Healthy Kids Birthday Party

Today we celebrated my daughter's 3rd and son's 2nd birthday!   I made every effort to make this day as healthy as possible for the kids and adults that attended.  

Back in the day, I used to have pizza delivery, chips and dips, and store bought cake, plus favor bags equipped with even more sweets (candy).  I chocked it up to, well it's a special occasion!  I used to feel so gross by the end of the parties, not to mention a little guilty.  The kids get sweets so often, even on not-so-special occasions.  At school, at the bank, at the store, at other kids birthday parties, at holidays, etc....  The pictures of their faces covered in artificial coloring (icing) started to bother me when I learned about these chemicals.  They are well-known to cause ADD/ADHD and other behavioral issues in children.  So I decided to make their birthdays as healthy as possible.  I knew this was going to be more time consuming but it is worth it to me.  

So, here is a re-cap of what I had today at their party:

1.  Homemade whole wheat chocolate cake with whipped cream topping.  Instead of the berry sauce, I cooked berries (strawberry for pink and blueberry for purplish)  on stovetop until mushy, then pureed.  I mixed the pureed berries with some extra whipped frosting.  I had some cake decorating tools I got last year to use to make the design around the edge.  

**Note on the whipped cream.  You will need to mix this with your hand mixer for about 8-10 minutes for it to reach the desired consistency.  

The cake turned out REALLY good.  Usually those store bought cakes are SO incredibly sweet.  This was light and the whipped cream made it.  I will seriously make this just for a special occasion fruit dip or for other desserts.  

2.  For snacks, I had:

• Boom.Chick.Pop. popcorn
• Homemade trail mix (with raisins, almonds.sunflower seeds, sesame sticks, whole grain pretzels, and dark chocolate chips
• Annie's Organic Bunnies.  I wouldn't normally buy these but they were on sale at Target and the little ones like these.  

• Fruit tray with dip (plain traditional Greek yogurt with a little swirl of local honey)

For the main meal, I had a "make your own pizza" party.  I bought some whole wheat pitas (which only had a couple ingredients) and bought some toppings.  I had lots of fresh veggies, homemade super easy pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and applegate (nitrite/nitrate free) pepperoni.  

I think everyone enjoyed choosing the toppings and making the pizza!  It was at least a nice change!  I bought a bunch of pizza pans at the dollar store and we were able to fit up to 3 mini-pizzas on a tray at a time.  I had the toaster oven and regular oven cranked up to 400 degrees and we were able to pump out the pizzas in about 5-6 minutes!

 So, I think it was a success!  We all had a great day and I don't feel bloated and gross, which is a huge bonus.

Happy birthday Sophie & Baby Chris!!

This week's meal plan 11.10.12

Total weekly budget: $150
Notes: I have the chicken on hand for the chicken fettuccine.  As a money saver, I cut down on the amount of meat.  The only other meat product I need to buy this week is 1 lb organic ground beef ($5). I love pasta and soup dishes since they're more budget friendly.  All recipes are linked below.


Mon- Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken (breaded with homemade breadcrumbs and cooked on skillet) with salad (romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and organic ranch)

Tues - Quiche with whole wheat homemade crust with cheddar and diced organic canadian bacon; cucumbers & feta salad (2 cucumbers + 1/2 c feta crumbled, mixed with 2 T olive oil, 1 t red wine vinegar)

Wednesday - Clean Eating Sloppy Joes with Roasted Green Beans

Thursday - Corn & Cheese Chowder with homemade whole wheat artisan bread

Friday - Homemade whole wheat pizza with organic pizza sauce, organic mozzarella, (with half veggies/half cheese only) with salad (romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and organic ranch)

Saturday - Leftover Night

Sunday - Weeknight Spaghetti (without meat) with roasted brussel sprouts

Snacks/breakfast items for the week:  Whole wheat bagels with organic cream cheese, banana muffins, trail mix (oat bran sticks, sunflower seeds, almonds, raisins), cinnamon chocolate chip protein bars, lara bars, and maple cookies, scrambled eggs, whole wheat cinnamon pancakes (using only 1.5 c almond milk - instead of 2)

Meal Plan +Recipes 11/14/12

Here is my meal plan for the upcoming week:

5 Dinners
Butternut Squash Mac N Cheeze with mixed salad
Peanut Pad-Thai (with Thai noodles instead of spaghetti) with fried organic egg
Veggie Tostadas (with homemade corn tortillas)
Corn and Cheese Chowder with Garlic cheddar biscuits
Slow Cooker Lasagna with caesar salad

Then next week will be meal planning for Thanksgiving.  We will be having thanksgiving at our house with our family!

