A survival snack

Update: We are doing great around here without sugar. I am so impressed. But we can't wait for some Thanksgiving dessert.

Here is another really easy and yummy treat.

Pumpkin Seed and Dried Cherry Trail Mix

The recipe came from here.

Ingredients

• 2 cups baby pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 3/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 6 tablespoons pure Grade B maple syrup
• Coarse salt
• 1 cup dried cherries or cranberries (If you have a Harmons -best dried cherries are in their packaged bulk food section or WinCo or I hear Whole Foods).

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

In a large bowl, toss the pumpkin seeds, almonds, and sunflower seeds and the syrup until evenly coated. Spread the nuts and seeds out, in an even single layer, on the lined baking sheets and season with salt to taste. Bake the nuts, stirring several times with spatula or wooden spoon, until just golden, about 20 minutes.

Cool the nuts completely on the pan, then add the cherries and toss to combine. Store cooled trail mix in an airtight container at room temperature.

Crazy Temptations are Making This Hard

I have done fairly well on this little no sugar challenge until today. I have felt cravings ALL day. Maybe spending half my day in a doctor's office again is starting to get to me. Then I stopped a Costco for some chicken but it felt like the whole store was one big chocolate covered something. But then it really hit when my neighbor brought over these huge gooey brownies with marshmallows and frosting. They looked divine and then I opened the bag and smelled them. Oh the torture. I went through the longest mental battle. I get a treat a week but I had decided that Sunday would be the day this week.

Oh. My. This is good for me. And I am just going to keep telling myself that.

Afterschool Snack

Everyone was happy with our snack today.

picture from delightful delicacies

These Lara-like bars are so yummy. Super easy to make. And they satisfy the craving for a treat. Plus they are pretty good for you too. So nice to have something that is made of just a few real things. Nothing extra.

Check out the recipe here.

Healthy Snacking

picture from Word of Wisdom Living

One essential way to make it through this no sugar deal is to have snacks and options available. This is one of my favorites. And it really helps my kids. Prepare a snack plate. A plate full of good options and you will be surprised...you will eat it and so will your kids. Read about it here.

My sisters talked me into trying almond butter. I am not much of a peanut butter fan. Unless it is a peanut butter cup or a peanut butter cookie. But we all agreed that almond butter is pretty good and a good way to add some healthy fat and protein to a snack. Yesterday we liked it on celery and apples. Today we had almond butter and cooked apples on french toast (no syrup for me and a little pure maple syrup for the kids).

One of my most favorite snacks - Nova Granola. Jane makes it. You can read about it here. She has lots of good ideas about granola and healthy eating in general. You can even order some from her. It makes a yummy snack and an excellent gift.                    (picture from Jane)

A Very Happy 3 Year Old

This little girl has been begging for her birthday for many months. All summer long she would tell complete strangers, "it's my birthday." She is smart. She figured out really fast that if she told her Aunt Monette that it was her birthday, she would get a little treat. She worked that one.

She loved all the attention today and knew all the details. Quite the birthday diva.

She was thrilled to have a party with her friends. Since she turned 3 on the 3rd it was her GOLDEN birthday so we went all gold.

Rather than cake we had pumpkin and chocolate whoopie pies. Oh my. Turns out she just wanted candy. Oh well.

The kids love hitting a pinata to pieces. It was full of gold chocolate coins, of course.

We love Quinn and are so grateful she is part of our family. She makes all of us happy (unless she is in Quinzilla mode - destroying some little project or thing that belongs to someone).

Quinn loves to pray. She she comes up with some great things to add to our family prayers. Today for example "Bless Teague to not be hit with a basketball." ?

Quinn loves her friends. She is very social. But we are working on sharing at the moment.

Quinn loves to watch shows.

Quinn is very concerned about anyone that is hurt - especially Kenyon.

Quinn really loves her brothers and sister and wants to be just as big. She thinks she can wrestle, play hide and seek, soccer, and scooter just like them. She doesn't mind being with me but she really loves to be with them. And they are good sports about having a little shadow. But watch out she might steal your candy or chapstick and not even be sad about it.

