Mango Lime Bean Salad

1 mango, peeled & diced

One 15 oz. can black beans (or cannellini), drained & rinsed

1/4 c. diced red onion

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

2 T. lime juice

Combine all ingredients.  Adjust amount of cilantro and lime juice to your liking.  Chill for several hours before serving, to allow ingredients to blend.  Eat as is, or with chips as a salsa, or served over a bed of greens as a delicious salad.  This recipe serves 2.  Double or triple to serve a family or have leftovers!

Strawberry Syrup

Arrowhead Mills Organic Buckweat Pancake & Waffle Mix is what we most frequently use to make pancakes for our families.  It is a great whole grain, no sugar, pancake mix.  However, to keep it plant-strong and amp up the nutrition, we make some simple substitutions to the pancake recipe on the back.

• Instead of 1 egg, we use 1 flax egg (1 T. ground flax whisked in small bowl with 3 T. cold water.  Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes, or until gooey like an egg, before adding to other ingredients)
• Instead of 2 tsp. canola oil, we use 2 tsp. unsweetened applesauce
• Instead of 3/4 c. milk, we use non-dairy milk such as unsweetened almond or soy milk

Fun additions to pancake batter: 

P.O.W.E.R. Clean Eating Challenge Debrief

We recently wrapped up leading our first Clean Eating Challenge.  Several of our POWER girls said they would love to see a debrief blog post.  You asked, we deliver! 

First, a huge THANK YOU to those of you who took the time to fill out surveys for us!  We (& many of you) really wanted a face-to-face debrief meeting with all of you at the conclusion of the Challenge.  But, because May very well may be the craziest month of the year, especially for those of us with school aged children on a traditional school calendar, we were not able to make it work out this time.  Which is why your feedback was even more important to us!  Thank you!

Fitness Friday

I get a "nudging" (as my friend Jenni calls it) to write sometimes.  I've had a nudging, but I haven't had the time.  And now that my kids finished school two weeks ago for the summer (cue angels singing!), I HAVE THE TIME!  If I could send them to school half the time, and homeschool the other half, I'd totally do that in a minute.  Because, man, the school rat-race is tough!  If you have kids in school (real school, not preschool), you know what I'm talking about.  The month of May is IN-SANE.  Definitely worse than December, which ranks right up there.  And every year seems to get a little more insane.  How is that?!  I always thought that when they started school things would slow down.  Ask any mom with big kids and they'll tell you I was dead wrong!  But, I digress...The point is, I have TIME.  Time to actually enjoy my kids (instead of my kids' to-do lists!), time to try new recipes, time to actually read a book, or blog.  It's been at least 9 months since I had TIME.  Such a precious commodity.

So, What Are You Feeding Your Kids For Lunch?

For many of us moms, as summer rolls around, we are SUPER excited to not be packing lunches anymore! The prep work the night before, making sure the right lunch bags go into the correct book bag, and washing those smelly containers after school is put on pause for summer vacation!
Unfortunately our kids still have to eat (ha!), so we are left with what to prepare for lunch!  We do find ourselves still packing for play dates, pool outings, and running errands (a packed lunch in our cute containers are our new version of drive thrus.)  So, with a little more time and a microwave and stove option, these are our favorite quick summer lunches to feed our kiddos!

My Kind of Celebrity...

One of my favorite stores EVER is Southern Season in Chapel Hill, NC.  From the fresh flowers, gourmet chocolates, wine selection, and stationary, it's a southern girls' dream store.  As if that wasn't enough to win you over, Southern Season has a Cooking School that hosts local chefs, as well as internationally known chefs who teach culinary lessons to folks like you and me.  As part of the audience you get to see cooking techniques up close, ask the experts questions, and the best part is you get to eat what they prepare!  I've taken a few classes before, but my favorite by far was the class taught by Robin Asbell Bentley and I recently attended!

(I love learning and being in a classroom - especially talking about plant foods!) 

French Toast

1 banana, mashed

2/3 c. unsweetened almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)

2 t. vanilla extract

1 t. cinnamon

4-6 slices whole grain bread

Combine banana, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon in a shallow bowl or plate.  Quickly coat each side of the bread slices in the mixture, and cook in a nonstick skillet on medium heat, until lightly browned on each side.  I served with a super small sprinkle of powdered sugar and maple syrup.  For my 3 year old twins, I cut in strips and we called them French Toast Sticks.  This went over well, as they remembered the (incredibly unhealthy) French Toast Sticks we used to eat in our "former processed food life".

(adapted from The Engine 2 Diet)