Friday, August 31, 2012
Gourmet Girl Cooks: Wednesday's Eggplant Ricotta Bake
Gourmet Girl Cooks: Wednesday's Eggplant Ricotta Bake
looks delicious! even the eggplant haters might eat it.
looks delicious! even the eggplant haters might eat it.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Monday, January 2, 2012
Breakfast casserole
So, I tried another recipe for Christmas morning. Apple Baked French Toast (it looks nothing like the stock photo). Two out of four family members ate it (including me). I thought it was pretty good. I used a whole grain french baguette and I liked the crunchy texture it added. It was a little small though, so I would suggest using a bigger loaf. I think this might be good with canned or frozen peaches substituted for the apples. Peeling and coring them was the most work. My kids were able to put this together with some supervision.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Getting kids to eat their veggies - a slick trick!
You know they should -- but how can you get them to eat that broccoli, cauliflower or brussel sprout? I'm a radical mom and this is how I did it - my kids eat almost everything -- although one is allergic to beets and I still hate celery -- we'll eat almost anything else!
Getting kids to eat vegetables is part magical transformation and part persuasion. I find the more I reason with my kids and give them scientific information about why they need different nutrients, the more willing they will be to try a new vegetable. Whether they helped grow it or picked it out at the farmer's market, having fresh organic and local produce certainly helps. We stay away from canned and sauced frozen vegetables, and go for fresh or frozen (in winter) things that we can eat with a little butter and salt.
1. Feed them nothing but vegetables and fruit for the first year of their life - in addition to nursing. They will develop a taste for healthy food if you make it fresh and feed it every day. They don't need meat and sugary snacks.
2. Keep feeding raw and cooked vegetables as snacks -- not sugary cookies or ice cream. Think tiny organic carrots, frozen peas and strips of red sweet peppers.
3. Bring out the veggies first at meal time. Start with a salad, and little bowls of different vegetables they can add on top. After the raw stuff, bring out a couple cooked vegetables. Potatoes, corn, spaghetti squash and beets.
4. Mix the new or bitter vegetables in with ones they like, like rutabaga with diced potatoes, or mash turnips with potatoes.
5. Dice them up small, mince onions tiny. If they're too tiny to identify, they're too small to complain about or pick out.
6. Or, leave them in bigger chunks. Accept that every kid will have a couple things they really dislike. My son hates mushrooms, so instead of no mushrooms, I leave them in large pieces he can easily pick out and give to ME! I don't force them to eat things they really hate.
7. Puree and add some vegetables to soups and vegetable patties. Again, if you can't see it you can't complain about it. I also dehydrate onions, celery and tomatoes, which can be whizzed in the blender and added to a quick stock made with onion and herbs. I never buy expensive broths, I just add water and cook. In a pinch, a vegetarian boullion cube adds flavor but also sodium.
8. Have fun and special treats like steamed artichokes, a half an avocado with lemon juice in the hollow on special dinner occasions. I talk about how they are special treats for adults but the kids can have some if they want. If they don't, act delighted. "More for me!"
9. Find out if cooked broccoli or carrots go over better or raw. Ranch dip? What floats their boat? Be flexible. Sometimes we have both cooked and raw so that whatever they like, it's there.
10. Do as you say they should. Eat them yourself. Grow them and let the kids help pick the produce.
11. Combine logic with nutritional education - what vitamins are in that squash? What minerals do they get from salads? How many rainbow colors of vegetables can they count? Why do we eat them? Is there one from a leafy vegetable, one from in the ground, one that's red, one that's yellow?
It's a lifetime and kids need to be exposed to a lot of different foods before their food preferences are set in concrete. Trying, tasting and learning are fun -- don't make it a contest. The kids will lose because you can't force anyone to eat anything -- and they know it. they will be the poorer for not being able to eat so many nutritious foods.
One friend's son will only eat potatoes and corn. Nothing else in the entire vegetable universe. And that's just sad.
Pass the salad!
“I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Peas and Thank You blogging program for a gift card worth $30. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”
Getting kids to eat vegetables is part magical transformation and part persuasion. I find the more I reason with my kids and give them scientific information about why they need different nutrients, the more willing they will be to try a new vegetable. Whether they helped grow it or picked it out at the farmer's market, having fresh organic and local produce certainly helps. We stay away from canned and sauced frozen vegetables, and go for fresh or frozen (in winter) things that we can eat with a little butter and salt.
1. Feed them nothing but vegetables and fruit for the first year of their life - in addition to nursing. They will develop a taste for healthy food if you make it fresh and feed it every day. They don't need meat and sugary snacks.