Enjoy!

Put the BUSY in "Fit N Busy"

If you "like" Fit N Busy Mama on Facebook, you might have seen that I have scheduled my first "Fit Mama, Real Food 101" class for this month!  I am SUPER excited to share some info and basics with other people who want to know how to cook healthy for a family.   So I have been thinking a lot about what I should be teaching and what kinds of things people would want to get out of a class like this.  And I feel like the biggest need is for people to learn how to cook real food in a simple, convenient way which works with their busy lives.

News Flash:  I am a BUSY mama.  I have 4 kids with 2 of them 2 & under.  Two of them go to school all day and come home with homework and projects.  The kids play soccer, t-ball, basketball, take music lessons, and have dance class.  We are your typical fast-paced, on-the-go family!  We aren't home-bodies. I have babies home all day with me.  I don't have time to cook up gourmet meals and engineer intricate dishes (my kids wouldn't eat anyway).

Until 2 years ago, my kids were eating frozen corn dogs,

Week Review: Refrigerator Oatmeal, Homemade "Lunchables", Veggie Tostadas, & Yummy Veggie/Sausage/Potato dish

The kiddos went back to school last week so I have been crazy busy lately getting everything ready for them and making sure they have everything they need.  I made some AWESOME refrigerator oatmeal for my 9 year old as a quick and easy breakfast for her in the mornings.

Grocery Store Cheat Sheet for Buying Convenience Foods

As you know, if you have read any of my blogs, I enjoy cooking from scratch.  I truly feel that food just tastes better when it's homemade rather than when it's bought in a package from the store.  Not to mention it is much more cost effective to make it yourself.  With that being said, there are some of you that just plain don't have time to cook many things from scratch.  And I totally get that.  Less than 2 years ago, I had 2 kids and I worked full time.  Most days I was off to work at 8 am and didn't get home until after 7 pm.

So, although homemade is always best, here are some tips for buying healthy/clean convenience items in the grocery store and some items I recommend.

• First, you may want to check out my blog on how to read an ingredient list.  This can be very confusing and requires a lot of research to find out exactly what all the ingredients are.  

• Immediately flip box over and look at ingredient list.  Strive for 5 ingredients or less.  It should not have a huge list of ingredients.  The more ingredients, the more processed it is.  

• Download the "fooducate" app for your iphone (not sure if it's available for other types of phones).  When you're trying to pick out a type of food, scan the barcodes.  This app gives each food item a grade from A - F, depending on nutrient density, level of sugar, fat, and how processed it is.  It also defines some of the ingredients you may have never heard of.  
• Download the True Food app to help avoid Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO).  Health effects of ingesting GMO's include higher risks of toxicity, allergenicity, antibiotic resistance, immune-suppression, and cancer.  As ingredients change in products all the time, the best thing is to check the ingredients list of the products you buy often. Keep a look out for:
  
  Corn: corn oil, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, corn meal
  Soy: soy protein, soy lecithin, soy oil, soy sauce, soy isolates
  Canola: canola oil
  Cotton: cottonseed oil

So, with those things in mind, here are some convenient substitutions you can make if you just don't have time for homemade:

Snacks

How to Cook & Shop Healthy/Organic on a Budget

It is a common misconception that you can't cook healthy/organic when you're on a budget.  In reality, we spend, as a family, the same amount now with 4 kids (mostly organic) as we did when we only had 2 kids and had boxed meals and junk food.  So, here are some tips for shopping on a budget!

My take on coupons
I could probably save a little more if I went through the trouble of getting the Sunday paper and clipping coupons, but I have found that 90% (if not more) of the coupons out there are for junk food, candy, and the sugary cereals.  I feel like my time is worth something.  So, am I going to spend a day hunting for coupons, buying all the local newspapers, etc just to save a couple dollars at the store?  NO!  My time is worth way more than that.  I do look through the Red Plum deal I get in the mail and I don't think I've ever seen a coupon for healthy foods.  And, to top that off, I believe that coupons can be negative in a way.  Sometimes, you see a coupon and buy that item just because you save 25 cents, when you would have never bought it in the first place.  In some ways, we spend more money with coupons than without.  You just have to be smart about it.  If you do find coupons, ONLY use the coupons for foods you would NORMALLY buy.