This Is Me Maria

My kids love popsicles and truth be told, we really enjoy them on hot days. However I am hesitant to purchase any popsicles because they are so full of sugar.

A great alternative that I have enjoyed since childhood is to make my own popsicles from pureed fruit. In fact, I still have the Tupperware popsicle molds that my mom used when I was kid.

If you don’t have any popsicle molds, fill your ice cube trays with popsicle mix, cover in foil and then poke a popsicle stick into each one cube. You can also fill small paper cups, cover those with foil and then poke popsicle sticks or plastic spoons into them as well.

Here are some of our favorite fruitsicles.

• Watermelon popsicles; just puree watermelon chunks and pour into your popsicle molds. You’ll want to either use seedless watermelon, puree really well or just make sure to pick out all of the seeds. You could also run your puree through a strainer to make sure you got out all of the seeds.

• Avocado pops are a surprisingly filing and delicious snack. Puree avocado with milk, ice and a bit of sugar as if you are making a smoothie and then pour into your popsicle molds.

• A little bit of water or 100% natural juice mixed with blueberries, strawberries and raspberries makes a colorful and tasty popsicle.

• If you have a juice maker, just toss in your favorite mixture of fruit and maybe even a few rich veggies and you’ll have the perfect mix of fruit to pour into your popsicle molds.

• For older children you can even put little pieces of fruit or grapes into your popsicles for a chunkier popsicle with fruit surprises. I like to put little pieces of fruit into ice cubes too, they add nice little bit of flavor to all of the water being consumed this time of year.

Here is a link to some popsicle molds I found on Amazon. I recommend a sturdy plastic because the softer plastics will warp and become difficult to use eventually.

This post at That’s Fit is rather alarming. Seeing as both my husband and daughter seem to possibly be allergic to wheat, I don’t mind making the move to get it out the house permanently. We are already very happy with the spelt, flax and other whole grain products available at Whole Foods and PCC Natural Markets.

What do you think about this information? Any experiences with wheat products you would like to share?

How many times have you heard the phrase “Breakfast is the most imporant meal of the day?” I know a million right? Who knows if it that is actually true but we do know that it is important to eat healthy through out the day; might as well start off on the right foot.

So why are you still only having coffee for breakfast and your kids eatjng some sugar filled cereal? Maybe you are like me and find yourself more hungry at lunch if you do eat breakfast rather than if you don’t. I’ve discovered that eating just a little breakfast seems to do just the trick. A small healthy breakfast helps me feel good in the mornings but I’m not starving at lunch.

If you MUST have cold cereal - go all natural. Pick something with out sugar and if at all possible - something organic. Then top it off with frozen (it can be hard to keep fresh around the house) blueberries or cut up strawberries (organic of course). The produce being organic is more important than the cereal being organic. Sometimes you have to choose one or the other (we certainly do).

Bottoms up! My husband loves to make smoothies. We keep an assortment of frozen fruits and berries in the freezer. Toss a mixture of your favorite stuff in the blender with some milk and in a minute or two you have a healthy, quick, easy and yummy breakfast. It is surprisingly filling.

My kids also love to have plain organic yogurt with strawberry granola. Sometimes I’ll be nice and get vanilla yogurt. I also make sure it is whole milk yogurt because they are young and thin and need healthy fat. They both still drink whole milk.

Protein is really important and it is a great way to start off your day. We love to make “egg in a hole”.
Lightly grease your warm skillet with unsalted butter, cut out a 1.5 inch hole in your bread. Place in your very warm skillet. Break egg into the middle of hole. Cook to desired consistency and flip over if necessary. (We love our eggs runny so where we buy our eggs from really matters.)

Other protein favorites are turkey bacon or veggie breakfast patties with some real orange juice. Easy and very good for a quick morning meal.

Lastly if you are in a super rush; whole wheat or multi-grain bagels or english muffins with some carefully chosen spread and some tea or a piece of fruit will give you a surprisingly great boost.

Don’t skip breakfast because it will really make your day.

More links about breakfast:

http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/breakfast.html

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/food-and-nutrition/AN01119

http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/weight_loss_healthy_breakfast.htm