Sponsor Spotlight: Wholly Guacamole #GetMoving2013

Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, gets me moving like good, healthy food.  Having the right balance of foods in my diet helps me maintain my energy and last through the day.  One of my very favorite foods has agreed to help keep one of my readers moving this winter with a prize package just for you! 

Meet the Wholly family!

It's true, I love Wholly products.  Their salsas are as fantastic as the guacamole.  When I say that you ought to know, I am extremely picky about salsa, I eat very little salsa.  I love their red pepper mango salsa the best and I don't eat mangoes - I think they are disgusting.. in Wholly Salsa, however.. WOW!

This Monday I shared that I am starting to calorie count.  I love it that Wholly Guacamole offers a fantastic variety of 100 calorie snack packs.  Check out this fantastic snack I had today!  Avocado Ranch from the 100 Calorie pack and some fantastic veggies.  Okay, the truth is: my 1 year old stole most of my Avocado Ranch pack, so I used Spicy Guacamole from another 100 cal pack!  It was all so delicious. 

Do you want to know why I love Wholly Guacamole so much?  I love it that I can read all of the words on the packaging.  I can go pick everything up at the store and try to make my own guacamole.  I have tried, however, and I just can't compete with their recipes.  The other reason I absolutely love Wholly products?  The flavor is amazing.  I have not found a Wholly product that I wouldn't share with all of my friends and family.  Believe me, I share them whenever I get the chance, I think they are that great.

This is what happens when we run out of guacamole.  I wish I were joking.  This is Azariah, immediately after finishing the 100 Calorie pack of Avocado ranch 15 minutes ago.  He was very angry, he wanted more!  I'm so thankful for kids that like healthy food!

Do you want to win a prize package of Wholly Guacamole?  1 reader will receive it as part of the Get Moving prize package - the Get Moving event starts January 17!  2 more readers will have an opportunity to win prize packages in the very near future.  Keep your eyes open for information about upcoming giveaways!

Are you familiar with Wholly products?  What is your favorite way to use salsa or guacamole?  Do you share these foods with friends and family?

***Disclaimer: I received a product or products for the purpose of review.  All opinions expressed are my own***

Healthy Family Date: Review

Do you ever go on "Family Dates"?  We love to go out with our boys for fun activities.  They enjoy hiking, playgrounds, shopping (yes, weird boys), library visits, and so many other things that are going on around town.  We love it that they can get excited about healthy, cultural events!

Recently we decided to look for a different kind of healthy date.  The requirements for this "big event" were 1) healthy food (remember we are working on a vegan diet);  2) lots of movement that our 2 and 4 year old could enjoy together with us; and 3) a reasonable price.  You would never believe where we found it.  We found a restaurant with a salad bar and a LOT of fun games and play areas.  The best salad bar in Fort Wayne comes at a cost of about $7 per person for all you can eat (unfortunately there are not discounts for being a young child).

We decided that we would have the amazing salad bar for myself and Mr. Crum and let the boys slack a little on healthy eating, they shared a pizza.  The package for their pizza, drinks, and a handful of tokens was only about $20.  We could easily have shared this package with our whole family of 5 and had enough to eat.  The food was fantastic.  Side note: we ate here about a year ago and did not like the pizza very well at that time.  I think they have improved their formula over the last year.

Health: Chuck E Cheese offers a variety of food options varying from extremely healthy to not so much.  There are reasonably priced choices for the whole family.  They have also just begun offering gluten free pizza and cupcakes nation wide as an option for families who are facing gluten intolerance!  Way to go Chuck E Cheese!

Cassius getting his hand stamped.

Safety: Every person that enters the doors at Chuck E Cheese is given an invisible stamp on the hand.  This special ink glows in a black light to help the gate keepers make sure that all children leave with the adults they came in with.  There are also regular sweeps of the restaurant to keep it clean and free of debris that could be harmful for visitors.  Excellent job on safety!

The big climber/slide.

