How many toxic chemicals do you  clean your home with and simply not know it?

These chemicals can be found in all types of cleaners,  perfumes, paints, soaps, lotions and cosmetics.

There is little to no regulation in this industry which leads the average consumer to just “trust.

Did you know………….?

• The National Cancer Society completed a 15 year old study concluding that women who stay home with their kids versus go back to work have a 54% higher chance of cancer. The study linked this to a higher exposure of the poor indoor air quality in homes.

People just trust that stores wouldn’t sell anything that wasn’t healthy for them. This isn’t the case, as the EPA even warns against these chemicals.

• EPA study stated that the toxic chemicals in household cleaners are 3 times more likely to cause cancer than outdoor air.
• Studies have confirmed that within 26 seconds of exposure to cleaning products, traces of these chemicals are found in every organ in the body.
• According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 150 products that are very common in homes have been linked to birth defects, cancer, allergies and psychological problems.

If you find these statistics alarming and if you are interested in creating a TOXIC FREE HOME for your family, you MUST watch a documentary available on Netflix instant demand called Chemerical.

This documentary points out some GREAT NEWS, that you don’t have to put your family at risk by the cleaning products you use. No longer do you have to expose your body  and your kid’s bodies to all of these toxic chemicals when cleaning your home!

It was amazing to see the changes in this family as they changed to a toxic free home.

A Must See Documentary Called “Chemercial.”

I highly recommend that EVERYONE watch the documentary called Chemerical. It is EXCELLENT.

It shows a family and the 40 bottles of toxic chemicals that they use to clean their home. As a result when their indoor air quality  was tested, they were shocked to learn that it was at dangerous levels.

What was most amazing how much better the whole family looked after they had been using natural products.  The mother looked substantially healthier. Her skin was clearer and her eyes were brighter. (Even my husband commented on it which was unusual.) She reported more energy and said she just felt better.

After they had been using natural cleaning products, the same company came back to test their indoor air quality. They passed with flying colors and now enjoy living in a home that is non-toxic, healthy and livable.

Another video that discusses the dangers of cleaning products and it’s link to asthma.

Healthy Recipes- Sweet Breads – Pumpkin Bread

Wholegrain pumpkin bread is a WONDERFUL healthy baked treat that makes a quick healthy breakfast   and/or a great food choice to put in your children’s lunch box. (Just store this delicious bread in the freezer and take a piece out the day you want to eat it.)

There are so many healthy pumpkin treats you can make if you buy a Costco size can of pumpkin puree including pumpkin muffins,   pumpkin cookies, pumpkin brownies, pumpkin pie and even pumpkin ice cream.  Pumpkins are LOW in calories (only 15 calories per 1/2 cup) and loaded with nutrients that are so good for your body.

The GREAT NEWS in the “Wonderful World Of Pumpkin Baking” is It Reduces the Need for Extra Fat!  There is only 1 tablespoon of oil in this whole recipe! I have also made this  same recipe with no oil and added a tablespoon more pumpkin puree. 

Wholegrain pumpkin  bread makes a wonderful healthy breakfast!

Ingredients for Pumpkin Macadamia Nut Bread

• 3/4 cup of Garbanzo bean flour
• 1 cup of Oat flour
• 1 cup of pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup of coconut sugar
• 1/3 cup of applesauce (This is the equivalent to the 4oz kid size packs you can buy at the store. Be sure and look at ingredients to make sure there isn’t sugar added to it)
  
  

  A big container of natural applesauce doesn’t last long in the refrigerator. Therefore, I like to use these kid size applesauce containers for baking. They stay fresh and are the exact amount I need.

• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoons grape seed oil (Be sure to store this in your refrigerator. It quickly goes bad if stored at room temperature.)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup of finely chopped Macadamia nuts (or walnuts, cashews, almonds etc)
• 1/2 cup of grain sweetened chocolate chips

Directions for Making Pumpkin Bread:

Preheat oven to 350 F

1. Combine the coconut sugar with all all of wet ingredients (eggs, vanilla, applesauce, grape seed oil)  in your mixer using the blade attachment.  If you don’t have a Kitchen Aid use a whip and combine until smooth. This is a form of “creaming” though not the traditional method, but it does make a difference.

