Road Trip!!!

My family is going on a road trip tomorrow. We are driving from Colorado to Wisconsin. I have 3 boys ages, 11, 5, & 8 months and I only hope we all make it there with our sanity intact!

In the past we ate on the road. Good ol' gas station hot dogs and Culver's Drive thru. Burger King, McDonald's. We ate so much junk and loaded up on coffee and energy drinks. It's no wonder we all gained weight each time we went on vacation!!

So this time around I have a game plan. We are going to avoid eating fast food and I am packing our meals for the road trip. Here is our bounty of travel food:

For breakfast we are making whole grain waffles with peanut butter or egg muffins. For snack I am cutting up strawberries and apples. I am also preparing grape tomatoes, celery with peanut butter and raisins, and baby carrots with ranch.

For lunch we are making roast beef pita sandwiches with cheese and sprouts. or PB&J depending on their preference. String cheese, Kashi crackers, beef jerky, & goldfish crackers. All of these options are healthy and road trip friendly.

I am using gladware containers so I can portion size the meals and hand them out while driving. We are packing a cooler for the perishable items and I am freezing several water bottles to keep the water cool and cooler cold!

I found some extra special goodies for when we have a sweet tooth!

I was initially looking for Fig Newtons but was very disappointed by their ingredients so I was ecstatic to find these! Fig Newmans, lol! First I want to say the Paul Newman will be deeply missed. What an amazing man!

I love all his products but I never heard of the Fig Newmans until now! They are all organic and I just love the picture of Paul & his daughter on the front!

Oreos are chock full of hydrogenated oils so these are a great alternative. When the kiddos (or mom!) want a sweet treat I have no problem handing these out!!

I also plan to hard boil some eggs and pack those. They are chock full of protein and a great snack. The Puffins cereal is really good! I plan to use those for a sweet snack too.

Clif bars are great for eating on the go. These are a meal in themselves and for protein bars they are delicious!!

I even found a treat for my baby!

They are called Baby Mum Mum and they are made with all natural ingredients. These rusks dissolve in their mouth (my wee one has no teeth yet! My nipples are so pleased! haha) and they are a tasty snack. I gave them to my little guy yesterday and he just loved this treat!

So hopefully with all these options we can avoid those greasy hot dogs and fatty fast food places!

I will not be able to post from Wisconsin since we are going to a small ho-dank town that cannot get high speed internet.

I will see ya'll in a couple of weeks!!!

Take care and make HEALTHY choices! There is always a way!!!!

And the Winner is....

blueviolet!

I chose my winner from random.org - here is the link: http://random.org/lists/

I'll be sending you an email soon to get your mailing address. Congrats!!!

Thanks for your participation!

I was so excited to see so many entries to my giveaway! I had fun reading each of your responses. Believe it or not there were 3 people who got the answers right. Some of these foods are tricky. I will explain some of the most common wrong answers below:

Wrong Healthy Answers:

Breton Crackers - These have coconut oils and shortening in them! They sure look healthy though!

Bear Creek Soup Mix: To my surprise this has a three striker: Corn Syrup, Hydrogenated Oils, and MSG!!!

Wrong Unhealthy Answers:

Pasta Sides, These are the whole grain variety. They do not contain artifical ingredients and first ingredient is enriched whole wheat pasta) You add the butter and milk which can make it bad for you but I use organic skim milk and a dash of olive oil in place of butter.

Honey Bunches of Oats - Actually these are not bad. First ingredient is Whole Grain Wheat. They use high oleic oils (which I posted about in an earlier entry) None of the icky processed artificial stuff. They do "fortify" with vitamins which adds ingredients most of us cannot pronounce - overall they get a healthy from me.

Pasta Roni - The kind in there is Nature's Way and it is made with all natural ingredients, no processed items. It can easily be unhealthy depending how you prepare it but what you put in it is up to you and there are always healthy options!

Surprisingly there were two items mentioned by Blueviolet that tricked me! The Hunt's Pasta Sauce and the Zatarain's. The Pasta Sauce is so plain I never considered it would have CORN SYRUP in it! The Zatarain's has MSG. I love Zatarain's but I will have to pay more attention!!

Because you can't see the Whole Grain on the Knorr Pasta sides I will add the 4 people who got all the other answers right to the drawing. So there are a total of 7 people in the running!!

I will announce the winner later today!!

Pantry Raid: My Very First Give-Away!!!!

Welcome to my Pantry Raid - You Are What You Eat Style!



