Today's Monday Morning post features one of my boys' all-time favorite breakfasts...DONUTS!!! Oh, how my boys LOVE donuts. The traditional variety typically has more than 30 grams of sugar in one single donut. That's two days worth of sugar for the kids! YIKES! I knew I needed to find a better option so my boys could still enjoy one of their favorite breakfast treats. It's taken some trial and error, but I've finally found a recipe my boys love...so much so that I have to double the recipe (sometimes triple if I want to have some leftover to freeze). These chocolate covered covered gluten-free goodies are loaded with protein which make them great for breakfast, but my boys especially love them as an after school snack!

This recipe is one that I adapted from this recipe from Maria (I didn't mean to adapt it, but I accidentally added an extra 1/2 c. of almond flour to one of her recipes and they turned out REALLY good so I thought I'd do the same next time). If peanut allergies are a concern you might try THIS RECIPEfor her coconut flour doughnuts. Maria has other flavored donut recipes on her site as well...the next on my list to try are the Gingerbread Donuts! They sound DELICIOUS and would be perfect for the holiday season! Her new cookbook should be coming out in the very near future. I know what will be on my Christmas list this year.

Almond Flour Donuts:

• 1 c. almond flour


• 4 TBS melted butter (or coconut oil)


• 3 eggs


• 1/4 c. Wholesome Sweetener Zero (or another natural sweetener)


• 1/4 tsp salt


• 1/4 tsp baking soda


• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

It's probably easy to see from my blog posts that my boys are into all things "boy" which means they spend a lot of time doing "guy stuff" with my husband. They hunt, watch football, play street hockey, knee hockey, baseball, golf together...you name it. While I must say this does have some perks (it gives me plenty of time to read my ever-rising pile of books) it's fun to find ways for me to have special time with the kids as well. The boys and I have a few things that are just "mommy activities". For example, the three of us kayak, take long trips to the book store, go to movies, but one of my all-time favorite "mommy-son activities" is taking pictures. My boys LOVE taking pictures which of course melts my heart! They both have their very own cameras that go along with them on trips and they use them quite a bit in and around the house. It's been so fun to sort through their pictures and see the images they captured through their lenses. Let's hope their passion for photography stays with them for many years to come.

Below are a few photos taken by my little shutterbugs...followed by today's camera-themed lunch!

My oldest son has been trying his hand at food photography (I have NO idea where he comes up with this stuff..wink, wink).

Today's lunch includes: ham and cheese camera sandwich (white rope cheese for the strap, colby cheese and white american cheese for the lens/flash/shutter button), plums/kiwi, cucumber, chocolate granola bar, almonds. This lunch box shown is the Planet Box Lunch Box

If you haven't already figured it out, I live in a house with boys who LOVE football. In the Fall my sons are usually outside playing football, watching football on t.v., or making up plays for their teams to try at school. My oldest guy starting drafting plays and it wasn't long before my little man wanted in on the action. I'm amazed at the amount of time these guys spend making up and sketching out plays. I love that even though my youngest son doesn't exactly "get" how to draft a football play, his older brother is always encouraging him and pointing out the best features of the plays he does come up with. They are both pretty passionate about football...for now, anyway! Hockey and basketball seasons are right around the corner!!

Today's "football play" lunch includes: turkey and cheese sandwich on Lavash bread, almonds, grapes and string cheese on a toothpick, cucumbers, no bake chocolate protein ball

The temps have officially dropped here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin and Fall is in the air. Yesterday, the wind was howling and it felt like a baking kinda' day. Lucky for me, I had bookmarked this pumpkin bread recipe just a few days ago and could hardly wait to try it. It was so easy to throw together and about 15 minutes into baking it my boys started wandering through the kitchen every few minutes asking if the bread was ready yet. Needless to say, the house smelled wonderful and while I hoped to have three loaves of pumpkin bread at the end of the day I only ended up with two (we finished off the third loaf shortly after it came out of the oven...oops!!).

I adapted the recipe just a bit replacing the honey with Just Like Sugarand I divided the batter into three mini loaf pansinstead of one big loaf...this makes the slices the perfect size to throw in lunch boxes. If you're looking for a delicious gluten-free, sugar-free snack option this one is a winner in my opinion! Next time I'll double the recipe and freeze the extra loaves so I have them on hand as needed!