2. In a separate bowl combine all of the flours, baking soda, spices, chocolate chips and chopped macadamia nuts. (Combining the chocolate chips and nuts with the flour  help them evenly distribute through the bread)

3. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix together completely.

4. Line a 9×9 bread baking pan with parchment paper. (This makes it so easy and no clean up is required.) Pour the batter into the parchment paper.

After it is baked, you lift the parchment paper out of the baking pan and it easily slips out. No mess, no fuss and no mess.

5. Bake at 350 for 60-65 minutes or even golden brown. You will smell it through your home when it is done. I like to make sure this recipe is fully cooked or it is too moist.

6. Immediately remove by holding the parchment paper and lifting the bread out of the pan. Let it cool completely before eating or slicing.

7. Slice in pieces and freeze what you will not eat in 1 day. Be sure to place the bread you will eat in 1 day in plastic sealed bag and place in refrigerator. You don’t want it to loose it’s freshness.

8. If you want to eat from the freezer it will defrost on granite in 15 minutes, or you can almost defrost in a microwave. I  place in the microwave for 10 seconds so the chocolate chips just start to melt. YUM!

Pumpkin bread is WONDERFUL  to bake in advance and then put in your kid’s lunch boxes. You can easily take from the freezer and add to your kid’s lunch box if it is already put in freezer zip lock bags. It’s healthy, tasty and kid’s love it.

Happy baking and enjoy!

Sugar is EVERYWHERE. Even if you don’t eat dessert, most Americans eat much more sugar than the recommended amount to maintain a healthy diet.

Most children eat far more sugar than parent’s ever realize. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans eat the equivalent of 62 (2 1/2 pound bags) of sugar a year. Can you believe that!

The impact of eating too much sugar is we have a society where 1 out of 3 kids are obese, health problems are on the rise and children’s behavior is more problematic than ever before in history.

How do you manage the level of sugar that you and your children eat?

Everything has sugar in it. The great news is you can easily buy many of these same products with NO sugar in them!

It is true you can’t control all of your surroundings, but there are certainly some easy things you can do to decrease sugar consumption without anyone in your family knowing it.

13 Tips To Easily Decrease Sugar Consumption

Tip 1: Drink mainly water, versus any other type of drink. Kids can easily pick up this habit, as your body is made of water and meant to drink water.

According to the USDA, 37% of sugar eaten comes from sodas and sports drinks. An additional 10% comes from fruit drinks; typically aimed at kids. This means we are drinking 47% of our sugar intake a day.

-Avoid any sodas, chocolate milk, fruit mixes, fruit drinks for kids, sports drinks and dilute real fruit juice with water when you have to drink it. We drink a very small amount of fruit juice in our home; most days we don’t have any. (Juice is highly concentrated and loaded with sugar. We are not meant to drink a huge glass of juice.)

Tip 2: Avoid buying any processed foods. Almost all processed foods have sugar, corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients.

-If you go to Costco (which I love many of their natural products) be careful buying any of the processed or pre-prepared foods. Look at the ingredients and you will be amazed on how much sugar is in the main course, not to mention the chemicals! Just refuse to buy these items and you will decrease sugar consumption that your family ingests.

Tip 3: Be careful buying things like “smoothies,” or frozen yogurt. Many of them contain a lot of sugar in them. People are deceived thinking they are drinking something healthy, but in actuality they are drinking as much sugar as if they had a dessert.

If you make these items yourself you can make them without sugar. If you buy them, ask what ingredients they use to make them. If they use any syrups, you know they are adding sugar.

Tip 4: Change your belief about kids having to eat every sweet treat they are given.

We use our candy canes to decorate our tree for example. (In our family we don’t eat anything that has food coloring in it.) We talk about certain candies they get at birthday parties and trade trade them in for healthier options.

