25 Days of Christmas

It's been a while since you've heard from us.  We know you're all waiting with baited breath for a new post from Grab Your Greens!  {wink}  We'll be straight with you - it's just not a priority right now.  And that's okay!  We are busy enjoying our beautiful children.  Our oldest kids are in school, and that keeps us super busy, as ironic as that may seem to those of you without school age children.  And our littlest ones are still at home with us, but will all be starting Kindergarten August 2013.  As in, 8 months from now.  Let's not even get started on how weird that is!  (I'm thinking it will be a sob fest for me!)  They're still our "babies".  They seem so little.  I think we've lost perspective having a big kid, how tiny Kindergarteners are.  The clock is ticking and we're busy treasuring having our babies home with us. 

So, in the Spirit of Christmas, here's a little fun for today, inspired by a 25 Days of Blogging Challenge...

Plant-Strong Kids, Week 8

Click below for Engine 2 Diet, Plant-Strong Kids, Week 8 printables:

Week 8

If your child has completed all eight weeks, you may print this fun certificate for them!

Plant-Strong Kids, Week 7

Click below for Engine 2 Diet, Plant-Strong Kids, Week 7 printables:

Week 7

Plant-Strong Kids, Week 6

Click below for Engine 2 Diet, Plant-Strong Kids, Week 6 printables:

Week 6

Plant-Strong Kids, Week 5

For some reason, I thought the Engine 2 Diet Plant-Strong Kids was a 4 week series, but apparently I was wrong!  So, here you go, Week 5...


Click here to connect to the Daily Beet (E2 blog), where you will find the link for Week 5 printables.


Or, go directly to the Week 5 printables here.

Plant-Strong Kids, Week 4

Find your way over to the Daily Beet, the Engine 2 Diet blog, where you'll find information about their Plant-Strong Kids summer series, week 4. 

Or, you can go directly to this week's printable resources, by clicking here.

Plant-Strong Kids, Week 3

Enjoy Week 3 of The Engine 2 Diet's Plant-Strong Kids Summer Series.  These are such great printables to use with your kids!

Week 3

After clicking on the above link, which takes you to the Engine 2 Daily Beet blog, click on
PlantStrongKidsWeek3 to download the printables for this week.

Plant-Strong Kids, Week 2

Plant-Strong Kids Summer Series, Week 2

Be sure to click on PlantStrongKidsWeek2 link in the middle of the blog post, to pull up the printable resources!

Plant-Strong Kids, Week 1

We posted this on our Facebook page today, but it is really great information and is worthy of appearing on the blog... 

Engine 2 Diet is running a weekly Plant-Strong Kids series in July and August.  From the E2 website:

"Every week in July and August we will have an easy-to-print PDF for kids and parents! Each week we will have articles, games, tips for parents, challenges, recipes and more. At the end of the summer we will have a printable PDF certificate for kids who participated!"

If you're looking for a way to educate your kids about good food choices and get them more involved in the process, this is a great place to start!  Fabulous printables, challenges, etc.!

Plant-Strong Kids, Week 1 will take you to The Engine 2 Diet's blog, The Daily Beet, where you can learn about this great four week series.  From there, you can click on the link to download the printables, or simply click here for week 1 printables.

Let's be intentional about educating (& feeding) our kids well!

dawn

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!

Stuffed Peppers

A friend shared this recipe last week and it sounded so yummy and easy!  I don’t make two meals for my family each night as my girls really do try (and like) most of the recipes I make.  But tonight’s dish combined several ingredients and I didn’t think my girls would appreciate the flavors.  So, I made them a vegetable stir-fry instead.  I was very wrong as they loved it and wanted seconds!  I tell you this to encourage you on your journey of feeding your kids nutritious meals.  Never underestimate what they will eat and keep trying new foods each week.   It’s a journey for them as well, and I bet you will look back in a year and see how big their rainbow of colors food chart has gotten because you kept trying!

Ingredients:
4 small to medium green, red, or yellow sweet peppers
1 cup cooked brown rice

1 15 ounce can chili beans or baked beans (we recommended Eden's Chili Beans)

1 15 ounce can or two 8-ounce cans no-salt-added tomato sauce

1/3
cup finely chopped onion

Chili powder (optional)

Directions:

Remove tops, membranes, and seeds from sweet peppers. Chop enough tops to make 1/3 cup and set aside. If necessary, cut a thin slice from the bottom of each pepper so they sit flat. In a medium bowl stir together rice and undrained beans.  Spoon mixture into the peppers. Pour tomato sauce into the bottom of a slow cooker and add reserved chopped pepper and onion to the sauce. Place peppers, filled side up, in the slow cooker.

Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 6 to 6-1/2 hours or on high-heat setting for 3 to 3-1/2 hours.  To serve, transfer peppers to serving plate and cut in half, if desired. Spoon tomato sauce over peppers and sprinkle with chili powder if desired.

enjoy-

leanne

Note: (This recipe was adapted from the Skinny Slow-Cooker Better Homes and Garden Magazine.)

Eat a rainbow

We posted this fabulous link on our Grab Your Greens Facebook page, but we are aware we have at least a handful of readers who aren't on Facebook, so we wanted to make it available to you, too.


Print this cute rainbow coloring sheet for your kids and have a fun, healthy competition on eating the colors of the rainbow, in a day, a few days, or over the course of a week! 


Color Your World


And, just a note of trivia for our non-Facebook fans, you can bookmark and still view our GYG Facebook Page, without having to be a member!  You just cannot participate in discussions.  We do typically post more frequently on our Facebook page, than we do our blog, so it is worth it to check it out for little words of encouragement, inspiration, or short tips & tricks for living healthier!


Eat a rainbow today-
Dawn