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Green Kids Meal Time Stonyfield Summer

Simple summer salads with Taylor Farms and Stonyfield

**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!)
  • Stonyfield Organic Smoothe and Creamy Whole Milk Yogurt – Vanilla (no, really! Vanilla!!)
  • Organic Honey Mustard
  • Diced, cooked chicken
  • 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!)

 

Categories
Kids Stonyfield Uncategorized

Do you think a cow can save a Penguin?

Note: This post is Sponsored.

Happy World Penguin Day!! We love those tuxedo clad flightless birds in our house!

It is with great honor, on a day like today, that I get to share with you that a company I already love for their dedication to the environment, food, and the well being of humans — is sponsoring the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) program.

Stonyfield has begun a year long mission to bring awareness to this program. Through the Stonyfield YoKids’ sponsorship of the SAFE program, they will support conservation efforts of TEN (!!) endangered species — Including the African Penguin! What better day to kick this all off than World Penguin Day?! They even hosted a fun interactive FB Live broadcast on the Stonyfield Facebook Page, Live from Mystic Aquarium’s Penguin Encounter.

As part of their efforts to bring awareness to the cause and educate not only parents, but the future generation on the importance of saving our endangered species, Stonyfield YoKids’s packaging will feature most of the AZA SAFE species, as well as an on-package offer to bring families to AZA accredited Zoos and Aquariums. From now through September 2017, families that purchase TWO (2) specially marked YoKids multipacks will receive a FREE kids admission to their local AZA accredited Zoo or Aquarium! (There are 131!! Click here to find one near you!)

Even better news for parents! You arent just helping endangered species when you purchase YoKids yogurt! You’re giving your kids a USDA certified Organic, non-GMO yogurt that now has 40% less sugar than the leading low-fat kids yogurt brand!! Available in cups, squeezers and smoothies, you’re bound to find one (or many) your kids will love.

While you wait for your kids to finish their yogurts and planning your trip to your local zoo or aquarium, spend a few minutes checking out these other resources about Stonyfield’s sponsorship of the AZA SAFE program and also watch these super cute videos!

 

Categories
Babies Stonyfield

When a good thing gets better! Stonyfield YoBaby yogurt, now with Probiotics!

As parents, we try very hard to give our kids the best we can. We want them to grow and thrive and be happy. What we put into their bodies is an important factor in that.

We try to give our kids the healthiest variety and options – which is why Stonyfield Organic YoBaby Yogurt has always been a staple in our first foods journey.

Not only is it organic, it’s made from whole milk, low in sugar, a variety of flavors, and now — they’ve added the probiotic BB-12! This means baby’s already healthy yogurt will promote good gut health as well.

YoBaby yogurt is the number 1 pediatrician recommended refrigerated yogurt for babies between 6 months and 2 years. I know that it’s the yogurt our pediatrician has been recommending to us for the last 11 years, for all of our kids. We know it, we trust it, and now it’s even better.

With five kids, someone is always coming down with something.. a snotty nose, a stomach bug, an ear infection. If any of those instances require an antibiotic, or just leave them with an unhappy stomach, the added benefits of probiotics in yogurt they already love to eat makes my life much easier. I can rest assured they’re getting what their bodies need when it needs it most.

Available in several flavors, you are sure to find one your baby will love! (Vanilla,  Banana/Mango, Blueberry/Apple, andPeach/Pear) You can even buy a non-sweetened Plain yogurt version. What better to add to other foods for bab – or even to make dips out of without losing any of those benefits that make YoBaby so wonderful. (A ranch dip made from plain YoBaby is the perfect exploration dip! A little bit of that, some chicken nuggets and a few fries. Baby is in artistic self-feeding heaven!)

For more information on Stonyfields commitment to healthy food for babies, or to find YoBaby near you, click here!

 

Categories
Stonyfield

The *new* Stonyfield Whole Milk Smoothies!

Please note: I am a Stonyfield Ambassador and the product mentioned below was provided to me. All opinions are my own.

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When you have five kids, life gets busy. When you homeschool 3 of those kids, life can be downright chaotic.

When it comes to meals, especially snacks, I constantly struggle between easy, convenient, and healthy. Did I mention my kids are all boys? This means they are hungry all the time. (No, really! ALL the time!)

For a while, I would keep crackers, granola bars, string cheese, and fruit where they could readily get it on their own without a hassle.. but these weren’t always the healthiest or most filling options.

Enter my new favorite household staple! The Stonyfield Whole Milk Smoothies! Let me tell you, these have saved me on more than one occasion. Be it a kid who slept in too late and was about to miss their online homeroom, but still needed breakfast, or the picky toddler who flat out refused to eat his dinner.

I know when my kids grab one of these smoothies, they are getting healthy protein, they aren’t full of added sugars and other junk, they’re organic and they are satisfying! My kids aren’t instantly looking for another snack less than 5 minutes after drinking one.

They also help with me feel better about those after dinner random hunger pains.. a healthier option to stomp out those cravings.

The Stonyfield Whole Milk Smoothies currently come in two flavors, peach and strawberry. Lucky for me, my household is evenly split on who likes which flavor most — but everyone loves them both.

I plan on keeping these smoothies well stocked in our fridge.. they will definitely be our school week go-to!

You can find out more about th Stonyfield Whole Milk Smoothies here.