Top Lunch Box Picks

If packing lunch is on your daily to do list this fall, check out some of my top picks to help build a healthy lunch that you children will actually eat! And stick to Skinny Rule #18: Eat Like a Kid and enjoy these tips for yourself too.

JUICE BOX: CapriSun Super V
These are nutritionally wonderful and what makes them standout is that they are a blend of 100% fruit and vegetable juice! They are 3/4 fruit juice and 1/4 vegetable juice.




JUICE BOX ALTERNATIVE: Horizon Organic Milk Boxes
When your kids are tired of juice, to switch it up, try shelf-stable (no refrigeration needed) milk boxes. Look for lowfat milk like these Horizon Organic milk boxes which are available in chocolate lowfat milk too.


CHOCOLATE MILK BOX: Silk Pure Almond Dark Chocolate Milk
This dark chocolate almond milk is delicious and tastes like a treat while delivering bone building calcium with 50% of daily calcium needs per cup. Although, keep it in the 'treat' category because there still is about 17 grams of sugar per serving.




YOGURT TUBE: Chobani Champions Yogurt Tubes
One major bonus with Chonabi's yogurt tubes is they take children more than a few seconds to slurp down thanks to the thick texture of Greek yogurt. Quick tip: freeze a these, then add then frozen to lunches to double as an ice pack.


PEANUT BUTTER: Justin's Honey Peanut Butter Packs
If you can send peanut butter to your school, these packets are great and perfect to send along with whole-grain crackers for a snack, each packet is a 2 tablespoon serving. Also available in a maple variety.

VEGGIE DIP: Sabra Single Serve Hummus Cups
Hummus is a delicious dip for vegetables and mini single serving cups is convenient!



REUSABLE LUNCH BAGS: LunchSkins
These reusable bags come in snack size, sandwich size and big bags. They hold up wonderful and can be easily washed in the dishwasher. LunchSkins is also offering lunch kits which include ice packs, lunch bag and sandwich/snack bags. Check them out at lunchskins.com



REUSABLE CONTAINERS: Fit & Fresh
The major bonus to these reusable containers (aside from the football theme) is that they have a removable ice pack built into the lid. You simply snap in the frozen ice pack to the container. Check out the Fit & Fresh web site for more details.

The Skinny on Snacking

The healthiest eaters snack more, in fact, 36% more per a new report out by The NPD Group. As we all head into the holiday season which kicks off next week with Thanksgiving, try sticking with a snacking routine to help you through the holidays without packing on the pounds. Here are some suggestions of what to snack on:



photo from healthyappeture.com

- Trail mix popcorn: Pop a batch of air popped popcorn and then in a large bag or container, toss in a handful of dried cranberries and a handful of your favorite nuts! Then place 2 - 3 handfuls of the snack in a bowl for a sweet and salty treat.

- Salsa hummus with sliced veggies: Combine equal parts hummus and salsa for a delicious dip for cucumbers, red peppers or carrots. Tip: every few days slice a bunch of vegetables and keep them in a clear container at eye level in the refrigerator to visually remind you to snack on them!

- Peanuty pear slices: Slice a pear and then thinly spread crunch peanut or almond butter on each slice (about 1 tablespoon total) for a tasty twist to the traditional pear. 

- ALT skewers: On tooth picks or mini skewers add a cube of avocado, a few bite size pieces of lettuce and finish with a grape tomato. These are fun to serve to guests! Tip: Eat or serve these quickly because avocados brown quickly once they are sliced.

- Fruit and nut bars: Keeping a bar or two in your purse, work bag or car is a must! It will provide a single serving snack that will fuel you up and keep you going. Some of my favorite brands: KIND Snacks bar, Larabar or Clif Mojo Bar Peanut Butter Pretzel. When you are in a hurry this can even stand-in for lunch, pair it with a piece of fruit and a bottle of water!

Food Highlights from Shanghai

Eariler this month I was in Shanghai and Beijing, China for work and a to present at a global conference on metabolism. During my stay, checking out the local food scene was part of my focus. The food was delicious!

An interesting Chinese staple that I learned about quickly is congee (picured right), which is basically a simmered rice dish. It's traditionally eaten at breakfast and from what I can tell as far as toppings, anything goes: fresh cilantro, peanuts, chili paste, pickles, fish, vegetables or just plain. Personally I enjoyed it just plain, although I do want to try it with diced pickles because a local woman I met said that is the best way to have congee.

Here's a Congree recipe to try:

Ingredients:

3/4 cup long grain rice
9 cups water
1 teaspoon salt

Direcitons:
1. In a large pot, bring the water and rice to a boil.
2. When the rice is boiling, turn the heat down to medium low. Place the lid on the pot, tilting it to allow steam to escape (the same as you would do when making cooked rice).
3. Cook on medium low to low heat, stirring occasionally, until the rice has the thick, creamy texture of porridge (1 - 1 1/4 hours). Add the salt, taste and add seasonings if desired. Serve with garnishes such as crushed peanuts if desired.

Visiting a famous Shanghai Restaurant, Lvbolang

Lvbolang Restaurant

I had the chance to eat dinner at Lvbolang restaurant a famous Shanghai restaurant. This restaurant has hosted world leaders including: President Bill Clinton and President Fidel Castro.