Entertainment:  Chuck E Cheese has always been high on entertainment, that's their thing.  They offer an excellent variety of activities to keep the whole family going.  Our 2 year old loved the climber & slide.  Our 4 year old loved the rides & games.  We enjoyed bouncing from activity to activity with them and helping them understand how different things worked.  On this visit, our children were not very interested in the show.  They did, however, participate in a costume parade with Chuck E Cheese and dance with him to earn extra prize tickets.

Mr. Crum teaching Manasseh about air hockey.

We happened to show up during "Chucktober", which is celebrated by inviting children to come in costumes and participate in extra ticket giveaway activities.

"Dr." Manasseh dreaming of his future car.

Take Away:  We left Chuck E Cheese with a few photos and a couple of plastic frogs.  More importantly, we left with children that have a fond memory of a great day interacting with their parents.  I LOVE that my boys have those memories.  I think that a few hours at Chuck E Cheese every once in a while is a great way to build some relationship with my boys (and stay healthy while doing it).

Azariah taking his first ride - this one snaps a picture.

Recommendation:  I think that if you're okay with crowds and enjoy high levels of activity, this is a fantastic family date.  The food is amazing (yep, I'm talking about Chuck E Cheese) and the games are a lot of fun.  All games and rides are 1 token (about a quarter each - less depending on how many tokens you buy) and they can promote family togetherness.  Consider taking a trip to Chuck E Cheese to shake off the winter blahs!

THANKS CHUCK E CHEESE FOR A FUN, HEALTHY FAMILY DATE!

***Disclaimer: I did receive a product or products in exchange for this review.  All opinions are my own.***

Keri Jo's Champagne Chicken... with a few revisions

Thanks Keri Jo for the excellent recipe for champagne chicken... I don't eat mushrooms, so I made a few revisions to come up with this fantastic crock pot chicken meal.

1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 can of cream of celery soup
4 chicken breasts
1 package of cream cheese
a scoop of sour cream
1 packet of italian seasoning mix
1 soup can of milk
1/2 an onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped (I've got to use up some of my veggies before they go bad)
2 carrots, sliced
1 cup of rice


Okay, so I added a few different veggies, but it's mostly the same, it smells delicious, the sauce is thinner than I expected (because of the added milk) so I added rice to thicken it... can't wait to share it with my family tonight.

Best of all - Monkey got to help with cooking this super easy meal!

Tropical Traditions Coconut Flour Review & Coconut Oil Giveaway

Comment #33 wins!

Congratulations Mrs. Smitty!

You may recall that we have some food intolerance problems at my house.  Crackers is allergic to eggs and peanuts, Monkey has trouble with gluten, and I have trouble with milk!  This makes our menu a pleasure to concoct each week as we work around everyone's difficulties.  Honestly, I do enjoy coming up with creative solutions to our various needs, and I love trying new food products to help with that!

Recently, my dear cousin Erika sent me information about Tropical Traditions.  At first I did not recognize it as anything more than a great source for healthy, organic food products, but as you search their site, you can find so much more.  Tropical Traditions sells everything from Coconut flour to pet products!  Seriously, you've just got to look at their site to grasp all that they have to offer that will improve the lives and health of your family.

Here is a quote directly from their site about how they select products:
We have a strong commitment to family farming and organic standards. We stand firmly against genetically modified foods (No GMOs). But the organic label is not enough for us. We research and find out where the products are produced, and how they are produced. We find that some organic standards too loose for our trust, so we look beyond what is claimed on a label. We find out as much as possible about those who provide the products. And if a certain quality of product does not exist, we will work with others to produce that product and offer it to our consumers.

