Kids and activity!

I was going to write a post about how important physical activity is for our kids, but going through my "dashboard", which I occasionally find the time to do (and I'm so glad I did today). I found Sherri's post:

http://shapeupwithsherri.blogspot.com/2009/05/best-thing-we-can-do-for-our-kids.html

She sums it up and I LOVE IT!

Especially the stats (from Sherri's blog):
These days kids hardly get any activity. Most schoolwork involves sedentary activity and with television and video games as after-school pastimes, the temptation to sink into couch potato-land becomes pretty overwhelming for our kids. Check out these startling stats:

• Children today are approximately 40% less active than they were 30 years ago
• 20% of children and teens are overweight enough to threaten their future health
• One report states that the number of overweight children ages 6-11 has increased by 50% in the last 15 years and by 40% in those ages 12-17. Lack of exercise is considered a major contributing factor
• 40% of children already have at least one risk factor for heart disease and reduced fitness due to an inactive lifestyle
• Children spend an average of 26 hours a week watching television and also spend 25-30 hours a week sitting behind a desk

and suggestions (also from Sherri's blog):

Here’s some goals you should strive for. The American College of Sports Medicine guidelines for exercise and children are as follows:

• Children should be involved in at least 30 minutes of daily physical activity like walking to school or cycling around the neighborhood, performing household chores or running errands.
• Children should exercise three times a week for at least 20 minutes with activities that require moderate to vigorous levels of exertion, like brisk walking, stair-climbing, racquet sports, jogging, dance, swimming laps, skating, cross-country skiing or cycling.
• For most children, it’s fine to do 15-20 minutes of resistance or strength training sessions twice a week using higher repetitions (25 reps) and lower resistance as long as there’s proper instruction and supervision.
• Children should stretch on alternative days for 60 seconds each stretch.
• Vary the activities to work different parts of the body.
• Involve children in deciding what to do.

Thanks so much Sherri for doing such a fabulous post!

I know that there are so many things out there that we need to find a "cure" for... but how great would it be, if we could prevent them to start with?

If you could prevent type II Diabetes in your child, would you?
If you knew that you could prevent heart disease or hypertension in your child, would you?

Healthy lifestyle choices early on in life become healthy habits that will eliminate the need to worry about these diseases at the early ages we are these days.

Cinco de Mayo

Well I'm on the topic of recipes... for Cinco de Mayo I decided to make a recipe from www.eatingwell.com. I still modify these recipes, but not as much.

It's a casserole, and it was delicious. We will probably have it again soon, we all really liked it (the munchkin included).

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium zucchini, sliced (original recipe called for grated, but based on comments, I decided to try it sliced)
1 19 oz can of black beans, rinsed (I replaced this with 1 cup of dry kidney beans, soaked for a day, and then cooked, we don't eat canned foods much and I have had a really tough time finding dry black beans)
1.5 cups corn (frozen or fresh)
1 tsp cumin
12 corn tortillas, quartered (I only ended up using 8)
1 19 oz can of enchilada sauce (I didn't have any, so looked up a recipe for making my own)
1.25 c shredded cheddar cheese

1. Coat 9x13 pan with cooking spray (I use extra virgin olive oil).
2. Heat nonstick skillet on med-high heat
3. Cook onion until it starts browning (I added in the zucchini here, so it was sauteed).
4. Stire in zucchini, beans, tomatoes, corn, cumin. Cook until the beggies are heated through (the recipe suggests 3 minutes, I did closer to 7-10 mins).
5. Scatter 1/2 the tortillas in the pan.
6. Top with 1/2 the veggie mix, 1/2 enchilada sauce, 1/2 cheese.
7. Repeat with 1 more layer.
8. Cover with tin foil.

I did all this in the morning and put it in the fridge (I had to work that afternoon) and I left instructions for dinner:

1. Preheat over to 400F.
2. Bake 15 minutes, remove tin foil, bake for 10 more minutes.
3. Remove from oven and let it sit for 15 minutes (this seemed to be the consensus for making sure it isn't soggy and it worked for us!). I would highly recommend it. Delicious and healthy.

Some other ideas:
saute some peppers with the zucchini and onions.

EASY 5 INGREDIENT ENCHILADA SAUCE from Ehow.com (with modifications)

2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
dash of hot sauce

Mix together and voila, enchilada sauce! I don't know what enchilada sauce tastes like, so this may not compare... you can make it as spicy as you wish. This recipe is for red enchilada sauce, of course you can use green if you like, it's just not quite so simple to make. Good luck!

Make your own healthy granola bars

Lately I've been pulling up recipes and taking what I like and removing what I don't, so that my recipes become a combination of recipes. I am thinking that I probably should not recommend that, as I end up with some weird stuff, and if it turns out I am not usually sure exactly how I did it or if I can do it again. I was on a quest to make granola bars without nuts in them, so I could give them to my almost 2 year old son. I seem to be making these every 2 weeks or so, and am getting the hang of it, so I can recommend it confidently now.

It is mostly based on the "(Super Healthy) Chewy Granola Bars Recipe #157808" from www.recipezaar.com with a few changes...

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup wheat germ (I ran out the second time I made this, so left it out and they still worked)
2+ tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup ground flax seeds
1/4 cup bran (this isn't in the original recipe, I just tried it the last time and it was good)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup honey (I use creamed honey, microwaved for 20 seconds to soften a little)
2+ tsp vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened applesauce

up to 2.5 cups of extras:
unsweetened shredded coconut
chopped dates (I had these the first 2 times but then ran out and haven't been able to find them chopped since, have you ever tried to chop dates?! what a pain... I'll keep looking, they were yummy)
dried cranberries (craisins)
pumpkin seeds
sesame seeds
nuts (if you want, but chop them up, try them toasted)
raisins
any dried fruit

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Toast oats for 5 mins in a dry skillet over medium heat. Cool.
3. In a bowl, combine dry ingredients (including oats) and whisk together until well combined.
4. In another bowl, whisk together wet ingredients until well blended.
5. Add dry mixture to wet mixture and blend gently until well moistened. Add the extras in now. It should be moist, but not too wet. If it seems too dry and crumbly, add a little more applesauce (by the spoonful). I have yet to find that it's too wet and I've added a ton of extra's to it, including the bran.
6. Line a 10x15" pan with parchment paper and press it into pan. They recommended a 9x13" pan, but I found the granola bars were way too thick, so I use a bigger pan and cut them the same size.
7. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Cut into bars while warm, but let cool completely before removing from pan.

The bars are quite rich, I cut them into small pieces, so it makes about 30 bars at my house. When I put all the ingredients into the recipe calculator (I LOVE this tool http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp) Here's what I got per bar (for 30 bars):

Calories 126.2
Total fat 4.8g
Saturated Fat 0.9g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.5g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.1g

Cholesterol 0
Sodium 8mg
Potassium 139.3mg
Total Carbohydrate 23.3g
Dietary Fiber 3.1g
Sugars 7.5g
Protein 2.8g

As I said, I have been making these every couple of weeks and I put them in an airtight container, stored in the fridge. You could probably freeze them too, I have not had an opportunity, they go quickly.