Thoughts on Parenting

Yummy Fruit-sicles

Summer here in Texas is pretty brutal. Just yesterday it was 168º outside.

Light and refreshing, these freezer fruit cups were awesome! They're like popsicles full of fruit. Thanks to my friend Francie for the idea!

1 large can crushed pineapple
2-3 small cans mandarin oranges
4 bananas, sliced
1 bag frozen strawberries
1 can frozen orange juice concentrate

Do not drain any of the fruit juices. Gently combine all the ingredients and spoon into little punch cups. Freeze. (Ours kept, covered, in the freezer for a week.) Makes about 10 cups.

DIY Go-Paks

Every time our kids pass by the display of "Go-Paks" in the Grocery store, they are inexplicably thrown into begging, whining, and pleading mode. I can't figure out what the appeal of these things is for kids, but I know why they are so convenient for adults. We've used them on occasion when we needed to bring a snack somewhere "on the go."

The problem for us is that we sometimes get these "environmental" feelings that make us all icky inside when we buy things with excessive packaging that cause extra waste. Rather than buy individual servings of anything, we'd prefer to buy the largest size and divide it up ourselves.

Call me stupid, but it was only the other day that I figured out we could do our own "Go-paks" by using some of the eighteen million plastic restaurant cups our kids collect when we go out to eat, thus the proverbial two birds and one stone.

So, we bought regular packages of snacks, and now when we go out we load up our cups (with lids) from Olive Garden, Red Robin, or whatever else is lying around, and voila! Our very own reusable, environmentally friendly, on-the-go snack packs!