I promised pictures of my pantry and fridge to see just what exactly I am eating and feeding to my family. I have to say my cupboards are looking a little bare as we are getting ready to go out of town in a week and we did not go grocery shopping this weekend like we usually do.

I took the liberty of sharing my pantry one shelf at a time. I'll let you take a looksie and let me know what you think is healthy and what you think is unhealthy.

Healthy items would be all natural and/or minimally processed with the first ingredient being whole grains, for instance.

Unhealthy items would be processed and have added chemicals. They would contain a lot of sugars like high fructose corn syrups, salts, MSG and may even contain hydrogenated oils.

The challenge is to find 7 items that are healthy and good for you and find 7 items that are not very healthy for you - given the descriptions I gave.

I will randomly pick one person with the right answers to win a box of Kashi Granola Bars. Kashi has a ton of awesome flavors for their granola bars. My personal favorite are the Pumpkin Spice Flax - Crunchy Bars. Mmmmmmmm I'll even let you pick out your favorite! (You can go to kashi.com if you are not familiar with their granola bars.)

Here are the pictures of my shelves in my pantry: (click on them to enlarge)

So get to guessing! You have up to September 30th to enter your answers. I will pick a winner by the end of the day!!

I also plan to have another giveaway for peering into my refrigerator - You Are What You Eat style! So keep checking back!!

You Are What You Eat

I am addicted to BBCA's You Are What You Eat show! Holistic nutritionist Gillian McKeith is just brutal when she confronts people who are over-eating and unhealthy. My favorite part is when she is raiding their cupboards and fridge. Which makes me wonder what she would not like about my own pantry and items in my refrigerator. So as soon as I uncover my digital camera (it's hiding in my desk area somewhere - either that or my 5 year old ran off with it again!) I plan to post pictures of what is in my fridge and pantry. Perhaps you will join me? I think it is fun to poke around other people's cupboards too!

*Update* I finally found my camera - it appears my 5 year old thought he was an abstract photographer and I am in the process of deleting like 188 pictures....if you are a mother you know that completing any task is hard with one child tugging at you and I have 3 so it may be a little while! I promise to update soon (soon being on kid time so bear with me!!)

It's even in my Bread Crumbs!

Nothing makes chicken or pork taste better or look prettier than dressing it up in a thin layer of fine bread crumbs. Especially when you are eating healthy. You want to feel like you are eating comfort food now and again and baking a nice crispy chicken breast makes for a tasty dinner.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that Progresso Bread Crumbs have partially hydrogenated oil in their ingredients!! In fact the first four ingredients are Bread Crumbs, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup (yes in addition to high fructose corn syrup they add more corn syrup!), Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil...



Tsk! Tsk! I never dreamed that poison would be in my bread crumbs. I always assumed bread crumbs were made out of....well....bread!

I bought a large tub of this stuff at Cosco. I am not sure what I am going to do with it now...maybe feed the birds.

I do have a great solution on hand. My Great Grandma was Jewish and she made the best Matzo Ball Soup. Oh goodness, I really miss her. I tried to make the soup like she did but it just wasn't the same. So I had the Matzo Meal crumbs in my cupboard and used those to bread my meat. It turned out so much better than the Progresso Bread Crumbs!

The Matzo Meal looks like this:



You can find this in almost any grocery store, usually in the specialty food isle shared with the Asian and Mexican foods. There are literally 2 ingredients: Enriched Unbleached Wheat Flour & Water. Plus it is Kosher! You can never go wrong with Kosher!

These crumbs come in handy for just about anything. You can season them as you wish or leave them plain and they still taste wonderful. The best part is there are none of those icky corn syrups or nasty hydrogentated oils so you aren't poisening your body when you want to dress up your meat!

On a side note - if anyone has a good authentic Matzo Ball Soup recipe please share it with me! It is the best for colds (I have a nasty one right now) and I really do believe Chicken Soup is good for the body & soul! Especially Kosher Matzo Ball Soup!!

Catch Up

A bit off topic but Thanks to my lovely friends at Qwest my internet went down after I switched my phone service from Qwest to T-Mobile VOIP service. We did the math and realized that paying over $50.00 a month for a home phone was crazy when we could pay $10.00 a month for T-Mobile at home since I already had a T-Mobile cell. This includes unlimited local and long distance so we jumped on board! Problem is Qwest doesn't know their head from their bum and they not only disconnected my phone but they also disconnected my internet. I was miserable for 3 days without my handy world wide webosphere of anything I can possibly want or dream up. I let those folks have it. I love talking to the Indian customer service people. I have to admit they are pretty friendly even when they are being shouted at they seem to take it in stride.

