Kids Cooking and Cookbook Blog

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The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that nearly 40% of calories consumed by children ages 2 to 18 are empty calories. These are foods that do not contribute much, if any, to its nutritional value.

Their study indicates that these calories come from just six foods:

• Soda
• Sugary fruit drinks
• Grain desserts, such as cake, cookies, donuts
• Dairy desserts such as ice cream
• Pizza
• Whole milk, which contains high fat content

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to cut down on sugar. Actually, I was trying to go 3 weeks without sugar. This  is not an easy job, with sugar and corn syrup in so many of our food products, but I was still on Christmas overload when I made this ruling for myself.

Over the holidays I promised my young friends we would “cook”  together sometime. With the emphasis on healthy eating for children, even the cookies we decided on had to have reduced sugars and grains. This is the recipe we made:

Apple and Raisin Oatmeal Cookies