One thing I love to do,besides blog;-) – is bake.

I have never been “the best”at it – but over the years, I’ve learned a lot, and with practice (like anything) you get better at it.

I love being able to bake things from scratch for my children, knowing that the source is natural and pure. Not processed or filled with preservatives, artificial sweeteners and who knows what else, puts me at ease.

While I do spoil them some with those occasional “convenient treats”- I’d much prefer a healthier alternative.

Getting kids to eat healthy is often easier said than done.

One way for me is to hide certain healthy items in my children’s food. My kids ARE PICKY! I take full blame for that one, since I as a child was beyond picky. It was a down right sin how picky I was. I ate nothing. My poor mother :)

Horizon wanted us to share one of our favorite omega-3 rich recipes with our readers. I have shared this recipe before… So this may be a repeat for some ;-) – it however is great & your kids will love it (well may – mine did!)

The recipe is for a Healthy Zucchini Breadteamed with Chia seeds (that are packed full of Omega-3!5 grams to be exact, more than atlantic salmon! Its tasteless too, so you can add it to almost any baked good or cereal.

You btw can buy chia seeds online. I believe some health food stores sell them too. They look like this…

Heres what you need for the bread…

Ingredients

* 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
* 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 3 eggs
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil (Instead of Veg. Oil, I USED a 1/2 cup of Chia Gel)
* 1/2 cup applesauce
* 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
* 1 cup white sugar (or raw sugar cane)
* 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 cups grated zucchini
* 1 cup chocolate chips (optional – I did one loaf with, one without)

Directions

1. Grease and flour loaf pans or muffin tins (or use parchment paper/muffin cups)
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
3. Sift flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon together in a medium sized bowl.
4. Beat eggs, oil(CHIA GEL), applesauce, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl.
5. Add dry ingredients to the mixture and beat well.
6. Stir in zucchini and chocolate chips (if using) until well combined.
7. Pour batter into prepared bans.
8. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes for loaf or about 20 minutes for muffins, until tester inserted into the centre comes out clean (I find the time really varies depending on how full I make the pans, so that tester really is key!)
9. Remove bread/muffins from the pan and completely cool.
10. If you are making cupcakes, let them cool completely (ideally overnight) and then add cream cheese icing to the top.

This recipe makes TWO loafs. Or 24 muffins.
Again this was adapted from PhD in Parenting.

I recommend Omega-3 in children’s diet.
For many reasons.

But one that many may not know, is that Omega-3 being introduced into young children’s diet, esp boys ;-) – is shown to help with ADHD. Now I dont think my kids have this, but I think any NORMAL boy deals with their own range of attention issues. Its just the life of a boy :) – its normal.

A diet for a child, a healthy one – can do wonders. Look at labels, and see what you are feeding your kids. Would you want to eat it? how does it make you feel? Its something I think we all should ask…

Cause I know for me, if I ate twinkies, swiss rolls, pudding, chocolate milk and sugar covered cereal every day, I would feel pretty darn crummy :) – so why feed it to my kids?

Share how you sneak Omega-3’s into your family’s diet for a chance to win a $500 Grocery Shopping Spree!

DHA belongs to a category of healthy fatty acids known as Omega-3′s. DHA is a major structural fat in the body, and has been shown to support brain, heart and eye health. Not only is DHA found in foods like salmon and eggs, but it can also be found in Horizon® Organic Milk enhanced with DHA Omega-3. Learn more about Horizon’s commitment to healthy families at http://www.horizondairy.com/everyday-nutrition/dha-omega-3/

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Horizon. The opinions expressed by me do not necessarily reflect the view of the Horizon Organic brand.