Just Pass the Bread

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Wheat Food Council. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have I ever mentioned that I love most anything that is made from wheat? Just give me bread, bagels, pasta and tortillas. Yum, Yum, Yum. I never understood those low carb diets, because if someone took my bread away I would not be a happy camper.

So, I recently discovered a site that lets you interactively virtually grow, harvest and mill your own kernels to create your desired wheat food. Go to How Wheat Works and get started. People of all ages can participate.

The program has four phases. Growth, harvest, milling/baking and the grocer’s aisle and only takes just a few minutes to complete, although the program spans the course of four days. You get to pick the type of wheat to be grown and at the end of each phase you will have the opportunity to prepare recipes from wheat grown in your area. Plus you can view harvest videos from “America’s Heartland.” There is a program that reaches out to our youths by providing kids ages 9 to 12 with learning, quizzes and information and strives to educate children on the benefits of wheat products.

The best part is the Wheat Foods Council will donate two pounds of flour, up to 90,000 pounds, to Operation Homefront, a non-profit that provides assistance to needy U.S. troops and their families. Of course this is near and dear to my heart because I do all I can to support our troops and their families.

ADM and ConAgra Mills, two of the world’s largest millers are making this possible. Also the Wheat Food Council believes that teaching people about the benefits of whole or enriched grain food can shed new light on wheat nutrition, resulting in better informed food choices. So check out HowWheatWorks.com and get started on a better, healthy lifestyle and have fun while you are at it.

Healthful Halloween

It is almost Halloween and I am sure everyone is gearing up for the big night. I remember when my kids were little and they would go out and collect more candy then they needed in a year. They would come home and after inspecting the loot my next move would be to try and get control of the candy intake. I am sure most moms can relate to this. I could not just let them haul the candy bag off to their bedrooms. Oh no. This would surely result in stomach aches, candy wrapper trash everywhere but the worst would be the sugar high. All parents have experienced the horror of kids on sugar. So, needless to say I would fight to the end to gain control of the candy bag. This way I could limit the amount of candy they could eat at any given time. This would avoid the sugar high and all that comes along with eating too much sugar. For example, kids bouncing off the walls, kids screaming uncontrollably and the worst, kids that will not go to sleep.

I have given this much thought over the years and after giving out raisin packs, carrot sticks and other dried fruit, much to the dismay of trick or treaters, I decided to look into something healthful but a bit more appetizing. So I found a website that not only appeals to the little ghost and goblins, but meet my requirements for a healthful treat. I found Trick or Treat Me blog and they offer Hershey’s and Organic Valley Chocolate Milk in shelf-stable cartons. Most kids love chocolate milk! The chocolate milk comes in recyclable cartons and the Trick or Treat me offers some great information about milk and how it aids in recovery after exercise.

So this year I will be handing out these chocolate milk boxes along with a little bit of candy in hopes that I will not only make the kids happy but contribute to their overall health. I wish I had known about Hershey's and Organic Valley's Chocolate Milk in recyclable cartons before.

They even offer coupons toward the purchase price, so everybody wins. Check it out because after Halloween is over the chocolate milk is still a great afternoon snack or a before bedtime treat.