I have had the opportunity to sample and review Tropical Traditions Coconut Flour.  It is gluten free, high in fiber, and high in protein.  Did I mention that it smells fantastic, AND it tastes good?  My first attempt at cooking with coconut flour was an interesting venture.  I thought that surely I could just replace my regular flour with coconut flour in a recipe to make something delicious.  Monkey and I decided to make egg-free chocolate chip cookies with the coconut flour.  I would offer to share my recipe, but I promise - you don't want it.  They didn't taste bad, but had a weird texture.  After I figured out I had done something wrong, I decided to do a little reading about coconut flour... read first, bake later!

While I was reading about why my cookies were so weird, I discovered that you can use coconut flour as a fiber additive in foods, or even as a fiber drink.  It doesn't take much to make a tasty, thick fiber drink.  Tropical Traditions offers a whole page filled with coconut flour recipes.   I can't wait to try some more of their recipes.  I know my family will love them (they loved the cookies even though I thought that they had an odd texture).  For more coconut recipes, check out the coconut recipe blog.

You can get a copy of Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil Book for free.  Here's how:  When you make an order on the Tropical Traditions website, choose "referred by a friend" and enter the ID number 7349089.  The book will automatically be added to your order.  (I get nothing for your orders other than a smile and the knowledge that you got a free book).  If you have any difficulty placing your first order, use this link to contact customer service. 

WIN IT

  One of my readers will win a quart of coconut oil!  This contest is open to residents of the US and Canada only.  Winner will be selected using random.org at noon EST on Saturday, April 9. 

 Mandatory Entry

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Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Onion Pie

*This is not an egg-free recipe.

3 onions, thinly sliced.  The original recipe recommended vidalia onions.
1/4 c butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
1, 9 inch pie shell, baked
1/4 c parmesan cheese
1 pinch paprika
2 tbsp hot sauce
1/4 c parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 375.  Cook onions in butter until soft, reserve juices.  Mix onions with eggs and sour cream.  Add in juice from onions, butter and cheese until well blended.  Pour all ingredients into pie shell.  Top with cheese and paprika.  Bake 20 minutes.  Turn heat down to 350, bake an additional 30-40 minutes, until lightly browned on top.  Allow to cool before serving.


*** I am NOT a direction follower when it comes to my food.  This is not exactly how I made mine, I forgot things like "put cheese on top..." and "allow to cool".  I thought it was good warm, I enjoyed the onion pie.  Others were not quite as sold on it.  I think we would have preferred a little more egg, and we might have liked a crust - ours had no crust, as crusts have carbs!

My Egg-free, Peanut-free, Gluten-free, Low Carb Life: Menu 5

Truth be known, I did NOT follow my diet this weekend.  Am I proud? No, but I'm also not frustrated with myself.  I took a 3 day break and am starting fresh.. right now.  My no carb (or ultra low carb) diet is working for me right now in the way I want it to work, so it's back on for another week.  Randy is done with it, but he'll still be eating low carb (because his wife packs his lunch).

Without further adieu, here is the menu for this week:

Sunday - Onion Pie - I'll be posting the recipe and pictures for this one soon, hopefully tomorrow
Monday - Broccoli Casserole - this keeps showing up and getting pushed off for other things
Tuesday - Veggie Soup with tomato base
Wednesday - Curried Chicken, broccoli (rice and oranges for the carb eaters)
Thursday - Sausages, Peppers, and Onions
Friday - Stuffed Peppers (filled with ground turkey and veggies)
Saturday - Cheese Quesedillas, guacamole, salsa, (pears for my carb eaters) - I'm giving myself a scheduled break for dinner on Saturday (=

My Egg-free, Peanut-free, Gluten-free, Low-carb life: Menu 3

Here is this week's menu for our house - some day I'll get it figured out BEFORE the middle of the week.  This week Randy and I are going carb free (or at least as much as we are able) - no fruits or breads at all.  Oh my do I want some chocolate! I did not include breakfasts and lunches, as lunch is always leftovers.

