Father’s Day in my home is a very big day. Being a father is one of the most rewarding and exciting responsibilities a man can experience. It is the reason Bric works hard everyday. His joy is coming home to the house filled with excitement that he has arrived, to hugs and kisses, to questions about his day from kids who adore him, and the excited chatter from children that have been waiting on him so that they can share all of the wonders they have encountered throughout the day.
Father’s Day provides us with a special opportunity to show just how much we all care about and appreciate the fathers in our lives. It isn’t about expensive gifts that can be purchased at the local mall. It is about spending the day with that special man, showering him with love and devotion.
One of the traditions in our home is to make cookies. Bric’s favorite is Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies so he gets these every Father’s Day. Now, thanks to Mom’s Best Naturals Quick Oats, they turn out even better than before!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon or nutmeg (I like to use freshly grated nutmeg)
- 1 cup Mom’s Best Naturals Quick Oats
Directions
- In large bowl mix the butter, shortening, sugars and peanut butter.
- Add eggs one at a time.
- Blend flour, soda, and salt then add to sugar mixture.
- Add Mom’s Best Naturals Quick Oats.
- Form into 1 1/2 inch balls (no need to press with fork like usual). Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.
I hope that you will each spend this Father’s Day taking the time to cherish one another. Grab a box of Mom’s Best Naturals cereal and serve breakfast in bed. Or, gather the family around the kitchen and make a big batch of cookies to snack on and enjoy together throughout the day. Just make sure to connect and enjoy the day.
Being dedicated fathers and husbands often means doing the things that aren’t fun — at least in my house anyway. He is the garbage man, the repair man, the plumber, the gas attendant, the disciplinarian, and the list goes on. So we make sure that each Father’s Day Bric knows just how much we appreciate all that he does for us and how much we love him. As a Mom’s Best Naturals Mom, it’s about giving my best to make my family the best it can be.
Remember, quality is the most important ingredient.
Those are words that I long to hear each and every year. May seems to be the longest month of my life and I always think that it will never end. Memorial Day marks the official start of summer at our house. The kids know that it means trips to the lake, lazy afternoons by a pool, sleeping late and snacks that they love.
We do not have big vacation plans this summer. Our plan is to pack in as many day trips to local attractions as we can, and to spend as much quality time together as we can. One way that we work in quality family time during the summer is to have an afternoon snack together; sitting around the table, cooling off and resting for a few minutes.
One of our favorite snacks happens to be ice cream with a surprise on the top. To help keep the sugar down I drizzle a little honey and then sprinkle some Mom’s Best Naturals Oats and Honey Blend on top for a tasty treat on a hot summer afternoon. It is quick, easy and a lot healthier for us than ice cream topped with candy or a sugary topping. And the taste – let’s just say fabulous doesn’t even touch it. 
Summer is about being carefree and having fun, so make sure you always use a fun colored bowl and spoon. It seriously makes all the difference in the taste.
Taking traditional ingredients that you already love and mixing them up to make fun and healthy snacks is a great way to survive the summer with your kids. If your house is anything like mine you will hear the screen door slam a million times a day with kids running in and out hollering through the house, “MOM, we’re hungry!” So grab a few boxes of Mom’s Best Naturals Cereal and create a few new snack ideas that your family will love. And please, let me know what you create, I am always on the lookout for new ideas myself.
Remember, quality is the most important ingredient!
I joke with him, cajole him, and sometimes I really lose it and nag my husband about his eating habits, which, in my opinion, could be better.
His nutrition could also be much worse, but I digress.
This Father’s Day, I may take a rest from my constant vigilance, but I can’t guarantee that I am even capable of that, even if I do find it exhausting!
I think the problem is that I know too much about how a man’s diet affects the way he handles stress and his risk for developing chronic conditions, like high blood pressure and heart disease. I am sure that my hubby knows that love is what drives my concern. I want him around, and healthy, for as long as possible.
