All Natural Halloween Goodie Bags

Every year, our family assembles 200+ goodie bags for Halloween Trick-or-Treaters. All natural, of course!

This year's bag has:
jelly bracelets
sour worms
lollipop
milk chocolate square
Glee gum

Get here early! They go fast.

Happy Haunting.

Pear and Ginger Muffins

These are deelish and easy! No mixer needed for these muffins. The recipe below is from Nigella Lawson.

You'll need:
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup + 6 teaspoons packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon honey
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups peeled and diced pears (approx. 1/4 inch dice)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line 12 cup muffin pan with paper cups.

2. Mix flour, sugar, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, baking powder, and ground ginger.

3. In another bowl, whisk together the sour cream, oil, honey, and eggs. Fold into the dry ingredients.

4. Mix in the diced pears. Pour into muffin cups.

5. Sprinkle the top of each with the remaining 6 teaspoons of light brown sugar. Bake for 20 minutes.

Eat while warm!!! Freeze the extra.

DON'T EAT THAT!

I know that reading the label of everything that you place into your grocery cart sounds ridiculous, but if you knew what you were consuming unwillingly, you may think differently.

I read every label of every item that I buy at the grocery store.

• If i look at the ingredients list and it's too long... I put it back.
• If it contains several mumbo-jumbo long words that I do not know... I put it back.
• Most importantly, if I see any food dyes, artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners, or the preservatives BHA, BHT, or TBHQ... I put it back. 

These few things make reading labels a little easier, because if I see any of these things I don't have to read any further. 

Don't Eat That

Some ingredients are not as easily identifiable. This is why I have the iPhone DON'T EAT THAT app. I thank my good neighbor and friend Christy, for introducing this app to me a couple years ago. This app has made shopping a little less hectic. The DON'T EAT THAT app has access to 1500+ food additives, ingredients and chemicals, including those that are carcinogenic, unhealthy for children, or are commonly known allergens. This information is simply stored onto your iPhone, so no Wi-Fi or 3G access is necessary. Just download, head to the grocery store, and shop. Use the app to search ingredients by different categories like: 'harmful to children', 'banned', 'carcinogens', 'genetically modified', 'allergies', and 'asthma'.


I admit, at first this seems like an overwhelming trip to the grocery store... It took me a few visits to get used to the process. Overtime you will learn what products 'work' for your family and which items are harmful. I do not this it always necessary to buy organic, as long as I am armed with the knowledge of the other ingredients that my family consumes. 


Our quality of life and quality of the food that we put into our bodies is too important to me to ignore.

This bread is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

Saturday morning... GAMES WERE CANCELLED.  I know I shouldn't be happy, but I'm so glad that we didn't have to wake up early to hurry off to muddy fields to watch soccer games.


Since I didn't have to rush around this morning, I decided to bake some delicious crumb top banana bread. No need for a mixer with this recipe.


Ingredients for banana bread

• 3 to 4 slightly over ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter (+ extra for buttered loaf pan)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Ingredients for crumb topping (optional)

• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions for banana bread
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. With a wooden spoon and large mixing bowl, mix melted butter into the smashed bananas. Add sugar, egg, and vanilla. Mix well. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture. Mix in. Add flour and mix. Pour mixture into a buttered loaf pan.


Directions for crumb topping
In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles course cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over bread mixture.


Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Slice and Enjoy!

Are our kids over-scheduled?

It's Friday morning... As I'm working at my computer, looking at the rain outside, I cannot help but pray for an overnight downpour that will cancel soccer games tomorrow. It would be really nice to be able to pick the kids up from school and let them relax before we go to dinner with family tonight. Then, not have to worry about being awake early to get to morning soccer games. I'm exhausted, so I know my kids must be exhausted... right?

The school week starts at 6:30am Monday... to school, then soccer practice, and not home till about 7:30/8pm. Don't forget homework, dinner, and showers. Tuesdays... school, cross-country training, hockey practice, not home till about 9:45/10pm. This type of schedule continues throughout the week. In one hand, I'm happy that we can do these activities for our children... On the other hand, I wonder if it's too much.

I tell myself, often, that the kids will appreciate the effort my husband and I put into their interests, maybe when they are older. I know that I am not forcing them to do anything, they chose to participate in these activities themselves. Before they commit to any activity, each boy is asked if they feel that they can handle the load and extra responsibility. School is their #1 responsibility, they know that... but joining a team makes sports #2. The boys understand that they are part of a team that needs them.

