It is possible to stick to healthy eating when attending or hosting your Memorial Day parties. Here are a few of my ideas.
Healthy Corn Tortilla Chips
Homemade Guacamole With Roasted Tomatillos
Healthy French Fries
Homemade Ketchup
Healthy Homemade Honey Mustard
Have a happy, healthy and safe Memorial Day!
Italian Herb Dressing. When I asked you awhile back about what kind of healthy dressing recipes you would like to see, a popular answer was a vegan Italian dressing.
I had already created a Balsamic Vinaigrette. So I created an vegan herb dressing for you.
This healthy salad dressing is super easy to make as well. I used dried herbs, because that is what I had on hand. Feel free to use fresh ones as well.
This dressing would make a great marinade as well. I am thinking of marinating some vegetable kabobs in this and then grilling them. Yum!
Another way you can mix is to throw everything in a covered container and shake well. Keep in mind that since this is a homemade dressing, the oil will try to solidify in the fridge. If you plan on using the dressing, just pull it out a few minutes before you need it and then shake well before using. I got close to 1 cup of dressing. It should last in the fridge a couple weeks. Enjoy!
Who doesn’t like a Nutri-Grain bar? I made you Homemade Nutri-Grain Bars! I used to eat them like crazy until I liked at all the ingredients in them. If you read it as well, you probably know that they are laden with way too many chemicals and artificial dyes.
So naturally I had to create my own homemade nutri-grain bars. My homemade nutrigrain bars tastes so much better and it’s made from wholesome ingredients.
Sadly, it took me two tries.
I did some tweaking the second time around and they still didn’t look that pretty, but I thought, what the heck, I will post them! The second time I learned from my mistakes so hopefully, these will be easy for you to make.
I filled them with pureed dates and also with a fruit spread. I personally liked the dates better as a filling, but use what ever you like. I know many people have said they filled them with homemade Nutella. I bet that is amazing too! I’m not sure I trust myself with something like that haha.
Copycat Mary’s Gone Crackers is the recipe today. When you decide to eat a diet of just wholesome foods, it’s hard to find a cracker that fits this criteria.
It was quite disappointing to read labels and find most crackers contained added sugar or highly processed grains. I also keep wanted to find a healthy cracker that my picky toddlers would eat.
I finally found a good one in Mary’s Gone Crackers. They are organic, vegan, gluten free and non GMO verified. I love them and so do my kids, but at $4 a box, they can be quite pricey.
Since we go through them so fast, I thought I would try making a homemade Mary’s Gone Cracker version. They came out really good!
You also should try my Homemade Fig Newtons and my Homemade Nutri-Grain Bars.
They are pretty easy to make and you can add in your own ingredients to customize your favorite flavors. It’s also a great recipe to do with your kids. Not really a lot of messy ingredients or measuring.
I find when I get my kids involved in the prep work, they are more likely to eat the food.
For starters, I just did a multi-seed cracker. I really love their herb flavor, so that will be my next batch. I also threw some chia seeds because they are so good for you.
I try to toss them in everything from baked goods to smoothies and in between. To help keep costs down, I bought all of the ingredients out of the bulk bins at Whole Foods. Here is my recipe.
I got about 25 – 30 crackers out of my batch. They should keep for a week or so. Enjoy!
I have been trying hard to get more beets into my diet. They are so good for you. I tried blending them up in my vitamix, but couldn’t get them down. It was not very good. Maybe they are one of those things you have to get used to? Coconut was like that for me. I used to hate it, but now I can’t get enough! I stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest. It’s from Gluten-Free Goddess and it was amazing! Check out her blog if you get a chance. Lots of yummy recipes and many are vegan.
I have made roasted beets in the past and I thought they were delicious. So I decided to give this a go. I am so glad I did! I did change a few things in the recipe, but I mostly kept it as is. I am not a fan of oranges in salad, so I omitted those.
Quinoa Salad with Roasted Beets
We got about 4 servings. Enjoy!
My younger daughter Olive is turning 2 this month so I thought I would try to come up with alternative ideas to traditional birthdays. I do get asked about this quite a bit. Here are some of my ideas:
CAKE
My first thought was to do cupcakes. That way, you are not stuck with a huge amount of sugary cake after the party. You can bake as many cupcakes as you need. While we are on the subject of cake, why not make them a little healthier and use a muffin recipe? I plan on using my banana muffin recipe for Olive’s cupcakes. It’s plenty sweet and made with whole grains. If you don’t want to use my recipe, this website has great healthy cupcakes. This blog also details a great idea of an ice cream bar in lieu of cake.
ICE CREAM
Traditionally, ice cream is served with the cake. This can still be done if you like. To make it healthier, you can make ice cream in a blender with frozen bananas. Or, if you have an ice cream machine, you can try my strawberry ice cream recipe. You can also skip the ice cream and do make ahead smoothie pops using these molds.
OTHER PARTY FOOD OPTIONS
1. Fruit Skewers – Most kids love any food on a stick and fruit skewers are always a hit.
2. Make Your Own Pizza – Kids love this idea because it gives them some freedom in what they are eating. You can use tortilla wraps or homemade dough. Personally, I think the tortilla wraps are great, because they cook up in no time.
3. Veggie Tray with Ranch Dip – Again, kids love fun foods and they love to dip things. If you have a child with dairy allergies coming to the party, you can try my Dairy Free Ranch Dressing. You can also try my Healthy Honey Mustard.
4. Healthy Chips and Pretzels – Trader Joe’s and Amazon sell a pretzel called Unique Pretzels made from whole grains. To make tortilla chips, I buy Food for Life sprouted corn tortillas and broil them in the oven for about 5 minutes. Super easy!
DRINKS
Let’s face it, most birthday party drinks usually consist of juice boxes or Capri Suns. If you have read recently about the mold found in Capri Suns you will probably want to steer clear of those. There are some great low sugar drink suggestions on Disney’s website. You can always just stick to water as well.
PARTY ACTIVITIES
We have a pool, so we will not be doing a party activity since the kids will just go swimming. For those that don’t, here are some ideas. This website has ideas broken down into age groups as well. Please note that some of the ideas there many need to be healthified, but it gives you a general idea.
1. Scavenger Hunts – Kids love that sort of thing. If you have any plastic eggs lying around from Easter, you can fill them with all kinds of treasure and hide them around your yard and draw a map with clues.
2. Decorate a Flower or Herb Pot – This idea is great because the pot could count as the party favor as well. Maybe you can have all the kids plant some seed while they are at it.
3. Old fashioned Crayons and Paper – I know I only have toddlers, but I know that kids of almost all ages like to color. We went to a family thing over the last weekend and my husband’s aunt had set out some markers and paper and all the kids were all drawing. Even the older ones.
FAVORS
There are plenty of non food favors you can hand out. Here are some I have thought of. They really don’t have to be fancy either. Just a little something small. My daughter LOVED the little tiara that she got from a friend’s party. In fact, she wore it every night with her princess nightgown until the baby split it in two.
1. Stickers – Most young kids like stickers. They are an instant hit.
2. Bubbles – Again, always a winner. They can usually be found for pretty cheap at the dollar store.
3. Coloring Books – These are great for girls and boys.
4. Matchbox Cars – An idea for boys.
5. Tiaras – These will always be a hit with the girls.
These parties do not have to be centered around junk food. I hope these ideas can help you. Feel free to add yours in the comments below!