PS Thanks to Jane, Kristine, and Egan for all the party help. If you want lots of good party ideas on any theme - email Kristine. But she should start charging. Brilliant. Egan can design anything - she always saves the day on my invites. And Jane is an awesome photographer despite my really crappy lighting in my house. And she did lots of my errands. Hooray for being off track. :)

No Sugar Day 2

Guess who turns 3 in half an hour? I will post about her tomorrow. She kills us daily. I wish I kept a better record because she says some of the funniest things.

But to the point of the post...

This is hard. But hooray for people joining me. It definitely makes it easier. In fact, I have to try so hard to be encouraging and motivating to the kids that I can't really worry about how much I would love a handful of chocolate chips or any of their candy in the cupboard (which why am I keeping that?).

One of my favorite blogs that motivates me to be healthier is Word of Wisdom Living. You should read it if you don't. Every week he offers a new challenge. This week it was perfect. It was about the power of friends. I am grateful for awesome friends and family who are trying to make their lives healthier even when it is hard.

Today felt harder than usual. Because I was starving the entire day while I sat in a dumb hospital waiting room. The only option was free Lorna Doone's in a basket or a junk in the vending machine. I did bring a baggie of veggies with some hummus. But I thought we would be done before 7:30 pm. Wrong.

Kenyon had a 30 minute little procedure to stitch up an open wound on his knee. Simple really. But no...we checked in at 12:30 and left at 7:30. All I wanted was some M&Ms to get me through that.

Then I came home and just made a gazillion whoopie pies for this little darlin's birthday. And that was tempting. Someone please come eat them tomorrow night. I can't be left with all of them.

Today I am thankful for awesome friends who take care of my kids for way more hours then they wanted to and all the kind offers of meals and help and prayers. Thanks.

Come on...Try it with me!

Sugar-Free November - 1 MONTH!

For all of you who are saying "Good idea but I can't do it (or don't want to)"... Come on. If I am going to try it then you can too. And you get a free pass on Thursday because it is Quinn's Golden Birthday!

Seriously, I know this will be hard. And Gavin is even more addicted but he is willing to try.

We decided to approach it as an experiment. How do we feel? What difference does it make? Can we do something hard (I know that is kind of lame in the scheme of hard things but it is hard for us)?

I have been thinking about this challenge for months now and thanks to Jane, I am forced to commit. So now I am challenging you. You can make your own rules but make them good. I say at minimum: no candy, cookies, desserts, pop, treats. You decide. Things loaded with sugar. I am not studying every label. You can have one free serving of a treat once a week. So probably not 3 brownies on Sunday night - just one.

Join me? 1 Month (Thanksgiving Weekend is off. Just go for it.)

Couple links Jane sent me to help motivate. Here and here

Halloween Robbers

This year we went with the robber/burglar theme. Someone in my family may have been concerned that I promote this type of behavior. Clearly, I do not. But the kids thought it was fun and such an easy costume. Way too late to make it happen, I realized that Kenyon and I should have dressed up as police officers. That would have been perfect but I don't think of things in good time.

It was a very successful Halloween for candy. Thanks to my friend and trick-or-treat partner Jen (who always has great ideas), my kids gave up HALF of their candy to the Air Force to be used in care packages for soldiers. Brilliant. And then my sister Jane (who also always has good ideas but a little more challenging) challenged us to go sugar free for November. My kids agreed to the challenge but we are all totally scared. (we are allowing one treat a week and the weekend of Thanksgiving off) I am putting this out there in hopes that it will keep us accountable. But trust me - the fact that I have 4 bags of Halloween candy downstairs is KILLING ME!

PS - our family definition of sugar free for November is not as crazy as truly sugar free. We are just eliminating treats, candy, cookies, pop, etc. Traditional dessert and treat type items. I am not studying every label and doing stuff life that. Maybe some day.