Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy the food, the day and your family and friends.

Mom's Best Naturals

Although Mom's Best Naturals brand has been around for a while, it has only recently made an appearance in my area. I noticed it a few weeks back at Target and finally decided to check it out. There are two cereals available at my local store, Mallow Oats and Toasted Cinnamon Squares. I went with the Mallow Oats, the Lucky Charms type cereal.

I haven't, wouldn't, don't buy Lucky Charms for my kids but I do buy the occasional "sugar" cereal for them (and me). Besides Honey Nut O's and Frosted Shredded Wheats from Trader Joe's, I've bought Gorilla Munch and Panda Puffs from EnviroKidz (Nature's Path Organic), Fruitful O's from Cascadian Farm Organic, and Crunchy Cocoa Puffin Puffs from Barbara's. All of these cereals have superior ingredient lists than their more popular counterparts. And this is the case with Mallow Oats versus Lucky Charms. 

Mom's Best Natural's Mallow Oats ingredients: Whole Grain Oat Flour (Includes Oat Bran), Marshmallows (Evaporated Milled Sugar, Modified Corn Starch, Corn Syrup, Dextrose, Gelatin, Blueberry, Pumpkin And Carrot Concentrates For Color, Natural Flavor), Evaporated Milled Sugar, Corn Syrup, Wheat Starch, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Trisodium Phosphate, Citric Acid. Freshness Preserved With Vitamin E (Mixed Tocopherols).

General Mills Lucky Charms ingredients: Oats (Whole Grain Oats, Flour), Marshmallows (Sugar, Modified Corn Starch, Corn Syrup, Dextrose, Gelatin, Calcium Carbonate, Yellows 5&6, Blue 1, Red 40, Artificial Flavor), Sugar, Corn Syrup, Corn Starch, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Artificial Color, Trisodium Phosphate, Zinc and Iron (Mineral Nutrients), Vitamin C (Sodium Ascorbate), A B Vitamin (Niacinamide), Artificial Flavor, Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B1 (Thiamin Mononitrate), Vitamin A (Palmitate), A B Vitamin (Folic Acid), Vitamin B12, Vitamin D. Vitamin E (Mixed Tocopherols) Added to Preserve Freshness.

In this specific comparison, the red flag for me is the artificial colors, Yellows 5&6, Blue 1 and Red 40. I avoid any products with these ingredients. And you should too. In addition to Mallow Oats not using artificial coloring, they are tasty and affordable. The bowl I ate really satisfied my sweet tooth and for $2.89 a box, they're budget-friendly. I'd get these again and would try other varieties.

FYI: Mom's Best Naturals' parent brand is Malt-O-Meal. It's their "natural" line of products. From what I've read Mom's is a play on the famous "MOM" (Malt-O-Meal) acronym.

Recipe: Peanut Butter Cups

Halloween is upon us and so is the relentless marketing of packaged candy. Luckily, my four year old (that has a wicked sweet tooth), knows the stuff in the bags have nothing on the treats we make ourselves. I reference Michael Pollan's rule "Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself" all the time when shopping with my kids. They're not only accepting of this, they get excited about getting to make treats at home. The time, effort and ingredients we put into making our treats not only nurtures a healthy relationship for the boys with sweets but creates positive memories they are sure to appreciate for years to come. 

One of my favorite items to receive while trick-or-treating was Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I was also a sucker (through my 20's and early 30's) for the holiday versions of this candy, you know, the pumpkins, Easter eggs, etc. I still have to resist the urge this time of year not to throw a few Reese's pumpkins in my cart while the boys aren't looking. Well until yesterday that is. When I finally made my own peanut butter cups.

I was originally inspired by my mom earlier this week to make my own. She was looking at all the candy on sale in an ad and mentioned wanting some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups or Kit Kat bars. In an effort to curb her craving and show her homemade treats are far better than store bought ones, I researched recipes and got to work. The results were fantastic. My mom, my boys and my hubby loved these little guys. Oh, and I did too! If you haven't made homemade peanut butter cups yet, I suggest you do. I'm pretty certain you'll love them as much as we do.

Pick of the Week App

I don't pay much attention to the pick of the week cards at Starbucks but a fave mama blogger of mine mentioned the latest pick of the week (app) was The Monster at the End of this Book. I immediately wanted to track down a card and download onto our iPad for the boys. Luckily, I found one!

What a great freebie. My boys LOVE it. Hey, I love it! It's that cute. I'm not sure if the cards are still available but if you get a chance, take a look next time you're at Starbucks. It's worth the effort. You'll save yourself $3.99 and give the kiddos something they'll truly enjoy.

In the event you can't find one and want one, I do have a few extras. Leave a comment with your email address and I'll send you a code*. *I have a limited amount of extras. First come, first served.

