Do you like potato chips?

I admit I like potato chips as much as anyone else, but are they that healthy for you? Of course not, but they just taste so good, it's hard not to say no to them! In the May 2010 issue of Self Magazine, there was this article called Alterna-chips, that are much healthier alternatives with some health benefits. Here are a few of them:

1. Apple Snacks-69 calories, 0 grams of fat. Barefruitsnacks.com
2. Snap pea crisp-150 calories, 5 grams of protein, this can be found at any grocery store, and I've had them and they are really good!
3. Bean Scoops-150 calories, 1,200 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids from flax seed. Beanitos.com.
4. Cassava slices-130 calories, 30% less fat & 25% less fat then regular potato chips. Mybrands.com.
5. Chickpea Bites-118 calories, loads of muscle building protein, 16% of daily dose of protein, you can get these at gourmet stores.
6. Veggie Medley-126 calories, lots of vitamin A & C. Nutsonline.com.
   

Green Giant Veggies

Green Giant has long been committed to reducing its footprint on everything it plants, produces, packages and brings to your table. Now, celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, Green Giant is taking that commitment to the environment one giant step farther, by giving $200,000 to The Nature Conservancy to help fund an innovative project that will encourage greener farming practices to repair and protect a natural treasure — the Root River, one of Minnesota’s (home to Green Giant) best trout streams.

Throughout its century-long history, Green Giant has worked to reduce its environmental footprint through many measures including:

• Reducing the amount of land and water needed to grow vegetables
• Packing vegetables in smaller, lighter cans, so it takes less fuel to deliver them to supermarket shelves
• Utilizing traditional seed breeding methods over the last 35 years to double the amount of sweet corn grown on an acre of land
• Teaming up with growers to install a more efficient irrigation system that can reduce water use by more than a million gallons a year
• Switching to more earth-friendly paperboard to package frozen vegetables, saving approximately 54,000 trees annually in the process

When you buy Green Giant® vegetables, you are supporting these initiatives. To learn more about this partnership and how Green Giant is making its footprint smaller or to make a donation to The Nature Conservancy, visit www.greengiant.com.

From Pssst..

The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook

Are you looking for recipes to stretch your food dollar? How about a cookbook with 200 recipes, none costing more than $5 to make?

“The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook” by Erin Chase, a MyBlogSpark member and creator of 5DollarDinners.com, prepared her first $5 dinner in August 2008.

She turned it into a three-fold mission:
• To make dinner for my family every night for $5 or less!
• To prepare healthy meals using natural and wholesome ingredients!
• To encourage and inspire others to do the same!

In addition to 200 economical recipes each with a Frugal Fact, she offers suggestions for making the most of grocery shopping and couponing. Her tips on meal planning include sample menus and ideas for using leftovers. Her recipes feed a family of four and list the approximate cost of the ingredients. Here’s a recipe Erin suggests to get you started.

Pssst… will give away an autographed copy of Erin’s cookbook to each of 100 lucky members in a sweepstakes drawing. Pssst… members may enter the sweepstakes here for a chance to win a cookbook. Go to official rules to learn more. “The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook” is available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Overstock and Walmart.

Enter today!