Anyway I am glad that is behind me. So moving on....

My Lemon Cake:



This is what I ended up making for our get togther. It was really good! It is a lemon raspberry cake. I used the boxed lemon cake mix. It was the first time I used an Organic cake mix. I have to say it was almost as much work as making a cake from scratch. I may just skip the boxed stuff altogether because the mix was really dry so I added some vanilla pudding I had on hand to the mix and it made the cake nice and moist but took most of the lemon flavor out. I bought some natural raspberry preserves and slathered that between two cakes right down the middle. I almost had it completely frosted before I remembered to take a photo:



For the frosting I used Horizon Organic whipping cream and I put 1/3 cup of the raspberry preserves after I whipped the cream into peaks. I did not have to add any sugar as this was sweetened perfectly with the preserves. It was fantastic. I had to control myself not to lick the bowl but I do admit to having a lick or two of the mixing sticks before I stuck them in the washer!

Progress on the Pita Diet

Well believe it or not I have lost 6 pounds since last Tuesday!

I am so damned happy I could seriously climb onto my rooftop and shout it out to my neighbors but then they would think I was a bit off my rocker, so I will kindly share it with you instead!

Seriously all I have been doing is eating like this each day:

Breakfast: 1 whole pita with bananas and peanut butter topped with honey (or a half pita with egg, cheese and salsa and a cup of yogurt)

Snack: Granola bar or yogurt cup

Lunch: Pita sandwich or Cheese & Pepperoni Pitza! (photo)



Snack: Apple or Pear with a handful of peanuts or raisins

Dinner: Whatever I am cooking I eat one serving and I try to keep it the size of a pita on my plate.

Dessert: (a couple times a week is ok!) Mango ice cream (I am still enjoying tha batch I made last week!)

Tips: I have given up Diet soda completely and have been sticking to water most of the time. I have had some iced tea and a cup of milk usually with breakfast. I also have given up my morning cup of cream laden coffee. Also I ate the last of my creamy ice cream about a week ago.

I am excited to see if I will lose any more weight over this next week! I will keep you posted!

In the meantime here is the recipe for the pitza in the picture above!

Cheese & Pepperoni Pitza Recipe:

1 whole wheat pita
1 tbsp Olive or Grapeseed Oil
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp tomato or pizza sauce
2 tbsp diced tomatoes
1/4 cup of shredded cheese
4 slices turkey pepperoni
(additional toppings of your choice)
dash of italian seasoning (oregano, basil, parsley)

Preheat oven to 400
place pita shell on a plate
place oil in a small bowl and sprinkle garlic powder in oil
use a marinating brush and brush seasoned oil on your pita shell paying extra attention to the edges
with a spoon spread the tomato or pizza sauce over the oil
add tomatoes, then pepperoni, then cheese
sprinkle seasoning on top

Place in oven approx 10 minutes or remove when cheese is bubbly and edges are crispy

This is so good you wouldn't even guess it was a pita!!!

Enjoy!!

I'm Awake...Wow

I gave up diet soda and coffee a week ago and let me tell you I was a caffiene junky! I had 3-4 sodas a day and I enjoyed a good cup or two of coffee each morning.

Recently I discovered how bad diet soda was when I heard it can weaken your bones. Well now that I am over 30 I can't ignore the strength of my bones so buh-bye soda-pop! I figured since I was giving up soda I might as well cut way back on my coffee. I'll still enjoy a good cup on a chilly day or at a coffee house with friends. But my home brewer is going to be a little neglected for a while!

I survived this first week and made it through each day without having to nap or snapping at random things so I guess I never needed the stuff to begin with!

It's nice to have one habit kicked, now for the 213 other bad habits I have....

Oh & I am still working on my lemon dessert!

What to do with a plain box of Lemon Cake Mix?

Every Monday I get together with other parents from our church and we fellowship and enjoy home baked goods. Tomorrow I am signed up to bring dessert. I bought a box of organic lemon cake mix last time I was at Whole Foods and now I am trying to figure out how to turn this boxed mix into something fabulous that all the other ladies will oooh and ahhh over -- well that is a little self indulgent but anyone who cooks absolutely loves when they hear "This is delicious! I MUST have this recipe!" It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when I make people happy through baked treats!

Sooooooo as you can see I am pondering fantastic things for this little box right now...



I'll let ya know what I come up with!

Amazing Deliciousness Enticing My Tastebuds!

