Tasty Treats

Eating healthy is is important. Probably 80% (completely made up figure) of our overall health is based on our diet. We're trying really hard to eat only whole, real food. Papa Bear has even committed to eating a paleo diet. I'm not quite ready to completely give up carbs, I have a MAJOR sweet tooth.

Also, getting the kids to give up sweets will be quite an undertaking. Bug, not so much since he doesn't know anything but healthy food yet. But Josh on the other hand, he's of the mindset that eating a bowl of cereal should earn him an after breakfast bowl of ice cream. I can't blame him, I myself love ice cream for second breakfast.

So, I started looking for some kid friendly snack ideas. First I came across this idea on Pinterest to use ice cube trays for toddler finger foods. A super fun way to get the kids to eat a colorful array of fruit and veggie snacks, or whatever you've got handy. Also a great way to use up those random bits of leftover produce in the fridge.

I did this twice so far and both times it went over well. Josh even thought it was fun for a minute.

 apples, blueberries, peas, almonds. banana, ham, carrots, cheese

 

Bug approves

 

apples, oranges (already eaten), goldfish crackers, bananas, peas, blueberries, ham, strawberries

 Josh even went for it for a minute there...

That was all well and good, but Josh and I needed a fix for our sweet toothes... sweet teeth? Whichever. A big favorite in our house is snow-cones. There's a lady right down the road with one of those little wooden shacks where you can get a ginormous styrofoam cup of sugar coated ice shavings for $1.50. So yummy on a hot summer days, but not healthy. So we did some experimentation to find an alternative. 

Bug has a milk protein allergy/intolerance so he drinks coconut milk. It's suuuuper sweet and delicious, so we decided to make snow-cones out of that. We poured some in a bowl and stuck it in the freezer. Every 30 minutes or so we'd pull it out and whip it with a hand mixer to break up the ice crystals and make it fluffy. We placed the bowl into another bowl of ice to keep it from melting too quickly while we worked.

 The end result had to be served immediately, because storing it in the freezer would just make one big giant coconut milk ice cube. It turned out looking like this-

And the kids liked it alright...

But for me it was hours of waiting and work for a treat that was just "meh" in my opinion.

Next we tried a recipe I read somewhere for mixing yogurt with berries. I have to go on a quick tangent here...

I went to Wal-Mart, against every fiber in my body screaming "Nooooo! Don't do it!" because I needed new shorts for Josh, fish food, printer ink, and frozen berries. I mistakenly thought it would take less time to go there instead of three separate stores. Wrong. I spent way too long looking for the frozen berries, thinking they would be near a sign reading something like "Fruit" or "Juice" even.... oh no.... No people, frozen fruit is labeled as "Desserts & Toppings." Because no one ever eats fruit unless its a topping on a dessert...*rolls eyes*

Anyway, simplest recipe ever. One container honey flavored FULL FAT greek yogurt (you could use plain yogurt and add honey) and one bag frozen mixed berries in a blender.

Mix, pour it in a bowl and put it in the freezer. Every 30 minutes or so give it a stir to break those ice crystals up into tiny delicious pieces.

After a few hours of this you'll have beautifully scoopable, tasty delicious frozen yogurt.

I would have pictures of the kids eating it for you, but there aren't any. Josh ate the entire batch in one evening. Bug didn't get to even try it, and I barely got to lick a couple spoons. It was amazing. Sooooo delicious. And no way was this Mama Bear going to say "no" when her carb-aholic 7 year old asked for more good fat, protein, and vitamin- full greek yogurt and berry "ice cream".

Give it a try, I bet you'll love it. You're welcome. Nom nom nom.