April 6, 2010

Recipes

Yesterday I felt great! It has been about month now since I could say that. My power cord is no longer working for my laptop so I have been disconnected from "the world" for about a week (new cord should be here tomorrow!), so I am posting this from my mom's house. I have more recipes that we have tried and liked at home and will put them up when I get a chance.

Good Morning Breakfast Bars (I made these for Easter)
1 cup honey
1/3 cup butter
1 cup mixed nuts (raw nuts, whatever you like)
1 cup shredded coconut (not sweetened!)
1/2 cup pitted dates - chopped
1/2 cup pitted prunes - chopped
1/2 cup dried apricots - chopped
1 tsp vanilla (make sure it is just vanilla and alcohol, no corn syrup or anything else!)

Preheat oven to 360

Line 8 inch square cake tin with baking paper

Heat honey and butter in a saucepan, stir until butter has melted and is well combined with the honey. Turn off the hear and add all the other ingredients. Mix well and pour itno the prepared cake tin. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool in refrigerator until set. cut into bars and store between baking paper in an airtight container in refrigerator.

These bars need to be eaten straight from the refirigerator as the soften too much with warmer temperatures.

More to come, Trevor just asked me to play tractors and to stop doing the computer!

April 1, 2010

Too Much Sugar

Ted and I are all too guilty of over treating and have made it a goal to get this back in control. I feel like the boys are starting to think that sugar is a staple in their diets. Not good! I have cleaned out our pantry and my baking cupboard and am pleased with the outcome. Out of site (meaning out of our house), out of mind! I have found that they boys think it is a "treat" to play water guns outside, do sidewalk chalk, or make playdo, just as much if not more than an ice cream cones or lots of candy. With Easter right around the corner, I have opted out of filling their baskets and eggs with candy. They will each get one chocolate bunny and then I will fill the eggs with stickers, egg shaped sidewalk chalk, some seeds to plant in the garden, fruit snacks, goldfish crackers, etc. The fun is in finding the eggs anyway!

One more thing that I need to stress is that you can't put sugar in front of a toddler or child and tell them not to eat it if they don't want it.......What kid does not want sugar??!!! Of course they want it, but that doesn't mean they should be consuming it!! Would you put that much sugar and junk into your own body? I hope the answer would be no, so then why does it make it okay to put it into someone that is less than a quarter your size? This is the age where healthy habits, in all aspects of life, are LEARNED, we need to be the best teachers we can be!