In one of my last posts I confessed that I have a love affair with ice cream. When I think of ice cream in a healthy good for you form, yogurt is the next best thing. I am picky when it comes to yogurt because the wrong kind can look downright nasty. It is a total turn off when I open the lid to a yogurt only to discover a huge ring of water separated from chunky curds of unappealing sliminess. I have thrown away full containers strictly because it looked disgusting.

So for the most part I enjoy Yoplait fat free yogurt. I know it is loaded with aspartame and it is not the best choice. So I started eating Yoplait light and it is pretty good.

BUT....wait there is something new.......!

Today I ate yogurt so good my tastebuds are still dancing with joy 20 minutes after the fact. There is this brand called Rachel's and the packaging is clever and pleasing to my eye with artsy black labels and colorful images that pop off the container. They use buzz words like "Blissfully Blended" and "Wickedly Delicious"





They offer two"Lines" of yogurt such as "Essence" with flavor titles that sound like day spa lingo & "Exotic" with lots of tantalizing fruit blends. Here is the description from their website:

The Essence line offers blissfully blended mood-inspiring yogurt. The essence of scrumptious satisfaction.

Vitality - Pomegranate Açai (this is the flavor I just devoured!)
Revive - Peach Green Tea
Glow - Berry Jasmine
Relax - Vanilla Chai
Calm - Plum Honey Lavender
Refresh - Pink Grapefruit Lychee

The Exotic line offers luscious blended yogurt inspired by the planet's most alluring fruits and flavors.

Orange Strawberry Mango
Pomegranate Blueberry
Mango Pineapple Passion Fruit
Kiwi Passion Fruit Lime
Cherry Black Currant
Marionberry Guava

On their site you can print a coupon for buy one get one free. I found this yogurt at King Soopers (Kroger) and right now they are 5 for $5.00 AND they are now on sale for buy one get one free so we got 10 of these little cups of natural happiness for $5.00!!

I love that they are all natural and they are made locally (in my area) in Broomfield, Colorado. On their site they mention they are made in Wisconsin but my cup says Broomfield, CO! They use milk that is hormone free and they have Omega-3 DHA which supports brain, heart and eye functions. So not only is this stuff amazingly delicious, but it is actually good for you!

I would still treat this yogurt as a snack between meals or a nice light dessert.

One serving has 160 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams saturated fat, 10mg cholesterol, 26 grams of carbs, 1 gram of fiber and 8 grams of protein. As far as vitamins go there is 8% Vitamin C and 30% Calcium.

Looking at the ingredients they use cream and I bet that is where the saturated fat/cholesterol comes from. Which is why I would not eat more than one per day.

If you can find it - try it and tell me what you think!! Poor Yoplait doesn't stand a chance next to Rachel's!!

Great Day!

I started my morning by getting on the scale and to my surprise I had lost 2 more lbs! That is a total of 5 lbs in 3 days! I think it is water weight and I am sure the weight loss will slow down soon - but in the meantime I am very impressed with this Pocket Diet! I am eating healthy and light and I feel better throughout my day. I am also sneaking in some pocket meals for my family. I am dedicating this post to the food I have been eating and I am going to share a couple recipes with you!

So in the morning I have a whole wheat pita half stuffed with banana, peanut butter and honey. It is sticky and sweet and makes me feel naughty! Perfect!

Sticky Breakfast Pita:



1 tbsp natural peanut butter
1/2 large banana
1 tbsp (approx) honey
1/2 Whole wheat pita pocket

Warm the pocket in the microwave about 10 second. Spread 1 tbsp peanut butter inside. Slice banana amd place in pocket. Top with honey and welcome to breakfast heaven! Mmmmm

We had Turkey Burgers one night so I used the leftovers to make a pita:

Turkey Pita Burger



1 Turkey burger patty - grilled or broiled
1 slice colby or swiss cheese (add to patty while cooking)
1/2 Whole Wheat Pita Shell
2 slices tomato
2 leaves green lettuce
ketchup & mustard
1 tbsp light mayo

Warm the pita bread in microwave approx 10 seconds
spread light mayo inside
cut the patty in half
Stuff inside the pita
add tomato & lettuce
top with mustard and ketchup

I added baby carrots and sliced avocado to complete the meal.