Dads don’t always take the best care of themselves, especially when work is stressful, and they put their family’s needs before their own. Moms, I hate to put another thing to do on your “To Do” List, but let’s be real: It’s largely up to the person who shops for, and prepares the food to keep Dad on the right track. I’m guessing that’s you. If so, join the club!
You can’t control another person’s eating habits, but you can contribute to helping your husband, partner, or any Dad in your life to choose healthier foods. Here’s how.
Make good nutrition a family affair. There’s no need to single out Dad because he should drop a few pounds, he has high blood cholesterol, or he’s affected by any other health problem. The entire family should eat a balanced diet rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean protein sources and low-fat dairy foods.
Try new recipes together. Break out the cookbooks and scour the internet for low-fat entrees that Dad might like, and discuss dinner choices with him. Consider having fish twice a week to promote heart health.
Stock the kitchen with healthier choices. Have healthier choices of Dad’s favorites on hand including 1% low fat milk, delicious whole grain cereals like Mom’s Best Naturals Sweetened Wheatfuls; 100-calorie frozen treats; and nuts. Keep low-fat sandwich fillings like roasted turkey and lean roast beef, whole wheat bread, and reduced-fat mayonnaise around so that he can take his lunch to work, saving money and calories.
Be stealth with produce. A low-fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables is linked to a lower risk of heart disease and certain cancers, better blood pressure, and easier weight control.
But your guy may not be enthusiastic about any vegetables other than corn and potatoes, so sneak them into his meals. Puree cooked broccoli or cauliflower and add to prepared pasta sauce; make a veggie pizza at home with a pre-baked low-fat crust and reduced-fat cheddar cheese; and double the beans in your favorite chili recipe while using half as much meat. Increase his fruit intake by offering to make smoothies with fruit, milk or yogurt, and ice.
Rethink his drink. Suggest drinking 1% low-fat or fat-free milk with meals. It’s an excellent source of calcium and vitamin D, which help prevent osteoporosis, a bone disease that can result in fractures. About 20% of Americans with osteoporosis are men, and millions more are considered at risk because of low bone mass. As part of a healthy diet, fat-free and low-fat milk also helps to keep blood pressure in check.
Happy Father’s Day!!
Liz Ward
We had three great finalists, but one hungry contestant – no pun intended – received the most consumer votes! Check out our winner’s video to get a glimpse into one of America’s pantries – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSablHxgiKo. You may just recognize some of the same questions and concerns you have, so remember, you’re not alone.
And that’s exactly why we want everyone to share their “pantry fixes” in response to this post. Do you always have certain healthy staples on hand? Do you eliminate high sodium foods? Do you stick to natural or organic options? Share the wealth and everyone can be on their way to a healthier pantry.
Thanks to everyone who opened up their pantry doors to us.
Happy makeovers!
Mom’s Best Team
I love Mother’s Day because my kids and husband go out of their way to pamper me. Every year, it’s breakfast in bed, and lots of great cards and gifts. We feast on bagels, bacon, eggs, and treats like chocolate dipped strawberries, or just straight chocolate.
Then it’s back to reality. Eating-wise, that is.
When you’re a dietitian, people assume your children are genetically programmed to prefer baked potatoes to tater tots, roasted chicken to fried chicken nuggets, and fruit to candy. They also presume that you deny your children foods packed with fat, sugar, salt, or any combination of the three.
Neither is true in my family. However, our eating habits are far from perfect.
My children are like so many other kids who wonder why so many fruits and vegetables show up on their plates, why I always buy whole wheat bread instead of the preferred white, and why I serve milk at every meal.
Yet, my girls freely admit to anyone who asks (“Your mother doesn’t let you eat junk food, does she?”) that our kitchen is always stocked with goodies including candy, cookies, and ice cream. Does that mean I’ve achieved the balance between “foods to grow on” and “fun foods” that I crave as a mom? I’m not so sure.
