Category Archives: Organic Mama Cafe

Sep 18
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5 for Friday! Healthy Snacks for Busy Peeps

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Here are the five snacks I took on my visit to Daphne Munroe’s new show, Smart Families on ABC15. They are easy, inexpensive, healthy AND delicious!

As you might have guessed, the fruits and veggies in these snacks are organic though currently the nuts we buy are not. I’m looking for an affordable local provider for the nuts. And, cutting up your own fruits, veggies and cheese and making your own hummus or almond butter definitely saves money. It really doesn’t take long and with the exception of “Ants on a log” – you can prep them the night before and they’ll still be the right texture the next day. I save #4 and #5 for days I’m in a hurry. Of course, if you’re really in a rush, fruit in its purest form – an uncut apple, orange, banana etc and a bag of nuts are always great!

1. Grapes, crispy walnuts and cheese sticks.

Let’s talk about cheese for a minute. We don’t buy much cheese and when we do, it’s usually goat cheese from a local source. Because of that, we know it’s fresh, preservative free and very digestible. But, if we do buy cow milk cheese, it’s always organic and W-H-I-T-E. Yes, I’m a cheese snob. How many times have you seen bright orange milk? If you did see it, would you drink it? Exactly. That’s what I thought. So, why are you eating that yellow stuff? It’s not real cheese!!!

2. Veggies and hummus

This one is sooooo delicious and so easy to make. I just use whatever veggies I have on hand – like sweet red, yellow or green bell peppers, cucumbers, carrots, zucchini (though my daughters don’t like this one raw!) etc and chop them up into kid sized sticks. Then, we usually make our own hummus because it’s cheaper, tastier and definitely healthier than what you’ll see in the store. But if you don’t want to make it, read the ingredients to find one that only has the REAL ingredients – garbanzo beans, olive oil, garlic, salt & lemon juice.

3. Ants on a log.  Translated – celery with almond butter, topped with raisins. ‘nuf said.

4. Apples and dipping almond butter. Here’s my recipe for almond butter. SUPER easy!

5. “Nuts and Raisins“. This is what we call this treat at our house. It’s a favorite and actually comprised of a little dried fruit (whatever I have in the cupboard – apricots, raisins, cranberries or dates) and crispy almonds.

There you have it. A “five for Friday” – healthy easy homemade snacks. Enjoy!

Sep 16
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Tips for Talking Your Kid into Eating Those Veggies!

By | Natural Health | 2 Comments

http://www.foodconnect.org/phoenixmarket/I went to the store yesterday to purchase some almonds for our weekly snack packs and my nearly-two year old kept asking for them while we were paying our bill. The woman at the counter was amazed that my daughter wanted to eat something so healthy. I didn’t explain that I soak the nuts at our house to make them tastier and more digestible (more about this in a later post). But, it reminded me again how important it is to offer our kids healthy – and DELICIOUS options to all the junk food surrounding them.

Here are three tips for getting kids interested in healthy eating.

1. Introduce healthy foods early and often. Loving any kind of food is a learned experience so we just need to be sure we’re teaching our kids what kinds of food are delicious and healthy. We naturally crave sweet tastes so it’s easy for us to like things that are filled with sugar, especially processed sugars like granulated white sugar and corn syrup. But, if you want your kids to love veggies and fruit, those items need to appear more than cereal bars or packaged options.

  • Start with the baby food. Mash up whatever you’re eating and offer it to the baby who keeps grabbing at your dinner plate. Babies LOVE to eat what the big people eat at that phase. Add a little water if it’s too thick and whirrrrrrrrr it up in the food processor! It takes moments and costs pennies.
  • Keep offering healthy options like veggies and try different recipes if necessary. Not everyone likes broccoli and dip so “steam it, mash it, stick it in a stew” if you have to.

