5 ingredients or less

 have you ever looked at the ingredients on food labels?!?!  i am always looking at ingredients. can you pronouce them?!?! i try to only buy processed food with 5 ingredients or less.   sounds easy right?  not as easy as you think!  so whenever i find a snack food less then 5, i get so excited, hope it taste good and the family will eat it! the other day i found popcorn chips at our wholesale club we go to and they only have 3 ingredients.  i was so exited. . . then my next hurdle was how do they taste. . .well they are yummy!!!  i made some homemade dill dip and everyone loved them!  

what is your families favorite snack and how many ingredients does it have?   i would love to know!

lisa 

can i have a snack?

if your a parent, chance's are you hear this question EVERY day... "can i have a snack?" or "i want a snack!" i hear this in my house all the time. we have a rule, the kids can have one "junkie" snack during the day and one "healthy" snack. if they want something else they can fruit or nuts.  i ALWAYS keep fruit on the table for them to grab if they want. no eating after 4:00 pm, because i want the kids to eat dinner. 

well to was like a dream!!! my 5 year old did NOT ask for her "junkie" snack!!!!! she came into the kitchen and started to eat the grapes that i had on the table!!! OMG is she getting it?!?! i started to jump up and down and said to her "do you know what you are doing?" she looked at me like i had ten heads. i said to her " you made a great choice eating the grapes! mommy is proud of you!"

when my family started out healthy lifestyle, it was like pulling teeth, the tears, the fight, the whining. . . all over snacks...junk...junk that my husband and i bought into the house.  now if it is not in the house they don't ask for it.  you ask, but she just said her kids get one junkie snack a day. well they do! a junkie snack would be... frito's(they only have 3 ingredients), chocolate cover raisins, chocolate cover blueberries, homemade whole wheat chocolate chip bran cookie, or cheese crackers and peanut butter.

lisa

trail mix, hiking not required

seeds are good. but eating them on their own? eh. trail mix is the answer. throw some seeds, nuts, dried fruit and chocolate together and ya got some healthy snack action going on. oh yeah.

here is a picture of my favorite ingredients; lightly salted sunflower seeds, unsalted pumpkin seeds, roasted unsalted almonds, milk chocolate chips, dried cranberries & unsalted peanuts. this is a staple for us. there's always a canister of trail mix in our cupboard. it covers salty, sweet & crunchy. all my snacking needs. my husband grabs handfuls of it when he does his nightly 'cabinet shuffle' and our 4yo goes straight for the cranberries and chocolate chips. go whip up a batch of your own trail mix and let us know what you like in yours. thanks for reading.

amy~