Coffee creamer

If you read my blog, you may already know I'm not much of a flavored coffee or flavored creamer fan. Occasionally I get a craving for a vanilla latte but when I give into the craving I'm always disappointed. The flavor always tastes fake to me. The only time I actually liked something flavored was when I was served a latte made with vanilla flavored soy milk.

Anyhow, I like to research every day products that claim to be natural or more natural than other items within the same brand. While strolling Target with the boys, I noticed "natural bliss" from Nestle's Coffee-Mate line. The ingredients were decent as far as flavored creamer goes and it was about $2.00 so I figured I'd give it a try.

Here's the ingredients (Vanilla Flavor): Nonfat Milk, Heavy Cream, Sugar, Natural Flavor.

Maybe it's because I don't like flavored creamer but this stuff was yucky. Just as fake tasting as the rest of them. The ingredients are definitely better than the other creamers from Coffee-Mate. For example:

Coffee-Mate Original ingredients: WATER, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN AND/OR COTTONSEED OIL**, AND LESS THAN 2% OF SUGAR, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM CASEINATE (A MILK DERIVATIVE)***, COLOR ADDED.

Coffee-Mate Fat Free French Vanilla ingredients: WATER, SUGAR, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN AND/OR COTTONSEED OIL, AND LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUM CASEINATE (A MILK DERIVATIVE)**, DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, DISODIUM PHOSPHATE, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, CELLULOSE GEL, CELLULOSE GUM, COLOR ADDED, CARRAGEENAN.

So even though I used the word "yucky" to describe the natural bliss creamer from Nestle, if you like flavored creamer, it is the way to go (other than making your own). It doesn't seem to cost any more than the others and has way less ingredients.

Recipe: Super Blueberry Muffins

These gems (picture coming soon) came from a Weelicious recipe. I'm obviously a fan of Catherine's site and recipes. Although I will never be nor appear as organized and successful as she is at making perfect food for the kids, I am always inspired by what she does.

The recipe for Very Berry Muffins was exactly the kind of recipe I was looking for this week. Over the weekend, my boys asked for blueberry muffins so I didn't want to disappoint. And, I didn't. They loved these. The muffins are easy to make and are bursting with blueberries. It's almost blueberries with a little muffin in between rather than a muffin with blueberries. They were great still warm but even better the next day.

If you're looking for an easy to make, nutritious and portable snack or breakfast, you should add these to your rotation. I absolutely love snacks like this!

Super Blueberry Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

1 1/4 Cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
3/4 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Large Egg, whisked
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
3/4 Cup 1% Milk
1/3 Cup Canola or Vegetable Oil
2 Cups Frozen Organic Blueberries (I used a 10 oz. bag)

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Place the first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl and combine. Combine the egg, vanilla extract, milk and oil in a large bowl.

Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Gently mix the frozen blueberries into the batter, do not over mix or the berries will bleed. Pour batter into greased or muffin lined regular sized tins.

Bake for 20-22 minutes (Mine took 22 minutes). Allow muffins to cool for 5 minutes then remove to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Good intentions

I have good intentions, I have for the better part of my life. But the problem is, I have a hard time seeing them through. Some days I feel like a complete failure because of this. I honestly feel like when I die, I will be known as the girl (okay, woman) with the best of intentions BUT... fill in the blanks.

I have to change my success to failure ratio. But from where I'm sitting (imagine a small apartment with crumbs, toys, dishes, other misc clutter and a decent supply of convenience snacks in the cabinet), it seems close to impossible. Do I get stuck because it's truly overwhelming or is it because making homemade mac and cheese instead of grabbing a box (albeit a well researched better than big brand box) half the time or keeping the sink empty and the laundry kept up is just not me? I ponder this every day. One of the few things that keeps me from losing all hope is I know I can't be alone on this.

As mothers, we strive for perfection where there really can't be any. I read a good amount of parenting blogs and food blogs that make it appear that perfection IS a possibility. Come on people, give me a break. But I guess that's why I started Medium Food Mama to begin with. And I suppose this is where I need to focus and continue to help myself and others be okay with giving the kids a Trader Joe's trail mix bar instead of a homemade one every now and then because it was cheaper and less time consuming and occasionally letting the house get to the point it looks like robbers ransacked it (this will be my excuse if someone shows up unexpectedly today by the way). But sometimes I still ask, are these things a reflection of who I really am and are my good intentions worthless? Ugh.

Well now that I've gotten that off my chest, I think I can move forward. My good intentions this week are to make a yummy meatloaf that will make me smile when the kiddos gobble it up, this fennel side dish, a couple quick breads and homemade graham crackers to hand the kids for snack in place of that convenience bar I mentioned earlier, keep the dishes under control, do some laundry and maybe get to the much needed shampooing of the rug. And a few other things of course but you get the picture. Here's to a good week. Deep breath. Fingers crossed.