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Happy Earth Day! Today is the day we need to celebrate the Earth and all of the wonderful gifts it provides for us.

We do not think about how we impact the Earth but for one day it would be great if we could all do one small thing to show how much we care about the place we live. You can even start and end with it happening in the kitchen. You will be amazed at how even cooking can make an impact in the environment.

Instead of buying food today try using the leftovers you have in the fridge or the food that you have already previously purchased. However, if you do buy food today make sure you are more aware of where it is coming from, try to buy locally and make sure you know what farm it is coming from.

If you have leftovers from your meal try coming up with a good way to get rid of it instead of just throwing it out, whether it is taking it to a food shelter or keeping it to make compost out of, there is always a way to make use of extra food.

There are many clever recipes to use for your leftover food. Whether you have pasta or ham or mashed potatoes you can always make something new, from ham soup to pasta bake to mashed potato pancakes.

If you need help getting started or have no idea how to use the leftovers you have should check out this site to get fabulous ideas on how to reuse your food http://greatist.com/health/leftovers-meals-healthy-recipes

Do something good today, be kind to our Earth, make something delicious out of the food you already have and be thankful that we live in such a beautiful place.

Here is a recipe I love to use when I have extra pasta and sauce in my fridge! The best thing about this recipe is you can add anything you have from vegetables such as tomatoes, mushrooms and zucchini to different proteins such as shrimp, sausage or pepperoni. As long as you already have it you can use it!

Pasta Bake

Ingredients

• Pasta (whatever you have)
• All of your leftover sauce (if none you can use butter or olive oil or check out the recipe below)
• Any cheese you have in your fridge
• Sausage or meat (if you have it)
• Basil (dried or fresh, only if you have it)
• Garlic salt
• Pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Mix the pasta, sauce, most of the cheese and seasonings into a glass baking dish
3. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top
4. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling

There you go, a simple, easy and delicious meal that you can make with leftovers!

If you don’t happen to have sauce lying around here is a easy recipe to make your own!

Pasta Sauce

Ingredients

• Tomatoes
• Tomato sauce
• Garlic
• Olive oil
• White wine (optional)

Directions

1. Cut up the tomatoes
2. Add olive oil and garlic to a sauté pan
3. Add tomatoes, sauce and white wine to pan
4. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer until sauce has thickened.

Happy Earth Day!

The post Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.

Let’s start at the beginning. Anything with a “101” in it refers to the fact that the information being presented is essential in order to graduate to the next level. Most people do not know the importance of snacking and this 101-crash course is here to help you become as knowledgeable as possible.

First off, snacks are not the enemy, they are actually beneficial when eaten in the right amounts and the correct kinds of them are consumed. Foods such as vegetables and hummus, popcorn, nuts, fruits, cottage cheese and avocado make for great healthy bites. It is not only important for adults to have healthy light meals throughout the day but it’s also important for kids to have that as well.

Getting your kids to eat healthy snacks is one of the biggest challenges; they will probably think it “tastes funny” or “looks gross”. However, this is not only a great way to get missing nutrients into your kids bodies but it helps them from overeating at mealtimes and fill in their hunger gaps throughout the day. This is a perfect way for them to get extra sources of minerals, vitamin, protein and fiber.

Now the tricky part is getting your kids to eat these healthy snacks because let’s be honest, what kid wants to eat carrots and hummus?! One of the best ways to get your kids to eat is to make it fun! Be creative and add chocolate or come up with a clever name for it, if you make it kid friendly, they will be more likely to try it.

Coming up with ways to make these fun can be a challenge especially if you do not have time to spend on creating kid friendly snacks. One of the best ways to do this is to check out Pinterest; they have great ideas that are simple, fast and fun.

One of my favorite kid friendly snacks is “ants on a log”, it’s a very basic and well-known recipe that is easy to make. The great thing about this is that the log (celery) is so versatile you can switch up what you put inside it, cream cheese is a great alternative for peanut butter but if you are trying to stay on the super healthy side fill the log with cottage cheese! As for the “ants”, they can be switched up as well; from chocolate chips to raisins to small pieces of bell pepper the “ants” have endless options.

Here is a sweeter option that kids will love because they are eating chocolate!

Ants on a Log

Ingredients:

3 celery stalks

Cream cheese

Chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Wash the celery and cut the pieces in half.
2. Grab a butter knife and spread the cream cheese onto the celery.
3. Place some chocolate chips on top!

*Again for a super healthy version replace the cream cheese with hummus and the chocolate chips with small pieces of bell pepper.

*Click on the link or the photos to get access to 50 healthy snack ideas!

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