Posted by Jennifer Lee on January 30, 2012 3 Comments
No bake, nut-free cookies that kids can cook! Paired with a sweet touch of honey and wholesome
oats, these protein power bites are the new lunchbox regulars at our house.
“But the best ‘wich that I ever had was
A peanut butter sandwich made with jam
Yum yum yummy yum yum!”
Raffi’s wisdom runs deep, and never more than when it comes
to peanut butter. A staple in most kids lunchboxes, that creamy creation is the
go-to, normally no-fail solution for moms struggling to get their kids to eat
lunch at school – me included! So when our school went nut-free, I had to find
an equally unequivocal lunchtime companion. The recommendation from teachers
and allergy-experienced parents: sunbutter.
Feature Recipe: No Bake Sunbutter Bites from The Scramble
Remember the joys of baking your very own cupcake creations
under the heat of a lightbulb in the Easy Bake Oven? My love for baking started
early, and though I still have a high-school-crush-style love of the sport,
busy mom syndrome has set in and I don’t often have time for whipping up
homemade creations. I’m always on the hunt for tasty, easy, healthy recipes my
kids can cook, so when I stumbled on No Bake Peanut Butter cookies from The
Scramble I jumped on it. Quick and easy to make, I decided to take these
bewitching bake-free bites for a spin, using sunbutter instead of peanut butter
to create a healthy, nut-free lunchtime snack.
Crunch a Color Kids
Vote: 2 Thumbs Up! Best in class!
What we liked: These
mini-morsels were so easy and fast, we decided to make two batches: one with
sunbutter and the other with peanut butter. Unlike on a sandwich, it was tough
to tell the difference between the peanut butter and the sunbutter bites in our
blind taste test. Whether it was because of the hint of honey, or the wholesome
crunchiness of oats, this recipe resulted in a healthy treat that will become a
regular feature on our lunchtime and afterschool snack menu. Next time we’ll try
adding raisins or cranberries to the mix! A nice added bonus -- go ahead and enjoy the batter.
Want a prize for
trying something new? Tell me which new
food you’d like your kids to try and enter to win a 3-month subscription to The
Scramble. Life just got a little easier!
Next up: Curry
A cozy curry with piping hot vegetables and a side of Naan
is a winter-time recipe I love. My kids normally shy away from this wonderful,
Indian-inspired dish. But when they meet Slow Cooker Curry from The Family
Dinner they may change their minds. Our next new food of the week: curry.
Craving more new recipes
to try? Catch up on last week’s recipe: Spinach Cake Muffins.
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 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.
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Posted by Jennifer Lee on January 28, 2012 0 Comments
Planted firmly toe to
toe, it was a piercing stare down contest of epic proportions. Two unrelenting,
iron wills: Spinach vs. my picky eater. What’s a mom to do?
Dark, leafy and overflowing with wholesome healthiness,
spinach has long been the holy grail of healthy eating. Popeye cried, “I'm
strong to the finich, ‘cause I eats me spinach!” to coax children into eating spinach to channel
superhero strength. But not my picky eater! First, the polite pass, “No thank
you, not today.” Second, the more direct, “My taste buds and spinach aren’t
friends.” Culminating in the uniquely Seussian, “Not in a car, not in a tree, not
on a train, Mom, let me be!”
To succeed, I needed a game changer: a crafty, colorful
creation my picky eater could have fun cooking. There’s one person I know who
could pull that off: Catherine McCord of Weelicious.
Feature Recipe: Spinach
Cake Muffins
Weelicious is a gold mine of tasty, easy, healthy recipes
you and your kids can cook. Catherine has done the heavy lifting for us busy
moms and figured out how to make healthy eating easy and fun. She’s woven beets
into pancakes, gone wild for wheat berry, and in this case, spun spinach into
healthy muffins. In my house, no one is going to turn down a piping hot muffin
and with fewer than 10 ingredients and ready to bake in less than 10 minutes I
decided I'd take Spinach Cake Muffins for a spin.
Crunch a Color Kids
Vote: 2 Thumbs Up! It’s my turn with the food processor!
What we liked: Any
recipe that involves a Cuisinart is sure to be a winner with kids. What’s more
fun than loading a bushel full of ingredients into a big bowl and flipping the
switch to blend it into a blur? Instant entertainment. We also had a blast
guessing the “magic” ingredient. We baked up a batch, shared it with friends,
and challenged, “Guess the magic ingredient!” Green tea, melon, peas, mint chip
ice cream and avocado were some of the speculations. With each bite, a new guess. So
much fun! These mighty muffins are tasty, healthy and easy: the trifecta of
healthy eating. A great lunchbox snack or power breakfast partner, Spinach Cake
Muffins will be a regular in our kitchen this year.
Watch Catherine and her helper Chloe whip up these tasty treats in this adorable Weelicious video:
Do your kids like
spinach? What are some of your favorite folate-fortified recipes? Share your comments!
Next up: Sunbutter
When our school went nut-free, I sighed a long, tired sigh.
What would I do without those cute, crustless PB&J sandwiches? Sunbutter, a
peanut butter alternative made from sunflower seeds, was recommended. But on a
sandwich it made my kids simply long for the real McCoy. Thanks to the amazing
Aviva Goldfarb at The Scramble, I may have found the solution. Next up: No Bake
Sunbutter Bites.
Craving more new
recipes to try? Catch up on last week’s recipe: Avocado and Orange Salad.
