Category: Food

Easy Lunch Ideas for Picky Eaters
Packing lunches for kids who are on the pickier side can be HARD. I am always looking for easy lunch ideas for picky eaters. I know how difficult that can be from experience, I have two kids who used to love a variety of foods, but now tell me a new food they don’t like almost daily. Their recent “hate” food – peanut butter. I mean, PEANUT BUTTER! What? Yes, crazy I know.

Because of this, I have struggled to make them what I will call *semi-healthy lunches every day. And I know what you’re thinking, just let them get a hot lunch at school. See, that’s what I offered at first. I knew it wouldn’t be as healthy as what I would be providing, but it would save me some time and allow the kids to choose their own food. Do you know what they said? They don’t want hot lunch because they don’t like the choices! 🤦🏼‍♀️ Seriously, my kids don’t even like pizza or mac and cheese with bread crumbs.

So, here I am posting photos of the lunches I found my kids will actually eat. The lunches below are just some simple, fast ideas that work for us. If you’re here reading this post, chances are you have a picky eater at home too. Hopefully, this post gives you some ideas for yours!

*I say “semi-healthy” because I usually don’t include vegetables. The kids will just not eat the veggies and I end up throwing them out. I try to stick to whole grains, high-protein and organic products when possible. But, it’s not always possible.

Easy Lunch Ideas for Picky Eaters
1. Bagel with berry cream cheese, organic string cheese, kiwi, strawberries and nutter butter cookies.
2. Homemade “Lunchables” Organic Triscuit crackers, organic provolone cheese, all natural turkey breast, clementine, grapes and mini chocolate chip cookies.
3. Homemade Healthy Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal (Recipe from Fit Foodie Finds here: https://fitfoodiefinds.com/pumpkin-baked-oatmeal/), organic string cheese, apple slices (Pink Lady, our favorite) and Skinny Pop Popcorn.
4. “Chocolate Peanut butter” banana roll-ups (I mix peanut butter with small amount of honey and chocolate plant-based Orgain Protein Powder), berry mix, frozen Chobani Yogurt tube (the LOVE when I freeze the tubes and feel like they’re eating a popsicle for lunch, and an Oreo.
5. High protein Kodiak Waffles with maple cream cheese (I mix a small amount of maple syrup with cream cheese), frozen yogurt tube, berry mix and an Oreo.
Our Favorite Lunch Containers

These are the containers in the pictures – Ziploc Divided Rectangle Containers
These are great because my kindergartner can open them easily, they are cheap enough that I don’t get mad if a piece gets lost, and they are recyclable.

I really want to try these! – Glass containers with silverware

Nanette’s Favorite – Bentgo Kids’ Leakproof Lunch Box

Other ideas:
Check out our Raddish Kids Subscription Box review to get kids cooking!
March 10, 2020
How to Decorate a Store Bought-Cake so you don't Have to Bake!
I love creating fun, themed parties for my daughter’s birthdays. A big part of the party theme is the cake, but with all the other planning that goes into a party, I stopped actually baking the cakes and starting buying cakes from Costco and re-decorating them. By doing it this way I know the cake will taste delicious, but I still get to be a part of decorating something more personalized for my kids. Below is the basic idea of how I do it. There are affiliate links at the bottom of the post to most of the items I used.

Usually, I gently scrape the excess frosting off the cake and redecorate with my own frosting and party-themed style. In the picture below, I bought the round chocolate fudge cake (the one with all the chocolate shavings on the top) and added my own bright frosting, sprinkles, and LOL Doll decorations to the top. Pro tip: when you buy a cake with chocolate shavings on top, you get to eat them while removing them from the cake. Yum!

This year, however, the round fudge cake was not available. So I decided to buy a plain sheet cake and try to wing it. It worked out surprisingly well! Everyone around here loves Costco’s chocolate sheet cake and it wasn’t as difficult for me to rework as I thought it would be. Take a look at how I did it below for my daughter’s mermaid cake!

I started with this plain chocolate sheet cake. I used a bench scraper to gently scrape off the excess frosting. Then, because I wanted to make a round cake, I needed to cut my cake into circles. (I know, I could have made my life easier and just decorated the cake as is, but where’s the challenge in that? Also, my daughter had seen some baking shows and really wanted a tall layer cake.) I experimented with a few different sized round bowls to see which size would get me three layers. You can see in the picture above the outlines of the bowl on the frosting.
Next, I cut three circles out of the cake. I used my bowl as my guide so they would all be perfectly round and the same size. This did leave a bit of leftover cake which I served to some of my guests who didn’t want as much frosting and I also froze some to bring out one cold February night when we all want a treat at home.
I gently stacked the layers as I cut them out. I didn’t put anything in between them, but I did use large straws as dowels for stability. I pushed three straws down through all three layers. I needed to cut the tops of the straws so they didn’t show.
Finally, I added a quick crumb coat from the frosting I scraped off at the beginning before putting the cake into the refrigerator until the next morning. This step was the hardest, I really needed to be careful to not pull off any of the cake. On the morning of the party, I quickly whipped up a batch of buttercream frosting and tinted it teal, pink and purple. Decorated my cake in a fun Mermaid theme and had a great party!