I buy YummyEarth natural lollipops  that are more natural and don’t have chemical food coloring. I let the kids trade candy from a birthday party for example for a healthier version. They love it.

Speaking of birthday parties,  you can ask for a small piece of cake. If you have three birthday parties in one day, your kids don’t have to eat a piece of cake at each party. It is amazing to me that often the mom’s don’t eat the cake but they let their kids eat it from party to party.

Tip 5: Make sure your kids are eating whole grains every day. Whole grains are healthy and they help balance blood sugar for the times they are given sugar.

Tip 6:  Buy jellies that contain no sugar. (Most of them are loaded with sugar or high fructose corn syrup) Peanut butter and jelly is so widely eaten with kids, and if you refuse to use jelly made with sugar or corn syrup you will go a long way.

The peanut butter and the jelly tastes JUST as good without sugar. It is beyond me why all brands don’t adopt; other than the fact is we wouldn’t feel addicted to it.

Tip 8: Make your own granola cereal, whole grain scones or whole grain muffins for your kids in the morning. This is a huge decrease in sugar for the day and packed with nutrition. Hence the concept of my whole blog!

If your kids eat healthy cereal or a healthy breakfast every morning that doesn’t have sugar in it, you will be greatly decreasing sugar consumption and increasing the nutritional level. See healthy breakfast ideas

Tip 9:  If you feed your children healthy foods, in my opinion vitamins are not needed. However, if you want to give your kids vitamins, be sure to give them vitamins that are not loaded with sugar and food coloring like so many of them are.

Tip 10: Make your own condiments and/or buy them from places like Whole Foods. Things like catchup, mustard, salad dressing, barbeque sauce, and mayonnaise are loaded with sugar if you buy them at a “regular store.” You literally can not taste the difference if you look at the ingredients and buy these products without it.

Tip 11: Buy whole grain breads and look at the ingredients Many breads that are marketed as being “healthy” have sugar in them and very little whole grain. This is true of sliced break, hot dog buns, English muffins and hamburger buns.

Tip 12: For us moms, avoid drinking lattes and mocha’s as the syrups are loaded with sugar and chemicals. (Some of these drinks have up to 500 calories in them too!)

Tip 13: Avoid drinking wine at night, except on special occasions. Wine is loaded with sugar; and worst yet alcohol slows your metabolism making it difficult to burn the sugar that you have already eaten.

Sugar consumption is cumulative.  You can’t control every exposure your child has, but if you decrease how much sugar that you and your kid’s consume with the following tips, you will feel great, less moody and will find your kid’s responding positively.

Besides, when I do eat sugar or when I give my kids sugar, I would far rather enjoy a piece of Belgium chocolate than getting that same amount of sugar from the catchup or barbeque sauce that was on my chicken burger. Wouldn’t you?

Resources:

USDA Dietary Guidelines- Foods To Reduce

The Hidden Ingredient May Sabotage Your Diet

Healthy Eating – Healthy Kids – Picky Eaters – Edible Art

Do you struggle with getting your kids to eat fruits and vegetables? Are you looking for new and creative ideas?

If so, try serving your kids edible art made from fruits and vegetables! It is amazing how much more willing kids are to eat fruits and vegetables when they are turned into an alien, a dog or a smiley face vegetable pop.

After all, we make edible art with sweets and cakes…… why not do it with healthy foods!

What is Edible Art?

Edible art is turning a food dish into art.

Many people have seen desserts that turn a regular cake into a princess castle, or a waffle into Mickey Mouse, but have you ever thought of doing this with healthy foods?

Noupe.com listed 40 examples of very special edible art. Two of these pictures are listed below. Look at the amazing art that can be done using just a few healthy ingredients. To see all of them click here.

This Edible Art Frog Was Made With Carrots and Apples

Edible Art Grasshopper Made With Green beans

How Edible Art Started In Our Home

In our family, every morning we have “learning time” at breakfast. We find something interesting and then look up fun YouTube videos to learn about that topic ranging from how do you make a mug, why is the sky blue and how do people build homes. Typically the kids ask the question, and we explore it together.

