What to Eat When Mommy's Out of Town

I received product for review in order to facilitate this post and giveaway. All opinions are my own and I only share products and services I know will be useful for my readers.

A few weeks ago I attended ShiftCon, a health and wellness blogger conference..  While I didn't have too travel far, it was just an hour and a half up the freeway in Los Angeles, I wasn't planning to drive back and forth and needed to think ahead on what my family would be eating for dinner while I was away. Any mom who goes away for a few days has probably had the same thought as I did... "I hope they don't eat out for dinner every night." My husband is pretty good with cooking dinner, but it is definitely a tall order to be charged with caring for the kids all day, taking them to all their soccer games and softball practice and finding the energy to put a balanced meal on the table. I mean, it's hard enough when it's both of us here. Well, lucky for me an opportunity to try out Charlie's Classic Cooking came at the right time!

What is Charlie's Classic Cooking you ask? It's a meal plan delivery service prepared by an honest to goodness chef. But, wait. There's more! Cooking classes (for kids and adults), cooking club, catering, fundraising and much more. When Charlie came to deliver our 4 family sized meals and told us a little more about his services my daughter's ears perked up about the kids cooking classes. She is eager to get in the kitchen, but just needs a little more direction than what I can give her to let her budding culinary aspirations take flight.

A Little More About Charlie:

With over 25 years of experience of teaching and providing healthy nutritious meals, Chef Charlie has made it his mission to teach everyone the importance of healthy living. Throughout his career, Chef Charlie has prided himself on creating meals from all natural ingredients with no preservatives or additives and 100% trans-fat free. Every delicious dish, whether it’s from our economical and healthy meal plan or customized cooking classes, is always fresh, using locally grown produce and the finest sustainable ingredients seasonally available.

Our meals were delivered cold and in 4 easy to store containers. I had to move a few things around in the fridge to get everything to fit but really what mom hasn't dealt with rearranging things? There was a sheet with our meals listed and instruction to prepare them. I was excited about not just the ease of having dinners ready to go in our fridge for when I was gone, but that these meals had no preservatives or additives like you would find in most foods in the freezer section of the grocery store. 

Because I didn't want to miss out on the entire experience I actually served up one of the meals before I left for my conference. We had the Fettuccine Alfredo with carrots, broccoli and red peppers.

Side note: I couldn't find the sheet of paper with the cooking instructions! So I tossed together all of the ingredients - which all of the items are already cooked - popped it in the oven and warmed it up for about 25 minutes. It came out great! When I found the instructions it had something quite different detailed but either way it turned out great!

This was restaurant quality but with that home cooked feel, you know where it doesn't taste weighed down by fat in order to add flavor? My kids ate it up and wished I had not added all of the sauce. The sauce came in a ziploc baggie and I should have followed my own advice "start with a little, you can always add more." The good thing is that for those who LOVE alfredo sauce, you know there is plenty! I loved that this was a dish that had veggies already mixed in, of course for the health benefits but it also just made the dish that much more appealing to eat. How often do you get 3 veggies on your kid's dinner plate? Nice work Charlie! 

I was excited to try the Lime and Cumin Grilled Chicken with tomato Corn Relish and fresh green beans when I returned from my conference. No hassle dinner after a full weekend of hustle and bustle... BONUS! 

It was so nice to have not just the main course but a full meal with side dishes easy to prepare and tasty to eat. We ended up eating this meal outdoors on the patio which was perfect for this end of summer meal. 

The menu changes weekly and everything is made with natural and local ingredients. And you save a ton of time in meal planning and grocery shopping and most of the food preparation has been done for you. This is a great resource for San Diego families to give themselves a break from the rigor of fixing dinner every night or to save time during the busy holiday season. 

Charlie's Classic Cooking wants one of my readers (that's YOU!) to experience what it's like to have the night off from worrying about dinner. Enter below to win a delivered meal for a family of 4 valued at $75. 

Charlies Classic Cooking

The food just needed to be reheated and dinner was served! I so appreciate the opportunity to give Charlie's Classic Cooking a try and will remember them for the future.

