With two strong teens and a pre-k’r, we go through a lot of milk. My boys love nothing more than a tall glass of milk in the evening after a long day.  You know what I love? That it’s good for them. With all the hustle and bustle of school, athletics, chores, running around, and working, you know that kids aren’t getting all the nutrients they need.  It’s great to know that milk fills that gap and with just one more serving, they are filling that nutrient void.  You can read more about the study and facts here.

Here are some ways to get that extra serving!

• Pouring a glass of lowfat milk with every meal
• Pouring milk on your cereal or oatmeal in the morning
• Enjoying a skim latte
• Whipping up a smoothie made with lowfat milk and fruit

WIN FREE MILK FOR A YEAR!

Thanks to fine folks of ‘got milk?’, one winner will have the chance to win free milk for a year in the form of 52 coupons.   But that’s not all.  I will also be awarding 3 winners their own Pour One More Bowl and Tumbler set!  That’s a total of 4 winners!

TO ENTER

Required entry: In a comment below, share one way that you’ll fit that extra serving of milk into the everyday happenings.

Additional, optional entries, leaving each one in a separate comment to count please:

• Take 1 minute to ‘Pass a Glass‘.  $1 goes to the Feeding America organization and trust me, every single $1 counts!  Come back here and tell me that you did this.  You can do this DAILY!
• Share via Twitter or Facebook.  Come back here and tell me what you did.  You may share once per day, per social network.

Giveaway ends on March 20th at about 10pm CST.  Good luck and thanks for entering.

A fresh start means fresh ideas and fresh foods.  I’ve been eating healthier with all my meals and breakfast is no exception.  I know most of us buy the instant oatmeal but try making it from scratch next time!  I promise it will taste great and it’s much better for you because it will not have all that sugar.

This is a very good and healthy breakfast which I am trying implement more and more with my all the family but specifically my toddler. Oatmeal is a good source of fiber and is excellent for the heart! There are gazillions of oatmeal variations out there but today I bring you some simple old fashion Banana Nut Oatmeal!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 c fat-free milk
• 3 TBLS firmly packed brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 c Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
• 2 medium-size ripe bananas, mashed (about 1c)
• Pecan pieces (optional)
• Dash of Honey:) (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

In saucepan, bring milk, brown sugar, and spices to a gentle boil; stir in your oats. Return to a boil; reduce heat to medium. Cook 1 minute for quick oats, 5 minutes for old fashioned oats, or until most of liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally. Remove oatmeal from heat. Stir in mashed bananas and pecans and a dash of honey.

NOTE: The bananas, honey and pecans can be completely optional!! If you just want plain but tasty oatmeal, the cinnamon and nutmeg are quite wonderful.

ENJOY:)

How would you make your oatmeal? Nutrition is so important but don’t forget to get moving!!

Disclosure: I am an official Walmart Mom. Follow me and my fellow Walmart Moms as we share our ideas and tips for a healthier you! Walmart has provided me with compensation and gift card in return for my time & efforts to create this post. My participation in this program is voluntary and my opinions are my own, always have been, always will be.

While in NYC this past week, I had the opportunity to participate in a GOT MILK, Milk Mustache campaign.  While anyone could have their photo taken for the mosaic, 4 of us were chosen to be featured.  It was so much fun to hang out with the ladies and get silly.  I was honored to be involved in the campaign and would love to know if you have ever created a milk mustache, you or your kiddos?!

The ladies below, in order from left to right, are:

Spanglish Baby (Ana) | From Dates to Diapers (Christine) | ME! | Mom Generations (Audrey)

I know you’re dying to know……we used ice cream for our milk mustache photos.  You close your lips tightly, act like you’re drinking it, making it go almost all the way to your nose and then pull away.  We laughed so many times.  We also took a lot of photos so my face was getting tired. lol

Incorporating milk into our daily eating habits is very important to me.  My grandmother had osteoporosis and it’s something that I’m worried that I’ll have eventually.  Thankfully my boys love milk and drink it every chance they get. Tyler is almost 17 and drinks a tall glass every evening before bed. He also drinks a glass with raw eggs when working out heavily during football season.  My 14 year old son Toby is a smoothie drinker and uses milk every morning to make them. He also loves a midday cereal snack with lots of milk. Raisin Bran is his favorite.  Truett, the almost 4 year old cowpoke drinks milk in cereal, has a glass when he wakes up from a nap, and of course loves chocolate milk!  I prefer milk with a brownie or honey bun! (hehehe) I love love love milk, and like Tyler, will drink a tall glass in the evening before bed.

How do you incorporate milk into you and your family’s eating lifestyle?