One day, my mom suggested that we do a morning learning time about edible art.  She sent me some sites showing some of the amazing things people have done with food. It was inspiring.

So one morning I told the kids that I wanted to pick the topic of  edible art.

“What is that mommy,” they asked.  So we looked at some pictures that my mom had sent me and the adventure began. Fun With Food, By Web Urbanest

My 4 and 5 year old kids could NOT get enough. They loved it!  They wanted to Google more about this amazing edible art concept. They wanted to look at more pictures and find more examples of videos like the Edible art cakes video.  They were having so much fun that they didn’t want to go to school and they started pleading with me if they could do edible art that evening. Sure I said!

That night they both rushed home and wanted to help me make dinner and start their own edible art creations.

So I gave them carrots, raisins, nuts and grapes to play, dream and create with. 

We were having turkey sandwiches so my daughter made a snowman face on top of the sandwich with the carrot sticking up as the nose, and actually asked me for lettuce to use as hair. My son made a ski slope hill with carrots that the grapes would slide down. (I wish I would have taken pictures but I didn’t)

It was a lot of fun and the best part was that ALL of the vegetables and fruit were scarfed down AND were even eaten before the sandwich.

Mommy is Now Hooked On The Fun of Edible Art!

The next night it was my turn. The kids were in their rooms playing and I was making tacos. I started taking the same fruits and vegetables that would normally so blandly rest in a bowl, and dreaming about what creation could be made that was whimsy and amusing.

With little time, I found myself making my “Happy Orange Man” in a flash. I took an orange as the head, cut slits in the orange where I put raisin eyes, put grapes around the neck and used a piece of cilantro for a smile that was unique to each person. The body was a long piece of celery that stuck perfectly into the orange and held the head proudly in place.

I wouldn’t let the kids see my edible art veggie delight until dinner and they were so excited with anticipation.

Pleeeeeeease can I see mommy? Nope I said!

Once I served the Orange Man, my daughter hugged me and said mommy I want this every night. They LOVED it and were so excited eating their fruits and vegetables.

What really struck me, is my husband who doesn’t normally eat any celery……. ate his entire orange man, celery and all.

What a fun way to eat tacos, fruits and vegetables!

Have fun watching your kids eat their fruits and vegetables with edible art. You may even eat get hooked on the fun of it all and eat more vegetables yourself.

Please e-mail me your edible art creations and I will post them for everyone to enjoy! I am going to take pictures of future creations and will write more posts on this topic.

Have fun!

Healthy Eating- Healthy Kids – Picky Eaters

YES!  Continuous snacking is a big factor why 1 and 3 children in this country are obese  and not as healthy as they used to be. 

In addition, this constant snacking obsession that our society has adopted is  actually TRAINING  our kids to be picky eaters and to NOT eat real, quality food at regular meal times.

As a culture we have gone snack crazy! We are giving our kids way too many low nutrient, high calorie snacks ALL DAY LONG. We give them snacks in between every event and every activity they do.

Mom’s consult with other moms on what snacks to bring. Diaper bags are loaded with “emergency snacks” and kids are given snacks, and backup snacks “just in case” they get hungry.

Every sports game or play date has to include a snack because it is unimaginable to let kids go home from an event without a nibble and eat dinner when they are truly hungry. Everyone is ripping open a package of some sort to give their child some food!

Even fast food restaurants are jumping on the 64 billion dollar bandwagon with “snack-able food” items on the menu growing 170%.

The United States has truly gone nuts over giving our kids snacks!

Are Three Snacks a Day of JUNK Too Many?

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, children today are eating  3 snacks a day which equates to an average of 200 more calories a day from snacks than they did in the 70s. Many kids eat 600-700 calories in snacks according to many  studies.

A study done by the University of North Carolina surveyed more than 300,000 children a day with their snacking habits.