2. Involve your kids in the process – to help them become familiar with and love healthy foods.

  • Growing easy veggies like greens
  • Visiting the farmer’s market. Look for Phoenix Farmers’ markets here and here.
  • Talk about “Strong food” vs. being thin or fat. Our daughter is used to this way of describing food now and asks, “Mom, is candy strong food?”   “Um…not so much.”
  • Make snacks fun and colorful. Fruits and veggies come in such beautiful colors and textures, you’re sure to find something they’re like!
  • Be creative – nickname the foods if it helps. We have Disney themed food at our house and call red peppers, “Ariel Peppers”, green peppers “Jasmine Peppers” and broccoli – “Trees”.

3. Most importantly, be a good example of healthy eating to your kids. It doesn’t matter how many times you say, “Sweetie, eat it – it’s good for you,” if you don’t eat well yourself, they won’t either. Moms – be sure you sit down and eat with your kids if you’re the one serving. It’s really easy for us as moms to take care of everyone else and put ourselves on the back burner when it comes to eating. Share a moment relaxing and nourishing your body with that healthy food and be a mirror of what you want to see in your kids.

If you didn’t start early – it’s never too late. If your kids are used to sweets, start with the sweeter healthy snacks like dried fruit and work backward from there.

Healthy eating is the best form of medicine. Here’s to an apple a day!

Sep 16
0

Delicious Gluten-Free Apple Spice Muffins

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This is a great gluten-free muffin recipe that I originally discovered on Kimi Harris’s blog, The Nourishing Gourmet after trying numerous recipes with these ingredients and failing miserably (like – 5 times!). I apologize in advance for not sharing a pic today but as soon as I finished the muffins, my test kitchen audience devoured them! I’ll try to make another batch this weekend and post a pic. A note on the ingredients…

  • the recipe utilizes coconut flour – a gluten-free, fiber filled and low glycemic option to wheat flour. For the uninitiated, the glycemic index refers to how quickly a particular food triggers a rise in blood glucose levels. Increased fiber = slower release. 
  • coconut flour is a little pricey at 6.99/bag but the recipe only uses 1/2 cup for 9 muffins. And, if you’re missing baked goods while eating a gluten-free or low glycemic diet, the extra bucks may feel worth it.
  • This recipe is filled with GREAT Fat – coconut oil and good protein in the form of 3 eggs.

I made a few changes to Kimi’s recipe, including adding vanilla, decreasing the cloves and apples and adding apple cider vinegar and zucchini.

Now, before we start baking, a quick tutorial about muffins.
1. A great secret to all good baking is to be sure your ingredients are all about the same temperature before you combine them. You don’t want hot honey and oil hitting cold eggs or you’re going to have a sugary omelet on your hands! ICK!
2. Kimi mentioned in her recipe not to exceed the recommended amount of fruit. Otherwise, these muffins will be wet. I can attest to this from personal experience.
3. Most of all – do not, I repeat, do NOT over-mix muffins. You simply want to combine the ingredients and make sure they don’t have big clumps of dry flour. Be gentle.

Spiced Apple Muffins Makes 9 Muffins
Wet ingredients
1/3 cup of coconut oil
1/4 cup of honey
3 large eggs – break into a bowl right away so they’ll be close to room temp for mixing
1 t. apple cider vinegar
1 t. vanilla (optional)
Dry ingredients
1/2 cup of coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon*
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
a pinch of ground cloves (optional)
* if you don’t have all the spices, sub 1 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice
The good stuff!
1/2 c shredded apples
¼ c shredded zucchini
½ c. chopped walnuts or pecans for topping
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Prep the muffin tins with baking cups or by oiling and flouring the tins.
3. In a medium saucepan, melt, thoroughly whisk together & set aside to cool. It looks like gooey syrup.
  • Coconut oil
  • honey
4. Sift together the dry ingredients. Coconut flour can be a little lumpy so sifting will save you from over-mixing the muffins when combining the wet and dry ingredients. Measure your ingredients straight into the sifter.
  • coconut flour
  • baking soda
  • sea salt
  • cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
5. In a separate bowl, gently whisk wet ingredients together till just mixed.
  •  Eggs 
  •  Honey and coconut oil 
  • Vinegar 
6. Add dry ingredients to wet and combine with a few swift strokes (12 maximum!)
7. Pour into muffin tins and sprinkle with some chopped nuts.
8. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned and spring back to the touch.