Eat Your Greens Or Drink Your Greens!

I was provided product as part of a Moms Meet sampling campaign in order to facilitate a review of the product. All opinions are my own. 

Try as I might to keep a variety of fresh produce in the house, it seems that the greens are either never as plentiful or just not the thing that I reach for to make a meal. That means I have thrown away more than my fair share of green vegetables. Isn't that awful? And I know the importance of eating green leafy vegetables! I used to be really good about throwing a cup or two of organic spinach into our smoothies at home but then my kids got hooked on Jamba Juice and the green smoothies at home no longer appealed to them. Damn those finicky taste buds! Lately I've taken to drinking my greens because it is just easier.



So, when I was asked to participate in the Amazing Grass Green Superfood Sample, Sip, Share campaign I thought "why not?" I was delighted to find my shipment included a handy burlap tote bag (that I can totally use as a Signing Story Time book bag!) and  a nifty to go cup stocked with several samples of their wide array of flavors of powdered green drink mix.

It was hard to decide which one to sample first! There were flavors like Pineapple Lemongrass, Orange Dream and Berry... it makes it kind of hard to pick when they all sound so good. The one I ended up sampling first was Pineapple Lemongrass and it surprised me how smooth and easy it was to drink. Because I had tried Amazing Grass (original flavor) in the past I took a closer look at the packets and saw that it had been newly formulated with a finer powder so it didn't have a gritty feel that I remembered from before. This didn't even leave any residue in my cup when I drank it! Plus, it was super easy to shake, no special blender or blender ball needed to ensure all of it was mixed in. Sweet!

I had a chance to sample 7 different flavors and thought it was super fun to share my opinion with the fun hashtags. For the most part I thought they were #AHHmazng. Except for the original. I'm just not keen on the taste of grass. I'm so glad that there are all these other flavors to choose from so I can drink my greens and get all the benefits of the Superfoods and not feel like spitting it out. In fact YOU can sample their products too! Let me know what you think of them. I know I'll be buying more Amazing Grass in the future to keep my family healthy.

When I was browsing their website, I discovered they have awesome holiday flavors and I will be ordering the Pumpkin Spice next in order to make this recipe. Since I quit coffee back in May I am finding it a little difficult at times to stay strong in part because I miss all the amazing flavors that you can add to your cup of joe. So I love it when I find something like the Pumpkin Spice Latte Smoothie to keep me on the right track and keep working towards a healthy body.

Remember, if you can't eat your greens, you can drink your greens!

11 Favorite Food & Beverage Items from ShiftCon

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This disclosure is in accordance with FTC guidelines.

If you follow me on instagram, you probably know I attended ShiftCon a few weeks ago because I flooded my instagram with pics from the 3 days I was there learning, connecting and eating! This year we had about 12 bloggers from San Diego make the trip to ShiftCon which was awesome to have more than double the presence we had from last year!



The green and organic movement is in full force and I'm so glad to be apart of it. It was from my baby sign language classes that I became connected to some moms who educated me about organic food and why it is so important (especially for our littlest ones) and I am doing my part to pay it forward and share it here on my blog and in my programs.

In case you don't know what ShiftCon is, here's a short video that sums it up pretty well....

This year I saw many of my favorite brands that I've known and used for years and sampled some new to me items that will become staples in our home for sure.

1. Annie's Homegrown

Before the conference I reached out to Annie's to share the discovery that I had made that there were many products of theirs on the store shelf that no longer had the USDA organic label. Not only did Annie's promptly reply right away, they shared that they have always had some products that are organic and some products that are made with some organic ingredients. This allows them to provide various price points for all consumers and still create a better product. My kids are fans of their bunny crackers and mac & cheese. My personal favorite item (but it's hard to choose) is probably their Organic Peace Pasta & Parmesan macaroni & cheese and it's available at Thrive Market.

Look at all the varieties of mac & cheese I came home with!

2. Stonyfield 

When I was a new mom a friend of mine recommended to buy only the Yo Baby yogurt products for Amberly. So I did. I fell in love with this brand. They've been so kind in supporting some of the events I put on for moms and babies too. But I love them even more after meeting them in person. They are a super creative yogurt brand that is on a mission to educate about organic foods. My kids request this brand specifically when I go to the store.




