Fun Kid Lunch Ideas

Every morning, I'm faced with the challenge of making a lunch for Blaise that he will actually eat! He gets pretty picky so I can't sway too far from the good ole fashion classics. But, there is a way to mix up the typical lunches for a better, more nutritiuos kid meal!

Here are some of my lunch go-to's:

• Classic PB and J. And a great suggestion from one of my twitter followers: Mix it up by putting the peanut butter and jelly on banana bread. Or even slice a banana and put in between the bread. 
• Turkey meatballs
• Cream cheese and jam bagel
• Cheese quesadilla
• Pasta with parmesan cheese
• Sliced-up hot dogs or mini corn dogs
• Cereal with a side of milk
• Granola with yogurt and fruit
• Mini raviolis
• Mac and cheese
• Turkey wrap
• Turkey and cheese panini
• Rice with teriyaki chicken

Great sides to add to the above meals:

• Green beans
• Corn-on-the-cob or canned corn
• String cheese
• Cooked baby potatoes
• Fruit. Some of Blaise's favorites are: Grapes, raspberries, blueberries, sliced and peeled kiwis, sliced apple/pears and watermelon balls.
• Cooked broccoli with ranch side
• Cooked baby carrots
• Cooked sweet potato half
• Rice with corn and peas

Hope some of these ideas help you pack more creative lunches in the morning! Let me know what your go-to lunches are for your kids.

On Juicing

DO IT! It's great for you!!! (If you thought I meant steroids, think again!) I wish my refrigerator at home looked like this.

Valentine's Cider

RED HOT!

• 1 gal of apple cider

• 1.5 qt of ginger ale

• 5 oz red hot candies

• 4 cinnnamon sticks

• 10 whole cloves

Mix the cider and ginger ale into a pot over low heat on the stove top. Put the cloves and red hots into an infuser ball/clamp and drop them in the mixture. Add Cinnamon sticks, let simmer then serve!

HAVE A HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

-Amanda

Favorite Pre-Workout Snack

I often wake up and have a hard time putting anything in my stomach before a workout, especially if it's early. While this can be good practice once a week to teach your body that it's ok to use an alternate energy source, it's definitely not good to do every day or even most days.  Recently, I've found a solution that's healthy, fills me up and is a great fuel source; Manna Bread.

"What is Manna bread? It is a cake-like, sprouted bread, yeast free bread, organic bread, free of salt, no oils, no sweeteners, no leavening agents. Manna is a moist and delicious, high in protein and fiber. Available in 9 delicious flavors in your favorite health food store, and most Whole Foods markets, in the USA and Canada..."

Now as moist and flavorful as Manna bread is, I like to spread a little Artisan Coconut Butter (or almond butter or bananas) on top to help liven it up from something I need to eat to something I want to eat.

Warning: The combination of Manna bread and cocunut butter is really, really ridiculously good (in my humble opinion) and can be very addictive! Try not to eat too much. I find one to two slices, depending on how big the slices are, is usually plenty especially if you are adding other foods to your meal.

Enjoy!

If you have any questions please ask in the comment section below and remember this is only an opinion. When making any changes to your diet you are doing so at your own risk and should have prior approval from your physician!

Keep It Pinteresting

If you haven’t already discovered the website Pinterest I highly suggest hopping on the bandwagon ASAP!

I tend to spend a great deal of my free time surfing this site and by free time I mean sitting at home on the couch, in a waiting room, in line for coffee, while returning emails, even sometimes while I’m working out. It’s become a regular craving for me!

WHAT is Pinterest? Here is their explanation: "Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. To get started, request an invite."

WHY am I rambling about this? Well, I recently bought a house here in my hometown of Louisville, KY, and let me tell you that it has been one of the most challenging, liberating, fun, scary, long and artistic projects that I have taken on since being at FIDM. What am I getting at here? Well, almost 99% of my inspiration has come from Pinterest. It is truly an excellent source for anyone decorating a home.

