Happy & Hydrated

Here’s a stat which may convince you to change your drinking habits: Eight out of 10 plastic water bottles used in the U.S. become garbage or end up in a landfill. One simple way to quench your thirst without all that waste is to switch to a reusable plastic bottle and to drink your water that way.

Recently, however, a growing number of consumers have shied away from the hard plastic bottles (namely #7 bottles) due to concerns over a chemical called Bisphenol-A (BPA). Rather than debate the safety record of BPA, suffice it to say that consumer demand has driven companies like Nalgene to create new #7 bottles made without this compound. The result is Nalgene’s new Everyday line of water bottles. They come in a rainbow of fun colors as well as numerous shapes and sizes. Now, adjacent to the #7 stamped on the bottom of each bottle, you’ll see the words, “other” or “BPA free” … noting that the plastic has been made without Bisphenol-A.

With summer just around the corner, we’re confident our kids will stay healthy and hydrated and our landfills less cluttered with our snazzy new water bottles (the photos show Janice’s daughters, Leah and Carolyn enjoying their new bottles). For more information check out
http://www.nalgenechoice.com/.

Our Egg-cellent Giveaway

Just a reminder that it's not too late to enter our latest giveaway for a one-year supply of Eggland's Best eggs, an Emerilware Cast-Iron Skillet, and an All-Clad Reversible Griddle. Simply send us an email at Moms@MealMakeoverMoms.com and share your favorite recipe(s) featuring eggs. We’ll pick the winning recipe based on creativity, kid appeal, and of course, flavor! We'll announce our winner in our June Meal Makeover Moms’ Newsletter.

One of our entries inspired us to go to the kitchen and cook up a couple of "Eggs in a Basket" for our mid-morning snack. Meal Makeover Moms' Club member Diane had shared this recipe on her own blog and passed it along to us. They were really quite delicious! Keep those recipes coming and you could be our next winner. Happy Cooking!

The Biggest Bean Ever

Last week, Liz traveled to Chicago for a nutrition conference on the benefits of beans (yes, we know, as dietitians we get all the perks). Before heading back to the airport, she took a walk over to Millenium Park where she was greeted by what looked like the world's largest bean! Turns out the 110-ton sculpture is not a bean at all but rather an abstract structure called Cloud Gate designed to reflect the city's famous skyline and the clouds above.


Beans were clearly the theme of Liz's trip to Chicago. Here are a few things she learned:

* Beans wear two hats: They're rich in protein -- like beef, chicken, and eggs -- so are listed on the government's MyPyramid in the meat & beans category. They're also categorized as a vegetable. In fact, beans have more protein and fiber than any other vegetable out there!

* Black beans, pinto beans, chickpeas, canellini beans and the hundreds of other bean varieties are incredibly versatile and are found in almost every cuisine from around the world.

* If you visit VegetableWithMore.com, you'll find over 1,000 bean recipes as well as info on the Moms And Kids Panel where families can test and rate bean recipes.

Speaking of vegetables, be sure to tune in to our Cooking with the Moms podcast this week as we chat about vegetable recipes kids love. And while you're at it, check out the May/June issue of Kiwi magazine and read our Veggie Love article!

Fruity Chicken Kebabs

Maureen M., a supermom of four boys from Massachusetts sent us an email with these adorable photos. As you can see, her kids were thrilled when she let them create their own fruit and chicken kebabs for lunch. The photos inspired us to feature our Fruit & Chicken Kebab recipe in this week's Cooking with the Moms radio podcast. Tune in and listen as we share recipes and ideas for lunch box makeovers.

Here's what Maureen had to say:

"Thank you Meal Makeover Moms! I tried the kabob idea that I saw on your website and it was a HUGE hit! My little men so enjoyed creating their "stick lunches" and gobbled them all up! I took pictures to share with you. You are Brilliant!"

We'd like to thank Maureen for getting in touch and sending photos. We hope more of you will do the same! To watch a video demo of this recipe click here.

Bags, Wrinkles, and Roots

Before The Moms’ Guide to Meal Makeovers was released, we were photographed for the back of the book and our website. Almost five years later, in desperate need of updated photos, we hired photographer extraordinaire David Shopper. Our directive to David was to photograph us in the kitchen doing what we do best: slicing, dicing, and cooking up a storm.

Though we have not yet seen the final photographs, our hope is that he’s able to touch us up a bit to lessen the bags under Janice’s eyes, our wrinkles, and Liz’s grey roots. Having make-up artist Jeri La Shay on the “set” came in handy too.

You’ll be able to see the final photos when we unveil our new website in the next month or so. As you can see from the amateur photos we took with David, Jeri, and Janice’s daughters, by the end of the day we were all a little bit loopy.

Our New Podcast

Well, we finally did it! After months of planning and preparation, we launched our new podcast this week, Cooking with the Moms. This 20-minute podcast/radio show is packed with fast and healthy recipe ideas and helpful mealtime tips designed to help you and your family eat a more nutritious diet.

We have discovered that there is quite a learning curve when starting a podcast. The biggest challenge was figuring out the technology end of the podcasting and iTunes world. In fact, we are still trying to understand some of the finer points! However, we are forging ahead and hope you will listen to our podcast and let us know what you think.

You can either listen to Cooking with the Moms by clicking the "listen here" button on our site, or you can download it to your mp3 player and tune in while you are walking, commuting, or working out. Either way, we hope you’ll join us (or download us) each week as we share our kitchen creations and cooking insights with you.

Get Your Kids to Eat Right (Part 3)

We thought we had heard it all when it comes to ideas for getting kids to try new foods. Not so! Meal Makeover Moms' Club member Amy D. of Houston Texas, faced with the challenge of feeding two extremely finicky boys, went to the extreme with one of the most clever, out-of-the-box strategies we've ever heard!

Here's what happens when Amy introduces a new food to her kids:

"If my boys eat it all, they can squeal like a pig and eat their food like a pig, a la 'Christmas Story.' You'd be surprised what becomes more palatable when you can really be a pig. And, yes, there is a mess and they only get the piggy opportunity on NEW foods. Besides, after a 'pig session' we always get a few 'squeals' when the same dish comes back around!"

Amy, you're a Meal Makeover Mom, that's for sure! We want to hear more fun and clever ideas. Simply click on the comments button and share your tips.