I may be a dietitian/mother, but that combo doesn’t spare me from the challenges of feeding my family right. And it doesn’t make me much different than the millions of other moms who work hard to put healthy foods on the table.
As a mom, I think you’ll agree that helping children to make smart eating choices is not always easy. But our vigilance is worth it, now, and in the long run. We won’t be around forever to prepare balanced meals and snacks for our children, and when our kids are older, they’ll need to know how to make their own healthy food choices.
Here are some techniques you can use to get your kids interested in healthier foods at any age.
Stifle selective eating. Kids are naturally selective eaters whose preferences are constantly evolving. One day they love broccoli and you think you’re home free, and the next day they won’t even look at it. Don’t take it personally when your child rejects what you’ve prepared. Depending on his age, it could just be a phase, or he may not be feeling well that day. Continue to offer a variety of healthy foods, and show him you think it’s important to eat those foods, too.
Cultivate a vested interest. Grow a garden or some potted tomatoes, and have children take care of some of the plants and harvest the results. Or visit farmer’s markets to expose kids to different types of fruits and vegetables.
Give children some veto power. Too much food restriction will surely backfire. Allow older children to plan meals with you and figure out what to buy to keep healthy ingredients on hand. Take the younger ones shopping to get them accustomed to the grocery store.
Let them cook with you. When she was only three, my middle child began cooking dinner with me. She would drag a kitchen chair over to where I was standing in order to reach the countertop and help me. It took more time to prepare meals, but to this day, she is an avid cook and adventurous eater. My youngest, who is rather restricted in her food choices, likes to cook, too. A few years ago, she started making pancakes every weekend for the family. I’d love to say she makes blueberry pancakes, but, more often than not, her cooking involves chocolate chips. Oh well, you can’t have everything!
Happy Mother’s Day!
Liz Ward
Here is an email I got from Mom’s Best Naturals and thought I’d share with all of you wonderful mommies! 
What would you do if you had an extra $500 to treat yourself with? We know how hard every mom works to be the best for her family, and this year, Mom’s Best wants to help moms take care of themselves for a change — with $500 and a Flip Cam!
- Repeated something embarrassing public?
- Said something with utter seriousness that is wise beyond their years?
- Gotten into something they shouldn’t have a made a complete mess?
- Done something incredibly sweet that made your heart melt
We’re looking for your favorite “Mommy Moments” — times when something wacky, sweet, embarrassing, or funny happened that made you realize how much you really love being a mom. For example, have you child ever:
For Mother’s Day, one lucky mom will be randomly chosen to receive $500 to use as she chooses, plus a Flip Cam and a year’s supply of Mom’s Best Naturals Cereal and an eco-friendly shopping tote. Three additional moms will win a years supply of cereal and an eco-friendly tote.
To enter, just visit www.momsbestnaturals.com and tell us your favorite “Mommy Moment” in 250 words or less before may 2, 2010.
Each April 22, people gather to celebrate our planet and do their part to keep it beautiful. We at Mom’s Best Naturals wonder, why spend just one day working to reduce our carbon footprint? That’s why we’re committed to making choices that are environmentally-friendly 365 days a year, including using 100 percent recycled paperboard in our cereal boxes and purchasing all of our electricity from Windsource®, a network of wind turbines that produce renewable energy.
What do you do to keep our planet green? Here are some of our favorites ideas for celebrating the Earth and contributing to its future, today and everyday:
- Plant a tree
- Calculate (http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/) your carbon footprint and try to reduce it
- Ride your bike to commute and run errands
- Create works of art with leftover objects that would otherwise be throw out
- Adopt a street or park for neighborhood clean up
Happy Earth Day!
Mom’s Best Team
Earth Day, celebrated on April 22, has me thinking about what I can do to help the planet. When I found out that Americans waste enough food to fill the Rose Bowl Stadium every day, it really struck a nerve.
