Friday, September 24, 2010

What's for lunch?

There was a time in our house when the lunch staples around here were chicken nuggets, PB & J, and mac & cheese. For snacks we always had gogurts, string cheese, and crackers on hand. And honestly, I actually thought those things were somewhat healthy for my kids. The reality is, there are a lot of harmful ingredients packed into those foods that are setting my kids up for poor health as adults.

I've mentioned before that I have had the goal for a long time to provide healthy nourishing meals for my kids that they can thrive on, not merely survive on. So, why has it taken me this long to be consistent? Maybe a lack of knowledge, possibly the fact that homeschooling in itself can be an overwhelming task. It can be easier to grab the things at the store that I'm used to buying without much thought and planning. The list goes on and on, but I must say that with a change of mind and habits, we are on the road to healthier little bodies.

I have just begun, and would like to share a few things that have worked for us. We will start with snack time. I make a habit of setting out a fruit and or veggie tray that the kids are free to grab from anytime they want during the day. We used to have fruit dip (and that might be a good place to start), but I no longer set out the dip, just the fruit. For the veggies, I still set out some hummus, and sometimes ranch...and at this point, I'm okay with that. If they are getting in a heaping pile of spinach in because it's got ranch on it, I can live with it...
So, this is where the mind change comes into play at the store. I'm not grabbing prepackaged processed foods anymore. Instead of gogurts, I'm grabbing fruit (in all colors of the rainbow), instead of cheese & crackers, I'm grabbing veggies and hummus. Instead of chicken nuggets to bake, I'm grabbing carrots and broccoli. I recently read that 100 calories of broccoli contains MORE protein than 100 calories of steak! That is amazing to me. In addition to that, broccoli also contains vital nutrients and phytochemicals that nourish and protect our bodies from harmful toxins and diseases....
So, here are a few lunches that I remembered to take pictures of. First up, baked red potatoes, spinach, and nuts. I try to provide a few different dressings for the kids that are free from harmful ingredients and are organic and all natural...
Next up, coucous mixed with corn and kidney beans, green grapes, and watermelon (I had issues with loading pictures and some are turned on their side)...
Then we've got wild rice with broccoli, honeydew, and white peaches with apples. I first browned a chopped onion in vegetable broth, then threw in garlic, dumped in my wild rice and let it cook, towards the end I tossed in the broccoli, let it steam and called it good...
We do sandwiches maybe once or twice a week. We really like Dave's Killer Bread. It is all organic and packed full of 21 grains and seeds. When we do PB & J we use all natural organic peanut butter. I still need to make the switch to sugar free jam :O). On this day we did have some lunch meat, but I do try to stay away from it, as it is processed and does contain harmful additives...
Here we've got bean salad. I throw in a can of black beans, corn, and frozen peas. Toss it lightly in some ranch, the kids love this. I also keep it on hand for a quick snack. With that we put cantaloupe and red grapes. Whenever I cut up a cantaloupe, it is usually devoured in one sitting. They LOVE cantaloupe!...
Making lunches like this always leads to lots of fresh cut up leftovers. So why not make taco soup? We browned an onion in vegetable broth, threw in fresh tomatoes and zucchini from the garden, beans, corn, leftover wild rice, leftover baked red potatoes, one can of tomato sauce, some grilled chicken chopped up, and taco seasoning. I like to use dinner time to get in some good quality lean meat. We have switched to Foster Farms chicken, as they do not use any added hormones or steroids...
The last thing we have implemented is TRYING NEW THINGS! I have recently read so many reports of the dangers of hormones in our milk and the effects it has on little girls and hitting puberty way too early. We have tried organic milk, almond milk, and rice milk. The kids have found that rice milk is their favorite. B-Bop is actually drinking it more than she ever drank regular milk.
We have also tried lots of new fruits and veggies. This ones favorite was drinking a coconut...
Buddy thought it was pretty cool too...
We ordered a case of pineapples from my husbands work. The kids LOVED them, we were eating one a day. I ended up with a throat full of very painful sores, so we have taken a break from pineapple, LOL! I did get really good at cutting them up, so we will get some more soon for the kids.
We really love to have smoothies for breakfast, we have even made them GREEN! We use green powder, and have also thrown spinach and romaine right into the blender. It doesn't have that strong of a flavor, especially when you've got fruit and stevia mixed in. The whole family enjoys smoothies...
One way to save on clean-up, is to set lunch out on a tray, and let the kids grab what they want...
The kids love making their own lemonade...
We use stevia to sweeten it...
Eating like this is has been fun, and so good for our family. I would love to go into all of the added health benefits, and what each fruit and vegetable has packed into it to nourish your body, but that would take me days...and I'm not sure anyone would have the patience to read it, LOL! I do find it fascinating--the things God has blessed us with when it comes to food.
I am grateful that we have these things, I know my kids will benefit from eating like this. It makes for strong healthy bodies and sharp minds...heaven knows I need them to be excited about learning and absorbing the things presented to them!
If you've got some great healthy lunch ideas, send them my way! I would LOVE to hear about them!!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

