Hunts Ketchup Gets Down To The Basics

We are huge ketchup fans in this house.   Both of my boys always ask for everything with dip (meaning ketchup).  They dip their french fries, chicken nuggets, and fish sticks, so we find ourselves going through bottles of the stuff on a regular basis.  I always try to read the labels, and often times you cannot pronounce what is in your food.

We were sent a bottle of Hunt’s Tomato Ketchup to try, which boasts no high fructose corn syrup.  As a Mom, you are always trying to make healthy and conscious food decisions for your family without compromising the taste.  High fructose corn syrup is something I try to avoid because it isn’t really a  natural sugar in our diet.  Hunt’s ketchup now features five simple ingredients. Hunt’s reformulated recipe includes no high fructose corn syrup, and no artificial ingredients or preservatives and we all loved the taste.  It tasted just as good without all the extra fake fluff in our food (as I call it).

And to celebrate Moms and the choices they have to make for their family,  starting July 2nd, Moms have a chance to win a family vacation (up to $5,000) through a photo contest. To enter, go to facebook.com/hunts, submit a photo of you and your family achieving a “simple victory” and you could win that summer vacation you’ve been longing for.

Having basic and simple ingredients in our foods, doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice the taste.  I am seeing more and more foods offered in local grocery stores that are getting back to basic ingredients, and I like having those choices for my family!

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Hunt’s and received a ketchup sample to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central also sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Uncle Ben’s Brown Rice Healthier Choice Without Compromising Taste

As a Mom, it is always a challenge to come up with things to feed your family.  It is even harder to come up with creative ways to slip healthy dinner choices into your family’s diet, especially if you have picky eaters.  One of my boys will eat just about anything, but my other, you have to convince him that the food you put in front of him is good.  Making subtle changes with healthier variations is what I found to be easiest when attempting to put something good for us on our plates.

I will be the first to admit that I tend to skip over the healthier version of a favorite food because it has been burned into my mind that it just won’t taste as good or taste the same, but I am usually willing to try it, if you put it in front of me..  My husband is a very anti-healthy anything, and if the label even mentions whole grain foods or whole wheat anything, he won’t touch the stuff.

I was recently given the opportunity to try Uncle Ben’s Brown Rice and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.  We use a lot of white rice with various dishes in the house, so I figured that making a switch would be a good idea in the long run.  We were able to try a few different varieties Natural Whole Grain Brown, with the traditional cook time (40 minutes), plus Fast & Natural Instant Brown Rice and Boil-In-Bag Whole Grain Brown Rice (both ready in 10 minutes).  I am a big fan of the boil in bag rice but we tried the Fast & Natural Instant Brown Rice.  I was serving a pork dish with a sauce that I dumped over the rice, but because rice is so versatile you can incorporate it into many dishes.

The rice definitely has a distinct taste, and you can taste the whole grain, but everyone seemed to really like it, and I can see switching to use it in place of just using white rice, although I don’t think I will give it up completely.  Uncle Ben’s also has some really  great recipes to try using their Whole Grain Brown Rice, such as: Chicken & Brown Rice Sloppy Joes (this is next on our list to try); Tex Mex Rice with Shrimp, Corn and Lime; Chicken, Apple and Walnut Brown Rice Salad; and Mediterranean Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms. This makes it really easy to incorporate healthier choices and please even the pickiest palate.

All in all, we really liked Uncle Ben’s Whole Grain Brown Rice and will be keeping it as a staple in our pantry.  I can’t wait to try their Sloppy Joe Recipe!

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Uncle Ben’s and received samples to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Eating Healthy and Breaking the Bank

I typically make a conscious effort to make relatively healthy meals for the boys.  From day one I had vowed that I would offer them as many fresh fruits and vegetables as I could.  They have developed a love for just about any fresh fruit except cantaloupe, and love just about any vegetables. But, the reality is that, eating healthy is expensive.

What I have found, is that it is getting increasingly difficult to buy fresh produce for us, without literally spending $60 to $100 per week in efforts to get fresh things to prepare. You would honestly think that the cost to buy fresh, would be a little more reasonable than buying all these processed foods. Something in this country is very backwards. If we made the healthier choices more accessible, I would think that insurance costs would go down (less cardiac disease, less diabetes, and cancers). If people had more incentive to eat fresher foods, the benefits to their health are enormous and it might save this nation some money and make insurance more affordable.

I personally think realistically, that we are too far gone in this world of “get it now and convenience” to truthfully go back. When it comes right down to brass tax, we want everything right now, in the fastest manner possible and eating fresher foods just simply requires more time and effort. As a Mom, this isn’t what’s always best but I am also hard pressed to save a buck. It is dizzying to see how many of us spend sometimes hours in the grocery store with stacks full of coupons to feed our families, but I can guarantee none of those coupons offer a dime off of fresh produce. It’s an admitted rush to leave the store with $200 worth of groceries for $100, even though it can live in our pantries for years, is it really all that healthy? It is no wonder why people are unhealthy, they can’t afford to eat whats actually good for them! One of my favorite places to shop is Whole Foods (I love love love this place!), but with the economy and money being tight, I can only make a trip there as a treat rather than a weekly visit.

I am all for indulgence and I certainly don’t deny my kids the occasional chips or cupcake and I even make dinners from a box, but I would love to have a coupon for lettuce, broccoli, and some of the things that their body actually needs. Local grocery stores should make these coupons available and I bet they would draw in more customers. Eating healthy should be rewarded not a financial burden.