The study concluded that these children on average snacked 3 times a day on junk foods like crackers and candy, and these snacks added almost 600 calories a day to their diet. This totaled 27 percent of their overall daily intake.

Good Morning America followed a family on camera for a weekend. The snacks the two boys grabbed were chocolate pudding, bagels with butter, (439 calories) string cheese, graham crackers, goldfish crackers, and cookies.

It’s amazing. It’s no wonder why so many parents feels their kids are picky eaters and don’t want to eat dinner. If you ate that many snacks, how much dinner would you eat?  Read the whole story

What Are The Most Common Junk food Snacks That Kids Commonly Eat?

A study was done from 2005-2008 which detailed the type of snack that was given to 6-13 year old kids over a 2 day span.

1. Chocolate candy

2. Cookies

3. Corn chips

4. Crackers

5. Cupcakes

6. Ice cream

7. Donuts

8. Fruit Rolls (Loaded with sugar and common at preschool)

9. Graham crackers (Loaded with sugar)

10. Granola bars (most of these are just like candy bars)

11. Popsicle

12. Pretzels

The study suggested that if parents replace even one of these snacks with a healthier alternative like an apple, applesauce (without sugar), bananas, or carrots etc… significant calories could be cut, the health impact would be meaningful, and child obesity would be greatly helped.

Lets see……….3 crackers can have anywhere between 90 and 160 calories. There are no nutrients, often contain sugar, salt and act as a filler so your child isn’t hungry when you serve dinner.

Try an apple or some celery sticks. Or just try taking away a snack in the day and watch how picky eating problems go away and your children start eating more quality foods.

Perhaps we should do like the French, and only have 1 snack a day. Enjoy our meals, companionship and the beautiful feeling of satisfying a healthy empty stomach.

More Resources:

Prevention: Snack Food Nation Making Us Gain Weight?

Should Kids Be Allowed To Randomly Snack?

ABC News: Your Kids and Food; The Secret Life of Snacking

Washington Post: Calorie Heavy Snacks Push Childhood Obesity

I am disgusted. Why, WHY…… do preschools across the U.S. give white crackers to young growing preschool kids for their morning and afternoon snacks? This completely infuriates me!

Actually the answer is clear and simple. White crackers are CHEAP!

White crackers are cheap in EVERY way including the fact that they offer nothing of value to our kids. They have salt, white flour, no nutritional benefits, they don’t fill kids up, nor do they stabilize blood sugar or help bodies grow.

Are any other parents TOTALLY frustrated with this?

My Morning Of White Crackers At My Local Preschool

I dropped my daughter off at 8:45 at preschool. She had just eaten a full breakfast like she does every day. This morning we had eaten “left overs” from Sunday’s breakfast. We had whole grain blueberry waffles made with three nutritious whole grain flours and sliced bananas.

My little 4 year old had literally JUST finished her breakfast  15 minutes prior and there was no possibility  that she had any hunger left. Her tummy was full and she was happy.

We show up to school, and the whole class is eating white CRACKERS for their morning snack as they do EVERY day in the morning. I am usually there at 8:30 and they usually have snack at 9:30,  so usually don’t see this.

When I asked the teacher if my daughter could not be given this snack because she was full, she said she had to at least “offer” by law. I told her my daughter was full and had just eaten. She nodded, smiled and I went on my merry way knowing darn well that my daughter was going to eat stale white crackers that morning even though she wasn’t hungry and that her mom didn’t want her to be given them.

When I picked up my daughter and casually asked her if she ate the crackers, she said that she did. She told me that the teachers told her they HAD to give it to her. I asked her if she was hungry and she said she wasn’t. I asked…”why did you eat it honey if you were not hungry?”

My little sweetie pie said….”I have to eat it mommy” with this sad look in her eyes. They said that they had to give it to me and I should eat it. I had to eat it mommy.”  I told her that was okay she did today, but to never forget that she NEVER has to eat any food if she isn’t hungry. She never has to eat ANY food she doesn’t want to eat.