3. Love Child Organics

I talked with Leah, the co-founder of this child centered brand at great length while at the Expo and I'm glad I did because I learned something valuable. Not all organic food is 100% organic. To meet the USDA organic seal guidelines a product has to be 95% organic. Well, Love Child is 100% organic and they are unwavering in their values. I was sent home with some sample pouches which are designed for kids primarily between 6 months and 6 years old and got the 2 thumbs up at home.

Love Child Organics has me falling in love with their no synthetic ingredients promise.

4. Bitsy's Brainfood

A brand that wants to make eating healthy fun for kids? Absolutely! And they're not trying to trick kids into it either. The goal is to educate kids about eating healthy. And from my experience, this approach really works. Amberly spouts off stuff all the time and it's things I've taught her over the past few years that we've been on this green health journey. So I have proof it is sinking in! I loved the activity ideas that they showcased in their suite at ShiftCon and even won a Target giftcard when I completed my passport and spun the prize wheel. I will be borrowing some ideas from their hospitality suite when I help organize classroom parties for my son's 1st grade class.

Bitsy's Brainfood makes learning to eat healthy fun! Eat, Play. Learn.

5. Leaf & Love Organics

A lemonade box with zero sugar and only 5 calories, sweetened with organic stevia. I know parents are torn between giving their kids juice because of the sugar content and I was pleased to find that a couple of moms paired up and created something to conquer that problem. I sampled their delicious lemonade twice, cuz I have a thing for lemonade and so do my kids! My understanding is they plan to expand to more than lemonade and I look forward to seeing what they have on the horizon.

Follow Leaf and Love to support the work of these awesome moms!

6. Nature's Path Organic

Last year I fell in love with their Love Crunch and started buying their Envirokids Crispy Rice Bars for the kids as special snacks when we're on the road. My kids love them and ask for them whenever they see them on the store shelves. My favorite item currently is their Pumpkin Flax Granola. It's especially good to top off a healthy parfait snack. I just saw that they have  Pumpkin 'n Spice Granola Bars which I can't believe I haven't tried yet! Don't worry, I'll fix that straight away with my next Thrive Market order!

Nature's Path Organic is perfect for on the go healthy snacking.

7. Made in Nature

One of our snack breaks was sponsored by Made in Nature and I discovered a new favorite snack... Figgy Pops! I'm really head over heals for these things and think I made it a point to go by and sample them 5 or 6 times. The Figgy Pops are their latest development but their other popular products are the varied flavors of toasted coconut chips. I have yet to try all the flavors to pick a favorite but I'll have to remedy that really soon!

When you try the Made in Nature Figgy Pops, tell me you don't feel the same way.

8. Chosen Foods

Last year they sent these delightful surprise boxes to our homes post conference and I immediately fell in love with their avocado oil. This year they had a booth and I got to meet the people behind the twitter account!  They've just come out with a delicious new avocado oil mayo and I'm hooked. When I get their newsletter email it reminds me to check out their vast archive of healthy recipes. I'm just starting to experiment with Quinoa so this one is on my breakfast bucket list. I'm really hoping their product line will be available via Thrive Market soon since that's where I will be buying a lot of my pantry items now.

If you have yet to try Chosen Foods, it is a MUST!

9.  Nutiva

They did it again with their amazing popcorn snack.... lured me over to their table. We are already big fans of their coconut oil and all the amazing health benefits that accompany it. Since their coconut oil is not found on the shelves of my local Costco anymore I am glad I can find it via Thrive Market and still get a great price! We used their organic shelled hempseed in our smoothies all the time. One of my favorite smoothies of all time has a secret ingredient - coconut oil! Nutiva is another brand that has amazing recipes highlighted on their website for inspiration, I get so hungry just looking at it.

Nutiva has a Real Food Manifesto to help us all lead healthier lives.