Lastly, trying to get my 5 year old to eat anything is a challenge! He loves the pita bread and called it "Honey Bread" He eats the peanut butter and banana pitas like crazy! Today he wanted honey bread for lunch but we were out of bananas so I decided to make him a fruit pizza. We don't have a lot of fresh fruit as it is the end of the week so I compromised a bit. Here is the recipe:

Nutty Fruity Pitza



1 whole wheat pita pocket
1 tbsp whipped berry cream cheese
(you can also substitute any flavor yogurt!)
about 7 grapes
half a small green apple sliced into small chunks
2 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp honey roasted peanuts

Warm the shell in microwave about 10 seconds
spread cream cheese on shell
top with toppings and serve!

Any type of Pizza even a Pitza = Happy boy!



And he is EATING!! :)

My Name is Tamara and I am an Ice Cream-a-holic

Since I am confessing my bad habits I thought I would toss this one into the mix! I seriously live for ice cream. After a long day of chasing my boys around and taking care of my home, I feel I deserve a reward. Once the kiddos are all tucked in bed I make a beeline for the freezer and my long awaited moment with creamy deliciousness.

I justify my love affair with ice cream because I buy the slow churned half the fat kind. It is light and because it is only around 120 calories per serving with 2-3 grams of fat I tell myself it is ok to indulge a little - because I have earned it.

Well, first and foremost I have to stop rewarding myself with food. That is a work in progress but in the meantime I have found a great subsititute for my guilty pleasure!

Here is the recipe:

Mangolicious Sorbet

2 Large Mangoes (you can use frozen mango too)
1 large peach
2 tbsp lemon juice (fresh)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup of cold water
1/3 cup of sugar
(I prefer organic ingredients)

Peel and slice mango
peel skin off peach and slice
combine items in a food processor
Add cold water
Set on high for approx 1 minute
stir and add sugar, vanilla and lemon juice
process on high for 1 minute
Add to ice cream container (if you don't have one a good storage container or even a ziploc baggy will work. Freeze one hour then stir with fork and freeze one more hour.

Makes 8 servings of sorbet

I still had some vanilla light ice cream left last night so I used 1/4 cup vanilla ice cream and topped it with 1/4 cup of the mango sorbet Yummmmmmmmmm!



Hopefully I can kick my ice cream habit and start enjoying fresh fruit sorbet!

Don't forget the best food is made with love from your kitchen! (It's cheaper too!!)

The recipe was inspired by one I found on allrecipes.com here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mango-Lemon-Sorbet/Detail.aspx?prop31=2

I omitted a lot of the sugar, added vanilla, and the peach.

Enjoy!!

Confessions that need Correcting

I didn't try the Pita Diet yesterday. I was just not ready to be creative. I felt bad at the end of the day (After my Root Beer float!) so today is a new day and I really am in the mindset to go for it - with one exception - I cook dinner every night for my family. Good wholesome yummy nutritious meals so I cannot sit at the table and eat my 3rd pita of the day while they are all gobbling down the dinner I worked so hard on!

So my plan is to eat 2 pitas a day. I really got inspired by a few people that lost over 10 lbs in less than a month. There is a forum with message boards of people discussing recipes and weight loss. I am a lurker right now and it is quite interesting.

I woke up ready to get creative with breakfast. I scrambled one egg and added a little milk and garlic salt to it. Threw in a pinch of mozzerella cheese and tossed the egg into a warm half pita. I added sliced tomatoes and two leaves of romaine lettuce. Topped it with salsa and added a sliced green apple. It was really good.

Here is a photo - What do you think?

I also am *trying* to stop drinking coffee and diet soda. That is a secret bad habit of mine. I know how bad it is for me and I still find myself pulling diet soda out of my fridge. I love the carbonation and how cold it is. They syrupy sweetness that is processed so it does not add calories to my daily intake. I am QUITE aware that it is poison and I should steer clear of it but I have always givin in to temptation.

A bottle of water is just so boring to me. It has no taste and it is just blah. It is hard for me to drink and yet I know I need to. So I am replacing my morning cup of coffee with water. This will be a great choice because my coffee creamer is laden with hydrogentated oils and fats. I love Coffee Mate Raspberry Chocolate creamer I use well more than the allotted 2 tbsp. Definately an example of tasty to my lips but straight to my hips! With my knowledge of hydrogenated oils and how bad they are for your body - I have decided to kick this habit for good! I tried to think of an alternative like green tea but I know I will want to add milk and sugar to it so I am going to wean myself off the warm beverages. If I really want something warm on a cold day I may opt for Apple Cider because although it has sugars in it, if you buy the organic kind it is natural and loaded with vitamin C.

