Inside Out Philly Cheesesteak

This week started an Eat-More-Veggies regiment at our house. The introduction of our healthy eating campaign was pretty funny. We have a weekly family counsel where we spend time together learning and growing. This week I decided we needed to talk about making healthier choices.

Without giving away the topic of the conversation for the night I simply told the boys that the whole lesson centered around a Berenstain Bears book. There was eye rolling from Oldest. What? Are you too cool for the Bears now? Geez.

Any guesses which Berenstain Bears book I read to them?

If you guessed Too Much Junk Food, you would be correct. While the boys (besides Oldest of course) appreciated a bit of story time, they did not appreciate when I told them we would be having no sweets during the week and that there would be more vegetables in their meals.

Insert a collective groan here (except from Bean because boy howdy does that kid love his veggies). They tried to barter to have more fruits and less veggies. After all, they like fruit. Ha! Silly children.

So more veggies it is.

I was really excited for these Inside Out Philly Cheesesteak peppers. I was so excited that I kept dinner a secret the whole time I was making them. I didn't want to hear no pepper-haters up in here.

My house smelled amazing the whole time these were baking. That alone got the boys all hungry and excited. I sat the boys down and served up my Inside Out Philly Cheesesteak peppers with a flare. There were some very silent groans.

Then they started to eat. Then they kept eating. Then before I knew it, their plates were clean. As was mine. I was wishing for more immediately.

They were SO good. They were also really easy to make. So a win-win.

Yum. I want another one right now.

Here are to more veggies!

Print HERE

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Superheroes Eat Veggies

Do you have a picky eater at your house? Do you fight to get them to eat fruits and veggies? I have a picky-cringes-at-the-sight-of-veggies-eater so I feel your pain.

Well I have a couple of mommy \brilliant solutions for you.

First, all you need to do is convince your picky eater that as a Superhero (or princess or ninja or whatever) they need their fruit and veggies. We are a bunch of superheroes around this house, so I opted to remind my super picky eater that Superheroes Eat Veggies.

I decided my picky eater needed a t-shirt to help him remind him that as a superhero he needed to eat his veggies. The Superheroes Eat Veggies T-shirt was born. He hasn't wanted to take off his this shirt since he put it on. Keep reading for details on how I made this shirt.

The next mommy brilliant solution are these Del Monte Fruit Burst Squeezers. They are brilliant. They have fruit squeezers and fruit and VEGGIE squeezers. Plus they are portable. Everyone knows as a Superhero you have be ready to go save the world on a moments notice.

 

 

 

Superheroes also need to eat a lot. Not long after breakfast they need a snack. Just after lunch, they need a snack. Snacks, snacks, and more snacks. I have been struggling to avoid the typical snacks of crackers, chips, and junk food. These little pouches of fruit and veggie goodness have saved me. 

 

With so many yummy flavors, my Supers have lots of options so they are happy. I am happy because whether they are the Fruit Only Squeezers in strawberry and mixed berry or the Fruit and Veggie Squeezers in peach mango, blueberry, and apple cinnamon they are getting a healthy snack.

 

 

 

They are packed with 1 1/2 servings of fruits and veggies. They are have a fruit-tastic taste that my Supers loved. They have no corn syrup which I loved.

These have a variety of ways to use them. Not only are they great for an on-the go snack or the school lunch box, but they also are great for after game snacks. No matter how you serve them, your Supers will love them. For more ideas on how to encourage your kids to eat healthy visit this my Healthy Kid-Approved Snacks Pinterest Board.

Add some garden to your Super's lunch box and the snack pantry with these Fruit Squeezers. Your Superhero will run faster and fly higher.

Run faster than a speeding bullet to your local grocery store and grab up some of these Del Monte Fruit Squeezers. Del Monte offers good for you fruit goodness in plastic cups. Again, any way you serve it, they are gonna love it.

Once you have your favorite Del Monte snack in your pantry, snap a photo of your Super enjoying their snack and head on over to Del Monte's Facebook Page and enter Back To School Contest: Do you Squeeze or Spoon? All you have to do is upload your photo and vote on your favorites.