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 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.
Read More
Posted by Jennifer Lee on January 16, 2012 0 Comments
Sizzle, sizzle, pop!
A comforting aroma filled our kitchen as we fried the pancetta for our new food
of the week: Brussels Sprouts. If I plan to advocate for my kids to try new
foods, I figured I had better set a good example by trying something new
myself!
Setting a Good Example
For me, Pancetta goes hand in hand with comfort food. My
grandmother used it in every one of my favorite family dishes. Reasoning that I
liked most everything that I had tried with Pancetta, I thought the addition of
this deliciously crispy complement would make Brussels Sprouts palate pleasing
for my whole family (me included!).
Feature Recipe: Pan-Seared
Brussels Sprouts with Lemon and Pancetta
Dawn Viola is masterful at creating delightfully easy
recipes that showcase the beauty of bringing together a few simple ingredients.
Using what are staples in most kitchens – lemon, garlic, olive oil, and
pancetta (or bacon) – her recipe for pan-seared Brussels
Sprouts with Lemon and Pancetta was a delicious addition to our meal and made
our weekday dinner feel like a special occasion.
Crunch a Color Kids
Vote: 2 Thumbs Up! We'd make it again.
What we liked: This
dish required minimal prep work (yeah!), was easy enough for my 5 year old to make, and made a ho-hum weeknight dinner feel festive. I always try to get three colors on our
plate with healthy sides, but I tend to lean heavily on the basic (and sometimes
boring) lightly steamed version of fresh veggies. Dawn’s recipe provided an
easy and tasty way for me to dress up our dinner! While they are still in season, we’ll
keep Brussels Sprouts on our weekly shopping list.
Healthy Eating: Week
3, Mandarin Oranges
With Chinese New Year fast approaching, my mind has turned
to the special treats we love to indulge in at this time of year. Mandarin oranges,
with their bright personalities both in taste and appearance, are an important
part of this celebration. Ambassadors of prosperity and good luck, these mini bursts of citrus delight always make my little food
adventurers smile. So I thought I’d try a new twist on an old favorite. Our
feature recipe for week 3 of #52NewFoods comes from Natalie Perry at Perry’s
Plate: Avocado and orange salad with hazelnuts. I’ll swap mandarin oranges for the regular orange
slices called for in this dish. I hope you’ll try it with me.
Do you celebrate Chinese New Year? What are some of your
favorite dishes to bring in a New Year filled with prosperity and good health?
Craving more new recipes to try? Catch up on last week’s
Beef Vegetable Soup.
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.
Read More
Posted by Jennifer Lee on January 09, 2012 0 Comments
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.
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Posted by Jennifer Lee on January 04, 2012 0 Comments
Healthy
Eating will top countless New Year’s resolution lists this year. The Crunch a
Color kids decided to take on this challenge in a new way: 52 weeks, 52 new foods (#52NewFoods). I
hope you and your picky eaters will join us on this yearlong adventure of
eating healthy and trying new, kid-friendly, easy recipes. Jamie Oliver will
feature our culinary journey -- it’s a New Year’s food revolution!
This article was originally published on Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, January 6, 2012.
Crisp air and sunlight sparkling on the Golden Gate Bridge
served as a perfect backdrop to our family outing. The fresh market was buzzing
with curious customers sampling and savoring delicious treats from local
artisans and farmers. It was New Year’s Day and a visit to the farmer’s market
in San Francisco was top on my list for starting 2012 on the right track. The
goal: Try a new healthy food every week. 52 weeks, 52 new foods. A healthy
eating adventure for my whole family.
Eating healthy will top many lists of New Year’s resolutions
this year, my family included. Instead of focusing on what we can’t have, I am
challenging my family to find and try healthy new foods to expand our
repertoire of favorites. Putting the children in charge of this culinary adventure
is the key to success: when they choose, they are more likely to enjoy. Each
week I will write about a new food that my family will try. Whether it’s an
entirely new healthy food, like the Jujube’s we sampled at the market that
sunny Sunday in San Francisco, or old favorites prepared in a new way, my
family and I will try a healthy food and recipe from aspiring Jamie Oliver Food
Revolution chefs each week.
Week #1: Onion
You may be thinking, “Onion, is that really
new to you?” Well, it’s certainly not new to me but my picky eater runs a fast
mile when she spots them on her plate. My jaw dropped when I spotted her gobbling
up a delicately pan-fried onion pancake at the market. She even ventured to try
a belly-warming, homemade organic fennel and cipollini onion soup. Maybe it was
the new twist on a familiar food that got her past her picky palate? Or maybe
it was because she got to choose what she would try from a magnificent array of
artisanal creations? Whatever the reason, this staple of healthy eating will be
our starting point this year.
Featured Recipe: Out of the Box Food's Vegetable Beef Soup
With loads of leftovers from bountiful holiday celebrations,
I decided Out of the Box Food’s healthy take on Vegetable Beef Soup would be the perfect place to start, where onions form the
foundation of this hearty dish. Kim Gerber does an outstanding job turning some
of America’s favorite dishes into healthy, easy recipes that your whole family
will enjoy. I hope you’ll join me this week in trying Kim’s recipe. Scout out an
unusual onion (or two) to feature in your creation and be sure to share your
stories and favorite recipes. Let me know if you've got a great recipe that you'd like me to try. I’ll report back on our experiment 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.
Read More
