Healthy Toddler Snacks.

I have a lot of people ask me what are some healthy snacks they can give to their kids. I think it so important that we give our children foods that are nourishing to their bodies without all of the garbage, such as sugar, pesticides and artificial ingredients. It's a proven fact that taking your child off (or at least limiting their intake) of sugar will drastically improve their behavior. I have made a list of some healthy snacks to give to your toddler. Keep in mind that the fruits and vegetables should be organic whenever possible. I know that organic is more expensive, but like I always say, it's either invest now in healthy eating or pay later for the doctor bills. I have learned which fruits and vegetables are higher in pesticides. The ones lower in pesticides I usually don't buy organic. And when there is a sale on organic produce I stock up. Check out www.foodnew.org for more info on buying organic produce.

Here are some ideas:

Smoothies - In a blender, mix 1-2 cups of liquid, such as milk or juice, then add frozen fruit. You can also add yogurt.

Homemade popsicles - Use your mixture from the smoothies and pour into popsicle molds. Mixing apple juice and yogurt make really yummy popsicles.

Mozzarella sticks - Organic is best.

Apple slices dipped in peanut butter (without added sugar).

Celery with peanut butter spread on it and raisins on top.

Yogurt. Watch the sugar grams in yogurt. It is usually high. BUT, do not give sugar-free because of the added artificial sugars.

Pretzels

Cheese and crackers. Make sure the crackers do not have hydrogenated oils.

Frozen grapes make a wonderful snack/treat.

For more information and ideas on feeding babies and toddlers healthy, homemade food, I highly recommend the book, "Mommy Made and Daddy Too" by David and Martha Kimmel. I couldn't have lived without this book when my daughter started eating solids. It has great tasting and easy recipes that are good for your child.

I hope this helps in giving you ideas for healthy snacks. The more you stay away from the prepackaged, processed stuff the better! Remember, you are setting the stage for how your kids will eat when they are older. If you start at a very early age giving them lots of fruits and veggies and healthy, whole foods, you won't have a battle on your hands trying to get them to eat like this later on.

Jarod's photography work!

I wanted to share with you a few pictures from my 16 year old son's photography work. He just recently had his work featured in a local coffee shop, in which he sold some of his pictures. I am very proud of him and will work diligently to nurture and support this God-given talent. I can't wait to plaster his work all over our new house!

I did it! I did it!

I took my mother-in-law's advice and I did not give up. I tried making butter again! I had lots of cream left over from my two gallons of fresh farm milk and I did not want it to go to waste. I found a recipe online that showed how you can make butter using a food processor, and since I just got a new food processor, I thought I would give it a shot. I figured this way had to be much easier than the way I did it before, which was shaking it in a jar for a very long time. By the way, my food processor is a Cuisinart 11-cup processor that cost $199 brand new. I found it on craigslist (in excellent condition) for $50. It was a total blessing because I have been wanting this machine for a long time. Anyway, I put about 2 cups of cream in the processor, turned it on, and in about 15 minutes I had butter. I was so excited! I ran and got Mike (my hubby) and told him to come look at the butter! I was so happy and so proud! He was quite impressed. He even suggested that I mix honey in it. I think I will make homemade bread and honey butter tomorrow. Yummy!

My first attempt at making butter.......not so good!

I recently started getting farm fresh, raw milk from a local farmer. I am not really a milk drinker, but this stuff is awesome. I have never had milk that tasted so good. I was so excited about making homemade butter from the luscious cream that I scraped off the top of the milk. After much research on how to do this, I placed the cream in a jar and shook it.....and shook it......and shook it. After 20 minutes of shaking, it was still cream. So I decided to put it in a blender. I also read that you can do this. After 15 minutes of "whirling" in the blender, nothing. Discouraged, I set it on my counter and figured I would just throw it out. After 10 minutes of sitting there, I opened it and got very excited. I saw butter forming. So I shook for another 15 minutes, but nothing more happened. So I just scraped about a tablespoon of "butter" off the top of the cream and threw the remaining cream out. I warned everyone in my family not to touch this tablespoon of butter because it was mine! I worked hard for this butter.

I have decided to stick to purchasing my organic butter from my local health food store. Oh well. I tried.