Spiced Chai for the Soul

A Caffeine Kick Without That Joe Guy

Most days, we get up and crank up the coffee maker before we can stop being a crab or even open our eyes all the way. Since I'm not a big fan of hot drinks, my coffee making is solely for the man-crab of the house. I still need my morning (or midday, or late night--what?) caffeine jolt, so I was thrilled to find a chai that not only was made from organic ingredients, but was the best I'd ever tasted.  Flip Flop Mamma grinds the spices for her Chai [$10] herself, so you know each batch is made with love and fresh ingredients.  The health benefits of the ingredients in chai range from aiding in digestion to killing bacteria, so try out an alternative to the cup of joe and taste a cup of spicey yum.

-Arianne

Jack's Harvest

A Harvest for his Heart

Before I gave birth to my son, I vowed that every single thing that went into his body would be something that was good for him. Now, I must admit, I have sort of strayed a bit since he started eating adult food, but when it came to baby food, I stuck with my instincts and only gave him certified organic foods. It wasn't an easy task either. My local grocery store didn't carry the brand I was feeding him, so I had to do some traveling and stocking up in order to get him the best I could find. Luckily, I found an amazing brand of healthy baby food that takes the traveling part out of providing the finest foods for my little one, unless you count walking to your mailbox as traveling, that is.

Mom-preneur's, Heather and Connie seemed to be thinking the same thing I was when they came up with Jack's Harvest, a certified organic line of delivered-to-your-door fresh baby foods. When I say healthy, I mean really healthy. The products contain all the yummy stuff (100% certified organic fresh fruits and vegetables), none of the yucky stuff (no preservatives, no added salt or sugar, no chemicals, no artificial colors or flavors), and no allergic stuff (no gluten, eggs, wheat, dairy, or nuts). They are personally delivered to your door, packaged in dry ice to keep them fresh and frozen until you need them. And for added cuteness, they come in perfectly portioned heart shaped frozen pieces in clear, see-through bags that store wonderfully in the freezer (and stay fresh in there for 3 months!).

With Jack's Harvest, you won't find the basic apples, bananas and peas for flavors and names. For example, you'll uncover flavors like cauli-baba potatoes, pearsnip, and tango with mango. I don't know about you, but I have never come across a baby food that contains cauliflowers! And even though my little guy wasn't a fan at first, I was happy to know that I could find a food for him that would expand his personal palate, even at such a young age.

Now that my little guy is moving on to adult foods, and growing up more and more every day, feeding him foods that are good for him is a bit more of a challenge. But it was nice to know that in his first year of life, there was a company looking out for his best interests, just as much as I was.

Win it!
We have a $25 gift certificate to Jack's Harvest for one hungry babe! To enter, email giveaways[at]mamaspeaks.com with Jack as your subject and let us know which amazing flavor you might just sneak a couple bites of. Giveaway ends March 24, 2008.

-Jen

Senseo

One Cup at a Time 

 

Ladies, let me introduce you to my new BFF, the Senseo coffee pod system. How did I ever survive before? I don't need the newest blackberry, the hottest new cell phone, or whatever other high-tech piece their coming out with. No people, I have a Senseo, which allows me to have gourmet coffee right in the comforts of my own home. I love this thing! One cup of coffee at a time, which is perfect! No more making a pot, drinking a cup and then letting the pot get cold until I'm ready for another one. Coffee any time I want it now.

And Senseo just came out with New Barista Blends, oh how I can't wait to try these!!! Senseo uses the pod system...one pod for regular strength (who wants that?) and two pods for extra strength (that's what I'm talking about baby!). It's the easiest one cup system I've seen. There's a week left until Christmas, hurry and tell your hubs to get you one!!! I'm telling you, it'll be your new BFF too!

Follow this link to take a quick survey for your chance to win a Senseo system of you own and some free coffee. (I'll race you...)

-Jaymi

What's Cooking Weekly

It’s What’s For Dinner

Occasionally I’ll have the good intentions to write out meal plans for an entire week, along with a grocery list, but I usually never get past Monday. I am not a good planner. Thankfully, What’s Cooking Weekly is swooping in to tell you what’s for dinner, and even has the shopping list already filled out for you. Sign. Me. Up.

An online Family Meal Solution, What’s Cooking Weekly [$6 per month] will suggest 5 healthy meals per week with access to recipes and grocery lists, as well as ideas to involve the whole family during dinner preparation. It’s worth it for the ideas alone. Each issue also includes helpful information such as which vegetables are in season and the latest news from the What’s Cooking Blog.

Choose to make all 5 or just one or two meals. Although there are some vegetarian meals, most are for the meat-eating set. But those with special diets or tastes will find easy ways to substitute as well.  Wednesday’s meal might offer Spinach Ravioli with Tomato Cream sauce, a loaf of crusty bread, and a salad with toasted almonds… yes, my stomach is growling, too.

Keep the heat in the kitchen and take a break from having to come up with new meal ideas on your own. What’s Cooking Weekly will bring your family back to the table and enforce the importance of healthy eating starting where it should- at home.

Win it!

We're giving away a free 6 months subscription to What's Cooking Weekly to help you start things off right in the new year! To enter send an email to reviews[at]mamaspeaks.com by midnight November 11, and let us know the names of the women on the What's Cooking team.