I hate wasting food. It’s expensive, it’s no good for the environment, and it’s just wrong, given the number of people who don’t have enough to eat. That doesn’t stop me from pitching more food than I would like, however. I don’t always remember to use up fresh fruits and vegetables, and I may avoid the leftover Chinese food in favor of a fresh sandwich for lunch.
Here’s another startling statistic: 40 percent of all the food produced for consumption in this country will never be eaten. Given that it takes energy and water to produce food, wasting it is really bad for the planet. In addition, wasted food rots in landfills, producing methane, which contributes to global warming.
Earth Day always reminds me that conserving food is good for all of us, and I have to say, I am getting better at using the food that I buy. The high cost of food has, in part, spurred me into action. Plus, I want to set a good example for my three kids.
Here are some of my food conservation tricks:
- Organize your refrigerator, freezer, and cabinets. When you know what you have on hand, you can better plan meals and snacks and you don’t keep buying the same thing over and over (guilty!). Keep your fridge at or below 40˚F and your freezer at or below 0˚ F to avoid food going bad.
- Love your leftovers. When I roast a whole chicken, I make soup from the leftovers. Depending on what I have on hand, I add leftover canned beans, pasta, or potatoes. I whip up a simple stew from a dinner of leftover pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes (they thicken the stew), and green beans by combining them sautéed onions and carrots, and beef broth. Last week, I toasted an excess of dry, but perfectly edible, whole-wheat tortillas. We broke them into chips and had them with hummus.
- Rely on convenience foods. Frozen vegetables and fruits are wonderful because you take only what you need and save the rest for later, so nothing goes to waste. Ditto for certain packaged foods like Mom’s Best Naturals cereals.
- Put overripe fruit to good use. Make fruit smoothies with strawberries and peaches. Serve up a pear or apple crisp from fruit that’s just about to go bad. Freeze overripe bananas in their peels and make banana bread with them later.
Happy Earth Month!
Liz Ward
As the mother of two teenagers, and one child on the verge of adolescence, I know how difficult it can be to feed kids right. Hectic schedules, time spent away from home, and a preference for salty, sweet, and fatty fare affect a child’s food choices, and not always in a good way.
In the spirit of National Nutrition Month (www.eatright.org), I want to let you know about a new study from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association (www.adajournal.org/article/PIIS0002822309018100/abstract) about teen eating habits. As you may imagine, the news is not so good- it even surprised the nutritionist in me.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota (U of M) found that teens, and young adults in their early 20’s, eat only 10 percent of the whole grains suggested by the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommends at least three servings (This is a link to grain foods and defines serving sizes: www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/grains.html#) a day.
Why should we care that our teens don’t get enough whole grains? Because eating whole grains on a regular basis makes weight control easier for children (and adults). Plus, whole grains help to prevent certain chronic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
And now, for the good news! The U of M study indicated that parents have the power to improve whole grain intake in their kids. That’s not surprising when you consider that a survey conducted by the American Dietetic Association Foundation found parents have more potential to influence their children’s behavior, including their eating habits, than anyone else.
Here are simple strategies for making these important foods a regular part of your child’s eating plan:
Make taste a top priority. Taste is the strongest influence on a teen’s whole grain consumption. It makes perfect sense that kids who enjoy the taste of whole grains, which run the gamut from oatmeal to quinoa, tend to eat more of them. Mom’s Best Naturals cereals offer a variety of great-tasting options sure to satisfy everyone in the family. Cereal aside, kids who balk at whole wheat bread may readily accept white whole wheat bread, which looks like white, but has a nutritional profile closer to whole grain bread.
Tempt their taste buds by transitioning into whole grains. Combine regular pasta with whole wheat pasta, and white rice with brown; substitute whole grain couscous for regular; add cooked wild rice to your favorite soup; and substitute whole wheat flour for half the all-purpose flour called for in recipes for quick breads, muffins, pancakes, and cookies. Make grains such as bulgur, brown rice, and quinoa tastier by cooking them in broth, or fruit, and vegetable juices, and adding sautéed vegetables or dried fruit.
