Healthy Snacks for Growing Boys

I’m back blogging!!! And today talking: hungry boys!! 

You may have noticed that our blog has been very quite recently, well the past couple of months really! That is because the heat was totally turned up on the Masters course I was doing! After Christmas the workload really increased and I had to zero time to do anything fun. But now I’m back!! I handed in my portfolio (similar to a thesis) at the end of April, and it only now were getting back to normality! I have been trying to keep our instagram account up to date, so for a quick synopsis on the last few months, cheek that out.

I am going to do a post soon on my experience as a student working mom doing a Masters that was incredibly academically and emotional intense. But for now I’m concentrating on the fun things!

I'm a hungry growing boy! 

Devoting most hours of most days to study,(Baby bear was with his lovely child-minder),  I completely failed to notice the amount of food Baby Bear eats theses days! His appetite has really come on. Maybe it’s a growth spurt, or him just being a boy but what ever it is its great! He’s eating everything! (well….most things!!) We have Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner sorted- we have loads of dishes to make that we all enjoy etc. Snacks are my problem! You know that time between breakfast and lunch, lunch and dinner and dinner and tea- well Baby Bear eats at all these intervals! He’s great on fruit, so lots of novelty ways of eating fruit are tried and tested. Nuts and raisins are also good. But then what else can I give him to keep him ticking over? It needs to be lunch box friendly, that can be picked up running out the door to the playground, Granny’s etc...?? It also needs to be dairy free! I welcome all ideas. I’m on a mission to find and make healthy snacks to keep Baby Bear (and me and Daddy Bear!) ticking over! Any ideas I try will be posted in the ‘Diary Free Recipes’ tab!

How our Muesli Bars turned out. 

Today we tried Granny Jane’s Muesli Bars. Any time we go to Granny Jane’s in Kilkenny she has lovely baking done. These Muesli bars are always delish so I gave them a go (recipe in ‘Dairy Free Tab’). They turned out lovely, not as nice as Granny Jane’s so must ask her for tips at the weekend. Baby Bear and I have just had one with a cup of tea and honestly I’m stuffed! They are a bit crumbly so maybe next time ill put more coconut oil. I’m not convinced about the ‘healthiness’ part however. There is a lot of sugar and honey, and there are also coconut flakes, which a friend said could be high in fat! Eek!!! There is some goodness in them though as they are packed with seeds and nuts! Look it ,it’s better than a bar of chocolate, keeps up ticking over until dinner, recipe makes a good patch that are easy to grab and go, so for my first day of the healthy snack mission, its not a bad start at all!

Ill try again tomorrow and let you know how it goes. Would love any ideas for other recipes.

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Juicing

Everywhere we look it's juices! The latest 'must-have' gadget seems to be the Nutribullet and the latest in-trend craze is juicing! So, what is it all about?

While tucking into the 6th box of Roses over Christmas, Daddy Bear and I decided we need to get fit and start maintaining a healthier diet and lifestlye.....once the New Year came! And with the new year brought this new craze. Or maybe not new, but we just seemed to notice it. 

A family member bought the all mighty, all praised NutriBullet before Christmas. We thought it would be used a few time and be back in the box by mid January! How wrong we were! It's a great sucess. And now we too have joined this juicing craze. Being completely specticle of the over priced glorified food processors we went an alternative route; juice delivery. 

Bottle of Juice outside our door early one morning

We are extremely lucky that the amazing Grace from Cork Nurtional Clinic has set up a fantastic service wherby she makes the juices and delivers them fresh to our door each morining before 7am! We simply drink our juice throughout the day, leave the empty bottle outside the door at night and in the morining, hey presto a fresh new bottle of juice!

We said to Grace we just wanted a juice that would detox us slightly, but just overall a healthy kick to our day really. The juice we get is just that; Ginger, Kale, Pear, Cucumber, Celery and sometimes an apple. In the bottle there is enough for a glass in the morning and a glass after work for both Daddy Bear and Mommy Bear, Baby Bear hates it! The taste is tough at the start but it definitely gets easier. The benefits are unbelievable! Coming from a total sceptic, I have been won over! Im not sure if its all in my head, but im feeling healthier, ive have more energy, my skin is clearer, its just overall a positive! 

Will we buy the Nutribullet and do it ourselves? Origionaly my answer on this was : No, not for the time being. The service Grace in Cork Nutrition Clinc provides is fantastic. Maybe im being lazy, but untill I see us sticking at this craze for a (good) couple of weeks longer we wont be making the purchase. Unfortunately since first drafting this post, Grace has been in touch to say she's no doing the juice delivery service for a few weeks due to her work schedule!!!! We're devastated! So what are we going to do!!! I might try make them myself in the food processor and see how it goes!! Stay posted! 

So if you havnt already, why not join in on the juicing craze? Either make them yourself or contact someone like Grace in The Cork Nutrition Clinc. 

We'd love to hear your thoughts, comments or recipe ideas for juices! xx

Daddy Bear and Mommy Bear x

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