Sugar alternatives! YAY!

If you are anything like me you shutter at the idea of giving your kids sugar. I remember a few years ago I gave my now oldest son a pixie stick... oh big mistake, he was literally climbing my walls, ever since i've tired to keep him on a low sugar diet, so I might share some of my tips with all of you.

Stevia: Is a sugar substitute and type of sunflower and it's extremely sweet but has very little sugar, it's taste is almost like mint meets honey and it's a great sugar substitute with non of the hyper activity side effects. My children love the Zevia® Natural Stevia root beer (seen right) You can purchase Zevia here

Sugar-Free Jello Cookies: My children love a good cookie but it's so hard to make good sugar free ones, and believe me i've tried! But I recently came across an amazing recipe for sugar free cherry cookies.

3/4 c. Crisco
Large pkg. Cherry Sugar Free Jello
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Mix Cream and shortening. Add eggs, Jello, vanilla and dry ingredients. Roll in small balls. Flatten with a fork. Bake on wax papered cookie sheet at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. (this works with all Jello flavors and is especially good with Lemon!)

Fruit: When all else fails turn to good old mother nature. Sometimes my children just want a sweet snack so I always keep lots of yummy fruit around, Oranges, Cherries, Strawberries, grapes, apples, and even tomatoes can sometimes ease thier sweet cravings. I've also found that keeping apple sauce in the house is a quick and easy way to provide annoyance free deserts for my kids. I just put the apple sauce in an Ice cream glass add some berries for the top and my kids don't know the difference.