10. Dave's Killer Bread

At the conference check in table we got to select a loaf of bread.... which seemed a little bit odd to me, I'll be honest. But, I went with it. I grabbed the variety that looked familiar from Costco and didn't have a chance to try it until I got home. We were out of cereal one morning and I crossed my fingers that Dave's Killer Bread in the toaster would disguise the "healthy" taste my kids have complained about with other breads. Well, the kids were eating their toast before I was and told me it was the best bread ever and that we have to buy it again. It turns out that they are not just about making killer bread. They're about giving people second chances. That's a whole lot of goodness to take in and I think we'll be "lifers" to support their cause and because it's just that good.

Organic and made with a cause - Dave's Killer Bread totally rocks!

11. Fork in the Road

Another one of our snacks was provided by Fork in the Road. I got to sample 3 different types of sausage and boy were they good! So of course I went back for more. Their products have no antibiotics or added hormones which is really important to me when feeding my kids. They have this cool tool on their website that allows you to trace your food back to the community of farmers who raised it. Talk about transparency and accountability in our food system! I'm looking forward to trying their breakfast sausage next.

Fork in the Road practices sustainable farming and supports family farms.

Here are a few of my key take aways from this year's conference:

We all have a voice and we can share little nuggets of information with our neighbor, with our facebook community, with our co-workers and our blogging friends and make a difference in cleaning up the food system. But perhaps our biggest voice comes directly from the purchases we make each and every day. Every time we put down the big brand and instead select the NON-GMO and organic products we are promoting health by shifting profits in the right direction. I still have a long way to go, but celebrate each of the changes our family has made so far. I may not be the greenest, but at this conference it doesn't matter, all shades of green are welcome and embraced.

I am excited to continue on our green journey or what I might be calling our SHIFT journey as it is really about making one small change or shift at a time.

Quick and Healthy Southwest Chicken

Fall is really here. You know how I know? Not just that school is in full swing and homework riddles abound and books and binders are on every surface of the kitchen and living room…. Nope. It’s the daily hectic sports schedule. Someone has a practice, a clinic or a game Every. Single. Day… of the week. This is why I have to have a few quick go to meals that are still balanced and healthy ready to go. If you have a busy family schedule too, you’ll want to add this Quick and Healthy Southwest Chicken to your bag of tricks. Even if your schedule allows you to spend an hour or more in the kitchen preparing a meal and you love cooking, this is a meal that has all kinds of color and flavor for those nights you do want something simple, yet delicious.

This post is sponsored by Foster Farms® Simply Raised, which is locally grown in California and 

the Pacific Northwest. The opinions expressed are my own.

Ingredients:

3 Foster Farms Simply Raised Thin Sliced Breast Fillets
¾ cup of your favorite salsa (I prefer organic salsa)
¾ cup organic frozen corn
1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
1 avocado, sliced
¼ cup sour cream

Directions: 

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Take the thin sliced breast filets and lay flat in an oven dish prepared with either avocado oil or grapeseed oil. Spoon ¼ cup salsa on each filet. Next, layer ¼ cup frozen organic corn on top of the chicken and salsa. Put dish in oven for approximately 30 minutes. At the last 5 to 10 minutes, sprinkle some of that mild cheddar cheese on top of each filet. Continue to bake for the remaining minutes. This is what you want it to look like when you pull it out of the oven:

Top each fillet with your favorite southwest flavors. I personally like to add avocado whenever and wherever I can! The flavors of fresh, locally grown chicken, salsa, sweet corn, cheese and avocado come together like one big happy family.

I like to keep it simple when determining what sides we will have, remember we’ve been running around getting kids to soccer practice and such. A can of refried beans and some organic tortilla chips and fresh made guacamole is what we opted for this time around. If you’re making your own guacamole and you really want to hit a home run, be sure to get locally grown produce, and organic if at all possible. The flavors are more vibrant and you will taste the difference. Buying local 

supports your local farmer and it’s a good lesson for our kids in how we support our community! Did you know that Foster Farms chickens are delivered from local ranches in 48 hours or less?