I want to research this subject more, but more importantly, I think the best thing - for my family - is to take it season by season. I think I WILL know if schedules get to hectic for my kids, and that's when I'll adjust accordingly. For now, I'm happy that we are creating family time, to go to each others games and support one another. Activities are great for social and emotional development. We will have free time, once in awhile, that will allow everyone to reboot. Till then, stay busy!

A study by the Society for Research in Child Development states that organized activities are good for kids.  According to that study, kids who are engaged in 20 hours or more of scheduled activities a week -- only make up between 2 to 6 percent of the entire population. Those kids love what they are doing and are staying busy because they want to, not because their parents pressure them to, and not because they think it will make their college application look better.

The study finds that kids engaged in organized activities perform better academically than their peers who do not. Busy kids are more likely to get good grades, graduate from high school, go to college, and less likely to use drugs. In short, contrary to popular belief, participation in organized activities is associated with positive outcomes.

Following a long day of classes, kids need to do something completely different. This allows them to absorb information in a new way. Parents might see kids running around on the playground as a waste of time, but something important is happening during those moments: The child is learning and making decisions.

EWG releases their latest Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce

I would love to eat all organic all the time, but it can get expensive. Especially when it comes to produce! 


EWG has released their 2011 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce. I use this guide to buy smart and reduce my family's exposure to pesticides as much as possible. Eating conventionally-grown produce is far better than not eating fruits and vegetables at all!


This guide will help you determine which fruits and vegetables have the most pesticide residues and are the most important to buy organic. You can lower your pesticide intake substantially by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated produce. Click here to download the guide as a PDF.


Please always remember to wash all produce, especially conventional produce. The risk of ingesting pesticides could be greater than reflected by USDA test data. EWG has not evaluated various produce washes for efficacy or potentially toxicity. However, since some plants absorbed pesticides systemically,  a produce wash would have limited effect. The safest choice is to use the Shopper’s Guide to avoid conventional versions of those fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues. I use plain ol' water to wash my produce. When I feel the need I add a little baking soda to the wash, and rinse well.

Make sure to carefully look at the number on the fruits and veggies you are buying:

• Conventionally grown fruits and veggies start with the number 4.
• Organically grown fruits and veggies start with the number 9.
• Genetically modified fruits and veggies start with the number 8.

organic

conventional

For example: I stay away from the gross Grapple. Have you seen this thing? It once was a perfectly fine apple, but then they had to inject it with artificial grape flavor. YUCK!!! 

GROSS!!!

Bottom line: Be sure to understand ALL labels... You could be tricked by misplaced fruits and veggies.

Best Beach & Sport Sunscreens from EWG

 It is 9:30 AM and it already feels like 90º!!! I feel it's the perfect time to address protecting our skin from harmful sun rays. I just received an email from EWG about safer sunscreens that I would love to share with my readers.

EWG's top-rated sunscreens all contain the minerals zinc or titanium. They are the right choice for people who are looking for the best UVA protection without any sunscreen chemical considered to be a potential hormone disruptor. None of the products contain oxybenzone or vitamin A and none are sprayed or powdered.

Click here to see the entire article for EWG's 5th Annual Sunscreen Report.
The article also allows you to look-up products and see their hazard score.


Here are the top 5 best beach & sport sunscreens

(Products sorted alphabetically.)

	Product and Score
	Alba Botanica Sun: Mineral Sunscreen Fragrance Free, SPF 30  Sun: Mineral Sunscreen Kids, SPF 30
	All Terrain Aquasport Performance Sunscreen, SPF 30  TerraSport Performance Sunscreen, SPF 30  KidSport Performance Sunscreen, SPF 30
	Aubrey Organics Natural Sun Sport Stick Unscented Sunscreen, SPF 30  Natural Sun Unscented Sensitive Skin/Children Sunscreen, SPF 30+  Natural Sun Saving Face Sunscreen, SPF 15
	Aveeno Baby Natural Protection Mineral Block Face Stick, SPF 50
	BabyGanics Cover Up Baby Sunscreen for Face & Body, Fragrance Free, SPF 50+  Cover Up Baby Sunscreen Stick, Fragrance Free, SPF 50