'Cocoa' for Bananas

This is our adventure in the culinary world as I prepare fun & healthy eats for my 8 year old son, Christian. Our fire behind this quest is he has Acid Reflux. Our goal is to eat his way thru this discomfort by avoiding bad foods and making healthier choices. Sounds easy right? Wrong! This is a boy who hangs from the fridge and swings from the pantry door so what better to start my little monkey out with than bananas.

Yesterday when searching for an afterschool snack "Cocoa-Nut Bananas" popped up on several different sites so decided to give it a try. It called for Cocoa Powder, Toasted Unsweetened coconut, bananas (sliced on the bias). You simply roll the bananas in cocoa powder, then dip in coconut. They didn't look as good as the online pictures, but hey... what do you expect?

When Christian came home from school and saw his snack sitting on the kitchen table he was so excited. He rushed to wash his hands and sit and take a taste. The fist banana slice was a success. "Yummy!" The second slice back-fired with a puff of cocoa. Christian got up from the table and grabbed a plain ol' banana from the peel and enjoyed it much more. My first failed attempt, but at least he still ate a healthy banana!

What is a healthy breakfast?

Ok so I have to admit that breakfast at our household during school days had been very rushed and not so healthy. I would always let Christian pick out the oh so common cereal box that we all see advertised on TV. I'd pour a heap of sugary cereal with 2% milk into a bowl and set it on the table. I've obviously been slacking and taking the easy, unhealthy way out. Breakfast is referred to as the most important meal of the day, but somehow I don't think that a bowl full of sugar is what they are talking about. Breakfast is supposed to refuel my child and help boost his brain power for a busy day at school. Recently I've been making a better attempt to start Christian's day out with a healthier meal. I am keeping on my track of incorporating more fruits and because we have a super-sized box of cornflakes in the pantry I figured we'd have to use them up first. At a closer look at the labeling though I realized that the cornflakes aren't so bad compared to...

Greek Pita

Keeping up with healthy eating is not an easy task. We have been eating reasonably well, but it is tough to break old habits. I caved once in the past bit and grabbed Burger King for dinner for the family. This past Friday evening was beautiful and I really didn't feel like attempting some big meal. I had already had thaw ed some boneless, skinless chicken breast and thought that some sort of sandwich would be ideal. We had all the fixin's for a Greek Pita so that's what I did. I love my Wolfgang Puck Panini Maker and use it for almost everything including to grill chicken. I didn't add any seasoning... just threw them on two at a time. I got together all of the ingredients: Whole Wheat Pita Pockets, diced onion & tomato, sliced black olives, feta cheese and lettuce. For lettuce I always use my lettuce spinner that I bought at Costco some time ago. Christian absolutely loves when I call him to spin the lettuce out. It's like a toy to him. I also used...

Mango-Avocado Salsa with BBQ Chicken

One of my favorite foods in the whole wide world is avocado. It's a great thing to love because they have nearly 20 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins, and folic acid. The only thing that I need to be careful with is that they are loaded with calories as well. One whole medium sized avocado is a whooping 250 calories! I was recipe searching back in April and came upon a mango-avocado salsa that I just had to try. We've had mango salsa many times before, but adding avocado was a whole new ball game. It was quite simple... cubed avocado, mango (I used frozen), and tomato, plus some diced red onion. Mix it all up and there you go. I served it over BBQ grilled chicken. Usually we have our chicken smothered with BBQ sauce, but this time I only marinaded it in some Budwiser brand BBQ sauce. Millard put it on the grill and held off on the extra sauce. It was a good choice. Our sides were sauteed a mix of fresh and frozen peas and asparagus.

Healthy Family Hangout

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