GIVEAWAY from Clean Well

Clean Well is giving away cases of their yummy smelling orange-vanilla sanitizer wipes.

Visit the CleanWell Facebook Page and upload a photo of you, your kids or even your pets in their Halloween costumes and then encourage your friends to join our Facebook Page to "Like" your photo. The 5 photos that receive the most number of "Likes" will win a case of Orange Vanilla Canister wipes!

Click HERE for full details.

Flashback Friday

If you are wondering what to do about that enormous candy stash your little ones will collect tomorrow, here is my post from last year that will give you a few ideas on how to cut down on sugar intake:

Tweak the Treats!

Today seems to mark the official beginning of our season of special treats. Whether you participate in this holiday or not, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and more are right around the corner, and there will be goodies o' plenty at every turn. So, what does this healthy livin' mommy think about all of the sugary treats?

Well, tonight we will be attending an event at our church, and there will be plenty of candy involved. I cannot hope for my little one to say "no thank you" to all of those yummy sweets. Of course I want to limit her sugar intake, but I want her to enjoy herself.

When it comes to special days like this, birthday parties, etc, I don't fret too much. It is only one day, and since I am doing my best all throughout the year to keep nutritious, healthy food in our diets, I can shrug my shoulders and let my kiddo have a good time. But do I want my three-year-old consuming all of her giant candy loot? No way. So here are a few ideas to help parents put a lid on the candy intake!

• Buy their candy! Let your kids choose a handful of their favorites and "buy" the rest from them. Set a price of 5 to 25 cents per piece of candy, depending on the size of their collection (and their age). Then let them put that toward a special toy or other item they've had their eye on. OR instead of using cash, buy them out with stickers or other fun stuff!

• I read about one mom showing her kids "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" and then allowing them to keep a portion of their candy, and offering the rest to "the Great Pumpkin" (in reality, it's daddy, who hauls the loot off to work on Monday morning!)
  

• Make a trade! Let your kids keep a few pieces in their bag, and trade the others for some healthier options. Here are a few ideas for replacements that are not necessarily "healthy", but are a better alternative to the more common treats filled with hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup, and artificial flavors and colors.
  

1. Fill a small bag with trailmix, carob chips, raisins, pretzels, or one of their other favorite snack foods.

2. Yummy Earth organic lollypops (my daughter's favorite)

3. SunSpire's natural candy bars and Sundrops- colorful "m & m"-like chocolate treats

4. Cliff Kid Organic Twisted Fruit

5. Annie's Organic BunnyFruit Snacks
(can all be found at Whole Foods and other health food stores, and Amazon)

These are just a few ideas to make your holiday a little bit healthier, but just as SWEET!

Here's to your health!

Clean For a Cause

As you all may know, it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. If you don't know someone who has battled this terrible disease, it is likely you know someone who has been affected by it in some way. Mothers, sisters, daughters, girlfriends, aunties. So many lives lost each year, but we can hold on to the hope for a cure!

The month is more than half way over, but I want to share this link from Clean Well. There is still time to purchase their Clean For a Cause spray. Fifty percent of proceeds will go to Cancer 101, founded by Monica Knoll.

Click HERE for details!

Here's to the fight against Breast Cancer!!

Better Than Cream Cheese

Well, I haven't been blogging much this last month or so. The hard-drive in my laptop is shot, we had family in town, and oh, there is that pregnancy thing. Life has been busy. I have many things I want to write about, yet the time just isn't available for me to do so. Tonight, I have time for a quick recipe. With pregnancy comes food, lots of food. And cravings! I am not one of those pregnant ladies who eats pickles and ice cream. Pickles, yes. Ice cream, yes. But not together!

I do have plenty of cravings though. Who wouldn't when much of your day is consumed by hunger? The other day I thought of a sandwich I hadn't had in years. There is a great little place in southern California called The Gypsy Den. They have this cool, vintage setting, a mish-mosh of furniture and art displayed, and shelves of books to sit with if you have nothing else on your agenda for the day. And they have fresh, yummy food! I love all their food, but the other day, all I could think about was their Cream Cheese and Olive Sandwich....so I made my own version of it.

I have tried a few cheese substitutes and find them okay, but not great. Recently I have tried a couple of really amazing substitutes. It is hard to tell the difference! One of those substitutes is Tofutti's Better Than Cream Cheese . Since I have mostly given up dairy, it is great to find a creamy, yummy spread for this sanBetter Than Cream Cheesedwich craving of mine.

Cream Cheese and Olive Sandwich

Sprouted grain bread (toasted)

Cream cheese or substitute

Cucumber slices

Sliced black olives

Toast two slices of sprouted grain bread. Spread layer of Tofutti cream cheese on one or both sides. Add sliced olives to one side, then add the cucumber slices. Assemble sandwich. Yum! For added nutritional value, you may add some baby spinach leaves or sprouts.

Here's to your health! Enjoy!