simple.green.organic.happy.

Green living, playful parenting and the pursuit of happiness

Easy Healthy Valentine’s Day Snack, plus Heavenly Dip Recipe

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healthy valentines day snack for kids

 

Life’s greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved.
-Victor Hugo

 

I always hated V-Day until the kids came along. But I love doing stupid little things for them on this day.

(You can read my previous rantings about the dreaded day of romance here. Seriously, you want to click on that link, there’s a dirty picture of bugs. One of my favorites.)

This year I’m showing some lovin’ with food… although really, don’t all mothers show their love through food every day?

 

kid valentines day snack

 

We’ve got kiwis and strawberries and Pink Ladies… organic lemonade with organic pomegranate juice ice cubes… and healthified Heavenly Dip.

I don’t know if everybody calls it Heavenly Dip. That’s how they label it at my grocery store, and its cream cheese sweetness is one of my weaknesses. I will eat fruit all day and night as long as I have this dip on hand.

I’m fairly certain the stuff at the grocery store is full of sugar and preservatives, so I trial-and-errored my way to a fresh homemade version.

As always, I played it fast and loose with the measurements. Taste test to your heart’s desire.

 

homemade fruit yogurt dip

 

Homemade Heavenly Yogurt Dip

  • warm some cream cheese (in the microwave at half power for 30 seconds). I used about 1/3 of the bar.
  • add plain kefir (it’s low fat, full of calcium and protein) until smooth and stirrable
  • add sugar to taste (I didn’t use much, didn’t want to overpower the sweetness of the fruit)
  • splash with vanilla, because everything tastes better with vanilla
  • attempt to refrain from licking bowl clean.

 

lemonade with pomegranate ice cubes

 

I looove organic lemonade with pomegranate juice. Usually I make juices fizzy with carbonated water from our SodaStream (it’s a great way to stretch your juice dollar, esp when you’re shelling out for the organic versions; but it cuts down on sugar intake too. Just tell your kids it’s soda!).

For V Day I show the love with full-flavor lemonade; the pomegranate gets frozen in candy molds to make heart-shaped ice cubes.

When the ice cubes melt, you’ve got pink lemonade 🙂

(In the summer, freeze the lemonade into cubes… drop them into water or iced tea for a bit of sweet zing.)

 

Sweets for the sweet!

How are you showing your loved ones your heart today?

 

 

 

 

How Gatorade & Top Ramen Move Through Your Body (Video)

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What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others.
-Lucretius

 

So, this is fascinating and gross, one of my favorite combinations.

It’s a video Stefani Bardin created for TEDxManhattan. Subjects first swallowed devices dubbed ‘SmartPill’ and ‘M2A’ (that’s ‘Mouth to Anus’ and don’t you forget it). One then ate a meal comprised of blue Gatorade, a bowl of Top Ramen and some gummy bears. The other ate noodles that were homemade, gummy bears made from pomegranate juice, washed down by hibiscus juice. Both meals sound pretty nasty to me (Gatorade isn’t meant to be drunk with food, in my opinion, but especially not with ramen), but the intent of the video and study is to illustrate the difference between processed and real foods as they travel through your body. Enjoy.

 

 

Fatal Attraction: Cosmetics and Chemicals

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What’s in that lotion you’re slathering all over your newborn’s delicate skin?

How about in that mascara which comes in contact with your eyes?

It’s important to think about what’s in your beauty products— because this is is stuff you put on your skin (your largest organ) over and over again to be absorbed into your body. What might be the long-term effects of that exposure? It could be ugly.

To see how your fave products stack up, search for them on EWG’s Skin Deep Database or on the Good Guide. (Download the Good Guide app and you can just scan a product’s barcode with your phone to get its score!)

 

cosmetics toxic

 Created by: Cosmetology School