How cute would your photo be if your Super was sporting this Superheroes Eat Veggies T-shirt while they were enjoying their favorite Del Monte snack? You could change the wording to Princesses Eat Veggies or Superheroes Eat Fruit And Veggies or anything else.

To make the shirt:

You need a t-shirt, heat transfer vinyl, vinyl cutting software. The font I used was Bebas. Type up the phrase you want and flip it horizontally, cut it out on your vinyl cutter, and iron on to your t-shirt. If you don't have a vinyl cutter you can also trace the phrase onto freezer paper, cut out to make a stencil, and use fabric paint to paint on the words to the shirt. Any way you make it, your kiddo will look adorable.

So let me know, do your kids prefer to Squeeze or Spoon? My Supers can't decide what they like to do best because they love it all.

Let me know in the comments if your kids prefer to Squeeze or Spoon and you will be entered to win $100 Visa Gift Card. Eek! So exciting. Who couldn't use a $100? Also don't forget to go and visit Del Monte on Facebook and enter their Back To School Contest. If you share a photo of your kiddos' favorite Del Monte Squeeze or Spoon snack on their page between August 1st and September 1st you could win one of two $10,000 grand prizes for your kids' school.

Sweepstakes Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 8/1-9/19.

Be sure to visit the Del Monte Brand Page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

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Three Bean Corn Salsa

The end of summer means lots and lots of harvest.

We had planned to harvest lovelies from our own garden. We had so many glorious dreams for all of our crops.

The most glorious of dreams can be so easily squashed (haha pun totally not intended).

Harvesting our own veggies may not have really occurred this year. Our garden, well how shall I say it...it BOMBED.

No, not the bomb.

BOMBED.

Big. Time.

Blame it on learning to garden in a new climate. Blame it on Bean. Blame anything and everything is what I decided to do. That way I could feel better about all that wasted planting and all our sad non existent vegetables.

There is some good news in this woe-is-me boohoo fest.

We have many neighbors who have shared their over abundance.

We also have discovered Bountiful Baskets. Thanks to them we have been able to can/freeze/eat tons of wonderful produce.

Our family has enjoyed using and storing all of this produce.

We have made a lot of really refreshing things all thanks to massive amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables. .

One of the things we made recently is this Three Bean Corn Salsa.

Yum. I first tried this a little over a year ago when my SIL made it for a family function. I had been warned by many that I would probably want to inhale this salsa in large and unladylike quantities.

I just "pshhawed" them.

I mean really when am I ever unladylike...cough, cough.

Well they were all telling the truth. Inhale it I did. Oh it was just so yummy.

So when the stars aligned with fresh produce on my counter and a party that I had to make something for, I texted my SIL and asked how to make this salsa.

The list of ingredients was super easy. I ran to the store for the things I didn't have.

Chopped a very little.
Threw together a lot.
Opened a bag of tortilla chips and tasted some here and there...okay lots here and there.
Served up the rest at our neighborhood block party.

I know Summer is almost over and the season for light and refreshing food is coming to an end, but this salsa can be an all year round recipe.

Seriously, all the ingredients are easily found at most supermarkets. Plus if you store some of your produce from the Summer than you will have a little bit of the garden fresh stuff to still throw in.

If you like chips and salsa, give this tomato-free salsa a try. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Three Bean Corn Salsa

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can red beans, drained and rinsed
1 can yellow corn, drained (or 1 1/2 cups thawed freezer corn)
1 can white corn, drained (or 1 1/2 cups  thawed freezer corn)
1 green pepper, seeded and diced
1-2 avocados, diced
1 cup zesty Italian dressing
1/3-1/2 cup chopped cilantro (more or less to you liking)
*lime juice for soaking the avocados in

Drain and rinse all the beans and the corn. Dump them all in a large bowl. Dice avocado and set them aside in lime juice to prevent browning. Dice pepper and chop cilantro.

Add avocado and green pepper to the beans and corn. Drizzle with the Italian dressing and mix gently.

Gently mix in the cilantro.

Serve right away or refrigerate.

It will keep in an airtight container for several days.

Enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by.