For the cake details, I bought white and blue pearlized sprinkles to be water bubbles. For the seaweed, I bought Haribo Sour Streamers and cut the green ones into long pointed strips, then pushed them into the frosting on the bottom. I then twisted them and pushed them into the frosting on the top. They held very well and of course, all the kids wanted a piece with seaweed on it!

And what mermaid cake would be complete without a mermaid? I bought this Schleich Mermaid figure from Amazon and placed it on top with some extra frosting details and a candle. While obviously not a professional cake, it was perfect for my six year old and perfect for me because I didn’t have to bake anything!

Items in this post:

Mermaid on top of cake: https://amzn.to/2NtN4lN
Similar cake turntable: https://amzn.to/37S9iFv
White “Bubble” Sprinkles: https://amzn.to/2NfWYat
Blue “Bubble” Sprinkles: https://amzn.to/2R2qPnW
“Seaweed” Haribo Sour Streamers: https://amzn.to/39XWeAn
Similiar LOL Doll Cake Sprinkle Mix: https://amzn.to/2QHUfsz
LOL Doll Series on Cake: https://amzn.to/35Ameys

*affiliate links

Looking for kid gift ideas? Check out some of our favorite gift ideas!
Fossil and Gemstone Dig Kits
Science Kits
Name Puzzle
January 10, 2020
How to Decorate a Store Bought-Cake so you don’t Have to Bake!
I love creating fun, themed parties for my daughter’s birthdays. A big part of the party theme is the cake, but with all the other planning that goes into a party, I stopped actually baking the cakes and starting buying cakes from Costco and re-decorating them. By doing it this way I know the cake will taste delicious, but I still get to be a part of decorating something more personalized for my kids. Below is the basic idea of how I do it. There are affiliate links at the bottom of the post to most of the items I used.

Usually, I gently scrape the excess frosting off the cake and redecorate with my own frosting and party-themed style. In the picture below, I bought the round chocolate fudge cake (the one with all the chocolate shavings on the top) and added my own bright frosting, sprinkles, and LOL Doll decorations to the top. Pro tip: when you buy a cake with chocolate shavings on top, you get to eat them while removing them from the cake. Yum!

This year, however, the round fudge cake was not available. So I decided to buy a plain sheet cake and try to wing it. It worked out surprisingly well! Everyone around here loves Costco’s chocolate sheet cake and it wasn’t as difficult for me to rework as I thought it would be. Take a look at how I did it below for my daughter’s mermaid cake!

I started with this plain chocolate sheet cake. I used a bench scraper to gently scrape off the excess frosting. Then, because I wanted to make a round cake, I needed to cut my cake into circles. (I know, I could have made my life easier and just decorated the cake as is, but where’s the challenge in that? Also, my daughter had seen some baking shows and really wanted a tall layer cake.) I experimented with a few different sized round bowls to see which size would get me three layers. You can see in the picture above the outlines of the bowl on the frosting.
Next, I cut three circles out of the cake. I used my bowl as my guide so they would all be perfectly round and the same size. This did leave a bit of leftover cake which I served to some of my guests who didn’t want as much frosting and I also froze some to bring out one cold February night when we all want a treat at home.
I gently stacked the layers as I cut them out. I didn’t put anything in between them, but I did use large straws as dowels for stability. I pushed three straws down through all three layers. I needed to cut the tops of the straws so they didn’t show.
Finally, I added a quick crumb coat from the frosting I scraped off at the beginning before putting the cake into the refrigerator until the next morning. This step was the hardest, I really needed to be careful to not pull off any of the cake. On the morning of the party, I quickly whipped up a batch of buttercream frosting and tinted it teal, pink and purple. Decorated my cake in a fun Mermaid theme and had a great party!

For the cake details, I bought white and blue pearlized sprinkles to be water bubbles. For the seaweed, I bought Haribo Sour Streamers and cut the green ones into long pointed strips, then pushed them into the frosting on the bottom. I then twisted them and pushed them into the frosting on the top. They held very well and of course, all the kids wanted a piece with seaweed on it!