Monday - Zucchini Lasagna in the crock pot (sounds gross but my is it great)
Tuesday - Green Peppers stuffed with ground turkey and veggies, topped with cheese
Wednesday - Boca Burgers and Brussel Sprouts
Thursday - Chicken and Green Beans
Friday - Broccoli Casserole
Saturday - Soup
Sunday - Taco Salad (minus chips or tortillas)

And back to Gluten Free

I did a good job at keeping Manasseh on a gluten free diet for about a week.  He had no trouble with his belly that week.  Then I got lax and after a few days of mama being lax about gluten, he started in with belly troubles.  He just cries and cries when I have to change his diaper, and he doesn't want to wear underwear because he can't control his body right now.  Ugh!  So here it is, 2 days before Christmas, and I'm putting my 2 year old back on a diet.  This is NOT going to be fun to deal with over the next 2 weeks as we're traveling and in and out of family activities.  Have I mentioned that my dad's family is Ukrainian and we love gluten?  Breads, cookies, pastries of all sorts... Not sure how I'll deal with that yet on New Year's Day!  Does anyone have suggestions about how to help him through the holidays?

Gluten and egg free chicken nuggets

Okay, so I cheated.  I started with chicken strips, just plain unbreaded strips, and I cut them into chunks and breaded them. I needed "bread" crumbs for my meatloaf too, so here is how I made the breading for both.

I pulled out my handy-dandy $3 mini-food chopper that I got at Wal-mart on Black Friday.  I put a hand full of corn tortilla chips into it, and let my 2 year old chop away.  He loves pushing the button and making the whirrring sound.  I did this several times. 

Once I had what looked like enough chips, I added a bit of Parmesan cheese and mixed it up.

I took my bits of chickens and coated them in the chip/cheese breading.. threw them into the oven at 400 for about 10 minutes.. and.. wala! Chicken nuggets.

Now, the chip breading doesn't taste quite like flour breading (because it's corn).. so in my opinion, they need some type of dipping sauce.. but overall, they're not too bad.

Do you have a favorite gluten/egg free recipe?

My Egg-free, Peanut-free, Gluten-free, Low-carb life (did I mention we don't eat much meat)

Okay, so a couple of months ago we found out that Cassius is allergic to egg whites and peanuts, since I breastfeed, I had to avoid those foods for a period of one month, then try eating them again to see how he reacted.  He reacted with some pretty good congestion.. no more eggs and peanuts for me until he is done nursing!

Several years ago I was confirmed to be diabetic... that means, low carb goodness for me.  Not an easy task, especially for a bread lover in a family of bread lovers!

A couple of weeks ago Cash's therapist recommended that we try a gluten-free diet with Manasseh to help with "hyperactivity" (for the record, I don't think he's hyperactive.. I think he's 2 1/2).  I did a little bit of reading about gluten free diets and symptoms of gluten intolerance and I wonder if he might have some difficulty with gluten.

SO... officially today, we start our new diet.  It's not as bad as it sounds, it just takes some creativity!

Tuesday night - Chili and broccoli (the chili had soyrizzo in it instead of meat)
Wednesday - Breakfast: Yogurt, Lunch: Cocktail wieners, carrots with taziki sauce, tomatoes, and bananas, Dinner: Hot Italian sausages with sauted onions and peppers.
Thursday - Breakfast: Bananas and Blueberries (yogurt for mama, no fruit), Lunch: Cheese Quesedillas on corn tortillas, tomatoes, frozen veggies, Dinner: Veggie Stir Fry with Brown rice and oranges
Friday - Breakfast: Egg (for Manasseh), Oatmeal for mama and Cash, Lunch:  Cheese soup, salad, yogurt Dinner: Meatloaf with applesauce and cornbread instead of eggs and crackers, Mashed Garlic Cauliflower,  Chinese green beans
Saturday- Daddy date with Manasseh for breakfast and Lowes, Mama and Cash will eat cereal while Nasa's away, Lunch: Parmesan breaded chicken, salad, oranges, Dinner: Tacos with beans (not meat) and corn tortillas, applesauce.

Not so bad, huh?