My Favorite Healthy Snacks

Well hello, I hope you had a great weekend - it was odd being away from this space for a few days.  We had a great weekend which included beautiful weather, shopping for an upcoming trip with my bff, and a kid cupcake & cake pop decorating party!  Pretty great if you ask me.

While I wouldn't consider myself health crazed, we do try to eat healthy at home. We buy organic meats, organic peanut butter, organic or almond milk.  We eat a lot of fruits, veggies and yogurts and have always made it a priority for the kids to do so too.  I'm not saying they don't eat snacks - but when they do, we mostly try to choose snacks that are organic or are not filled with artificial sweeteners and tons of junk.

Some examples of things we choose are:  instead of buying Pringles or other chips that have a lot of artificial ingredients, we go for the brands that only have potatoes, oil and salt.  Same goes for ice cream - we don't buy brands with tons of ingredients - only the ones that have natural ingredients.  We also pop our own popcorn kernels at home instead of buying the microwaveable bags.

My snacking choices are a little different from the kids (obviously) so I thought I'd share a few of my favorite "healthy" snacks.

Wasabi Peas

 

These are my probably my favorite snack.  I love spicy food and these hit the spot, and I love how crunchy they are.

 

Roasted Seaweed

 

I know these may sound nasty to some, but these are so good!  They're salty and delicious, they also are seasoned with sesame oil - which is my favorite #chinesefoodjunkie

Kale chips are another favorite of mine (my recipe here) You can season them up how ever you'd like and they are crunchy and delicious - my son loves them too.

And of course wine is another favorite snack ;) just look at the health benefits below!

What are your favorite healthy snacks?

Pasta With Tomato Cream Sauce Recipe

You all know I have a love for pasta, it's one of my favorite meals.  I made the most delicious pasta recipe last night from the Pioneer Woman this is probably the best pasta recipe that I have ever made!  When hubby is on shift, and we don't have any leftovers or I don't feel like eating what we have, I usually make something quick but comforting - to me that would be Spanish food (I'm Puerto Rican and Dominican), something in the Crock-Pot or some type of pasta.  This recipe was super fast, delicious and the kids loved it!  This would be great for a "Meatless Monday" meal and also for a night where you're too tuckered out and just want to make something quick.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Medium Onion- Finely cut
• 4 cloves Garlic - Minced
• 2 cans (15 Ounce Each) Tomato Sauce 
•  Salt And Pepper, to taste
•  Dash Of Sugar - To Taste
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
•  Grated Parmesan 
•  Fresh Basil - Chopped

First cut your onion thinly and mince your garlic

Melt equal parts of butter and olive oil and sautee the onions and garlic until the onions are opaque

Pour the two cans of tomato sauce in and season with salt, pepper and sugar to taste -- let simmer on low for 25-30 min... it smells heavenly already at this point

While the sauce is cooking get your pasta water ready and remember to season water with PLENTY of salt -  I learned this from Giada De Laurentiis she says the water should taste like the sea so that it can flavor the pasta

Once sauce is done cooking take off the heat and stir in the heavy cream

Once the sauce is a beautiful orange color stir in cheese and freshly chopped basil

Add pasta and toss

Serve immediately

And don't forget your glass of vino!

 For better pictures that make this recipe look a 100 times better and the original recipe visit The Pioneer Woman's website.

Enjoy!

PS - Have any of you tried freezing crock-pot meals for easy an easy go to dinner?  Do you have any recipes that your family has loved?  I'm trying to gather a few of these meals so that I can freeze them and cook in the crock-pot when needed.  If you know of any good recipes please let me know or leave the link in the comments below.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!!

Kid Tested, Mother Approved: Family Friendly Food

Happy Tuesday!

Today I'm linking up with Colleen from Meet the Sullivans and some other awesome ladies for the Kid Tested Mother Approved Link Party...

via

I was wracking my brain a lot on what to come up with that is both kid and parent friendly.  My kids are pretty good about eating their veggies, but I know that a lot of parents out there struggle with their kiddos.

One food (drink) we love are smoothies.  We make them a lot at home and add veggies (mostly spinach) and flax seed to them.  You would never know that there was any veggies, the smoothie comes out sweet, creamy and delicious!  We use just about whatever fruit we have on hand, most of the time it's berries or mangoes.

 This recipe is great because it ensures that they're getting their veggies in, and yet they have no idea and don't put up a fuss.  Seriously, you can't taste the spinach AT ALL.  The smoothies are super healthy since they contain a lot of antioxidants, vitamins and folic acid.  It's a win-win in my book.

Berry Spinach Smoothie
1 cup - frozen berries
1/2  - Banana
1 cup - Spinach (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup - Plain or Vanilla Greek yogurt
1 cup - Almond milk (you could also use regular, soy or whatever you prefer)
1-2 Tablespoons - flax seed

Mix all in a blender and enjoy!

This recipe can really be made and mixed up anyway depending on what you have in your fridge or what fruits your family likes.  We really enjoy having this as a snack or breakfast with maybe a slice of toast with peanut butter.  The smoothie is filling and healthy, what's better than that?!

Does your family enjoy smoothies?  Do you add veggies to them? Can't wait to hear what recipes you all have in store, it's always nice to change things up and try new things!

"A" is for Autumn

All of these posts around blogland have me excited for Fall to come.  We live in the south though so cool weather is not around the corner for us unfortunately.  I'm looking forward to it though.  Cooler weather usually brings a lot of fun things our way, things we can only enjoy for a very short period of time because it's usually so hot!  We definitely savor the cooler weather.. some of my favorites are

Bonfires
We typically do a lot of these once the weather gets a little chilly.  We have friends over, drink wine and get out our blankets and light a fire in our fire pit.  It's so much fun!  The kids love it too, especially when s'mores are involved!!

Starbucks Creme Brulee Lattes
Do I need to say anything else?  YUM!  They are my favorite!  I love the bits of caramelized sugar on top... I'm one happy girl when Starbucks starts selling them!

Evening walks
Such a simple thing, but it's so nice to take walks and not get overheated or have mosquitoes biting you.  We have a great time as a family.  We walk, talk and there aren't any distractions.


Warm clothes
I often wish I lived in a state where there was an actual "fall season" and I could wear sweaters, boots and scarves -- typically here fall means kinda cool in the mornings and kinda cool at night... days are still hot so you're not really wearing your sweaters and scarves all day.  Here are some outfits that I think are cute:

Cinnamon brooms
Publix sells them --do all supermarkets sell these?  It smells up my house with the most amazing warm cinnamon smell, I love it!

Pumpkin Pie
One of my favorite pies...

What are you looking forward to most of all when fall comes around?