Manic Mommies Escape

Moms from as far away as Texas and Michigan gathered in Newport, RI this past weekend for the first annual Manic Mommies Escape. We had the pleasure of joining the group -- nearly 100 manic mommies strong -- for a fast-paced Meal Makeover lecture. During our presentation and cooking demo, sponsored in part by Mom's Best Naturals, we prepared our Grab-and-Go Breakfast Bars and talked about easy and realistic ways to add good nutrition to the family table.

One mealtime challenge that came up was the issue of feeding picky eaters, especially those who love a particular food one day but then refuse it the next. Click here to watch our picky eaters video clip for clever ways to tackle this all-too-common problem. On a final note, we’d like to send a huge thank you to Erin Kane and Kristin Brandt (AKA the Manic Mommies) for inviting us to speak at the Escape!

Smart Snacking

On average, children consume over 850 snacks per year. Wow. That's a lot of nibbles! For many kids, snack time has unfortunately become junk food time. To turn snacks into the healthy mini meals they were meant to be try our new Grab-and-Go Breakfast Bars (a makeover of store-bought granola bars). This is one of our best recipes yet! In fact, it took us ten tries in the Meal Makeover Moms' Test Kitchen before we got it just right. It's super nutritious thanks to ingredients like walnuts, dried fruits, and whole grain cereals, and kids love the taste. What could be better?!

Grab-and-Go Breakfast Bars
Makes 16 Bars

1 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup shredded wheat cereal*
1 cup walnuts
1 1/2 cups dried fruit (we use a combination of dried apricots, dried plums, and dried cranberries)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large omega-3 eggs
1/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil or coat an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. Place the oats, shredded wheat, walnuts, dried fruit, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped (the dried fruit will be the size of a dried pea or lentil).
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, and vanilla. Add the oatmeal mixture and chocolate chips and stir to combine.
4. Transfer to the baking pan and flatten down gently with the back of a spoon or spatula to spread evenly.
5. Bake about 18 minutes until the edges turn golden brown and the bars are done. Let bars cool completely in pan before slicing and serving.

* We like Mom’s Best Naturals Toasted Wheat-fuls for this recipe.

TIP: These bars freeze really well. So, if you have leftovers, wrap individual portions in plastic baggies or aluminum foil and freeze.

Nutrition Information per Serving: 160 calories, 7g fat (1.5g saturated, 0.7g omega-3), 85mg sodium, 23g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, 3g protein

"The Moms" Meet Mom's Best

It's not everyday you get to tour a cereal factory and see a wind turbine but that's exactly what we did last Tuesday in Northfield, Minnesota. As guests of the Mom's Best Naturals cereal company, we donned hairnets, safety goggles, ear plugs, and lab coats (see our ready-for-primetime photo below!) and went behind the scenes as thousands of pounds of hot and cold cereals were cooked up at the plant. Seeing raw wheat turned into one of our kids' favorite cereals, Sweetened Wheat-fuls, was a real treat. After the tour, we headed over to a wind turbine that is part of the network that generates 100% of the electricity used to create Mom's Best. How cool is that?

Mom's Best Naturals creates value-priced cereals (costing 20 to 50% less than comparable all-natural brands) that are made without artificial colors, flavors, or trans fats. You can see why we love them! For more information check out http://www.momsbestnaturals.com/. To see a video demo of our yummy Toasty-O-Granola recipe using Mom's Best Toasty O's, visit http://www.mealmakeovertv.com/.