A Few Fun Things!

School is in full swing around our place! We are really enjoying ourselves this year. We are using Alpha Omega's Horizon and LifePac for our core subjects. As for the electives, we have ventured out on our own to discover new ways of diving into learning. I thought it would be fun to share some of the things we have been doing (at least the ones that I remembered to take pictures of).

My 9 year old daughter holds a book club at our house once a month. We always plan an activity to go along with the book while they discuss what they've read. Last month they read Diary of a Wimpy Kid. They each made their own diary. They turned out so cute, we decided to make some of our own for around the house.

I have found that this has worked out so well for us. I always stock up on those great 15 cent spiral notebooks when they go on sale each fall at Wal-Mart. I find, however, that the kids grab a new one each time they want to write or draw, and we end up with a bunch of partially used notepads. With their personalized pads...they always want to grab their own! YAY! Problem solved...

Today we watched some amazing sand art videos on YouTube, and then put our own twist on it and made some fun creations. We started by dividing Fruit Loops into bags by color....
Then crushed them with rolling pins until they looked like sand...
I love all of the bright colors!...
Then we drew pictures on paper with pencils...
We filled in each space with glue and added our colored "sand"...
A Day at the Beach...
The World of Color (inspired by our upcoming Disney trip)...
We've got a bunch of "sand" left over and plan on layering it in bottles tomorrow, we will post pictures if it turns out :O)


After spending many adventures at the local bird refuges, the kids have decided they would love to learn more about birds! Our first lesson was on the characteristics of birds. The kids made a chart using things from around the house to show what makes a bird a bird.


They used feathers, sticks (for the nest), straws (for hollow bones), rocks (for eggs), a yellow paper beak, 2 leaves (for 2 wings), and then they drew their own picture to represent that birds are warm-blooded (Buddy drew a sun and a drop of blood). I felt like this activity really stuck with them, they seem to be remembering those characteristics very well during our discussions...

One of the science experiments that they enjoyed was the Blindfold Taste Test. There were 5 types of food to try, the idea being to prove that without your sense of sight and smell it is difficult to taste, showing that your senses work together, and how one will kick into high gear to compensate for the loss of the other...

One of the things that I really wanted to focus on when we began our homeschool journey (three years ago) was LUNCH, and the quality thereof. It has taken me this long to be consistent with my efforts, but we have made some positive changes and it feels great!! I have been tracking what we eat and taking pictures, I will be sharing some fun and healthy ideas in a few days. In the meantime here is a sneak peak...


Speaking of food, we have had a fantastic time with cooking lessons. I found a great little site with lessons to print (I will include all site links below). One of the lessons was all about how to read a recipe and follow directions. The kids made a cheese ball...
With all of our healthy eating during the week, we save the weekends for special treats. This was a fun thing to munch on with crackers and enjoy our family movie night...
I always love finding great educational websites, here are some links to the ones we are currently enjoying....