Here’s how it works: You take images from other websites and pin them (save them) to the boards that you create on your Pinterest page. You can also re-pin ideas to your own boards from other people that are on Pinterest. It’s that simple and makes for and easy sharing of ideas and inspiration from all sorts of places you'd never expect!

If you’d like to check out my ideas for decorating, have a look at my Pinterest page and the board titled For the Home.  Lately I’ve been into textures, bold statement pieces and warm colors.

Two other boards well worth looking at are Mane Event (filled with amazing, easy and effortless hairstyles that I often try out) and YUM! You can gauge the latter for yourself but I’ll tell you I’ve made almost half of the goodies on that page and they are tasty!

Here's a link to Amanda's Pinterest page and don't forget to check out my recent 20 Question Tuesday on usaswimming.org. You might like #19! Swim Like A Mom!

-By guest blogger Caroline Stilwell Burckle

Fuel & Hydration Quick Tip

I can't say it enough; if you're not fuelling and hydrating properly you're not getting the most out of your workouts! Make sure you are eating the right foods and drinking the right fluids at the right time.

Find your favorite bars and drinks and stock up. Plan out your meals ahead of time so you're not tempted to eat junk food.

It can take discipline to fuel and hydrate right but if you're willing to make that extra effort your performance is likely to increase significantly. If you're not willing to address what you eat and drink you could be greatly limiting your potential.

If you have any questions please ask in the comment section below and remember this is only an opinion. When making any changes to your diet you are doing so at your own risk and should have prior approval from your physician!

Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

I wanted to share with you a recipe I created that was inspired by my favorite post-workout treat from a local coffee shop in Berkeley, California. Peanut Butter Crispy Bars are the perfect combination of sweet and salty, and fill me up after a long run or swim practice. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. They won’t last long…because they are sooo good!

2½ cups of rice cereal (you know, the kind that snap, crackle, pop)

3/4 cup of dried cranberries (or dried fruit of your choice!)

½ cup of rolled oats

1 cup creamy peanut butter (crunchy works as well!)

½ cup brown rice syrup

½ cup agave nectar

1 tsp. vanilla

In a large bowl, combine the rice cereal, dried cranberries, and oats. Set aside. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the peanut butter, rice syrup, agave nectar, and vanilla, until melted. Pour over dry ingredients and mix with wooden spoon until combined. Pour mixture into a lightly greased 8-inch square pan. Using clean hands, press down the mixture. Let “nap” for 1 hour in the fridge before slicing (if you can wait that long!) Enjoy as a snack or healthy dessert!

Makes about 16.

GF and Vegan.

Come visit me over at Pushups with Polish!

-By Guest Blogger Emily Bibb

If you have any questions please ask in the comment section below and remember this is only an opinion. When making any changes to your diet you are doing so at your own risk and should have prior approval from your physician! 

Healthy On the Go

Being an athlete can be a full time job and if you’re also a parent, a student, have a second job or all of the above, always remembering to pack a healthy snack can be difficult so try to buy foods that are easy to grab on the go. Any snack that takes time to prepare is a luxury not usually afforded to those with an active lifestyle.

A FEW QUICK SNACKS…

• Two Moms in the Raw Blueberry Nut Bar: you might have read about this one on a previous blog of mine. Clearly I am obsessed!

• A Honeycrisp apple with Justin's Almond Butter (comes in packets for on-the-go)

• Trader Joes' bagged dried fruit (I prefer peaches and apricots)

• A banana or two (can also pair with Justin's Almond Butter)

• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip LÄRABAR

• OSTRIM Beef & Ostrich Sports Nutrition Meat Sticks (my best friend got me hooked on these...sounds interesting but they are SO good and 14g Protein!)

• Bagged mini carrots, celery and peppers sliced up (I usually prepare these the night before, throw them in a Ziploc in the fridge to take next morning)

• An avocado (sounds strange, but eating an avocado is so satisfying, not to mention has the healthy oils and fats we need)

• Greens + Chocolate Coated Peanut Butter Protein Bar (you can find these at a health food store---has ALL the greens plus the tasty chocolate coating!)

