This giveaway is now closed. Congrats to Clarissa, the winner!
One of the unexpected good things that have resulted from my son’s food allergy diagnosis is our virtual elimination of packaged foods. You’d be amazed at how many cookies, crackers, breads, and the like contain dairy, eggs, and/or soy. Since my son wouldn’t be a preschooler if he didn’t enjoy snacking, we’ve had to get creative in our efforts to provide him with healthy, allergen-free snacks.
You may remember that BabyCenter, Healthy Child, Healthy World, and Stonyfield have partnered together for a series of challenges. The latest Easy Organic Living Challenge is to Invent a Snack…but not just any snack…a healthy, organic, sustainable snack! Before I share my snack ideas, here are some ways to make that snack count (nutritionally and sustainably).
Brainstorm a few simple ingredients as the basis for your snack. Fruit, yogurt, and nuts are a nutritious foundation. Strive to include at least one organic ingredient.
Think about how you’ll use those ingredients. Smoothie, parfaits, and popsicles can be made with organic yogurt and organic fruits.
Have fun with the display. Use cookie cutters to make fun shapes or make edible art with spreads and dips.
Try it and test it. Is it kid-approved?
So what did we come up with?
Since the weather is warming up, I decided to puree some frozen organic fruits and freeze them into popsicles. If your child can tolerate dairy, you can puree some yogurt with the frozen fruit for added protein, calcium, and vitamin D. I used the ice cube trays so that I could give some to my daughter and made some with rice yogurt and some without. We also made smoothies using the same ingredients and a little organic juice. I’ve often thought about putting some flaxseed into the smoothie for an omega-3 boost.
The other snack I made was Vegan muffins. I made a variation of this recipe I found online:
Photo Credit: Vegetarian Times
- 1/4 cup Vegan Butter (I like Earth Balance)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar (I decreased this to 3/4 cup and found it to be just as tasty)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (I substituted whole wheat flour)
- 1 Tbs. baking powder
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup rice milk
- 2 cups fresh blueberries (I used strawberries and I think any berry would work)
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line 1/3-cup muffin cups with paper liners, or spray with cooking spray.
- Mix all ingredients together in mixing bowl. Spoon into muffin cups, filling three-quarters full.
- Bake 35 minutes, or until tops are firm. Cool slightly on rack.
These muffins are sweet, moist, and delicious!
By changing the way your family snacks, you’ll reduce everyone’s exposure to chemicals found in conventional foods and inspire your children to eat healthier and sustainably.
If you need a little inspiration, check out Shake a Snack, an app that helps you find healthy, easy snack recipes containing just 3 ingredients. You can remove ingredients you do not want to tailer recipes to your liking.
For more snack ideas, visit the Easy Organic Living bloggers:
US Residents only. Duplicates and comments not including the above information will be disqualified. Comments are moderated. If you don’t see your comment in a reasonable amount of time, send me an email. Bloggers and non-bloggers may enter. If you don’t want to leave your email address, please be sure to check back for my announcement on the winner. Please note that winners must respond within 48 hours of being announced/contacted or another winner will be drawn.
Want an extra entry? Do any or all of the following and receive an extra entry for each one. Be sure to leave me a separate comment for each additional entry.
Comment on the Easy Organic Living Challenge thread and be sure to mention that Rockin’ Mama sent you.
Follow me on Twitter AND tweet about the contest.
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Subscribe to my feed via email or reader.
Blog about this giveaway. It doesn’t have to be a separate post. Just include a blurb about it when you blog about other giveaways.
Click on one of the very cute buttons below and digg, stumble, fav, etc. Just let me know what you did in the comments!
No compensation was received for this post. I am part of the Easy Organic Living program co-hosted by Baby Center and Healthy Child Healthy World and sponsored by Stonyfield.
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I would like to try being vegan.
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I’d like to buy more organic strawberries – since we buy so much of them!
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What an awesome giveaway! I’d love to try growing more food in my backyard – I just planted strawberries and herbs a few weeks ago, so we’ll see how they’re doing by late spring, and then I’m hoping to add more.
I would like to reduce the amount of garbage that is leaving my home and headed for the landfill. I am going to do that by taking my own baggies and containers to the market in order to buy from the bulk bin more often, and to question whether I really need any packaged products at all.
Alicia Webster
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The organic challenge I’d like to take on is to go from simply acknowledging the benefits of organics…to actually incorporating them more into our daily lives. I’ll accomplish that by using some new recipes that take advantage of natural, organic foods.