Here's how I adapted this recipe:

• 1 cup of canned pumpkin


• 1 cup of Just Like Sugar


• 1 tablespoons of olive oil


• 2 eggs


• 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda


• 1/2 teaspoon of salt


• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg


• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon


• 1/2 teaspoon cloves


• 2 cups of almond flour

My boys gobbled up this bread with their breakfast this morning and they both asked me to include a few slices in their lunch boxes. Something tells me this bread isn't going to last long around here!

If you haven't already heard, this week is National School Lunch Week. The School Nutrition Association started the program with the hopes that it will help students understand where food comes from while highlighting the overall benefit that school lunch should help kids grow strong and healthy. This years National School Lunch Week theme is "School Lunch- Let's Grow Healthy" which was designed to encourage kids to try something new and promote locally sourced foods. From a harvest-of-the-month menu to a school garden to a meet-the-farmer educational presentation and much more. If your school is not participating in the event, you can find resources for kidsHEREor if you're interested in introducing a farm to school program to your district supervisors click HEREfor more information.

National School Lunch Week is a great opportunity for parents to raise awareness about the quality of foods being served in schools today. It's more important than ever as obesity rates among children continue to rise to unprecedented levels. Current estimates state that by the year 2030 86% of American adults will be overweight or obese. EIGHTY-SIX PERCENT?! Combine that with the fact that ONE in THREE children born after the year 2000 will be diagnosed with Type II diabetes by the time they are 50 years old and we have a real dilemma on our hands. Studies show that ONE in THREE kids in the United States are overweight or obese and that has become the number one concern among parents, topping drug abuse and smoking. It is certainly a valid concern as obesity contributes to other health issues such as; high blood pressure, type II diabetes, increased cholesterol levels and can contribute to depression. According to former US Surgeon General Richard Carmona, because of the increasing rates of obesity, unhealthy eating habits, and physical inactivity, we may see the first generation that will have increased health problems and a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

Obviously there is more to these alarming statistics than school lunch alone, but by educating students about the quality of food and providing them with the opportunity to eat fresh, local, quality foods at school we are at least giving children a chance. This is why I'm a big believer in parents getting involved with their schools to help improve the school lunch programs.

I'm encouraged to know that many districts, especially in the area where I live (Minneapolis/St. Paul), have taken bold steps to improve the quality of foods being served in their schools. Minneapolis public schoolsrecently eliminated chocolate milk as a drink option! St. Paul and Wayzata Public Schools revised their system to create amore local, sustainable and healthy school lunch program. And countless others have made small changes to their school lunch programs to improve food options for students. BRAVO to the parents and administrators in Minnesota who are setting the stage for schools across the nation.

As part of National School Lunch week, parents are encouraged to visit their child's school TODAY. The initiative is called "Take Your Parents to Lunch Day" and it was developed as a way to get more parents into lunch rooms to "eat with your child, and talk to the people who serve up the food day in and day out. National Take Your Parents to Lunch Day is about communicationtalking to your school and to your child to learn about whats going well, and how you can work together to make school food even better."

I encourage any of you that have an opportunity to join your kids for lunch. If not today, then in the near future. Before you go, read some tips and tricks on what to watch for HEREon Jamie Oliver's blog. (I promise it's worth the read!)

If you do have a chance to join your kids for lunch today or even later this week, I'd love to hear about your experience. Which foods were easiest for the kids to grab? Was the food cooked on the premises or did most of it come packaged/frozen/canned, etc... What is going well with your local school lunch program?

Before I sign off, I thought I'd show a lunch similar to what is being served on a daily basis around the country in public schools followed by an improved lunch that I believe is very "doable". Notice how the lunch below (a standard lunch option in many American school cafeterias) is colorless, packed with preservatives, sodium, trans-fat and loads of sugar. Most of the items on the tray came in a can or arrived to school frozen and was re-heated before serving.

The lunch below is an example of what I would love to see offered in school cafeterias on a daily basis. The tray is filled with fresh, local fruits and vegetables, a wrap with lean meat, cheese & lettuce, string cheese and a healthy, low-sugar cookie.

Happy National School Lunch Week to all of you! Let's make this happen!

A few months ago the boys and I were browsing through a store when my son spotted a collection of Captain America goodies. My boys poured over all the toys and trinkets but my eyes went immediately to the Captain America lunch box that was tucked back on a shelf. I decided not to get it at the time and ever since I've been thinking of how fun it would be to have in our lunch box collection. A few weeks ago I was traveling for a work commitment and as I was walking back from getting my morning coffee I spotted the Captain America lunch box in the window of a nearby store. I darted across the street and bought each of the boys their very own super hero lunch boxes knowing they would be something my boys would love to take to school every once in a while. Sure enough, the boys were beyond excited about their new boxes and have been chomping at the bit (pardon the pun) to put the boxes to use!

