Get chippy with it (I’m really dating myself)

I wrote a Super Bowl (or super snack post) for Fitbit. If you’re curious about creative crudité, the world’s best guac or the secret to game day weight control (nobody, right?) check it out.

Today, I wanted to be a little more snack centric and talk chips.

Here are Foodtrainers' top 5 ways to “get chippy”

Popcorn gives you so much more snacking leeway than chips (3 cups versus 10-15 chips). Two favorites here are Kettle Brand Sriracha or Quinn’s new ”farm to bag” popcorn in coconut oil (kale and sea salt a runner up)

Carolyn and I were swooning over Seasnax Chompers when we tasted them at a fall trade show. Crunchy, salty and of course with that nutritious nori.

Foodtrainees love these ParsnipChips, we cannot wait for our Ranch “Dipperz” with broccoli and cauliflower to arrive. And don’t forget their Brussels Bytes.

And finally, I love a lime chip. Something about the flavor- does it for me every time. I bought these “for the kids” and this big kid really likes them. In New York, they’re on Fresh Direct. They’re organic and gluten free as well.

How do you like to get chippy? What about Will Smith, a fan? Loved him back in the Fresh Prince days, now?...

Favorite Frozen Treats 2014 Edition

If you’re familiar with Foodtrainers you know that it’s not enough for us to look at a label and tell you a food is “healthy”. We need to know what it tastes like. Every summer we pick a day for our Annual Ice Cream Test. There are many great flavors and brands we’ve tried in the past and we really like to bring you new ideas. First, we put the word out to our Twitter, Facebook and Insta friends asking for suggestions. Next, we scheduled an ice cream meeting to be sure we have scoured the city for the best pints, pops and shops. We narrowed down our list and devised a schedule for ice cream acquisition. The contenders were assembled on my desk. And of course we have secret ballots. Each flavor is rated on a scale of 1 to 10 cones. We didn’t share our conclusions until every flavor had been tasted.

For the most part, we agreed. Some flavors tasted “vegany”. Others were “too sweet” or even “too salty.” We fell in love with the texture of the stringy goat’s milk ice cream from Lezzetli. In the end there were three frozen standouts.

Culture Plain (9 cones)

I’m not typically a froyo fan. Part of it has to do with the cease and desist letter I received from a prominent company when I blogged about portion sizes. The other part is that, as I said earlier, if healthy involves sacrificing taste I’m out. Culture has great flavors but the original was our favorite. Culture takes both their ingredients and probiotics seriously and so do we. “There are absolutely no preservatives or additives.” Their product is made onsite from strained yogurt. They have both a Manhattan and Brooklyn locations. We found their kiddie size perfect.

Van Leeuwan Artisan Ice Cream Earl Grey (8 cones) 

This Earl Grey Van Leeuwan flavor elicited wows from us although, if I’m being hones,t our intern did say, “I thought it was weird” which is probably what we liked. It is unique and smoky and not overly sweet. And this is real deal ice cream but it’s made with organic ingredients. This is a treat we endorse and will probably indulge in again before the summer ends. 

Jolly Llama Banana Coconut (8 cones) 

We know our readers hail from many places outside NYC. So it would be pretty rude to make this all NY-centric.  And it just so happens Jolly Llama topped our taste test.These nouveau push pops are 80 to 100 calories, gluten free, dairy free and non-GMO and kosher. Though they are called sorbet pops we tried the banana coconut flavor which, thanks to the coconut, tasted creamy and indulgent.

What's your favorite frozen treat? Have you tried any of our winners? Which would you want to try?

*certain contenders didn't make our final list because of ingredients or sweeteners we don't endorse. For more info on what to avoid in allegedly healthy treats you can read this.

Two of our Family Favorites and Giveaways

 I relax some of my food standards when we’re away from home. Despite my best efforts,  you cannot always control everything. Vegetables aren’t always organic, most restaurants don’t cook with coconut oil etc. Additionally, contrary to what my offspring think, my mission in life isn’t to embarrass them in any way possible. Even with the upcoming book, at one of our early meetings when we conceptualized it, my agent looked at me and said “the advice for each scenario cannot be to bring your own.” I agreed. But there are places when you should bring your own and one of those places is the movies.

My children eat candy and have treats but they don’t need sour patch kids the size of a clutch purse or popcorn popped in garbage. They used to give me a hard time over my need to smuggle in my own cinema offerings until I found a solution they adored. The solution’s name is Quinn and this popcorn is insanely good. Aside from the movies it’s now our football snack, road trip snack- we’re pretty into it.

As Quinn says it’s “microwave popcorn reinvented”.  I have many issues and phobias but the microwave isn’t one of them. If you don’t microwave, there are stovetop directions.  The bag is free of chemical coatings and such found in typical micro pop (and also compostable). All ingredients are non-GMO, popcorn is organic. You pop the popcorn, add oil and shake, add the flavor packet and shake again. Our only issue is that we live in a house divided. Two favor Vermont Maple and Sea Salt and two can’t think beyond Hickory Smoked Cheddar.

So there are times when I try to find a family friendly replacement for unhealthy options. Other times, I’m trying to pack the maximum amount of nutrition into our family meals.  One of my favorite ways to do this is with hemp (seeds, oil, powder). Hemp hearts (shelled hemp seeds) have a mild flavor and contain a variety of fats making them great for skin, cognition and mood.  They’re also a good source of protein. These go in our school day smoothies and get sprinkled over salads and in yogurt.

From our family (and the Quinn and Manitoba Harvest family) to yours.

Quinn is giving away a 6-pack of all flavors of their popcorn.

Manitoba harvest is generously supplying a lucky reader a hemp starter pack (with hemp oil, hemp hearts and hemp protein).

To be eligible

1. Comment below (with an email address so we can reach you)
2. Tweet “@foodtrainers family favorites @quinnpocorn and @manitobaharvest #giveaway http://foodtrainers.blogspot.com/2013/09/two-of-our-family-favorites-and.html"
3. And like Manitoba Harvest and Quinn Popcorn on Facebook

You have until Thursday September 19^th to enter 

How do you maximize nutrition in your meals? Have you tried either of these foods? And where do you try to smuggle food?