With 5 boys (6 if you include my husband..) Star Wars is a HUGE hit in our house. Though, truth be told, I loved Star Wars long before I had kids. Always a Leia fan, and a huge sucker for those Ewoks. (Wicket is life!!)
Naturally, this means we love anything related to Star Wars, especially Star Wars Day on May the 4th! I was thrilled when I received these fun printable activities for the new movie “Solo” to help celebrate this May!
I hope you and your kids enjoy them as much as we do! (Click on link below each photo to get saveable image)
**This post is sponsored by Stonyfield Organic Yogurt and in partnership with Taylor Farms**
It’s finally here! Summer!
With five kids, Summer is busy and exhausting. It’s also HOT. I can’t tell you how often we start thinking about what to fix for dinner and just so do not want to cook. The idea of turning on the stove to make a healthy meal for the family just seems so daunting – not to mention counter productive to running the air conditioner.
So what do you do? Salad!! A great Summer staple. However, getting most kids to eat a salad may take a little finesse. Enter in our kid friendly Simply Sweet Summer Salad.
We love to keep things simple while also keeping things as wholesome, healthy, and nutritious as we can. Organics are a key part of this. We love the opportunities we have working with Stonyfield and other organic collaborators for this very reason. You will find that this salad stays true to a fast, convenient, simple and super healthy meal.. while tasting almost dessert like!
All you need is:
Taylor Farms Power Greens (We loved the Wellness Blend!)
Diced cheese of your choice (optional; Mild Cheddar or Gouda work well)
Fresh, sliced organic strawberries
Fresh, whole, organic seedless red grapes
Start by prepping your ingredients. You can prep as much or as little as you need, depending on what you’re using it for. That’s the nice thing about these particular ingredients. None of them have to be prepped in huge batches. From a small lunch portion to a hearty potluck salad.. you pick how much of what you need and wash and prep accordingly. (You can even dice your chicken and cheese early and just keep them in the fridge, grabbing portions as you need!)
Once your greens, cheese, chicken and fruit is washed, sliced and diced.. it’s time to prep the dressing. Simple is an understatement. Two ingredients. Nothing more. Honey mustard and Vanilla Stonyfield organic whole milk yogurt, blended well with a fork. SO EASY!
3 tablespoons organic honey mustard
1/4 cup Stonyfield Vanilla Whole Milk Yogurt
(Note: for a sweeter dressing, add more honey mustard.. for a tangier, creamier dressing — add more yogurt! Play with it to find the balance you like most!)
Assemble your salad, then drizzle the desired amount of dressing over the top. If packing for a lunch or potluck, I recommend transporting the dressing in a separate container and waiting to drizzle it until just before serving.
Its a bright, fun, incredibly healthy salad that even your kids will crave, and you won’t break a sweat making. Even on those hot summer days. BONUS: the dressing makes an excellent dip! If you have a child who isn’t keen on salad, give them the ingredients seperately and let them dip away! (Sometimes being able to play with their food makes it taste better!)
As a mom, when summer approaches, I both welcome and dread the rising temperatures. Unlike many parts of the country, here in Oregon we are just not built for heat. Like the typical mom of today, I took to Pinterest to find creative ways to conquer the heat. In my searches, I came across a product that is simply genius. A DIY Freezer pop, of sorts. I immediately had to go to their website and find out about it.
Zipzicles. A BPA-Free, recyclable zip top ice-pop bag. Like the traditional “Otter Pops” that we all knew as children, only you can make them however you want, with whatever you want. Whenever you want. I love this. I can make them as healthy (or unhealthy?) as I want to. I can make them kid friendly.. or even make a few for a more “adult” crowd. While some of you are assuming I am talking about a Margarita ice-pop.. (which I’m sure would be fantastic.. Though.. make sure you label them and keep away from children!) I’m more the “freeze some coffee and have an ice-pop for breakfast” kind of person.
WizCo, the makers of Zipzicles, were kind enough to send me a set of their product to try out and review for you. I am so happy with this product. Our weather warmed up just in time for us to take advantage of it. Of course, I couldn’t resist spreading the word, so we arranged a summer play-date with our friends that included kiddie pools, sprinklers, lemonade and of course, our freshly made Zipzicles.
I took advantage of the opportunity to make our own ice-pops by letting my children get in on the fun. Together we picked out our flavors. They chose Strawberry-Orange-Vanilla and also just Orange-Vanilla. To execute this, I broke out the BabyBullet, got frozen strawberries, vanilla frozen yogurt and orange juice. So simple, and sure.. the frozen yogurt added a little bit of calories, it was much healthier than handing my kids an ice cream cone and I knew exactly what was in it! Our packet of Zipzicles came with 12 packets, so we made 6 of each flavor. They were easy to open, easy to fill and held a lot! Definitely pay attention to the “fill line” – I had a few “oops” moments with mine and well.. at least clean up tasted good! We froze them, packed them in a bag and headed over to our friend’s house.
Just as easy as they were to fill, they were simple to open. The traditional ice-pops we are all familiar with require the use of scissors – leaving you with a top piece that should be thrown away but somehow always ends up in the yard and a child covered in food-colored dye. This simply pulled open like a zip-top sandwich bag, stayed intact, and sure, while our children were sticky messes as the heat quickly melted the ice-pop, they weren’t stained with fake orange, red or blue dye.
Another benefit of the Zipzicle is an important one for our household. Having the ability to make them myself, means that I don’t have to worry about exposing my son to any of his allergies. I have all the control. I know what goes in. I know what comes in contact with it. I knew the moment that I saw them on Pinterest that I was going to love it. Using them only proved me right. We are already about to order more to have at our toddler’s birthday party at the end of July. He’s going to have a “PhiePhie” party, so I’m thinking I’ll do the Orange-Vanilla flavor and dot it with chocolate chips! A giraffe ice-pop! Fun!!
Did I make you all hungry yet? Have I inspired you with summer frozen treat ideas? Well, here’s where you get lucky! WizCo is giving three (3) of you the chance to win a pack of Zipzicles of your very own!! But first, tell me, what is your favorite way to beat the heat with your kids?? What would you make with your Zipzicles pouches? (You can also find some recipes on Zipzicles site and even on Pinterest!)
Note: This product was provided to me by WizCo. I was not paid for this review and the opinions expressed are my own.