This School Required My Daughter to Drink Cow’s Milk

This same preschool requires that my daughter be given whole milk every day even though I don’t give my child milk at home. After MONTHS of asking not to give her milk at lunch, I realized they still were.

In our family, my choice is to give my kids almond and coconut milk and  don’t believe in feeding my kids cows milk. That is fine if other people do, but we don’t.

The challenge is that apparently California state law requires that she is offered whole cows milk at school unless I have a doctors note.

No wonder kids get fat in our society. Eat your crackers! Drink your whole milk! Where do parents have a say in how their kids are fed at school. Do you have to home school to have a choice in how kids are fed?

My preschool of choice is changing next month for a variety of reasons; but this snack issue is one of the reasons.  I only want to support schools who offer more nutritious snacks and who respect my rights as a parent in how I feed my children.

The really sad thing is that some of the children in my daughters preschool get dropped off at 6:00am. White crackers are what these children are eating for their breakfast. The teacher explained that they have to offer a snack in the morning for this reason.

We live in a very nice area and these kids are eating white crackers to help their bodies grow. It is a crying shame!

Healthy Baking  – Low Calorie Diet- Baking Flours

Do you know which flours have the highest number of calories and which ones have the lowest?

When baking, healthy or not, FLOUR is one of the main staple ingredients that makes up most of your treats. Therefore, knowing the calorie count for various flours is quite  helpful if you are interested in maintaining a low calorie diet.

Who Cares About The Calories of Flours?

You might ask, when baking healthy goodies who cares what the calories of one flour or another? Great question. This was my thought for years until I recently have begun to be interested in not only baking HEALTHY treats, but ones that are reasonably low in calories.

Yes, eating healthy whole grain baked goods provides fiber, vitamins, minerals and helps balance the sugar to help maintain proper blood sugar levels. All of that is wonderful! However, this does not mean that you can’t gain weight when you eat baked goods that are loaded with vitamins and minerals.

Some people mistakenly think that just because something is “healthy” that it does not have a lot of calories. This is incorrect. Even when eating healthy baked goods, you still have to be aware of the calories to help maintain weight.

How I Calculated The Calories In Flours:

My refrigerator has at least 12 different flours in it at all times. I LOVE healthy baking. I am always experimenting with new flours and love to try them all as I create my recipes.

So many of my calorie counts I took from the flour packages themselves itself. Other calorie counts that I didn’t have, I used an IPHONE program called “Lose It” to find the calories of a particular flour. (A great application to know the calories of what you eat, if you have not tried it) Still others I went to the site of that particular flour manufacture.

NOTE: Blanched almond flour information was taken off the label from the Honeyville brand which puts out a great product.

• Then once I had all the flour calorie information, I converted the calories to an 1/8 of a cup portion size so they could all be compared with each other.

What Flour Has The Most Calories?

The flour that had the highest number of calories by a large amount was blanched almond flour (the skin has been removed from the almond) with 160 calories for 1/8 of a cup. Yickes! Compare this to 1/8 of a cup of whole wheat flour which is 55 calories, you can see how drastic the calorie increase is. The labeling on the package shows the grams, which most people don’t convert to cups as easily.

What was most interesting about these results is “almond meal” (where the entire almond is ground up) actually had fewer calories, coming in at 80 calories.

I can only guess that the since the fatter part of the nut is inside, the calories are more concentrated when the skin is removed and only the inside of the almond is left.

This is a very reasonable question to ask when you see how much higher it is. It is filled with nutrition, but so are many other types of flours.

Many gluten free bakers and healthy bakers including myself, have recommended using blanched almond flour more often than almond meal in the past. The reason is that using blanched almond flour without the skin, you can typically get a fluffier baked treat. You can also use only blanched almond flour in a recipe, versus having to use a blend of different flours. Some people prefer this.

For gluten free recipes, blanched almond flour is one of the few flours that you can use without adding other flours to it which is great.