This meal takes just 35 minutes start to finish, including prep. The trick is the Thin-Sliced Breast Fillets. If your family is like mine and likes the tender and juicy white meat, you know it can take a bit longer to cook the breasts compared to other chicken parts…. Which is why I look for the Thin-Sliced Breast Fillets from Foster Farms. I prefer to get the Foster Farms Simply Raised, with no antibiotics, hormones or steroids. AND if you live in California or the Pacific Northwest, you’ll be glad to know that these chickens are always raised locally! I think feeding my kids food that is free of hormones and antibiotics is a worthwhile thing to champion. Buying products that are local cuts down on your carbon footprint which means I’m teaching my kids about being environmentally responsible. While we’ve been on a mission to choose healthier foods at the grocer, I’ve also been keeping my eye out for items that are local. To me local means fresh and fresh is always better. 

All Foster Farms fresh chicken products are American Humane Certified.

Do you have a busy after school schedule that has pushed you to come up with some quick and healthy meals? I’d love it if you share in the comments below because I’ll be putting together a roundup post for just that sort of thing and I want to include your awesome quick and healthy meals.

In the meantime PIN THIS one so you have it for those nights you need to pull a good meal together quickly!

This post is sponsored by Foster Farms®, the opinions expressed are my own.

Farm Fresh to You Brings Goodness to Your Door

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Farm Fresh to You as part of 

the Mom it Forward Blogger Network. All opinions

and writing are my own. I only share things I believe to be of value.

Organic goodness in a box as fresh as it can get was delivered to my door before 8 a.m. last Friday. I was so excited to send the kids off to school and have fresh produce on my doorstep to put away without having even gotten out of my pajamas! "This is going to be a good day" I thought.

Just look at all the beautiful bright produce that came in this box...

Later when I decided to slice up one of the heirloom tomatoes that was so bright and plump, making it hard to resits, I could hardly believe how excited my mouth was about the simplicity of a tomato. It is true what they say, after having true fresh heirloom tomatoes, you just never want to go back to conventional tomatoes. My daughter has a thing for tomatoes too... but she usually likes to sprinkle a little salt on hers. When I told her to try a slice of the tomato from our Farm Fresh to You box she wasn't even thinking about reaching for the salt.

The only thing bad about these heirloom tomatoes was how juicy they were.... you know cuz that just makes a mess! But that's when you know it's good... you know what I'm talking about. I hope our next box has more heirloom tomatoes because Amberly and I will just sit at the table and savor bite after bite. I laugh when I think that I didn't like tomatoes as a kid!

Before I forget, and while you're equally excited about these luscious tomatoes, I want to share the Refer a Friend program at Farm Fresh to You. When you set up an account with them and share your code with a friend, your friend saves $10 off their first order and YOU get $25 credited to your account. Pretty sweet, right? So of course I am sharing my refer a friend code with you knowing you'll enjoy it just as much as I have. JZAN4279

I used their easy to use website to customize my box, opting for the No Cooking Box. I know myself well enough and our busy family schedule that I'm not in the mindset to be cooking up a bunch of vegetables to add to the dinner table right now. And it was the perfect option for us because we had things to make a nice dinner salad, a healthy after school snack and even some fresh mango for dessert!

Truly Fresh Dinner Salad:

Ingredients:

1 head of romaine lettuce, leaves torn into bite size pieces
1 large heirloom tomato, sliced
1/2 cucumber, sliced
1 avocado, pitted and diced
Your favorite salad dressing  (I need to experiment with making my own)

Enough for all 5 of us to get a good serving size.

I have to tell you that we've been growing accustomed to salad in a bag from the grocery store and I had forgotten how with just a few ingredients, count them, there are 4, you can make something that is so good, good for you and adds color to your plate! The cucumber was better than any cucumber I've purchased from the store and it didn't have that wax finish. Organic is the way to go, and Farm Fresh to You gets it to you when it still has that "just picked" goodness.

I've been browsing their YouTube channel and love hearing what other customers have shared, which made me dig further into the website and find all the amazing resources Farm Fresh to You offers. They've really thought of everything to make it super easy, especially for us busy moms who want to feed our kids the very best.

