Having A Picnic With Garden Lites Muffins

My five-year-old lives for picnics. Every year when the weather warms up, he starts asking to “have a picnic” at every meal. I used to appease this request all of the time, because I love picnics too! But, our new house still has a yard made of mud, from the construction last year, so the picnics are few and far between. On Saturday, I woke up without a plan, but as soon as I stepped out my front door and felt that glorious warm weather, I knew it was time to finally take him on a picnic!

Now, as much as he loves to eat outside, it’s a struggle to say what he is actually going to eat. He is picky, with a capital “P”. I can get him to eat plenty of fruit, thankfully, but aside from that and the occasional chicken nugget, he is hard to please. Since my picnic idea was a little last minute, I rode over to Kroger and grabbed everything I know he loves; fruit, cheese and crackers. But, I really wanted him to have a few veggies too. However, veggies are something he just doesn’t do. I’ve had success mixing veggies into the meals I cook for him, but since I was short on time, I decided to try something new.

I found Garden Lites Muffins in the frozen health food section at Kroger and asked him what he thought. Based on the picture alone, he saw, chocolate, so it was a big YES!! Little did he know, Garden Lites’ first ingredients are always vegetables, in fact 33% vegetables! In the chocolate muffins, the first two ingredients are carrots and zucchini. Plus, the ingredients are all clean, simple things I would have in my own pantry; so I felt good about feeding them to my children!

So, we took our little picnic over to my parent’s house, because they have grass, yay!! The muffins can be heated in a microwave or just thawed for four hours, which makes them super easy to enjoy. Since our muffins were almost thawed from the grocery/picnic gathering trip, we just popped them in the microwave for a quick minute and I put them to the test.

The muffins were the first thing he grabbed, of course, they are chocolate, duh!! His response, “these are the best, I am going to eat them all, so nobody else can have any.” In true five-year-old fashion, they all became HIS!

I did make him share of course, and we all had a little taste. The Garden Lites muffins were truly delicious. Often times you find foods that are healthy and everyone says, oh these are delicious, only for you to find out, they taste like cardboard. Well, I can say with all sincerity, the muffins are great. I would use these myself as a little sweet treat! They are also gluten, dairy and nut free, in case you have any allergies to worry about.

It was a successful Saturday; blowing bubbles, munching away and having fun together. He’s already asked me for yet another picnic (and more muffins please).

What is your favorite way to eat your veggies? Are your kids #HookedOnVeggies?

– Brooke

I found my Garden Lites Muffins at Kroger, but they are also available in the freezer section of your local, Publix, Stop & Shop, Giant, Shop-Rite, HEB and Costco. Click here to find them in your local store.