A FEW QUICK FACTS…

• Being an athlete requires expending a lot of energy on workout days. 

• FUEL = ENERGY

• The most crucial times to snack/eat and quickly fuel the body are before a workout, during a workout (depending on your sport), immediately following a workout and every few hours during the day.

• Most athletes do not snack enough and if they do, not healthily enough.

• Snacking habits are easy to change.

-By guest blogger Caroline Stilwell Burckle

If you have any questions please ask in the comment section below and remember this is only an opinion. When making any changes to your diet you are doing so at your own risk and should have prior approval from your physician!

Quick Tip - Eating Healthy

Set yourself up for success by getting the food you want to eat ready to eat: prep your fruits and veggies as soon as you bring them home from the grocery store.

When you're hungry, given the choice, you're much more likely to choose a quick fix, even if it's unhealthy, over something that's labor intensive.

Simply wash, cut (if necessary) and store (in zip-lok bags or tupperware) as much as you can keep fresh and you've defended yourself against temptation and made maintaining a healthy diet that much more likely.

If you have any questions please ask in the comment section below and remember this is only an opinion. When making any changes to your diet you are doing so at your own risk and should have prior approval from your physician!

Quick Tip - Eating Healthy

If you want to eat healthy, never go to the grocery store hungry or you risk leaving with a cart full of soda, cookies and chips. Trust me, I know this from experience.

If you absolutely must go shopping on an empty stomach, make sure you take a detailed list along to keep you focused and no, you don't need anything at the checkout except maybe a gossip mag or two.

If you have any questions please ask in the comment section below and remember this is only an opinion. When making any changes to your diet you are doing so at your own risk and should have prior approval from your physician!

5 Things I Love on a Lazy Sunday

1)  Influence by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen - Okay, so I've been given many amazing birthday gifts but one I have yet to grow out of is the book Influence. Yes, if you only look at the cover, it can be mistaken for a silly little girl book filled with frou-frou pictures from Mary Kate and Ashley’s childhood but turn a few pages and you’ll realize they’re now an extremely bright minded dynamic twenty-something entrepreneurial duo. The book is an amazing collection of pictures and interviews of people who have inspired them in their design/fashion/personal life, from Diane von Fürstenberg to Alexander McQueen, and proof the girls lead an eclectic life. Mary Kate and Ashley's passions are nothing short of contagious. What I take from it: they never do what is expected. They do and create what they love, stay out of the crazy limelight and don't let what others think dictate who they are and what they love.

2)  houzz.com is a website my Aunt Wendy (an interior design genius) forwarded to me recently. I just bought a house in my hometown of Louisville, KY, and let's just say that this website has seen consecutive hours of usage by lil' ol' me. The site allows you to put together digital idea books from beautiful and amazing homes all over the world (I'm obsessed with Mediterranean style homes) in any way you want; by color, room, theme, location, etc. What I take from it: it's ADDICTING!

3)  weheartit.com is a site filled with fun photography/creative photos for any age ( it caters more to adolescent girls, but hey, to each their own). I often save my favorites and use them for fun backgrounds on my phone, computer, and iPad.

4)  Twilight: Breaking Dawn Soundtrack - Don't knock it till you try it. - ps #TeamJacob.

5)  Two Moms in the Raw make bars you can get from most any health food store (or sold individually at Starbucks now)! They’re healthy, delicious, ADDICTING, and the perfect fiber-filled, good-fat snack to sustain energy that you need throughout your Sunday!

Sunday Quote: "I am who I am, that is that. I am who I am thank God, I am". - Guru Singh

-By guest blogger Caroline Stilwell Burckle

If you have any questions please ask in the comment section below and remember this is only an opinion. When making any changes to your diet you are doing so at your own risk and should have prior approval from your physician!

In My Oven

Apple Pies

If you have any questions please ask in the comment section below and remember this is only an opinion. When making any changes to your diet you are doing so at your own risk and should have prior approval from your physician!