2. Keep feeding raw and cooked vegetables as snacks -- not sugary cookies or ice cream. Think tiny organic carrots, frozen peas and strips of red sweet peppers.
3. Bring out the veggies first at meal time. Start with a salad, and little bowls of different vegetables they can add on top. After the raw stuff, bring out a couple cooked vegetables. Potatoes, corn, spaghetti squash and beets.
4. Mix the new or bitter vegetables in with ones they like, like rutabaga with diced potatoes, or mash turnips with potatoes.
5. Dice them up small, mince onions tiny. If they're too tiny to identify, they're too small to complain about or pick out.
6. Or, leave them in bigger chunks. Accept that every kid will have a couple things they really dislike. My son hates mushrooms, so instead of no mushrooms, I leave them in large pieces he can easily pick out and give to ME! I don't force them to eat things they really hate.
7. Puree and add some vegetables to soups and vegetable patties. Again, if you can't see it you can't complain about it. I also dehydrate onions, celery and tomatoes, which can be whizzed in the blender and added to a quick stock made with onion and herbs. I never buy expensive broths, I just add water and cook. In a pinch, a vegetarian boullion cube adds flavor but also sodium.
8. Have fun and special treats like steamed artichokes, a half an avocado with lemon juice in the hollow on special dinner occasions. I talk about how they are special treats for adults but the kids can have some if they want. If they don't, act delighted. "More for me!"
9. Find out if cooked broccoli or carrots go over better or raw. Ranch dip? What floats their boat? Be flexible. Sometimes we have both cooked and raw so that whatever they like, it's there.
11. Combine logic with nutritional education - what vitamins are in that squash? What minerals do they get from salads? How many rainbow colors of vegetables can they count? Why do we eat them? Is there one from a leafy vegetable, one from in the ground, one that's red, one that's yellow?
It's a lifetime and kids need to be exposed to a lot of different foods before their food preferences are set in concrete. Trying, tasting and learning are fun -- don't make it a contest. The kids will lose because you can't force anyone to eat anything -- and they know it. they will be the poorer for not being able to eat so many nutritious foods.
One friend's son will only eat potatoes and corn. Nothing else in the entire vegetable universe. And that's just sad.
Pass the salad!
“I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Peas and Thank You blogging program for a gift card worth $30. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”
Monday, July 18, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Food Pantry Garden - ready to blast off!
It's the third year for the food pantry garden and things are finally getting underway.
Some of the youth group helped me weed and replant the 3 raised beds we have. Thanks Caitlyn and Lauren!
A couple guys have weed wacked and ran the rototiller and shoveled for us - thanks!
I have lots of plants ready to go in the ground, need lots of advice on planting fruit trees and bushes to get a continual harvest - and lots of seedlings started for late season growing at home. We should have lots of tomatoes and squash - right now the yellow crookneck is coming along and young tomatoes growing. We hope to have flowers and veggies in ever-increasing amounts to give to food pantry folks.
The deer have eaten some seedlings, so need to keep protecting them and watering and weeding - hopefully it will get easier as we get the infrastructure in place with the watering system.
Looking for any help weeding, watering and planting, building, digging etc. that anyone can give. I am hoping to try some experimental beds in grass clippings, and welcome any donations to our new compost pit - bring your leaves for us, grass clippings, vegetables etc. to compost! Have to rebuild the soil from scratch.
If you would like to adopt a tomato plant and grow some for the food pantry, that would be great! Look for more info to come at church as I try to get the word out on what we're trying to do here.
I welcome ideas and help of any kind!!
Some of the youth group helped me weed and replant the 3 raised beds we have. Thanks Caitlyn and Lauren!
A couple guys have weed wacked and ran the rototiller and shoveled for us - thanks!
I have lots of plants ready to go in the ground, need lots of advice on planting fruit trees and bushes to get a continual harvest - and lots of seedlings started for late season growing at home. We should have lots of tomatoes and squash - right now the yellow crookneck is coming along and young tomatoes growing. We hope to have flowers and veggies in ever-increasing amounts to give to food pantry folks.
The deer have eaten some seedlings, so need to keep protecting them and watering and weeding - hopefully it will get easier as we get the infrastructure in place with the watering system.
Looking for any help weeding, watering and planting, building, digging etc. that anyone can give. I am hoping to try some experimental beds in grass clippings, and welcome any donations to our new compost pit - bring your leaves for us, grass clippings, vegetables etc. to compost! Have to rebuild the soil from scratch.
If you would like to adopt a tomato plant and grow some for the food pantry, that would be great! Look for more info to come at church as I try to get the word out on what we're trying to do here.
I welcome ideas and help of any kind!!
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