If I could change one thing about myself it would be the fact that I could stop giving the girls dessert. 5 years ago, before I started trying to lose weight and get healthy, my girls RARELY ate dessert. It was a special treat. They were fine with that. Fast forward 5 years and they are really disturbed if they don't get dessert after dinner.
How could someone adapt a healthy lifestyle THEN start giving their kids dessert every night? Easy. My kids eat healthy nutritious food 99% of the day. There are not many days that they eat crap food. So, dessert is allowed. {Please remember, these are my opinions on the subject.} Plus, my new rule is that there's a calorie limit. 200 calories is the max for dessert.
I made a festive spring dessert that comes in at half of their dessert limit for a HUGE piece. I originally planned on making these to celebrate the first day of spring but, our house was overrun with Girl Scout Cookies so, they had to wait a few days.
I love cereal treats. They are so versitile. You can use the traditional Rice Krispies or, you can mix it up and use a different cereal. My mom used to mix Rice Krispies and Fruity Pebbles. They were almost as pretty as these and just as tasty. You can also add stuff to them. Chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit. Cereal treats are a blank slate that you can totally go wild with. Let the kids design their own treats!
Super Spring Cereal Treats
12 squares/16 squares
Calories: 106/ 80
Fat: .6 g / .4 g
Carbs: 25.4 g / 19.1 g
Sugar: 16.3g / 12.2 g
6 cups Froot Loops (You can use Fruity Cheerios, or Trix instead if you want)
4 cups mini marshmallows
.25 cup light corn syrup
Directions
- Line an 8x10 cake pan with plastic wrap and spray with pan spray.
- In a microwave safe bowl combine marshmallows and Karo. Microwave on high for 1 minute, stir, then microwave another minute and stir again.
- Put the cereal in a separate bowl. When the marshmallows are done pour them into the bowl with the cereal and mix carefully until all the cereal is coated with marshmallow.
- Press into pan and leave until completely cool.
- Cut into squares.
What combinations do you think would taste good? Do you allow your kids to have dessert?
Happy April everybody! I can't believe that 1/3 of the year is almost over. Only 3 weeks until Sunny's birthday and 6.5 weeks until Kaylee's.Next time I turn around I'll be leaving for vacation {vacation plan post coming soon!}
It's finally starting to warm up and it finally feels like spring. I love spring. The produce, the animals, and the weather. I especially love the switch to spring produce. Watermelon season starts the first week of May according to my watermelon guy (yes I have a watermelon guy)
On Easter morning the girls, my dad (he's been in town since Thursday,) and I went to Panera. Panera has been a tradition for Kaylee, Mantha and him since it opened about a year ago. Sunny just recently got included in the tradition (along with the Bob Evan's and McDonald's PlayPlace traditions.) I was lucky enough to be able to join in on this trip.
Sometimes I feel like it's easier to exclude myself due to the fact that I have to spend hours researching the menu in order to find what I can eat. But I know that the time I get to spend with my dad outweighs the annoyance.
On the menu there were only 2 things that I could consider, the Power Breakfast Egg White Bowl with Roasted Turkey (as long as you ask for it without turkey or pesto) or the Fat Free SuperFruit Power Smoothie. I decided to go with the smoothie and a cup of coffee.
The smoothie was really amazing. (It probably would have tasted better if I hadn't burned 75% of the taste buds off my tongue with my coffee though). It was sweet but not too sweet, the flavor was complex, it was just all around delicious. I would definitely go back for it again. Add bonus: it kept me full a lot longer than I expected. I normally get hungry about 2 hours after I eat and I start to munch. I didn't eat again for probably 4 or 5 hours.
According to Brandeating.com the smoothie is a "superfruit power puree (which includes apple, blackberry and blueberry
purees, cherry, concord grape, pomegranate, elderberry and acai juices
from concentrate, and plum puree) and blends it with Oikos organic plain
Greek non-fat yogurt and ads a boost of ginseng for good measure."
The nutritionals on the smoothie are pretty good too. Besides being fat-free, it has 200 calories, 100% of your daily B6 and B12, 150% of your daily vitamin C, 15 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber, and a bunch of antioxidants. I would definitely recommend this.
What do you look forward to most about spring? What is your favorite spring produce?
Below are some links about seasonal produce. Take a look. I also have a graphic on my healthy photo page.
Seasonal Produce Links
Food Network Spring Produce Guide