It is almost lunchtime and I have to admit it is a challenge to not snack. I barely have time to eat because my little ones keep me so busy. Grab and go snacks have been so convenient for me and giving them up for fresher healthier snacks has left me at times avoiding my fridge because something as handy as an apple or a pear has not appealed to me as much as a granola bar. I ran out of my Kashi Pumkin Flax bars - those were delicious! Looks like I may have to make a run for the store and soon! Another great snack on the go is a small handful of toasted almonds from the Natural Grocer. They filled me up and almonds are packed with protien and essential oils. I think I'll add them to my grocery list!

I am looking forward to my Turkey Burger Pita. I'll post a photo and let you know if it was satisfying as well as share the recipe. I have some avocado I need to cut up so I'll add that to my lunch too. Mmmmmmm ok I better eat now that I am salivating on my keyboard!

Pita Party

We had Pitas for dinner a couple nights ago and since then I have been devouring Pita pockets like crazy! I found a link on the back of the package for a site called The Pocket Diet at http://www.pocketdiet.com/

It's an interesting concept centered around portion control. Whatever you can fit into the pocket you can eat. Eat this 3 times a day and add 2 snacks such as yogurt or cottage cheese and you will train yourself how to control your portions and lose weight.

I checked out their recipes and found a yummy one for breakfast. You take a whole wheat Pita and spread peanut butter and fruit preserves inside and then add sliced banana. Well I didn't have the preserves so I used honey which sounded way tastier anyway! I only use organic peanut butter and bananas because both taste much better than the other stuff.

Mmm this was scrumptious!! My 4 year old is super picky and he never eats anything so I offered to make him a banana PB Pita and he scarfed that sucker down in less than 5 minutes!

Now, I am not sure I can stick to a diet that has you eating Pita Pockets 3 days a week, but the diet itself says that you don't have to eat pitas once you get used to portion sizes. Which is nice because it is hard for me to commit myself to one type of food for very long - I am a variety kind of gal when it comes to my meals! In the meantime I may kick around this concept for a week and see where it takes me. I am still trying to work off 20 lbs of baby weight and this may be a fun way to do it. The site is free and has all sorts of recipes on there. Also I found the older version of the book on Amazon for like $1.00 plus shipping so if by some freak chance I get through the first week on pitas and still want to eat them I may invest in the book.

The best thing about Pitas is they are healthy and natural. Plus it is a form of bread so I feel like I am eating comfort food when I cram that little pocket with something warm and gooey! I wonder if I can shove an ice cream sandwich in one of them and then deep fry it - would that count? I couldn't find a recipe like that on the site...wonder why? haha ok my bad...I know better!

So I think I am going to go out and buy another stack of these pitas. I will commit to one week of the Pita diet and see if I make it through. I'll let ya'll know if I pull through!

The Skinny on the Starbucks Vivanno

Making smart choices when it comes to eating on the run is not easy - especially when you love sweets! I am a sucker for a good mocha and our neighborhood welcomed a Starbucks just s few blocks from my home. I go there about once a week to meet with friends and it is hard to resist their creamy concoctions. So imagine my excitement when I was introduced to their new beverage - a cold smoothie boasting about it's natural and healthy ingredients. I couldn't resist so I tried the Orange Mango flavor and even added a shot of Matcha green tea powder.

It was light and fresh and I really enjoyed it. I could tell right away that for some Starbucks consumers they would not really be feeling this drink because it is not syrupy or sugary or even creamy for that matter. The price is just under $4.00 and add an additional 50 cents for the matcha powder. I think they could push that price down by a quarter and still make a hefty profit. Paying $4.00 a drink is pretty uncommon for me.

There are two flavors. the Orange Mango Banana and the Chocolate Banana. Both offer a 50 cent incentive - the Matcha powder for the fruity beverage and an espresso shot for the Chocolate one. Both Vivanno beverages use a whole banana in their ingredients. I just tried the Chocolate Banana one today and it was good but I prefer the Orange Mango Banana if I had to choose between to two.

They only come in Grande size and both start at 250 calories - when you add the green tea ehancement shots add 40 calories to that. The ingredients are made with whole fruit, but I doubt they use organic. They are using Naked Juice in the fruit smoothie and whey protein powder with fiber in both beverage options. There are only 2 grams of fat in the fruit drink and 5 grams of fat in the Chocolate one. The sugar content for both are pretty high between 28-32 grams of sugar and 44-47 grams of carbs.

My take on the Vivanno is that it's a step up from the sticky and fat laden drinks Starbucks has been made famous for (because it sure isn't their coffee!!) but any drink with 250 calories and all that sugar cannot be considered a drink - if you consume it like a meal and skip the blueberry coffee cake, your hips will thank you later!

