Summer Totally Taken Care Of

Strawberry Jam #ListerineMom

Strawberry Jam #ListerineMom

The kids are out of school and the temperatures are climbing. We’re off to the beach, to the pool, riding bikes and camping. Summer is hardly a vacation in New England as we take advantage of the warm temps, sun and sand for just a few short months.

Don’t forget our growing season here in New England is also very short. We love taking advantage of getting out and picking locally grown fruits and veggies this time of year.

Family Strawberry Picking

This weekend we’ll be heading out strawberry picking, a true sign that summer is here in New England.  Getting outside and walking is so very important, sometimes it’s all too easy to just sit. When we head out to our local farms to go picking, we are not only supporting our local farmers, but we’re also getting a little exercise in along with making memories.

We’ve found that getting the kids involved with how their food is grown and picking it gets them more willing to try different fruits and vegetables that we find.

One of our favorite recipes that captures the time we spend together strawberry picking is strawberry jam. We love making sweet strawberry jam with our picked treasures.

Here is our family recipe (from the back of the box – haha!) for freezer jam. No hot water baths, no steam or boiling – perfect to make with the kids.

No Cook Strawberry Jam

• 4 cups of crushed strawberries
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar (we used Domino Organic)
• 5 Tbsp Ball Real Fruit Instant Pectin (available with the canning supplies)
• Ball Freezer Jars (we used the BPA Free, Stack-Lock-Store Jars – I bought mine at the supermarket, near the canning supplies/vinegar aisle)

Strawberry Jam #ListerineMom

Steps

• Wash, cut and crush your berries – measure out 4 cups of the crushed red sweetness and set it aside.
• TIP – Kids are great helps when it comes to crushing the berries – give them a potato masher and let them at it! A shallow, flat bottom bowl works best for the mashing.
• Next measure out your sugar and pectin – and mix both dry ingredients together.
• Now add your crushed strawberries and juice to the sugar pectin mixture and start stirring!
• Stir for 3 minutes.
• Now it’s time to ladle the mixture into your freezer jars  – TIP – this can be a sticky step – do it over a sink, bowl, towel – especially if you have help. IMPORTANT- Only fill to the fill line or the jam will push up into the lid when you place it on and ooze out the top – more stickiness!

Summer – Totally Taken Care Of Teeth

We need to take care of our mouths year round and summer is no exception. During the summer months we enjoy the tastes of the season (like strawberry jam) and know how important it is to keep up our oral care routine.

We have a minimum of 4 different schedules going on at any time during the summer months in our home so we turn to Listerine Total Care to keep our family’s oral care routine on track.

We use LISTERINE everyday in our home and our teenager, with a full mouth of braces swears by it as part of his brushing routine.

Why LISTERINE Brand?

LISTERINE® TOTAL CARE combines 6 benefits in 1 for improved oral health:

• Helps Prevent Cavities – In fact, for just $0.20 a day, you could save hundreds of dollars on filling a cavity! ***
• Restores minerals to enamel
• Strengthens teeth
• Kills bad breath germs
• Freshens breath
• Cleans the whole mouth

LISTERINE® TOTAL CARE is the perfect companion to keep your mouth clean and healthy this summer. Plus, LISTERINE® TOTAL CARE also allows for up to 7x greater fluoride uptake when compared to ACT®* and makes teeth 50% stronger than brushing with a fluoride toothpaste alone**.

LISTERINE® TOTAL CARE ZERO provides all the healthy mouth benefits of LISTERINE® TOTAL CARE in a less intense, zero-alcohol formula

Our daughter prefers  LISTERINE® SMART RINSE®, and what kid wouldn’t when the bottle features her favorite movie characters?

LISTERINE® SMART RINSE® is a post-brush mouthwash specifically designed for children ages 6-12, which provides 12-hour cavity protection due to the added benefit of fluoride. Plus, the rinse helps clean the mouth beyond brushing alone, in flavors that kids will love!

Walgreens helps our family feel Totally Taken Care Of by offering all of our favorite products at great prices – stop in your local Walgreens to see their wide range of wellness products.

Disclosure – I received LISTERINE® Brand products and a Walgreen’s gift card from Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc. and The Motherhood as part of my participation in the LISTERINE® Brand Totally Taken Care Of program. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own.

References:

•  * In laboratory tests Compared to Act® Anticavity Kids Fluoride Rinse, Act® Total Care Anticavity Fluoride Rinse, Act® Total Care Anticavity Fluoride Rinse-alcohol free, Act® Total Care Anticavity Mouthwash, Act® Restoring Mouthwash.
• **Compared to Crest® fluoride toothpaste and rinsing with water in a laboratory study.
• ***ADA report “2013 Survey of Dental Fees”