
A road trip with your boo and a weekend getaway with the girls are must-do items for the summer. But being on the road can make staying on track with healthy food choices more difficult than you care to admit. Thankfully, with a little planning ahead and a quick trip to the grocery store, you can make yourself some fail-proof treats before you head out the door. And to make sure you have enough time to pack and plan, we spoke with Hillori Hansen, a culinary instructor at Whole Foods Market Northern California, to find out her favorite healthy snacks and simple recipes to throw in the car.
According to Hillori, vegetables and fruits are great, easy snack options for a road trip. She says, “They travel nicely and can be easy to chop up. Plus, you can store them in stackable airtight containers to keep them fresh the whole trip. I like to avoid fruits or vegetables that will smash or bruise easily, like bananas, peaches or strawberries.” Instead, she suggests sticking to grapes, blueberries, cherries and sliced apples and carrots, cherry tomatoes, radishes, cut cucumbers and celery (bonus: bring along some peanut butter packs to give the celery an added punch). “I also like to pack squeezable fruit purees, chia pudding and dried apricots, figs or mangos.”
1. Sweet Peppers Stuffed with Kite Hill Cream Cheese: “It’s always great to have a cooler in your car, to keep some of your traveling items chilling, but this is vegan-friendly (if you use the Kite Hill Cream Cheese) and would be fine for a few hours in the car,” notes Hillori.
Serves: 12-16 peppers
Ingredients:
— 1 package mini tri-colored sweet peppers
— 1 cup of your favorite herbs/veggies (dill, chives, shredded carrots, artichokes)
— (2) 8-ounce containers of Kite Hill Cream Cheese or Regular cream cheese (softened)
Instructions:
1. Cut the tops off of the peppers and scoop out seeds if present.
2. Combine the cream cheese, herbs and veggies.
3. Spoon the mixture into the peppers and store until ready to eat! Yum.
2. Berry Chia Pudding:
Serves: 6-8 people
Ingredients:
— 1 cup berries
— 3 cups 365 Vanilla Almond Milk
— ¼ cup honey
— 1 cup chia seeds
Instructions:
1. In a blender, combine berries, milk and honey until smooth.
2. Add in the chia seeds and stir constantly until well incorporated.
3. Chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes, or until set.
Note: This will last you a week in your fridge and is great to add to a lunch bag, eat for breakfast or have as a healthy snack when you need a quick boost of energy.
PROTEINS
“Having healthy protein snacks for your travels is a great way to relieve hunger and keep you from stopping at the nearest fast food burger chain,” advises Hillori. “Pack a few hard-boiled eggs with herb seasoning, jerky, nuts, string cheese or energy bars, like Lara Bars, which are always a favorite and made with natural ingredients.”
3. Raw Energy Brownie Bites:
Serves: 6 people
Ingredients:
— 2/3 cup Medjool dates
— 1/2 cup walnuts
— 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
— 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
— pinch of sea salt
Instructions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until well combined and dough can be formed into bars or small balls.
2. Remove and roll dough into small balls or, if you prefer, roll the dough into bars. Enjoy! Store them in an airtight container for easy travel.
4. Turkey & Wraps:
Serves: 1 – 2 people
Ingredients:
— 1 tortilla wrap (sprouted grain or collard greens are healthy options)
— 2 Tablespoons cream cheese or vegan cheese spread
— 1 teaspoon herb seasoning
— 3 ounces of your favorite protein (turkey, ham, salami or cheese)
— handful of your favorite veggie toppings (peppers, tomatoes, olives, spinach)
Instructions:
1. Spread your tortilla with cream cheese and sprinkle with herb seasoning.
2. Layer the meat slices onto the tortilla and add the veggie toppings as you like.
3. Roll the tortilla with fillings inside and cut in half or into quarters.
4. Stick with a toothpick if you need to hold it together.
Tweet us what you pack to keep things healthy on the road @BritandCo!
(Photos via Whole Foods)
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures