Get Healthy, Give Hope – Plus Recipes & a Giveaway (ends 7/23/12)

Whether you are a parent, grandparent or someone who cares about helping children in need, you might be interested in this healthy campaign hosted by Price Chopper and Produce for Kids.

Produce for Kids has launched its annual Get Healthy, Give Hope campaign with 16 major supermarket chains across the country, including your local Price Chopper stores, to help raise money for local children’s hospitals.

Now through July 28^th, the more produce shoppers add to their shopping lists the more hope they can give to local children.

Celebrating a milestone 10^th birthday in 2012, Produce for Kids is excited to kick off this year’s campaign with a new partnership with Sprout and LazyTown. During the campaign, Produce for Kids will offer shoppers collectible Ideal Meals– quick and easy healthy meal ideas, which are free and can be found in displays featuring LazyTown characters from the popular, health-focused, children’s series airing exclusively in the U.S. on 24-hour preschool television channel, Sprout.

Ideal Meals offer shoppers chef-created/nutritionist-approved easy solutions for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. Featuring fresh fruits and vegetables as the main ingredients, Ideal Meals are great for busy families who crave fast meal options that don’t require stopping at the local drive-thru. I love this idea. Summer is the perfect season to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables.

Below are some delicious summer-inspired Ideal Meals perfect to serve as healthful and fun dessert alternatives at any upcoming picnics or BBQs you may be attending:

Chocolatey Fruit Skewers

Serves 4

Preparation Time: 12 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 premade pound cake
• 8 strawberries, whole, leaves hulled
• 8 raspberries, whole
• 1 cup pineapple, cored, chunked
• 4 Tbsp. chocolate syrup
• 4 (6-inch) bamboo skewers

Directions:

1. Cut pound cake into 4 1×3-inch rectangles and 8 1×1-inch squares.
2. Place 1 1×3-inch piece cake on plate, stick skewer in middle.
3. Add strawberry, raspberry, pineapple and 1×1-inch piece of cake to skewer.  Repeat with another strawberry, raspberry, pineapple and 1×1-inch piece of cake.
4. Drizzle with chocolate syrup.

Nutrition Information:

Chocolatey Fruit Skewer Calories 354, Fat 2.5g, Protein 12g, Carbohydrate 52.1g, Fiber 2.4g, Cholesterol 9mg, Sodium 280mg, Calcium 348mg, Vitamin A 529 IU, Vitamin C 44.4mg, Iron 1.4mg

Fruit & Cream Delights

Serves 4

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 peach, pitted, roughly chopped
• 1 nectarine, pitted, roughly chopped
• 1 plum, pitted, roughly chopped
• 1 cup cherries, pitted, roughly chopped
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 4 tsp. whipped topping
• 4 portions premade angel food cake

Directions:

1. Chill large metal or glass mixing bowl in freezer for 10 minutes.
2. Combine peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries and honey in medium bowl. Mix thoroughly, set aside for 5 minutes.
3. Top portioned angel food cake with fruit and whipped topping.

Nutrition Information:

Fruit & Cream Delights Calories 255, Fat 2.9g, Protein 11.4g, Carbohydrate 47.6g, Fiber 2.6g, Cholesterol 10mg, Sodium 338mg, Calcium 363mg, Vitamin A 827 IU, Vitamin C 10.9mg, Iron 0.6mg

Smoothie Pops

Serves 16

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 large peach or mango, peeled and chopped
• 1 large nectarine, peeled and chopped
• 2 medium bananas, sliced
• 1 pt. strawberries or raspberries
• ¼ cup orange or fruit juice
• 2 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt

Directions:

Place all smoothie ingredients in a blender and blend until just smooth.

Place 16 paper cups on a baking tray.  Pour smoothie into paper cups.  Place tray in freezer and freeze until slushy, about 20 minutes.  Remove tray from freezer and insert one Popsicle stick into the center of each cup.  Return to freezer and freeze until firm, about 2 hours.

To serve, tear away paper cup and place on plate. Enjoy!

I love all three of these recipes. I’ve made ice pops with paper cups before, but never a smoothie. I am also looking forward to trying the Fruit and Cream delights. In fact I think I have some Angel Food Cake mix in my pantry. I just need to swing by the store to get the fresh ingredients.

What I love about these recipes is that they are quick and easy to make and don’t require you to hang out in a hot kitchen, not to mention they are healthy recipes that my family will enjoy.

Here are the campaign dates for a few of the participating stores.

-   Kroger Central: Now through July 18th

-   Price Chopper: Now through July 28th

-   Kroger Southwest: Now through July 24th

-   Fred Meyer: Now through July 26th

-   King Soopers: Now through July 31st

For more information about the campaign or information about other participating stores, visit http://www.produceforkids.com/how_you_can_help/get_healthy_give_hope.html. For more information about Produce for Kids, as well as delicious recipes, visit www.ProduceforKids.or

In honor of this wonderful campaign I have a nice giveaway. The winner will receive a $25.00 gift card to one of the grocery stores listed above (Price Chopper, Kroger, Fred Meyer or King Soopers). Winner’s choice.

This giveaway is open to US residents only and will end on July 23, 2012 at 12:01 AM (EST). The winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator from all eligible entries. The winner will be notified via e-mail.

To enter please comment on this post and tell me what your family’s favorite fresh produce is (fruit and/or veggie)?

For extra entries you can use the Rafflecopter widget (below), however you must complete the initial entry requirement or the extra entries won’t qualify.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kimberly

*I will be receiving promotion products in exchange for my participation. The opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced in any way.  

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