since we're talking about magazines....

i was doing some digging on the www when i came across this magazine. i can hardly wait to head over to whole foods this weekend to grab a copy. from the blurb online this is what chop chop is about...

Chop Chop is a quarterly food magazine and website for kids and their families. Chop Chop's mission is to educate kids to cook and be nutritionally literate, empower them to actively participate as health partners with their families and help establish and support better eating habits for a lifetime of good nutrition. The magazine is filled with nutritious, great-tasting, ethnically diverse and inexpensive recipes, as well as interesting and little-known food facts, Q&A's and games.

the recipe that made me stop and take notice of the magazine is their 'not-your-grandma's-fried-chicken' dish. you can find that recipe here:

http://momsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/09/chop-chop.html

i'll give you full reviews after i read the mag. if you don't have a whole foods or earthfare near you, then you can visit their website for a subscription at www.chopchopmag.com

real simple family special issue

real simple is one of my favorite national publications. it's not often that i have 30 minutes to sit and enjoy thumbing through pages but when i do real simple always satisfies and encourages. all that to say that when i found the special issue of real simple family i immediately picked it up. of course the first thing that caught my eye was the cover promising fast, kid-friendly dinner recipes. um, yes please. so i searched the article and found a recipe that will be on our menu for this week. sausage & apple kabobs. georiga loves sausage. loves maple syrup {which the pieces of apple and sausage are brushed with} and well, hopefully she'll love the apples too. i'll report back. hopefully she'll love it and it will make my recipe bringing a lot easier next week for our next favorite foods friday gathering. if you're interested in making these yourself here is the direct link to the recipe on the real simple website:

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/sausage-apple-kebabs-potatoes-peas-00000000039148/index.html

the lunch sack dilemma

tomorrow starts mother's day out for lots of us. and while there are so many positive things that come from that...one of the things that i consider a negative is the loss of lunchtime control. i mean that loosely of course because we are packing their lunch, but we lose so many options for serving healthy options when no refrigeration or heating can be counted on for meal time. so i'm looking for suggestions from you. what tips/tricks have you found to be helpful in getting nutrition into the lunch sack of your kid???

here's some of my thoughts so far:
*pretzels & hummus or avocado
*veggie straws from costco
*sliced ham rollup
*any fruit cup that doesn't have fruit in syrup
*organic turkey hotdogs w/ tomato sauce {or ketchup she thinks}
*pimento cheese sandwich
*homemade granola bars

what else am i missing? leave some comments so we can share ideas...

{ oh and speaking of lunch sacks...the one above is the cute one i found for georgia at buybuy baby. all of their lunchsacks use vintage fabric and are insulated. and for 12.99. good buy i'd say... }