Another reason this works so well for me is that I can select items that I do NOT want in my box. For example, I'm not too keen on papaya so I simply mark that I don't want it in my box. And I can update this any time! Like I'm always teaching my kids "taste buds change every 10-14 days!"

To say we've had a bit of a heat wave here in San Diego would be an understatement.  One day after school when it was particularly warm I was excited about the cantaloupe I had put in the fridge and was ready to be cut open. But they weren't going to have just cantaloupe by itself... although they wouldn't mind that in the least, it is one of their favorite foods. Over the summer we've created a variety of parfaits which got me thinking about using our new parfait glasses.

Sweet Melon Surprise!

Ingredients:

1 medium size cantaloupe, diced
3/4 cup organic vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup organic granola

Directions:

In the bottom of your dish place your diced cantaloupe. Top with a dollop of the vanilla yogurt. Sprinkle with your favorite granola.

Yields 8 servings. Pictured you see 4. We enjoyed it so much we all had seconds!

We still have some of the bell peppers and cauliflower and carrots which I plan to just cut up and add to the table as a veggie platter that will double as a bright colorful centerpiece. Two for one right there, no need to buy fresh flowers when you've got a colorful assortment of produce to showcase.

Remember, Farm Fresh to You has an amazing refer a friend program and I'd love for you to use my code  JZAN4279so you can save $10 on your first box. Full disclosure, they will kindly credit me with $25 after you place your first order for helping you get hooked up to them. And you can then refer a friend and get exactly the same benefit! Nope, you don't have to be a blogger to enjoy this refer a friend program. I feel good about referring you to give then a try and know you'll be excited about the difference in the freshness and flavor. They've named it perfectly, it really is "FARM FRESH TO YOU".

End of Summer Tropical Parfait and Kitchen Hack Tool

This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase through an affiliate link you do not pay any more than you would otherwise, but a small referral fee is provided to me for recommending the product or service. That makes it possible for me to continue to blog and share great tips and resources with my readers. 

The end of summer is really here. Instead of dwelling on the fact that I want to be able to sleep in every morning I am celebrating the end of summer with a Tropical Parfait. My kids loved it so I bet your kids will to!

These last two weeks of summer have been full of bar-be-ques, water adventure and cool treats! Oh, and back to school shopping, hence the reason I haven't posted anything new in a span of  2 weeks. Well, at least I've been documenting our favorite kitchen creations and will have several new things to share in the coming days because.... insert audible drum roll.... the kids are back in school! They were just as ready as I was so I don't feel any guilt with the parting of ways. There are so many ideas I've had percolating this summer but I haven't had the time to focus on developing them, so now I'm putting the pedal to the metal and you'll want to stay in touch by subscribing to the RSS feed and steal borrow any ideas that suit you. But, believe me, you'll want in on some of the special projects around the corner!

Not too long ago we developed our favorite smoothie to date that the kids ask for again and again. Which I love because they used to grimace at the smoothies I would make for them. That's because I didn't have a plan for what I put in the smoothies. I would just grab what we had on hand and throw a little of this and a little of that, add some green stuff and make sure there was some liquid and press the magic button hoping it would magically turn my smoothies into blended genius. Sadly, more often than not the kids turned their noses up at them. But, not anymore! This summer we changed all that. Now I follow a formula and it has made all the difference. If you missed it, you need to go back and pin it so you can escape to an imaginary tropical place any time you want. In fact it is this Tropical Surprise Smoothie that inspired today's treat, the End of Summer Tropical Parfait. Parfaits are so versatile, they are perfect for breakfast, snack or dessert!


Tweet: Parfaits are perfectly versatile. Great for breakfast, snack or dessert. http://bit.ly/1PEun7P via @mommyspieslice


Ingredients:
1 cup yogurt (we love Stonyfield, vanilla)
1/2 cup almond slices
1 mango, diced
1 cup fresh pineapple chunks, about 1/2 pineapple
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Instructions:

1. Combine coconut with yogurt and stir. OR you can combine the coconut with the almonds. I've tried it both ways and it's great either way.

