Fun Lunch Ideas for Kids in Elementary School

August 22, 2015 By Marijean

Summer goes by way too fast, before you know it we are preparing to send the kids back to school! This also means time to think about what to pack the kids for lunch. My 4 year old son is pretty picky when it comes to what he wants for lunch, and trying to make his lunch a healthy one is sometimes a chore. I have found a few fun ideas to make lunches more fun for kids to eat.

Caterpillar Fruit Kabobs These are fun and very simple for adults to make, the kids can even make them! You just need grapes, strawberries, wood skewers, sugar eyes and frosting to hold the eyes on to the strawberry. If you don’t want to send these in on the wooden skewer, they would still be cute without! http://indulgy.com/post/5SbdWHdHt2/could-use-after-reading-the-very-hungr

Apple Sandwiches with Granola and Peanut Butter if your child isn’t a fan of bread then these are awesome sandwiches to take to school. They look fun to eat and are very tasty. All you need for this one is Apples, Peanut or Almond butter, Granola & optional Chocolate Chips. This would also make a great after school snack! www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe/apple-sandwiches-granola-and-peanut-butter

Tortilla Pinwheel Lollipops Definitely not your typical “lunch sandwich” this one is fun to make and even more fun to eat. For this one all you need is cream cheese, tortillas, lunchmeat of choice, cheese of choice, and ranch dressing! Add lollipop sticks and your kids will love these! http://homecookingmemories.com/kid-lunch-ideas-tortilla-pinwheel-lollipops/

Silly Face Sandwich There are easy and adorable, plus the kids can make them into any silly face they want! For these the possibilities are endless. For example, you can use blueberries or olives for the eyes, grapes or carrots for nose, and pepper slices for the mouth! Kids will love all the crazy combinations they can come up with. http://www.kixcereal.com/kix-cereal-fathers-day-food-artsandwiches-for-dad/

Apple Race-cars Kids will love these!! You can use all different types of food for the wheels. Bananas, round apple slices, kiwi slices or even string cheese! For a sweet treat you can add marshmallows! http://www.woojr.com/fun-apple-snacks/

These are all great options for picky and non picky eaters! Your child will enjoy lunchtime at school and have a full tummy.

Marijean

My name is MJ. I have two wonderful children and work part time as well as volunteer at my children's school.

Have Fun This Summer with #SweetSwaps

June 16, 2015 By Anne

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for the SPLENDA® Brand. I received product samples to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation. All opinions and reviews are my own.

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Nature trails

Summer is here and that means more outdoor activities, delicious foods and more time in the pool. While most of us are trying to fit into our bathing suits again, I want to get my family eating smarter. Okay, yes I want to get back into my bikini too!

School’s been out for a week now and the kids are just laying around and being lazy. I want to get them and myself up and moving more this summer. I also want us to make smarter food choices by looking for simple recipes that can be part of a balanced lifestyle.That’s why I said yes to working with SPLENDA for this post. We, my husband and the kids mostly, eat a lot of snacks. Why not make try to make them better? Check out the SweetSwap.com website for some delicious dishes that include swapping out full sugar for the SPLENDA® Sweetener Products such as SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated, SPLENDA® Sugar Blend, and SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend. There you can mind lots of tips, tricks and delicious recipes.

Getting out with friends.

I decided to have a fun mother and kid nature walk last week. I had a group of us meet at a local playground. Off from the playground is one fo the many entrances to our community’s nature trails. It is so wonderful that we have these nature trails right here where we live, we just need to go visit them more often. We ended up walking a little over 30 minutes. Then we went to the park’s picnic areas and had a slice of Dulce de Leche Cheesecake made with SPLENDA. I found the recipe on SweetSwaps.com. I also provided some muffins and iced coffee for everyone. Surprisingly all the kids loved the cheesecake. It did not have as much “dulce de leche” to it but it was not bad. I think it needed a topping of some sort. Maybe some frozen fruit would have been nice. But we did have a great tome getting outdoors and I heard from quite a few friends that were not
able to come that they are eager to come to the next outing. Hmm, what to make next?