Pizza is like the best ever food invention. You can eat it cold, hot, with meats, vegetables, and even as a dessert.  When I was asked if I wanted to try the new Fleischmann’s Pizza Crust Yeast,  I was like heck yeah! Any excuse to make pizza!  We were supposed to have family night but there were ranch duties that needed tended too. Luckily, I was able to spend pizza time with my 13 year old which was exciting because he’s at the age where he doesn’t want to be around his mom so much you know?

Anyways, he agreed and not only did we make some great pizza, we had a lot of fun.  I was cracking up at the “do I just pour?” and “is this how to do it?”.  We decided to make Pepperoni pizza first, then a dessert pizza.  This post will focus on the pizza dough and the dessert pizza but if you need a simple quick pepperoni pizza, all you need is the pizza dough recipe I’ll be posting, some pizza or spagetti sauce and your choice of toppings. It can be made to eat in 30 minutes.

Also, because I took A LOT of photos, I made a slide show for you so that the page doesn’t take FOREVER to load! Just scroll down towards the bottom for that.

30-MINUTE PIZZA CRUST DOUGH (can be found on the back of the Fleischmann’s Yeast package)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 3/4 – 2 1/4 cups of flour
• 1 envelope Fleischmann’s Pizza Yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup of very warm water (120° to 130° F)
• 3 tablespoons oil

PIZZA CRUST DIRECTIONS

Combine 1 cup flour, undissolved yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add water and oil.  Mix together until well blended; about 1 minute.  Add ½ cup flour gradually until dough forms a ball. Add additional flour, if needed, to handle.  Spoon dough out of bowl onto floured surface. Dough will be slightly sticky.  Knead on floured surface.  Knead until dough is smooth and elastic; about 4 minutes.  You can either press dough out to fill greased pizza pan or roll dough to a 12-inch circle and transfer to greased pizza pan.  Top as desired with pizza sauce, cheese and toppings.
Bake on bottom oven rack at 425° for 12 to 15 minutes until cheese is bubbly and crust is brown.

The Pizza Yeast from Fleschmann’s is new and I could definitely tell a difference in it. I think anyone who uses yeast a lot will be able to see the fabulous difference!  I thought I’d give you a close up of the ingredient that makes the whole recipe work!

APPLE CRUMB DESSERT PIZZA PIE

INGREDIENTS

• # 1 cups brown sugar, packed
• # 1 cups all-purpose flour
• # 2 ounces butter, cold, cut in pieces (1/2 stick of butter)
• # 1/4 cup of sugar
• # 2 cans of Apple Pie Filling

ICING INGREDIENTS

• Powdered Sugar
• Milk

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400′.  Combine brown sugar, flour, and sugar in a mixing bowl; cut in butter until the mixture is like coarse crumbs.  Pour and spread Apple Pie filling all over Pizza Dough Crust; top with crumb mixture.  Bake for about 12-15 minutes. While pizza is baking, combine 1-2 cups of powdered sugar with a few tablespoons of milk to desired consistency.  You don’t want it too thick but not too runny either.  When dessert pizza is done, drizzle icing all over pizza pie!

To see my son doing all the work, check out the slide show made via whrrl!

One lucky winner will receive a $100 gift card!  WOOHOO!

HOW TO ENTER

Leave a comment answering this question–What is your favorite pizza topping? Maybe like us, you love pepperoni or mushrooms. Maybe you love dessert pizza and have your own favorite fruity topping! Share your ideal pizza with us!

Additional methods of entry, leaving each one in a separate comment, are:

• Share on a social networking site like Twitter or Facebook.
• If you’ve got some of Fleischmann’s Pizza Yeast at home, create a pizza and share it via whrrl! (this gives you 10 extra entries)

Giveaway ends on Nov. 1st.  Good luck and enjoy!

Disclosure: Post is sponsored by ACH Foods, maker of Fleischmann’s Pizza Yeast , however, my opinion of the product remains authentic as always.

Over the next week I’ll be bringing a few Mexican treats like today’s Mexican Candy.   Coming from a partial Hispanic background and marrying into a Hispanic family, I’ve had the pleasure to eat some really delicious sweets that are super easy to make and VERY budget friendly!

There are a few versions of Mexican Candy but today I’m bringing you a very basic one.  One that looks like a praline of sorts.  It literally only takes minutes to make and a couple of minutes before they’re ready to eat.  It definitely isn’t something I’d make often but for an occasional sugar rush, it sure hits the spot!

As with many recipes, you can completely omit the pecans but because we’re nuts ’round here, we put them in all kinds of desserts!

If you have your own version, I’d love to hear it!

P.S. If you’re looking for an organizer for your wax paper, foil, and plastic wrap (and they cut perfect every time!), check out the WrapMaster – It’s my favorite!