2. Prepare your Pineapple. After getting this pineapple coring tool you will save so much money versus buying the pre cut stuff at the market. Plus you save time compared to slicing up pineapple using just a knife. Watch this video and tell me you don't want to buy this corer right now!

 

3. Prepare your diced mango. This is one of those kitchen hacks I was so glad to learn. Because, again, I don't have to pay an arm and a leg buying the pre-cut and packaged mango. The kids and I are kind of mango fanatics so this video was big time awesome:

I kind of like to dice the mango by scoring one cheek then the other and then using the glass to separate the "diced" fruit from the skin.

Now you'll have each of your ingredients set and ready to go.

4. Now it is time to build your parfait! Layer a couple spoonfuls of yogurt at the bottom, Next add a spoonful or two of sliced almonds. Then one heaping spoonful each of the pineapple and mango. Repeat these steps once more then enjoy!

Yields 4 small parfaits. 

All summer long I have been hemming and hawing about getting a set of parfait glasses because I want to be earth friendly and not use the plastic disposable ones. And wouldn't you know the day I'm writing this post my order from Amazon Prime arrives? So I'll have to make another parfait pronto and update with another picture!

These were the two that I had a hard time deciding between.... but I ultimately went with this one:

I'd love to hear in the comments if you plan to make this parfait for your kids! Remember you can pin it and savor a little bit of summer any time of the year.

My kids love parfaits for an after school healthy snack. Here are some other combinations you may want to try (just click on the image):

                 

21 Summer Drinks Just for Moms

Summer is a time when kids get to take a break from the rigors of classroom learning, relax with less constraining schedules and enjoy more family time.

Well, all that family time can be a little bit exhausting at times for mom.... maybe it's just me. Three kids that like to have things their way means we have some sibling rivalry on a daily, nope scratch that, hourly basis. The overseeing of sharing, taking turns, deciding when to step in and when to let them work things out on their own is.... well grating on my nerves at times. Not to mention I'm juggling work, keeping the house somewhat maintained and trying to plan fun things for them to do with all their "free time" Oh, wait! That's not just me, that's you too! Well, then let me pour you a drink. There's a bunch of funny memes out there about moms and wine, but with summer here, I may be reaching for something that has a little more, shall we say beach feel to it. Yes, you've got it. Drinks worthy of those cute little drink umbrellas.

OH and if you don't have time to peruse these perfect summer drinks right now - be sure to PIN IT so you can indulge later!

Here are my top picks for winding down this summer:

Spiked Strawberry Lemonade via Julie's Eats and Treats

Lime in Da Coconut via Made with Happy

Key Lime Moscato Punch via Krystal's Kitsch

Chocolate Raspberry Vodka Tonic via Giraffes Can Bake

Pineapple Saketini via Lipgloss and Crayons

Tropical Twisters via A Helicopter Mom

Boozy Smoothies via Simmworks Family Blog

Sparkling Citrus Sangria via Dizzy Busy and Hungry

Strawberry Margarita Punch via The Cookie Rookie

Berry Mint Gin Cocktail via In Mama Maggie's Kitchen

Strawberry Line Moscato Punch via Real Housemoms

Blueberry Breeze Cooler via Ann's Entitled Life

Skinny Margarita via Simmworks Family Blog

Lightened Up Raspberry Coconut Punch via Averie Cooks

Spicy White Wine Sangria via The Mommy Project San Diego

Raspberry Lemon Drop Martinis via The Cookie Rookie 

Vanilla Mojito via Lipgloss and Crayons

Malibu Sunset via Averie Cooks

Pineapple Peach Mojito via Spoonful of Flavor

Blueberry Bourbon Smash via Lexi Bites

Simple Summer Blueberry Margarita via Mommy's Slice of the Pie

Spicy Pineapple Mint Julep via Just Putzing Around the Kitchen

Raspberry Peach Prosecco Punch via Table for Two

And you never can go wrong just opening a bottle of wine, right? That's what I do more often than not. I love reading my friend Maggie's reviews of wine and especially love her collection of wine memes -

See more her collection of witty wine one liners - save for when you need to perk up your mom BFF.