The menu was most impressive and had a large variety of options from braised eel to purse pasteries (pictured right).

My meal was tofu with black beans and steamed rice with the purse pasteries! The pasteries were almost too cute to eat. Everything tasted wonderful. While I can usually eat well with chopsticks it was a little challenging tying to eat the tofu dish! I have to say we would probably eat less at a meal if we ate them all with chopsticks, it certainly slows down the speed of eating!

Stay tuned for more highlights!

Back to the Schedule: Tips to Keep You Sane!

Are you ready to get back into the routine with early mornings and busy weeks? Ready or not, here it comes and check out these tips to keep you sane as you get back into the school year schedule:

1. Sneak it in: add in exercise where you can... yoga in the morning, 20 minute run in the evening, 10 minutes toning exercises before bed. If you need resources for at home workouts, check your local TV listings or check out: http://www.exercisetv.tv/ for a variety of DVD's and workouts, and pick-up magazines like: Shape, Fitness, or Women's Health!
   
   



2. Hydrate: keep your energy levels up througout the day by brining a water bottle with you everytime you leave the door! Sip on water throughout the day!





3. Stock up: create a basket or container of grab n' go snacks in your cupboard and include items like: applesauce cups, Peter Rabbit Organics - Fruit & Veggie Snacks, KIND Healthy Snack bars, mini packs of nuts, single serving peanut butter packs and 100% fruit flats. Then when you're flying out the door you can throw a few items in your bag to have on hand for yourself or the kids.
   
   



4. Meal map: minimize your time in the kitchen by creating a weekly 'map' for your meals and snacks to streamline your food preparation efforts. Think of which nights you'll be home, running late, etc... and strategize what foods to make. A favorite tip of mine is make a double batch of a recipe and freeze half for a meal later in the week!

Refreshing Summer Drinks

On average Americans swallow down over a 5-pound bag worth of sugar per month! That breaks down to about 23 teaspoons of sugar per day. A majority of sugar intake comes from what we drink. Here is a watch out: a 16-ounce sweetened iced tea has about 16 teaspoons of sugar!

Shake up what you're sipping on this summer with these refreshing options:

1. Unsweetened Tea: Sip on green tea, passion tea, or ginger peach tea instead of sugar heavy weights. When grocery shopping look for unsweetened bottled teas and for at home made a pitcher of your favorite type to keep on hand.


2. Mineral Water: A personal favorite type of mineral water is Gerolsteiner. Look for mineral water varieties that have fresh flavors added like lemon, lime, or other citrus fruits. Mineral water offers light carbonation without any added calories. Look for these on restaurant menus and in the grocery store too!

3. Add Fresh Flavor: What do cucumber, lemon, lime, raspberries, and strawberries have in common? They all can add refreshing fresh flavors to a glass of water without adding virtually any calories. Keep an assortment on hand and it is a perfect solution for effortless entertaining.

4. 120 or less: Help your waist line with light drink options like: red wine, white wine, champagne, light beer, or vodka & club soda... all weighing in at 120 calories or less.




Check out a segment that I did this week on the 10! Show in Philadelphia:

View more videos at: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/?__source=embedCode.

Oscars Party Planning

Are you hosting or going to an Oscars party? Here are some simple party planning strategies.

1. Strategically place light party foods throughout the house like: fruit platters, shrimp cocktail, air popped popcorn, trail mix.
2. Put away the candy dishes. One ounce of m & m's has 140 calories, mindless snacking from candy dishes can pile up the calories in a hurry!
3. Have a 90/10 rule: 90 percent healthy items, 10 percent splurge! This will still allow for plenty of delicious goodies.
4. Lighten-up party heavy weights. For example: instead of chicken wings, make baked chicken fingers and serve with hot sauce, barbecue sauce, or light ranch dressing. And have plenty of sliced carrots and celery on the side for dipping!
5. Try a new recipe! Grab my Wasabi Avocado Dip with Crispy Wonton Chips recipe.

Last but not least, focus more on spending time with your guests and take some of the emphasis off of food!

The Skinny Rules, Pre-sale!!!

You can buy a copy of The Skinny Rules! It's available now for pre-sale from amazon.com!! It will come just in time to give you a boost this Spring to get you ready for bathing suit season.

skinny version of mornay sauce

Tonight I made a skinny version of Mornay sauce.This tasty recipe invention is thanks to my husband! He's great at adding new flavors to old recipes. Someday maybe it will be on the menu at his restaurant? The skinny version has less cheese, less butter, than traditional Mornay sauce recipes and I made it with low fat milk. It was YUM! Here's the recipe:

Sun Dried Tomato Mornay Sauce
Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups fat free or low fat milk
dash of salt (optional)
1 ounce of grated Parmesan cheese
3 ounces sun dried tomatoes

Directions:
In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter. Once the butter it melted, add the flour and mix well.

Add the milk and whisk. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently.

Once it comes to a boil, let it bubble one minute more, so it thickens.

Then stir in the cheese and tomatoes.

Serve over grilled chicken breasts! YUM!