Real Delicious

Roast Beef & Bleu Cheese Pita

3 Slices natural Roast Beef
2 tablespoons crumbled Bleu Cheese
4 Slices tomato
2 oz of sprouts
1/2 tbsp light mayonnaise
1 tbsp red wine vinaigrette dressing
1 whole wheat pita pocket

In a small bowl combine mayonnaise with the red wine vinaigrette dressing until smooth. Set aside.

Place two slices of the roast beef on a plate and top with bleu cheese. Lay the last piece of roast beef over the top. Put in microwave for 20 seconds. Remove and slice in half.

Take Pita bread slice in half and put in microwave to warm - about 15 seconds. Remove from microwave and open at seam. Stuff each half with the roast beef and bleu cheese, Add tomatoes. Drizzle with the dressing mix and top with sprouts.

We had this for dinner last night and it was DELICIOUS! We made broccoli cheese soup which paired nicely with this meal!

Pantry Raid

Today's Raid: Breakfast Cereal for Kids



Malt O'Meal's Coco Roos (knock off of Coco Puffs) vs. Barbara's Puffins

Of course the Coco Roos will win any day over the Puffins on looks alone. Hello! They are made with Chocolate! But as a parent, when your child goes screaming down the cereal isle "Moooooooooooom I waaaaaaaaant this one!" You check out the bag and notice that it is made by Malt O'Meal and you know they make healthy hot cereal. You see that it is full of vitamins and minerals and the packaging boasts wholesome goodness so you toss it in your cart. Those Puffins don't stand a chance!

Now let's take a closer look, shall we?

Notice how they use words like Wholesome & Nutritious?
Naturally Cholesterol free & no trans fat...



Just the Facts:




OK so the Coco Roos have 120 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, and less than 1 gram Dietary Fiber per 3/4 cup serving. They do have a large assortment of Vitamins and Minerals ranging from 10% to 50% per serving. 50% being Iron which is great for kids. So far we are looking good.

Now for the Ingredients: The first ingredient is always what the item is mostly consisting of. In this case the first ingredient is Sugar. So this cereal is mostly made of sugar - ahead of any grains. Next up is corn flour, then whole grain oat flour (oat bran). Now if sugar being the main ingredient is not enough they also add the 4th ingredient corn syrup, then Modified corn starch (modified why?) Cocoa (processed with Alkali), Soybean and/or partially hydrogenated soybean oil (I love how they insinuate and/or as in it may be in here but it may not be) fructose (isn't that more sugar?) salt, calcium carbonate, natural and artificial flavor, (what is natural flavor? Does it come in a bottle?) The rest of the ingredients are processed vitamins.

Ok so what does the bold mean?

You are feeding your kids sugar. You might as well just give them sugar cubes for breakfast because that is the main ingredient in the Coco Roos.

I read that Corn Starch is modified to help thicken things. There is no harm in modification. But the fact that it is modified means it has been altered from it's natural state.

Cocoa powder is processed with Alkali such as potassium carbonate. This helps to lower the natural acidity that cocoa powder has. To some people this change helps make the taste of the cocoa richer than untreated cocoa.

This is the big gun right here: Partially Hydrogenated Oil this stuff is like grey sludge blocking up your arteries. It is dangerous and it is in virtually everything. It will kill you over time with each bite you consume but to those of us that are vain - *GASP* it will also make you fat. The question is why is this product allowed to advertise that it has Zero Trans Fat and yet contains Partially Hydrogenated Oil in it's ingredients. That is because our friends over at the government run FDA has a loophole that allows food manufacturers to claim Zero Trans Fat as long as they have no more than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. That is a whole 1/2 gram! So what you are reading when they say Zero Trans Fat really means if they have partially hydrogenated oils in the ingredients that it should read in truth (A little bit of trans fat but who's telling!) I was so disgusted when I found this out. Our own government is allowing this deception to occur. Well....I guess I shouldn't be so surprised...

Fructose is a monosaccharide or simple sugar that the body can use as energy but it can be dangerous if consumed in large amounts. The reason for concern is that consuming too much can overwhelm the body's ability to process it. Fructose is processed in the liver and making the liver work overtime by over consumption of fructose can cause the liver to send it as fats into the blood stream most commonly known as triglycerides. There are alot more dangers to this which we will delve into in the near future...