So today's lunch features a "Captain America" themed lunch to go with his brand new lunch box: nitrite free ham and cheese sandwich with white american cheese ring/pepperoni center and white american cheese star, celery & peanut butter, strawberries & blueberries, homemade fruit roll up

Some of you may remember a post I wrote last April about happiness and hard work. Basically, my husband and I desire a lot for our kids but one of the most important goals for us is to raise two hard working and self-reliant boys. We are true believers that working hard is not only the responsible thing to do, but it also is a great source of happiness. It's something that drives many of our decisions as parents and we do our best to model to them on a regular basis.

Last night when I heard the Steve Jobs, former CEO and the creative genius behind Apple, had died I immediately thought of how his hard work not only brought him an immense amount of happiness but he also impacted the world as we know it. ABC news reports, "Industry watchers called Jobs a master innovator -- perhaps on a par with Thomas Edison -- changing the worlds of computing, recorded music and communications." Steve Jobs was a leader, a visionary, and innovator...but most of all he was an incredibly hard worker.

As I browsed through my news feed on Facebook last night I saw the following quote posted time and time again:

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."
Steve Jobs

I love that quote and I love that Steve Jobs also believed that one should find satisfaction in producing great work. I'm not sure my kids will ever fully understand the impact Steve Jobs had on our society. However, the fact the both my husband and I have touch screen iPhones, we read books and watch movies on an iPad, our DVD/VCR player was replaced with an Apple T.V., and I operate my business from a series of Mac computers...our kids will definitely live in a digital world engineered by Steve Jobs.

Today's lunch is dedicated to the man that changed the face of the digital age as we know it! Included: peanut butter apple sandwich, snap peas, strawberries/blueberries, string cheese (I also included an almond flour cookie in a little bag on top of the apple sandwich after I took the picture) This lunch is packed in the Easy Lunch Box...a sturdy reusable container that is great for pulling together quick and easy lunches!

My oldest son has MAPS testing this week at school. In preparation for testing week, the teachers always send home a note asking parents to ensure our kids get a good night's sleep and eat a good breakfast. Having done as much reading as I have on this topic I understand why teachers think it's important for kids to eat a solid breakfast before they come to school...especially on a testing day. Last year I wrote a very long-winded post about food and the effect it has on our bodies and brains. In that postyou can read about how protein and fiber help supply essential amino acids that combine to form proteins that are essential for managing the neurotransmitters in the brain along with a list of foods we commonly feed our kids...even more so when they are testing at school.

Today's "testing" lunch includes: a cheese stick pencil with a Bugle & raisin tip (I can't take credit for this genius idea...I found it on-line), nitrite-free turkey, pepperoni & white american cheese sandwich, peanut butter/celery, strawberries/kiwi, sugar-free dark chocolate almonds (Trader Joe's)

Last time I shared some books my oldest son has read and loved so today I thought I'd share a series my youngest son adores...The Mercy Watson series by one of our favorite authors Kate DiCamillo. This series features a charming little pig named Mercy Watson who can't get enough hot, buttered toast. The bright, colorful illustrations along with the funny story lines have definitely captivated my little man and keep him moving from one book to the next. This is a GREAT series for beginning readers in Kindergarten or 1st grade...I've even caught my 3rd grader re-reading these a time or two!

When we found out that the Minneapolis Children's Theatre was performing "Mercy Watson to the Rescue" we knew we had to take the kids. So tonight we'll head downtown and watch what I'm sure will be a play filled with hilarious antics by Mercy himself. If you're in the Minneapolis area you can reserve tickets with the Children's Theatre HERE.

In honor of tonight's Mercy Watson performance I made a pig-themed lunch which includes: ham/cheese pig sandwich, string cheese, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, strawberries/grapes, two squares of dark chocolate (the lunch box is the Planet Box lunch box available at Pottery Barn Kids)

One thing I love about the Planet Box is that it comes with lids for the small containers. I put the sandwich together using butter to adhere the small pieces to the bread and then put the lid on the sandwich. The nose of the pig was snug up against the lid which will definitely help keep the sandwich in place. I'm a little worried about the eyes not making it, but oh-well...my son will get the idea.