-Steph

Junk Food Without the Junk

I’ll admit that I, according to my very opinionated mother, “deprive” my son some of the finer things in life like cookies, cake and ice cream.  I can’t help it; white processed flour and sugar are four letter words in this house.  But even I can’t deny that sometimes milk and cookies are just what the doctor ordered.  So how to you oblige the occasional sugary-sweet request without selling your soul to Devil’s Food Cake?  Three words:  Kids Central Kitchen.

Kids Central Kitchen took all natural and whole grain ingredients and whipped them into convenient prepackaged baking mixes that today’s busy families need.  What you get is wholesome goodness – meaning no hydrogenated oils, trans fats, high fructose syrup and artificial anything.  We were excited, perhaps a little too excited, to test out the Slam Dunker Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies and Flip Flop Flapjack Pancakes.  I am a certified junk food junkie so it’s hard to slip anything healthy into my snacks without me noticing.  These two mixes did have a “healthy” taste to them but they satisfied even my toughest sweet tooth.  Although our chocolate cookies ended up more cake-like than cookie, that didn’t stop us from eating, oh, all of them very quickly.  The pancakes were lacking the fluffiness of traditional flapjacks but we didn’t hear any complaints coming from our pickiest two year old taste tester.   

Since my eating habits leave something to be desired, my kids diet is the perfect case of “do as I say, not do as I do.”  But with the easy to make goodness from Kids Central Kitchen, Mommy will actually be “doing” this too!

- Cara

Kids Central Kitchen is offering 10% off for our readers! Just enter code MAMASPEAKS at checkout. Plus free shipping on any order over $50!

Nursing Moms, Give Yourself a Boost!

Congratulations, you’re nursing a newborn!  I bet now you’re wondering just how you, and your body, will keep up with a very demanding, on demand schedule.  You probably feel too busy feeding someone else that cooking a nutritious meal for yourself would make you break out in hysterics - if only you weren’t too tired to laugh.  Eating isn’t just a luxury for nursing moms, it’s also a necessity.  You need to keep your caloric intake up to not only keep your body in tip top shape but also to keep that milk a flowin’.

We have a great recipe, just for you.  It’s relatively painless to whip together, it’s delicious and it’s the perfect snack on the run, meal replacement and overall a great calorie boost.  Did we mention this was practically designed with nursing moms in mind?  The oats will help with milk supply, the sesame increases the quality of your milk plus flax is a great source of omega-3, cinnamon increases circulation and currants are a good source of iron.  Most importantly, it’s good!

Breakfast Bar:  (12 servings)

2 cups organic rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or oat flour
1 tablespoon flax seeds
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup currants
1 cup sunflower seeds, pecans or cashew pieces (or a little of all 3!)
1 cup coconut flakes
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ginger
¼ cup turbinado raw sugar
1 ½ cups low-fat vanilla rice milk
¼ cup maple syrup
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup mango puree (1 mango in the food processor works great!)

Topping:
1 tablespoon turbinado raw sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13-inch baking pan with oil. Place all dry ingredients (rolled oats through sugar) in a bowl.  Using a wire whisk, combine the mixture well.  Place all the wet ingredients (milk through mango) in a large bowl and combine with a wire whisk.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine gently, using a rubber spatula.   Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and distribute evenly, gently patting the batter into place with the spatula.  Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the batter.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.   Cool, then cut into 12 bars.  Wrap individually for a great grab and go snack.

We recommend buying as many organic ingredients as you can and not replacing the raw sugar for processed white.  You can substitute applesauce for mango or soy milk for the rice milk. Although, soy can be a bit heavy for a newborn’s tummy.  You can also substitute cranberries for currants but with a newborn’s developing digestive system, cranberries can be known to cause flatulence which can make a baby uncomfortable.  An uncomfortable baby means an uncomfortable Mama.

Nutritional facts per 2 x 2 inch bar:
Calories:  339
Total Fat:  11.4g
Saturated Fat:  3g
Carbohydrates:  50.9
Protein:  8.2 g

- Cara

The Juice Box’s Long Lost Cousin

Aqua2Go is the juice box alternative I’ve been waiting for.  It’s just like a juice box except without all the sugar, additives and calories.  OK, so the only similarity is the extremely convenient (sustainable!) packaging which makes it the perfect drink on the go.  If you’re like me, you’ll never fail to forget the sippy cups at home. 

It's aseptic packaging is 74% paper, making it more eco-friendly than plastic or cans. And Aqua2Go has a five year shelf life so you don’t need to worry about it spoiling or fermenting. This means it’s great to keep one tucked in your diaper bag, or car or anywhere else thirst may strike.

On your next play date, bring along a few boxes of Aqua2Go.  The kids will think they are getting a fun drink while the Moms will know they are getting the benefits of fresh, healthy purified water. A play date is no place for sugar, I prefer my kid not to be bouncing off the walls anymore than normal.  You also won’t find bright-colored fruit characters all over the box so parents can feel comfortable taking one to the office without it looking like you raided your kid’s lunchbox.

Aqua2Go may not have the so-called added vitamins or fancy “natural flavors” but what it does have is the natural benefits and refreshing taste of good ol’ fashion water.  Just what a child’s and mother’s body needs.

-Cara