Get kids involved. Give teens power to make decisions about healthy food, and they’ll buy into the idea of eating whole grains. Bring kids to the grocery store and shop for less-common, but highly nutritious, whole grains, including quinoa, millet, and bulgur. Ask your teen to search the internet for interesting recipes for grains.
Eat breakfast every day. The U of M study found that eating breakfast was linked to a greater intake of whole grains in teens. Have on hand whole grain foods such as Mom’s Best Naturals Sweetened Wheat-fuls, Honey Nut Toasty O’s and oatmeal, and whole wheat bread and rolls, for quick breakfast assembly. Show your child how important you think breakfast is by making time to eat it at home, or by preparing a meal that includes whole grains to take on the go.
Make whole grains convenient. Teens ate more whole grains when these healthy foods were within reach at home. Shop regularly for whole grain cereals, breads, pasta, and other grains. Teens are serial snackers, so stock the kitchen with whole grain ingredients, such as whole grain crackers and popcorn, for healthy noshes. Combine popped light microwave popcorn with dried fruit, including California raisins, and nuts.
Keep whole grains affordable. Some whole grains are pricier than others. Mom’s Best Naturals cereals are among the most affordable foods in the cereal aisle, costing 20 to 50% less than similar varieties of natural and organic cereals, and they’re priced to offer the same value as mainstream cereals.
Yours Truly,
Liz Ward
For many people in the northern part of the country, winter is a major downer. When you live in a place where the cold, snow, and ice are compounded by a serious lack of sunlight (like New England, where I live) the conditions can make you, well, just a tad bit grouchy. In my opinion, taking a vow to ban favorite foods in the name of good health only makes winter worse.
How about resolving to eat more this year? Yes, I said “more.”
There’s a catch, of course! I’m talking about including more nutrient-rich foods, not cookies, candy, and chips.
What are Naturally Nutrient-Rich Foods?
Naturally nutrient-rich foods are whole or very lightly processed foods that provide substantial amounts of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients for relatively few calories. In other words, naturally nutrient-rich foods provide a bigger bang for the caloric buck.
Naturally nutrient-rich foods include:
- Colorful fruits and vegetables, such as apples, berries, carrots, and broccoli
- Whole, fortified, and enriched grains, like Mom’s Best Naturals Oatmeal, whole wheat bread, and brown rice
- Fat-free and low-fat dairy foods, such as milk and yogurt
- Low-fat protein sources, including lean meats like pork tenderloin and sirloin steak, poultry, fish, eggs, and beans
How Can Naturally Nutrient-Rich Foods Help You Slim Down?
Everyone has a daily calorie allowance to spend, whether they want to lose, maintain, or gain weight. Choosing naturally nutrient-rich foods most of the time makes your food choices work harder for you.
Studies show that people tend to eat less when their diets are based on naturally nutrient-rich foods, perhaps because naturally nutrient-rich foods are more satisfying in the long-run. For example, the fiber in whole grain cereals paired with the protein in milk keeps you fuller for longer, compared to a white bagel and cream cheese.
Focusing on the foods you need to eat every day, such as three servings a day of low-fat dairy and two servings of fruit, is a positive idea that takes the emphasis off of what you shouldn’t eat, and naturally, crowds out other, less nutritious choices. For example, reaching for an apple and low-fat yogurt instead of cookies helps you satisfy your daily quotas for fruit and dairy foods and adds protein, calcium, fiber, vitamins, and minerals to your diet.
Make Room for Fun Foods
Eating the naturally nutrient-rich way does not mean giving up your favorite foods, such as French fries, chips, cake, and ice cream. Even people who need to lose weight are allowed a certain amount of calories every day to spend any way they like – no questions asked!
To find out your fun food calorie budget, and to plan a naturally nutrient-rich eating program, use MyPyramid at www.mypyramid.gov, which is founded on the government’s guidelines for good eating.
Yours truly,
Liz Ward