Mexican Candy

Ingredients

• 1 cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1 cup of pecans (whole or pieces)
• 7 Tbs milk
• Wax Paper

Instructions

Cook sugar & milk ingredients in saucepan until you a small ball forms in a glass of water. Meaning, drop just a tiny bit into a glass of water and if it forms into a solid, then it’s ready. Mix in pecans. Pour spoonfuls out onto waxed paper and let cool. VIOLA, it’s done. Told you it was fast!

My rating: 4.0 stars It deserves 5 stars but since it’s terribly sweet, I gave it 4.

Because I’m trying to lose weight, I’m really watching what I eat.  Every morning I wake up and decide what to eat.  I usually go for oatmeal, a healthy cereal or have a smoothie. Today is smoothie day!  My two favorite fruits, strawberries & bananas, in a drink!  And to make sure I’m getting a good dose of calcium, I use whole milk. You can substitute 2% or fat free if you want it non-fat but I think it’s healthy to have a good glass of milk throughout the day.

I have a blender that I just LOVE. The  Chris Freytag Personal Fitness Blender is my absolute favorite and it’s cheaper at QVC than at Amazon.  If you’re not a member of QVC, it’s a 30 sec sign up folks.

The blender is basically a mug that you can use to drink your shake or smoothie and comes with a to-go lid.  You put your ingredients in it, screw the top on (with the blender blades) and flip over onto unit. When done, you flip back over and swap out lids with the to-go one. I LOVE IT!  And you can also get extra mugs if you want more for other family members.

INGREDIENTS

• * 1 cup frozen strawberry
• * 1 cup milk
• * 2 packets of Truvia (or your favorite sweetener or 1/4 cup sugar)
• * 1 banana
• * 8-10 ice cubes

DIRECTIONS

Put all ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth.  VIOLA!  Super easy and VERY good!

What is your favorite kind of smoothie?

Guest post from Kids’ Cattle Blog sharing their love from homemade snow ice cream!  Here fella there makes it look awful good!!  Thanks for sharing with us!

It doesn’t get any easier than this guys!  Enjoy if you have snow.  We’ll be in the 80′s here today so no chance of this stuff right now for us!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 qt.clean snow
• 1/2 C milk
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Mix together and enjoy. We only have skim milk. I think whole milk would make it creamier.

Last week I made Lemon Bread, this week is Orange Pound Cake.  I’m sucker for pound cake anyways but wanted to try adding a little flavor to one. This was a hit to say the least and gone in about 30 seconds.  Would have been sooner but they had to pause and drink some milk with it.

p.s. I would love to see you join the new foodie community.  I already gave away two fabulous prizes to active members and that’s only the beginning;)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 stick butter (1/2cup), Unsalted & room temp
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp orange juice (1/4cup if freshly squeezed)
• 1/4 cup milk (you can use 2% if you want)
• 1/2 tsp grated orange rind

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325′ and have your 9×5 loaf pan buttered and ready to go.

Cream butter & sugar, then add eggs and mix well; set aside.  In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt.  In a measuring cup combine orange juice, milk and orange zest and start adding butter mixture alternating with the flour mixture until light & creamy.

Spoon (pour) into pan and bake for 45min or until center comes out clean with toothpick.  Cool in pan and then remove from pan and drizzle with glaze.

OPTIONAL GLAZE

• 2tbsp orange juice
• 1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar

Mix together and drizzle on cake while still warm.

This is my grandmother’s recipe and I am proud to share it with you.  I make this all the time and you can actually do variations of this with pineapple, strawberry, etc.  It’s super good and is a cross between a cake and brownie.  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

Cake Ingredients

• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 c. shortening
• 1 c. water
• 4 TBLS cocoa
• 2 c. sugar
• 2 c. flour
• 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. soda
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Icing Ingredients

• 1 stick butter
• 4 TBLS cocoa
• 6 TBLS milk
• 1 box confectioners sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Melt butter, shortening, water, and cocoa. Bring to a boil. Mix sugar & flour in bowl. Add the first mixture you boiled to dry ingredients. Then add buttermilk, eggs, soda, cinnamon, vanilla. Mix well and pour into a greased & floured 17×11 sheet pan. Bake for 22-25 minutes in a 350′ oven.

Icing–During the last 5 minutes of baking, melt butter, cocoa, and milk. Bring to a boil. Add confectioners sugar making sure to get rid of all the lumps. Pour over hot cake……hmmmmmm, good! You can founder on this stuff!  Top with whip cream or not…either way, it’s delicious.

HINT: If you don’t have buttermilk, you can add vinegar to your milk and let sit for a little bit to sour it.