Check out this month’s Family Circle recipe for Maple Bran Muffins. Drizzle with maple icing and serve for breakfast or a snack.

Try these five tips to pack a lunch your kids will keep and eat:

• For your sanity, think about cooking and preparing for the week to come on Sunday. Go over your schedule for the week and think about what you can fix ahead to make the week less hectic. Consider meals that will provide leftovers for lunch the next day. Kids love leftover pizza, lasagna and manicotti.
• Get your children involved in the kitchen with you and bake oatmeal or peanut butter cookies.Cut up fruit, make trail mix with nuts, soy nuts, pumpkin seeds, a mixture of their favorite dried fruit, and even add some mini chocolate chunks.Or try one of my several favorite mixes from Target’s Archer Farms line, Sunny Cranberry. Many of you know that I partner with Target as their nutrition & health expert and have come to rely on their Archer Farms products for my day-to-day meals and snacks.
• Kids love the power of choice so involve them in choosing from your healthy selections. Think about taking them to the grocery store at a time when you’re not rushed or tired…I know…when is that? You guide the decisions and choices but do allow them to pick an item or two.
  This week on the podcast, Margit Ragland, Health Director at Family Circle magazine, joins me to talk more about lunches that will be keepers.

According to Family Circle, Meredith Corporation’s Motherboard surveyed moms and 84% were looking for new options to add to their children’s brown bag.

• Rethink the sandwich…switch from bologna with cheese on white bread. Try a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread…add a slice of low fat cheese or soy cheese.
  Try whole-wheat tortillas or whole grain wraps as an alternative to bread and in addition to turkey, stuff with lean ham or beef and low-fat cheese, tuna, chicken, hummus or egg salad, and top with sliced veggies such as red peppers and cucumber. Peanut butter, almond butter or sunflower butter with banana or raisins works well too.
• Keep baskets in your pantry filled with healthy snack selections that your children like. Include whole-grain cereal bars (try blueberry almond flax), dried fruit such as cherries or blueberries, nuts, whole-grain crackers, peanut or almond butter, and pop-top cans or pouches of tuna.

Looking for a healthier chip alternative with less fat and calories? Margit suggests Pirate’s Booty as one option. Putting together a lunch is much easier when the choices are there.

For more ideas, listen to this week’s podcast.

Listen to this week’s podcast

This week on the podcast Margit Ragland, Health Director at Family Circle magazine, and I talk about five ice cream treats that don’t have to be off limits even when you’re on a diet. Their favorites include:

1. Breyers Smooth & Creamy Triple Chocolate Dip
2. Weight Watchers Giant Cookies & Cream Ice Cream Bar
3. Klondike Vanilla & Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches
4. Blue Bunny Strawberry Banana Frozen Yogurt
5. The Skinny Cow Mint Ice Cream Sandwiches

Or spend an afternoon in the kitchen with your kids and make cookies such as oatmeal raisin. Then put light ice cream or frozen yogurt between two for your personal version of an ice cream sandwich.

Turn your kitchen into an ice cream parlor. A couple of Sundays ago, a girlfriend and her two young girls came over. We decided to turn the kitchen into an ice cream parlor. We took light vanilla bean ice cream and sliced it into small pieces on a cutting board. Next we had a selection of blueberries, strawberries, chopped walnuts and mini chocolate chips to choose from. The girls mixed them into the cut up ice cream.

Then we scooped the mixture into ice cream cones and drizzled with chocolate syrup. Do you think these were a hit? The kids had a blast choosing the items that they wanted to mix in and we loved saving a lot of money by making the cones at home. Give this a try…you’ll be the most popular Mom or Dad on the block.

Be sure and try this month’s recipe for Frozen Tiramisu from the Family Circle kitchens. By using coffee flavored frozen yogurt, instant coffee and chocolate sauce, per serving stats come in under 200 calories and five grams of fat per serving.

Happy summer!

Listen to this week’s podcast

On the podcast this week, Margit Ragland, Health Director at Family Circle magazine joins me to share simple strategies for your kids’ snacks.

