Healthy Eating: Week 1, Onions (#52NewFoods) January 10 2012, 1 Comment

The allure of bonus points for trying a new food wasn’t even enough to get my picky eater to try onions. She would pick them out of her dishes with the precision of a well-trained surgeon. For our healthy eating adventure, I decided to start with a real challenge: get my daughter to try onions! 

Warm Up: Green Onion Pancakes 

We started the week with a heart-warming, staple of Chinese menus: green onion pancakes. This simple dish is easy enough for a 5 year old to make, and the delicate taste of green onions tucked in a warm blanket of lightly pan-fried dough is irresistible. I put my young chefs in charge of preparing this tasty treat, using Grape Seed oil as a healthier substitute, and my strategy worked. The entire batch was devoured before I could clean the pans!

Feature Recipe: Vegetable Beef Soup

With a strong start out of the gate, we ventured to try our feature recipe of the week: Out of the Box Food’s Vegetable Beef Soup. Kim’s recipe is a healthy spin on Progresso’s Beef Barley Vegetable Soup. I used Cippolini onions for the base of this hearty soup, reasoning that their milder taste would be more appealing to my daughter’s picky palate. I also swapped pasta for the beans.

Crunch a Color Kids Vote: 2 Thumbs Up! We'd make it again.

What we liked: This recipe was easy enough for my kids to make, quick to prepare, and provided two delicious meals. We loaded the ingredients into the slow cooker, turned it on low for several hours and were rewarded with a tasty soup that was reminiscent of my husband’s tasty short rib recipe.

Healthy Eating: Week 2, Brussels Sprouts

A visit to a local farm stand in Half Moon Bay resulted in our new food choice for this week: Brussels Sprouts. According to MyPlate’s Food-A-Pedia, a comprehensive guide to nutritional information, these little powerhouses of the cabbage clan are packed with Vitamin C.  I have to confess, I'm not really a fan of these tiny green jewels, but Dawn Viola’s Pan-Seared Brussels Sprouts with Lemon and Pancetta may win me over.  Do you have a favorite Brussels Sprouts recipe? Share your ideas and we’ll give them a try. You may be featured in our favorites next week! 

About the author: Jennifer Tyler Lee is a mom of two children and the creator of Crunch a Color™ -- the award-winning game that makes healthy eating fun. Like most parents, she struggled to get her kids to eat healthy, balanced meals, so she decided to make it into a healthy eating game and she’s giving back to support Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, FoodCorps, and Alice Water’s Edible Schoolyard. Watch her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the game. Follow @crunchacolor and #52newfoods to tune into Crunch a Color's healthy eating adventure and Jennifer’s tips and kid-friendly, easy recipes.