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake

Here is the recipe:

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Recipe

INGREDIENTS

Crust:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling:

3 (8 ounce) packages reduced-fat cream cheese
1 cup SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated (Did you know that swapping just one cup of sugar with one cup of SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated can save more than 600 calories?)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/3 cup reduced fat milk
½ cup dulce de leche

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400º F.
Mix crust ingredients together, and press into a 9-inch springform pan. Place pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
Reset oven temperature to 325º F.
Beat cream cheese, SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated, and flour together until well mixed and smooth. Add vanilla and mix until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix until smooth. Add milk and mix until well blended.
Measure ½ cup of the cheesecake batter and pour into a small bowl. Add dulce de leche and stir until well combined.
Pour plain batter over crust. Top with dulce de leche by placing rounded spoonfuls over the cheesecake batter and gently swirl into plain batter with the tip of knife or spatula.
Bake 45-55 minutes or until center is almost set. Remove from oven and gently run metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cheesecake (this helps prevent cracking). Let cool 20-25 minutes before covering and placing in the refrigerator. Refrigerate 4- 6 hours or overnight before serving.

Servings Per Recipe: 16

Serving Size: 1 slice (1/16 of cheesecake)

Enjoying our desserts after our walk!

Visit SPLENDA on their social sites too!

SPLENDA Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/splenda

SPLENDA Twitter: @Splenda

SPLENDA Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.com/SPLENDA/

Anne

I'm a mother of 2 who likes to get involved in too much! Besides writing here I started a non-profit, I'm on the PTO board, very active in my community and volunteer in the school. I enjoy music, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with my family. We just adopted our 3rd cat and love them all!

All About That Chocolate!

February 5, 2015 By Anne

I am working with Foodie.com on this post.

Valentine’s Day will be here soon and chocolate is a very popular present. I think most everyone likes it. I know I do! I wanted to find some fun, delicious and maybe a little healthy chocolate recipes for you. Okay there’s one or two that are not healthy at all but I couldn’t resist. I mean bacon brownies?! Sounds delicious!

What is your favorite chocolate treat?

Anne

Super Bowl – Buffalo Chicken Dip

January 28, 2015 By Anne

Photo Credit: Samantha Okazaki / TODAY

I was watching The Today Show this morning while on the treadmill. I love that show. They were showing from delicious recipes for the big game this Sunday. Super Bowl is always close to my birthday and it missed it by one day. I know my mom and husband will be watching. Me, I’m not so sure. However, I love all the food associated with the Super Bowl. I may just have to make this for my birthday!

Slow-cooker Buffalo chicken dip from The Today Show.

Makes 6 cups

Ingredients

2 (8-ounce) packages reduced-fat cream cheese
3/4 cup (6 ounces) cayenne pepper sauce (Crystal or Frank’s Red Hot)
1/2 cup ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing
1 1/4 – 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cooked and chopped (3 to 4 chicken breast halves or about 3 cups chopped); vegetarian substitution: cooked cauliflower florets
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese or mozzarella
Tortilla chips, crackers, or vegetables, for serving
Combine cream cheese, pepper sauce, and ranch or blue cheese dressing and cheddar or mozzarella cheese in slow cooker. Cook over low heat, until cheeses are melted, stirring frequently.
Stir in chicken or cauliflower until combined; continue to cook until heated through, then keep warm in slow cooker.

Serve warm with tortilla chips, crackers or vegetables.

What do you have planned for the Super Bowl?

Anne

Raspberry Linzer Heart Cookies

January 22, 2015 By Anne

These are perfect Valentine’s Day cookies. We made them last year and I just bought all of the ingredients to make them again!

Ingredients

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup plus 3 Tbsp. confectioners’ sugar

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup raspberry jam

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325°F; line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla, then flour and salt. Shape dough into 2 disks; wrap 1 in plastic and refrigerate.

On a floured surface, roll out remaining disk to about a 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out cookies with a 2 1/2-inch heart-shaped cutter. Use a smaller heart cutter to cut a window out of half of cookies. With a spatula, carefully transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough. Gather scraps and roll out again to make more cookies.

Bake cookies in batches until edges of cookies are just golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer cookies onto wire racks to let cool completely.

Spread 3/4 tsp. jam over flat side of each cookie that doesn’t have a window. Top with remaining cookies, flat side down, so that jam shows through windows. Carefully sift 3 Tbsp. confectioners’ sugar over cookies.