Category Archives: Food

Bananas Don’t Grow on Trees + More Fun Facts

07/24/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Avery has become a banana-loving toddler and she will throw a fit when there’s one in site and she doesn’t get to make it disappear. Add NuttZo to the equation, and, well, telling her “No” is not an option!

With our daughter’s current love for bananas, I figured I’d bring up an old post from my past foodie blog, Just Add Cayenne, and share some fun facts about bananas you probably didn’t know. I found them interesting before, and after reading (because we all forget), found them interesting again.

The following is taken directly from the post titled 15 Fun Facts for Friday: Bananas.

We all know and love bananas…right? Well, most of us do. In an attempt to make a quick, but interesting post, I wanted to share this list of 15 Facts You Probaly Didn’t Know About Bananas. Have a look; that’s scary to think a fungus could wipe out the whole banana population.

Imagine, a world without bananas…..

No peanut butter and banana sandwiches or wraps. : (
No mashed banana to make Low-fat Peanut Butter Bread. : (
No cool and creamy easy banana ice cream. : (
No chocolate peanut butter banana smoothies. : O

And the list can go on and on…

I enjoy bananas, and from the other bloggers I read out there, you like them too. Here’s a post I made a while back on banana benefits and how to enjoy them. Sometimes, I just unwrap a banana, mash several dry roasted almonds inside, and then proceed to eat. I’ll do this when there’s no peanut butter around or when I want a sweet, salty, and crunchy treat.

Q: How do you enjoy using bananas? If you don’t like them, is it allergies or just plain repulsed by the green/yellow/black-spotted yellow fruit?

Now go get yourself a banana, a jar of NuttZo (or nut butter of choice) and enjoy your Friday!

Food, Going Healthy, Parenting

My Top Healthy Summer Resources for the Family

06/20/2015 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

Father’s Day marks the official first day of summer this year. I don’t know about you, but we’re already feeling the heat in Texas and could go for some of that rain we had a few weeks ago.

With summer, comes heat, and a lot of it! Heat can be dangerous to all of us, but detrimental to our little ones. But that doesn’t mean they need to stay indoors sitting in the A/C all through the season. As long as we keep it smart, everyone can have a wonderful, healthy time under the sun.

I’ve gathered a few sites I find interesting and helpful with tips on how to stay safe and healthy this summer and wanted to share them with you. Most of these are geared towards the family, but I added a few not specifically meant for families that are packed with helpful nutrition and activity tips everyone can use.

First off, make sure you know what you’re rubbing all over your family’s skin. Our skin is highly porous and absorbs a lot of what you put on it, and many sunscreens do more harm than good with the amount of toxic chemicals they contain. This may seem like a minute detail to a full grown adult, but for a tiny baby or toddler, everything is much more concentrated and can post a serious threat. Read my post on sunscreen safety here. P.S. I also apologize to my wife in the post since I used to waive off the dangers of sunscreen myself.

15 Nutrition Tips For A Healthy Summer – Just a nice quick list to refer to for ways to eat smart but not be bored with a chicken and broccoli type meal. Which, by the way, I actually think is pretty good!

Keep Your Kids Happy and Healthy: Summer Tips For Parents – Hey, even the government has useful advice for a change! Make sure to check out the links provided in each tip for even more healthy ideas.

8 Summer Steps For Healthy Living – Some seemingly obvious tips from WebMD, but handy if you’re having a brain fog moment.

The Best Healthy Pantry Foods – This is a great list from Ben Greenfield and we have most of these in our pantry. Great to have year round!

Easy Meals For Busy Athletes – Another Ben Greenfield info bomb. Obviously, you don’t have to be an athlete to enjoy the benefits of these fast and healthy meals.

5 Fun Home Activities To Do With Your Kids – I love this list from The Good Dad Project! Some good ideas for indoor activities to help beat the heat and have fun as a family!

Keep The Kids Active All Summer Long – This list from Macaroni Kid is sure to have at least one or two ideas you haven’t considered for fun and productive activities your kids will learn from.

I like this list from the Macaroni Kid – Family Fitness site providing several simple foundations to keep your family fit and healthy all year. Print it and stick it on the fridge so it’s always fresh on your mind.

Hope you’re able to find some good tips and implement them in your home this summer. Please, just keep safe and well hydrated while having fun in the sun!

Hi there, I'm just keeping hydrated! — Hi there, I’m just keeping hydrated!

Do you have any plans for hanging out with the kids this summer?

Are you getting away and having someone else watch the kids?

Any tips you have for a safe, healthy summer that you’d like to share?

Food, Going Healthy, NuttZo, WIAW

WIAW #11: No-Bake Mini NuttZo Pumpkin Cake

05/13/2015 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

Baking can be such a hassle. Especially when you have little ones running the kitchen. Crazy kids plus a hot stove/oven NEVER mix! So, feeling creative for Avery’s breakfast, I decided to make a delicious and healthy cake that I didn’t need to bake. Wham, and I just rhymed; score!

I grabbed one of my 24 cans of Organic Farmer’s Market Pumpkin (Thank you, Amazon!), some NuttZo Power Fuel, peanut flour, and unsweetened shredded coconut and got to work. It turned out to hardly be “work” since 5 minutes later, our NuttZo Coconut Pumpkin Pie was born.

Avery was tugging at my shorts and whining for the first bite, so after I took a few quick pics, I fed my ravenous daughter.

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A post shared by RC Liley (@going_dad)

I thought maybe, just maybe, there’d be a little leftover for me to savor, but that hope died fast. Unlike a typical pie, I found it easier to just roll into balls to feed her. At least that way I had messy fingers I got to lick!

If there was time, I’m sure chilling it would make for a cleaner finger food, but as Jack Bauer would say, “There’s no time!”. It does cut pretty good even at room temp though.

Wanna give it a go for yourself? Do it!

Mini No-Bake NuttZo Coconut Pie

by RC Liley

Prep Time: 5 Minutes

Keywords: raw appetizer breakfast dessert snack nuttzo

Ingredients (Serves 1)

1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree
2 Tbsp NuttZo (or other nut butter) at room temp
1/4 Cup Peanut flour (Can use coconut or almond flour or even protein powder instead)
2 Tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tsp cinnamon
1 packet stevia or 10 drops liquid stevia
Pinch of sea salt

Instructions

Add all ingredients in a bowl and stir well to combine.

Form into a small cake, roll into balls, or just leave as is to eat with a spoon.

Enjoy!!

On to the main part of the post now, my eats!

Thanks as always to the wonderful Jenn from Peas and Crayons, for creating this fun link-up for foodies everywhere! It was great then and continues to be an awesome linky now!

Breakfast – One of my many leftover cups of black coffee from Starbucks that I picked up on Mother’s Day.

Lunch – Steamed veggies with eggs and raw broccoli on top. Then some Greek yogurt with purple sweet potato, NuttZo, and homemade banana bread. While watching Avery not take her nap!