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I WOULD LIKE TO BUY ORGANIC MILK…BUT IT IS SO EXPENSIVE…BUT I GUESS I WILL BUY IT EVERY OTHER WEEK
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I’d love to take a raw food cleanse.
I commented on the baby center post (marinsalem)
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I am challenging myself to purchase more organic fruits and vegetables. Especially the ones my children eat most frequently. They are a bit hard to find in my area, but I am buying them when and where I can. Hopefully this will help the retailers to be able to carry them more often.
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I would like to try soya meat.
I want to try vegan burgers.
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i would try soya meat [email protected]
I want to cut out processed and white flour from my diet! I also want to find more vegetarian non-soy options!
would like to start an organic garden this year, my challenge will be to keep up with the weeds and bugs
I want to switch to all organic snacks. I figure it’s a good way to make snack time more healthy and the rest of the organic switch should be painless for everyone. How will I accomplish it? Simple, since I’m the primary grocery shopper. I just won’t buy any snack that’s not organic.
I need to try to switch to more organic fruits and vegetables. I have been reading more labels on foods and opting more for organics because I see they have less sodium.
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I’d like to use more organic products in our daily cooking and I hope to do this by being a better consumer and learning about which products are actually organic and healthy for our family. Education is key.
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One organic challenge I want to do this year is to have my own vegetable garden. How do I plan to do it? By planning very carefully, delegating some of grunt work to my husband and son. Building a proper fence to keep the deer and groundhogs out and using raised beds. Hopefully we’ll be reaping the rewards in August. Thanks for a great giveaway!
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i haven’t had a garden in a couple years and would love to do one this year (I do all organic gardening) however I am thinking it won’t happen as just about planing time around here I will be about to give birth. I don’t know if its just physically possible for me to till the plot, plant etc
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I would like to keep sodium to a minimum in our family diet and I plan to do it by becoming a better label reader.
buying only organic veggies and will try a new organic store that just opened up in our area
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I’m trying to go organic with our grains, and this is made more affordable by using the bulk bins at Whole Foods!
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i’d like to learn to make frozen peach yogurt..instead of icecream and i could probably do it using stonyfield organic yogurt
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i am expanding my organic garden in my back yard…. i’d like to freeze more so that i don’t have to buy veggies.
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trash- I recycle and compost as much as I can. I stopped buying paper products. and use glass for storage-less plastic
I would like to replace all *convenient* foods what contain sweeteners, preservatives, colors etc
Thank you for hosting this giveaway
Louis
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following you on twitter @left_the_stars
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I hope to buy more organic fruits and veggies from the farmer’s market and my husband plans to grow some herbs and tomatoes.
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I would like to incorporate more organic vegetable plants into my yearly garden endeavors. Thank you.
I am eating more organic fruits and vegetables. We have a Food Coop that several companies use to get their home grown products to consumers and the coop has deliveries in cities all across Oklahoma. I intend to start using this service.
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Im trying to work more organic and vegan food into my diet.
i’d like to buy my eggs and meat organic
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I plan on doing more gardening and growing more of our own fruits and vegetables.
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I’d like to plant a couple blueberry bushes in the backyard so I could have organic blueberries to eat and freeze.
id like to try being vegan instead of vegetarian but would have to work on some good recipes for sweets since i’m a cookie and cake addict.
I want to grow my own heirloom seed tomatoes, organically. I keep trying every year but so far, I haven’t done too well.
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I’d like to go vegetarian, and take my family with me, one day a week. And to make it even better, I’ll use all organic ingredients! One day a week will definitely be in my budget! And come summer time, we are definitely frequenting our local farmers market!
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I’ve been trying to get my Mum to eat more organic. she’s set in her ways, so it is a real challenge!
We eat a lot of veggies from our garden each summer. I’d like to get into canning so we can have them in the winter too..
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My organic challenge is recycling kitchen waste and I am tackling it my composting.
I would like to have a compost bin in the backyard!
i would like to grow my own organic garden, we will start this next year
I’d like to vow to buy organic whenever my budget allows.
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I’d like to try more organic product, just started buying organic milk and it tastes so much better.
Just trying to eat better
my organic challenge would be to get some organic nuts into my diet. Nuts are expensive so would like to wait for a sale then I could buy them a little cheaper.
I’m a subscriber of yours
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I am going to try and get more local organic fruits and vegetables. I have finally learned where a couple of famer’s markets and stands are!!
Getting organic meat but it is so pricey so I will have to look around for local.
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I would love to start composting. I throw away so much that could be used to replenish the earth.
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Subscribed to your feed with google reader.
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I would take an organic challenge to use organic products on my lawn. I would accomplish this by using organic and natural products.