Now let's take a look at Puffins Cereal:



The side panel talks about how it is 100% natural, high in fiber, low in fat, wheat free, Kosher, etc. Nothing is really boasting about it and nothing really catches a consumer's eye from the Grocer's shelf. Especially children, they know what to look for because all those cool commercials teach them what they want in the cereal isle. I have never seen an advertisement for this type of cereal. The only reason I saw it was because it was on sale and because I have made an effort to read ingredients. I really liked what I saw.

The Puffins have 90 calories, 1 gram of fat, and a whopping 5 grams of Fiber per serving. Great! They do not boast a great amount of vitamins but remember the ingredients are all natural unlike the Coco Roos who have added manufactured ingredients in order to provide a high vitamin content.

Looking at the ingredients:

We see the first ingredient is Yellow corn flour...hmmm not sugar - that is a plus! Corn bran flour, unsulphured molasses, oat flour, expeller pressed high oleic oil, (canola or sunflower) salt, baking soda, natural Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols - soy) Vitamin C.

Hmm that was much easier to read now let's see what the few technical words mean:

Unsulphured Molasses is the finest quality of pure molasses.

Expellar Pressed High Oleic Oil is found in many organic food stores. It is completely natural and has no trans fats. It is high in monosaturates even more so than Olive Oil!

Vitamin E with mixed tocopherols is truly a natural form of vitamin E - simple as that!

WHEW! That was a lot to delve into today!

So now that you have seen these two neck in neck - which would you rather buy for your children???

Feeding Frenzy

I never gave much thought to the food I ate. Whether I cooked a quick meal at home, or grabbed something from the drive through, eating was something I did because I had to.

After I had my second son I found myself almost 2 years later laying on my bed and weeping because I had not kicked the last 15 lbs of my baby weight. A friend of mine told me to join Weight Watchers online. I joined their Flex Points plan and did everything from my computer. I lost 20 lbs in 5 months and I was so happy and I felt so healthy. I had a new perspective on food. Weight Watchers taught me how to read labels so I would specifically look for foods that were low in calories and fat and high in fiber. That is how they calculated the points value in every food.

I also learned about using spices and gourmet oils as well as artificial sweeteners to flavor my food and satisfy my sweet tooth. I learned to toss vegetables into anything I cooked and to try new colorful produce and introduce a whole variety of foods and flavors into my diet.

I became a walking information booth for food. I would tell my co-workers how they could cut their caloric intake by drinking Crystal Light instead of Soda. Or how baking chicken in the oven tasted just as good as fried chicken. When co-workers discussed going to a fast food place for lunch, I would look up the nutritional value of the items we were craving online. After calculating the points value I would opt for a salad versus the chicken sandwich.

I did really well on Weight Watchers and maintained my weight for 2 more years. I then got pregnant with my 3rd son so I stopped the program but still found myelf very curious about food.

As I was taught I watched the calories, fat content and fiber. That is all I really paid attention to. Once in a while I would look at the sodium content and if it exceeded half my daily requirement I would try and avoid it.

My oldest son started having behavior issues and I was told by several people that food dyes could be playing a significant role in his behavior. When the doctor told me he had depression I had another friend who also battles depression, tell me that Monosodium Glutamate or more widley known as MSG is like poison to people's brains and that I need to watch out for that stuff. I also became very aware of something a lot of my food had in common: Partially hydrogentated oils - this stuff is really bad for your arteries - and it is in virtually everything!

I found myself reading ingredients on everything and the more I read the more upset I became. All this time I have been feeding myself and my family brands I trusted, brands that advertise good wholesome ingredients, and yet they are poisening us with their chemicals and by bleaching out the grains that are good for us and replacing them with sugars, oils and preservatives - things that are slowly killing our bodies.

I felt I needed to share my discoveries and document them some where so I started this blog. It is a work in progress but I am excited to begin this journey as I go back to the foods that we are meant to eat and learn how to shop for foods in their natural state. Here I will share with you what to watch for in your food. I will expose the foods that are bad and suggest how to replace them. I hope to find ways to reduce the cost of going organic and natural and show you how to restock your pantry with things you can feel good about feeding to your family.

I have a bounty of recipes I have tried and my whole family loves. I can't wait to post some of them here and see what you think!

Please feel free to comment on your experiences with the foods we are exposed to. I want to know what you think of the ingredients in your food. I challenge you to go to your pantry and pull out a box or a can and read what is on it. I bet you have no idea what half of the things are on that ingredients label! Well, that is why I am here! I will do all the work for you - and believe me it won't be pretty!! It will make you think twice before you lift that fork to your lips!