Mix everything together and you have a yummy cucumber salad!
5. Carrot salad (Again, I stole this from my mother-in-law!). We have all eaten carrots with ranch dipping – but it’s important to have a variation of flavors to keep your kids coming back for more. Carrot salad recipe: Shred several carrots in a food processor then squeeze the juice from half of a lemon on the carrots. In a separate bowl, mix ¼ cup tasty vinegar, ¼ cup sour cream, a dash of olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar and sprinkle with parsley. Combine all ingredients. Enjoy!

Do you have a healthy snack or food idea you know kids will love? Post it in the Comment section below. Thanks for sharing!

Children’s sporting events provide an extreme window into the temptations of childhood eating. Just walk onto a soccer field at snack time and look at the food supply. Parents who are interested in the quality of snacks at sporting events may be surprised to find chips, crackers, cookies, sugar-sweetened beverages, and desserts shopped around to their little athletes. If you are trying to focus on feeding your child in a healthy manner, sporting events may sabotage your efforts!

Do kids even need a snack at a sporting event?

If your child is playing an active game, in the heat for over an hour, a re-fueling snack and fluids to maintain energy, focus and hydration makes sense. A granola bar, cheese and crackers, fresh fruit, or a cheese stick is helpful and healthy—cookies and donuts are not.

Why do we assume that children want sugary, high fat foods when they play sports?

Aside from the lack of nutrients these snacks provide, they do little for enhancing a child’s sports performance. Most children at recreational sporting events do not need this–a nutritious breakfast or lunch will do the trick.

Using food rewards can backfire

We are sending the wrong message, associating sports play with a food reward. For children, sporting events have turned into a means to an end–eating treats—where the treat becomes valued over exercise.

Inappropriate beverages

Many drinks at weekend games are inappropriate for children.  Drinks are often loaded with added sugar, like juice boxes, Capri Sun, Koolaid, and soda. Children’s bodies need water. What about Gatorade or similar drinks? Again, if your child is running and sweating for more than an hour, sports drinks can replenish lost nutrients such as sodium, chloride, and potassium.  Many children are not “sweating it out” like this until they are at the high school level, though.

Encouraging children to be active is part of being a health-oriented parent and raising healthy children. Feasting after physical activity negates the positive effects of exercise and promotes untimely and potentially excessive eating.

My own child said to me once, “Mom, if I bring orange slices for snack, everyone will be disappointed.”

I have vowed to be the boring mom who brings the healthy snack to the game. Someone has to set a new standard and be a role model. I invite you to join me.