Try these simple strategies from Family Circle’s July issue:

1. Offer smart snacks. Choose options that override cravings for sweets such as peanut butter or almond butter and whole grain crackers or whole wheat bread. Try fun, prepacked freeze-dried fruit, trail mix or squeezable applesauce.
2. Focus on fruit. Fruit contains natural sugar or fructose plus a load of vitamins, minerals and fiber. Summer is peak season for a lot of fresh fruit. Serve it with frozen yogurt or make parfaits with granola, fruit such as blueberries and your favorite yogurt. I like to use Greek yogurt and make parfaits for snacks and breakfast.
3. Rethink drinks. Soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages are major culprits in over-the-top sugar consumption. Try mixing juice with sparkling water or seltzer, unsweetened tea, or try the lower-sugar fruit-juice-blend products. Don’t forget milk.

What simple strategies work for you? Tell me.

The Nutrition Facts label is very confusing when it comes to figuring out sugar intake. I hope that changes with the label update. For now, your simple strategy is to do the math so you know the amount of sugar in a product.

Determine calories from sugar: grams of sugar in a serving x 4 (4 calories/gram) = sugar calories

Teaspoons of sugar: grams of sugar per serving divided by 4 = teaspoons of sugar per serving

Remember that currently the Nutrition Facts label doesn’t separate out naturally occurring sugars such as fructose or lactose from the added sugars. You must go one step further and look at the ingredient label to see what sugars have been added.

In your body, sucrose which is sugar, molasses, honey, raw sugar, high fructose corn syrup or maple syrup are all sugars or sweeteners and the body doesn’t differentiate between them regardless of what the Internet scares tell you.

Each month Margit shares a recipe from the Family Circle kitchens and this month it’s a Berrylicious Shake. It’s quick and includes fresh blueberries which are in season now.

Listen to this week’s podcast

So, what makes up a great snack? It all depends on you. Remember, nutrition is personal.  For example, if you’re a stress eater you do better with a protein-carbohydrate combination snack. If you’re diabetic, you most likely have a personalized plan from your registered dietitian that you follow. If you’re watching portions, which most everyone is trying to do, how much you eat determines if it’s a snack or a meal…know what I mean?

Snacks to try:

My current favorites are three snacks from the Archer Farms line at Target/SuperTarget.

Archer Farms Dill pickle cashews

Archer Farms Black pepper & sea salt low fat potato crisps

Archer Farms Sunny cranberry trail mix with cranberries, almonds & sunflower kernels

All three of these are portable too. Just put them in a small plastic container and toss in your backpack, purse, or briefcase.

If you love nuts, check out Mrs. May’s naturals at mrsmays.com. My husband really likes the premium fruit & nut crunch sold in a bag which contains cashews, almonds, blueberries and cranberries. He takes it to work and stirs pieces into his yogurt. It’s also a great snack by itself. If you want bars to toss in your bag, check out their Trio bars made with nuts, seeds and fruit. Remember that even though nuts contain heart healthy fat portion control is important.

Are you watching a lot of movies this summer at home? Here’s an easy way to make great popcorn. Buy regular or original popping corn, not microwave popcorn. Place about ¼ of a cup in a brown paper bag like you would use to pack a lunch, add your seasoning and oil if desired. Use one staple to close the bag and then microwave on high for about two minutes depending on your microwave. It’s so easy. I learned this technique from Alton Brown on the Food Network.

More snack ideas:

Hummus or guacamole with baked chips is easy and kids love both.

Dried cranberries, cherries, or blueberries…you can find all types of dried fruit in various size bags. Dried fruit is good on cereal and stirred into yogurt or mixed into muffin/bread batter.

Cheese: low fat pre-portioned such as Laughing Cow BabyBell

Almond butter on mini whole wheat bagels such as those from Pepperidge Farm

Pumpkin seeds which are also great in a salad

Try some of these satisfying simple summer snacks. They’ll keep you satisfied during the long summer days.

Listen to this week’s podcast