I was very blessed to be able to write this article for the Huffington Post regarding this subject.  We hope you enjoy it and feel free to comment below.

Here’s to your next meal together!

Lindy
Smarty Parents President/CEO

This can start with simply putting your soda can in a recycling bin. Or you can even go nuts like we did and set up bins (at right) for various plastic types and take them to a recycling facility or event.

One Company, One Family, One Bag of Trash per Week

We were shocked, literally, that a combination of recycling and composting enabled us to yield a single kitchen-sized trash bag of garbage per week. And that’s with a family of four (five if you count our canine!) plus all of the office and work-related paper in our house.

All this is to say, the planet belongs more to our children and our grandchildren than us. We can all do our part to “teach the children well.”

In a small bowl mix 1 cup packed brown sugar, 1 cube of butter and 2 Tablespoons of Karo’s light corn syrup. Spread on the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish and set aside.

In a medium bowl mix the following:

6 eggs (yes, that’s six eggs!)

1 Cup half/half

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a large bowl (sorry to have you dirty all these bowls!) put 1 loaf of cubed raisin cinnamon bread. Pour egg mixture in and mix. Add to baking dish and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until egg mixture is cooked. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Since then we’ve tried to buy organic whenever possible, especially with two healthy young boys in the house. But, as entrepreneurs on a tight budget, we find we can’t always afford the extra cost that understandably comes along with the advantages of small, local farming. Maybe you’re a “smarty parent” in the same boat…. well, here’s a little tip: Organic Valley offers coupons on its site and to those who sign up to their online community “Mothers of Organic.” They’re an amazing “co-op” of more than 1,000 small, organic farmers all over the U.S.

Click here for Organic Valley coupons or click here to join the Mothers of Organic community.

Happy eating!

It’s Mix & Match Snack Time

What to do: Toss a variety of snack time ingredients onto a Piggy Platter and let the kids make their own creations. For instance, use rice cakes, peanut/almond butter and raisins and let the kiddos make their own silly faces. Or swap out the rice cakes for celery for good ol’ fashioned “ants on a log.”

What can your kids create?  Let us know below:

It’s a one-dish wonder and you may even be lucky enough for leftovers for lunch!

If you have some ingredients laying around (such as a butternut squash), you can simply search for a pasta bake recipe on the web containing that ingredient. You don’t have to follow it to a “t” but it’ll at least give you some inspiration.

Here’s an example of a “bake” we did recently (though there’s a tasty recipe here too):

• 3-4 links of chicken sausage, cooked and sliced
• Half bag of rotellini pasta, cooked
• Half a butternut squash, baked with butter and brown sugar (1 hour, 350 degrees, cubed)
• 1/2 of apple, cubed
• 3/4 cup of fresh parmesan cheese
• 3/4 jar of Alfredo sauce
• 1 teaspon of cinnamon
• A dash of salt and pepper

Simply bake the butternut squash while you get the rest of the ingredients prepared.  Then toss it all together in a baking dish.  Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until the cheese melts.

Enjoy!

Coloring Pages: Sesame Street, NASA, Nick, Jr., Noggin, Veggie Tales

Hidden Pictures from Highlights:  Print out these pages then cut out the two image boxes.  Place them side-by-side and let the kids go at it.  Then they can color the Hidden Pictures page and put it under their Piggy Platter!

Disney Images: Choose from Alladin,  Alice in Wonderland, Bambi, Beauty & the Beast, Lion King, Pinocchio, Snow White, Tarzan, Toy Story, Winnie the Pooh

NASA’s Image Gallery: tons of great space photography. Create your own montage!

Here’s how you make it. In everyone’s bowl, drop in some:

Nancy’s Whole Milk Plain Yogurt (Or some other equivalent that’s not full of junk. Forgo that runny low-fat, high-fructose junk. Get the fattiest, thickest, plainest you can find. It’s delicious and chock full of goodness. Also the “good” fat content will give you more energy that lasts longer.)

Fresh/Frozen Berries (Our boys *love* the frozen blueberries from Costco. They are amazing!)

Granola (We recommend simple, basic, organic granola like this one from Cascadian Farm. No foof, no frills, no junk.)

Top it off with streaks of golden honey (Interesting note: we recently read that local honey helps abate pollen/grass allergies. Using local flowers and thus local pollen, acts like a serum. And you’re supporting a local company!)

Enjoy!