And what mermaid cake would be complete without a mermaid? I bought this Schleich Mermaid figure from Amazon and placed it on top with some extra frosting details and a candle. While obviously not a professional cake, it was perfect for my six year old and perfect for me because I didn’t have to bake anything!

Items in this post:

Mermaid on top of cake: https://amzn.to/2NtN4lN
Similar cake turntable: https://amzn.to/37S9iFv
White “Bubble” Sprinkles: https://amzn.to/2NfWYat
Blue “Bubble” Sprinkles: https://amzn.to/2R2qPnW
“Seaweed” Haribo Sour Streamers: https://amzn.to/39XWeAn
Similiar LOL Doll Cake Sprinkle Mix: https://amzn.to/2QHUfsz
LOL Doll Series on Cake: https://amzn.to/35Ameys

*affiliate links

Looking for kid gift ideas? Check out some of our favorite gift ideas!
Fossil and Gemstone Dig Kits
Science Kits
Name Puzzle
January 10, 2020
Today I need a … Protein Powder

This week’s Today I Need A… post is all about protein powder. Specifically our favorite powder, Orgain Organic Plant Based Protein. Let’s talk about how we use it and why we love it. Before we start I need to let you know we are not nutritionists or doctors, this is only our opinion and not medical advice.

Why do we use protein powder in the first place?
Carolyn – I wanted to up my protein intake to help keep me fuller for longer periods throughout the day and to add a little extra support after my strength training workouts. I used to get hungry within an hour of breakfast if I chose to eat something that wasn’t high in both protein and fiber. Now, I make homemade protein bars that keep me full until lunch, I make shakes as afternoon snacks and add it to pancakes, muffins or anything else to add a little bit of extra organic plant-based protein to my recipes.

Nanette – Life is busy!! Getting enough protein during the day can be very difficult in our house, especially on hectic days. A bit of protein powder can get me through the morning – I’m not a big fan of breakfast as I don’t get hungry until later in the day. When the girls get home from school and need a snack to keep them from getting hangry before dinner (which can happen a lot) – I’ll just whip up a shake. They love concocting new crazy recipes. My husband uses protein powder before his workouts, especially before he jumps on the treadmill.

What protein powder do we use?
We both use the Orgain line of protein powders on a daily basis.
Orgain Chocolate Fudge – Carolyn’s Favorite but Vanilla and Peanut Butter are also available.
Orgain Protein & Greens Powder – Great way to give you or your kids an extra serving of green vegetables! Choose Chocolate (Nanette’s Favorite) or Vanilla.
Orgain Clean Whey – If you prefer an animal based whey protein. We haven’t tried this version.

Why we love it:
–Organic plant-based protein. Nanette and I both make a commitment to our health, as well as the health of our families, and we both strive to eat more organic foods and vegetables.

-Protein + Fiber in one. For those of you who are like me (Carolyn) and are constantly hungry, I find the combination of protein and fiber to be more satisfying and allows me to go a little longer without getting hungry between meals.

-Makes getting our daily intake of veggies easy!
With Orgain Protein & Greens Powder I can get my kids as well as myself to eat more veggies without really knowing it because it contains spinach, kale and broccoli in the powder! While I do taste a bit of the veggies, it’s tolerable to me, my kids don’t notice it when they also taste the chocolate and if I am just drinking the protein plain with milk I can always add some powder from the chocolate fudge flavor to help with the slight veggie taste.

How do we use it?
Carolyn – Each week I make a batch of homemade protein bars which I eat for breakfast almost every day. I include other healthy ingredients such as almonds, chia seeds and oats to get my day started on a positive note. I also make a modified version of protein bars and sometimes granola bars for my kids which they love! I love that they are getting some veggies in and they don’t seem to notice. Recipe for my homemade protein bars coming soon!

My homemade protein bar – LOVE it! Might not be pretty, but I am hooked.

Nanette – Lately we have been obsessed with shakes in our house. My daughters’ pediatrician always reminds them to “eat their colors”, I love this saying! It means to eat different colors of vegetables and fruits everyday. If you have only eaten red (apple) today then you need to add some orange (carrots) and green (spinach). Shakes are really good way to do this and adding the Orgain Protein & Greens Powder helps them get their greens. We blend the vanilla with all different types of fruit like raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. Their FAVORITE recipe is Peanut Butter Patty: just mix Chocolate Orgain with peanut butter, banana and unsweetened almond milk. It really tastes like the Girl Scout cookie!

*affiliate links

April 8, 2019