Personally though, gluten free or not, I am no longer going to create any recipes that only have a single ingredient of blanched almond flour. The calorie count is too high. Most of my recipes were like this anyway (where I combined  other gluten free flours like coconut flour, garbanzo bean flour, spelt flour and qunioa. ) When you do this, the added calories doesn’t add up to be a lot more and you get the added nutritional value.

In saying that….if you are interested in controlling calories, you might as well use almond meal combined with other flours; which is actually more nutritious. Just my thoughts on the topic for a later blog post.

THE WINNER! Which Flour Had The Least Number of Calories?

There were three winners in the low calorie flour contest!

1.Kamut flour came in at 47 calories per 1/8 cup! I LOVE this flour and have experimented with it quite a bit. Stay tuned, more posts on this flour and more recipes to come.

Stay tuned for a whole new category of low calorie recipes, where I will offer low calories cookies, muffins, breads and other treats.

Happy Baking!

Healthy Cookies- Low Calorie -Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies with Chocolate Ganache

Who doesn’t love a delicious tasting chocolate chip cookie that is only 152 calories and so easy to make! If you are counting calories, this chocolate chip cookie treat is great for your waistline!

If you want to bake  delicious chocolate chip cookies that are loaded with nutrition for your little ones, you have to try this amazing recipe. I was so excited how well this recipe turned out using Buckwheat flour!

Using a combination of Buckwheat flour, Whole Wheat Pastry flour and Amaranth flour, in only 15 minutes you will have a winning combination that your kid’s will LOVE!

Not only will your chocolate chip cookies taste great, but they will be filled with vitamins, minerals, fiber and rich nutrients that will be filling and healthy to eat.

Ingredients for the Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Whole Grain Cookies

• 1 cup of Buckwheat flour
• 1 cup of Whole Wheat Pastry flour
• 1/2 cup of Amaranth flour
• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cup of coconut sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips
• Optional Chocolate Ganache on cookies

Directions on How To Bake the Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies:

1. Make sure that butter is softened, but not melted. Using the blade attachment, cream the butter and coconut sugar together.

2. Add add and vanilla to mixture.

3. In a separate bowl, combine flours, baking soda, cinnamon, sea salt and chocolate chips.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix together. (Add nuts if you have them)

5. Evenly position two racks in the middle of oven (same shelf) and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

6. Put parchment paper on baking pans for easy clean up, and drop a two tablespoons of batter two inches apart if you want to make 24 cookies. (Use an ice cream scoop if you want to make 12 large cookies)

7. Bake 13-16 minutes until golden brown and you smell the cookies through your home. YUM!

8. Spread the chocolate ganache on cookies while warm and enjoy them heated or cooled!

9. Freeze any cookies that are not eaten that day and be able to enjoy in your lunch boxes for weeks to come.

Serving size: Makes 12 large cookies, or 24 smaller cookies.

Calorie Information: 

Serving size is based on making 24 cookies

151 Calories Per cookie (not including the optional chocolate ganache)

Recipe created by www.LivingHealthyMom.com in 2012

Healthy Cookies – Gluten Free Baking

If you are looking for a gluten free, chocolate peanut butter cookie that is both  DELICIOUS and one that is packed with fiber and nutrition, try the Terrific Teff  Chocolate Cookie recipe. You will not be disappointed. This recipe is easy to make and it tastes GREAT!

These chocolate peanut butter cookies are so tasty and they are packed with a lot of nutritional value for your kids.

Try this recipe!

All the sweetie pies in your family will NEVER know these chocolate peanut butter cookies are healthy for them, including your husband!

This chocolate peanut butter cookies are DELICIOUS!

Ingredients For the Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies:

• 3/4 cup of Blanched Almond Flour.  (Be sure to use blanched, not almond meal)
  More information
• 1/2 cup of Teff Flour
  (A very nutritious Ethiopian flour that is loaded with fiber and also helps control blood sugar)
• 1 cup of coconut sugar
• 1/2 cup of Spectrum Shortening
  (This is not the unhealthy shortening that we are all familiar with.  This shortening is based on coconut oil.)
  To buy click here
• 3/4 cup of peanut butter (you can substitute with almond or cashew butter)
• 3 medium eggs
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup of peanuts (I use lightly salted)

Directions:

1. If you have a mixer, use the blade attachment and combine the shortening, coconut sugar, peanut butter,  eggs and vanilla. (If you don’t have a mixer, use a whip and combine. The shortening will still have clumps in it, which is fine)

2. In a separate bowl combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder together.

3. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until combined.

4. Mix in the nuts.

5. Put parchment paper on baking sheet for easy clean up. Use an ice cream scoop and place on sheet. Take a spatula and gently press down on the top to flatten it.

Happy Baking and enjoy your healthy chocolate peanut butter cookies!

Living Healthy | Air Quality Management Pollution Series

How do you know if it is safe to inhale the air you breathe every day? How polluted is the city that you live in?

Did you know that certain cities  in the U.S. have  days and weeks of the year when you really shouldn’t be active outside? This is particularly important for  seniors, young children, people with asthma, and/or people who have lung and/or  heart issues.

The great news is, you can help manage how you handle unclean air,  even if you live in a very polluted city. The first step is knowing what your situation is.

For every city in the U.S., you can find out what the air quality is on any given day just as easy as you can find out what the weather is. This is known as  the Air Quality Index.

Living in Southern California, I have compiled a list of tools to make it easy to know which days you should stay inside and when it is safer to play.

Do you know if the air is safe to breath today?

Helpful Tools-What is The Air Quality Today For The City You Live In?

The first step in being able to manage any situation, is to find out exactly what you are dealing with.

Follow these three steps to know what your personal situation is with air quality.

#1: GET AN OVERVIEW OF AIR QUALITY FOR THE COUNTRY

Go to Airnow.gov to get an overview of the air quality levels for the entire U.S.A. The green color is considered to be “safe air,” with a number associated with it from  1-50.

This means that one part of the country could be “green” with a  #49 level, and when another citu is green ranked at #4 level. The city with the number 4 has cleaner air, as the lower the number the better.

Each range is color coded with a number.

#2. ENTER YOUR ZIP CODE TO FIND YOUR CITY’S AIR QUALITY

The next step is to ENTER YOUR ZIP CODE  in the right hand corner of the site and you will be taken to the area you live in.

It will rate your county on that day for: 

1.  Particles pollution- Learn about particulate matter

2. Ozone pollution – Learn about the health affects of ozone pollution

In this example, I just did a search in San Diego California for today. Since the particles are above 50, it is now color coded YELLOW and considered not safe for high risk people who have lung issues. However, the ozone levels are in the green today, rated at 34.

Particles (PM2.5) -53 Yellow
Ozone-44 Green

COMPARE TO ANOTHER PART OF THE COUNTRY

Particles (PM2.5)- 3 Green
Ozone -6 Green

#3. SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE AIR NOTIFICATIONS EVERY DAY

If you live in an area that sometimes has poor air quality, it is important to know this to plan your life accordingly. The great news is you can subscribe by e-mail to be notified of the air quality each day of the city you live in.

#4. HOW MANY UNHEALTHY DAYS ARE THERE IN THE COUNTY YOU LIVE IN?

There is a wonderful site that you can compare one county to another in terms of air quality and how unhealthy it is for certain health conditions like heart disease, asthma or just generally being active outside.

Go to EPA.gov

A. Select which description you are interested in searching.

• Asthma or other lung disease
•  Heart disease
•  Older adults and children (with no specific health concern)
• Active Outdoors (with no specific health concern)
• General Population (no specific health concern)

B. Select which county you want to look at.

C. If you are thinking of moving to a new place, you can compare one county to another to see how it measures.

What are the ratings for the city you live in?

Hope this is helpful. Please write in to share your thoughts about what you discovered about the city you live in.

Stay tuned for a full part series on polluted air and how to manage it short of moving.