Posted by Jennifer Lee on June 17, 2012 0 Comments
Inspired by Michelle
Obama’s garden book, American Grown, a group of elementary school kids create a
community lunch that brings together garden fresh veggies, good friends, and a
healthy meal even picky eaters will love.
One of the most effective ways to get kids eating (and
enjoying) vegetables is to get them out in the garden: growing, picking, and
preparing their own food. That’s old news for many, including my picky eaters.
For months our food adventures have focused on
finding new foods to try from our garden or the local farmers’ market. It’s
been an effective strategy for getting my picky eaters to eat healthy and try
new foods, and a great source of Crunch a Color™ bonus points at our family
table.
A call to action from First Lady Michelle Obama brought a
new twist to our weekly food challenge, and sparked an idea for my 8 year old.
As part of her mission to get kids eating healthy, Michelle
Obama issued a healthy lunchtime challenge to kids
across the country. The goal: design a kid-inspired, healthy lunch recipe. Like
most kids, there’s nothing more fun for my daughter than spending an afternoon
with friends, so she decided to turn Michelle Obama’s challenge into just that.
The invitation to each child was simple: bring a favorite
fresh vegetable from your garden and join us for an afternoon of cooking
“Friendship Garden Soup.” In a garden get-together worthy of the classic tale,
Stone Soup, my daughter’s friends gathered for an afternoon of chopping,
dicing, sautéing, simmering and sipping a delicious soup together. For the
recipe she created, check out Friendship Garden Soup.
“My idea for
Friendship Garden Soup came from a book I read when I was little. The book is
called Stone Soup and tells the story of villagers who bring food to make a
soup with a stone in it. They learned to make something by sharing everything
they had. So I thought that it would be nice to invite my friends to share
vegetables from their own gardens. When you share it makes everything better” –
Catherine, age 8
The best part of this activity was how a community of
friends came together to create something special – and each person’s
contribution (no matter the size) was important. One brought oregano from her
garden, infusing a beautiful herbal flavor into the dish. Another found rainbow
carrots at her local farmers’ market, adding playful color and crunch. My
daughter added cauliflower, a new food favorite from our school garden. My son added a “magic leaf” – a small
bay leave that we ceremoniously add to all of our homemade soups to magically
turn our ingredients into a tasty dish. Each child contributed something different
to the soup to add to its unique flavor, in the same way that each friend
brings something unique and special to my daughter’s life.
Who knows whether my daughter’s recipe will win Michelle
Obama’s healthy lunchtime challenge. But in the end, the journey was worth
every minute. Bringing friends together for a laughter-filled afternoon,
enjoying fresh vegetables (familiar and new) grown from our gardens, and
celebrating the joy of cooking and eating together. That’s a winning recipe in
my family cookbook.
Are your kids more likely to try new foods when they come
from the garden?
Does a visit to a local farmers’ market result in the same
positive changes in eating habits?
If you only have space for a small planter, which vegetables
would you plant with your kids?
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 non-profit children’s nutrition programs including Jamie
Oliver’s Food Revolution and FoodCorps. Watch her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the game.
Follow @crunchacolor on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest 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 June 17, 2012 0 Comments
Inspired by Michelle Obama’s healthy lunchtime challenge, my
8 year old daughter created this simple recipe that brings together garden
fresh veggies and good friends for an afternoon of kid-style cookin’!
Invite
your friends to bring a favorite vegetable from their garden (or local farmers’
market). This recipe is wonderfully flexible; it can accommodate pretty much
anything you can throw at it! Just be sure to have at least onions, celery and
carrots as your base. The best
part of this recipe is that each person adds something unique to the pot, in
the same way that each friend brings something unique and special to your life.
Enjoy cooking and eating healthy together!
Friendship Garden Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Servings: 6 to 8
Ingredients:
2 cups cauliflower, diced (see our tips for how to prepare
cauliflower)
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup rainbow carrots, diced (use regular carrots if you can’t find the
multi-colored variety)
1 cup fresh English peas, removed from the pods
½ medium onion, diced
1 handful fresh oregano
1 bay leaf
1 cup cooked chicken, cut into ¼” cubes
2 32oz boxes of low sodium chicken broth (use homemade broth if you have it)
2 cups cooked pasta (macaroni or penne work the best)
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1)
Wash and prepare the vegetables. Give each child
one vegetable to prepare.
Peel and dice the carrots and celery...
and the cauliflower. Here's a quick tip for how to prepare cauliflower.
Remove the peas from the pods.
Dice the onions (remember to light a votive to stop the tears!).
2)
Heat a large stockpot, add the olive oil, then
add the onions. Sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes.
3)
Add the cauliflower, celery and carrots. Cook an
additional 3 to 5 minutes, or until the veggies are slightly browned.
4)
Add the chicken broth, cooked chicken, a few
handfuls of oregano, and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil.
5)
Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
6)
Add the fresh peas. Simmer 2 minutes more.
7)
Add the cooked pasta. Sprinkle with salt and
pepper to taste before serving.
8)
Enjoy with friends and family!
“I brought oregano,
which grows wild in my garden. My family planted seeds a few years ago and now
it just keeps growing. The oregano added familial flavor. My family grew up
eating lots of Italian food and oregano is in all of it, so it reminds me of my
Grandma, who makes the best pasta sauce.” – Elli, age 10
“Celery is one of my
favorite vegetables. I like it cooked in many different ways, including soup.”
– Carissa, age 8
"I brought rainbow carrots and peas. I chose them because they are really good in soups and the colors were so pretty." - Marina, age 8
"I put a 'magic leaf' in because it makes soup taste good." - James, age 5
Have you hosted a cooking party with your friends? What did you prepare? Share your comments!
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 non-profit children’s nutrition programs including Jamie
Oliver’s Food Revolution and FoodCorps. Watch her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the game.
Follow @crunchacolor on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest 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 June 09, 2012 0 Comments
Farmers’ market
tables are filled with fava beans! What do they taste like? How do we prepare
them? Can we grow them? Our new food adventure takes us on a journey up the
bean stalk as we explore fava beans.
The local farmers’ market has been a wonderful inspiration
for getting my picky eaters to try new foods. Fresh crisp air, bustling
crowds, and overflowing tables of colorful fruits and veggies come together to
set the perfect stage for exploring. Some mornings my kids eat an
entire meal just sampling from each table. Recently, a new veggie has been making
regular appearances at our market: fava beans. New to me, and my kids, we
thought we’d give them a try.
How to Prepare Fava
Beans
Big, broad fava beans seem to be made for tiny fingers. Like
a sweet pea, but even easier to unfurl, my kids enjoyed peeling open each
bright green pod to reveal the treasure inside. But before you dig in, there’s
one extra step: remove the waxy outer coating. Here's how:
Prep time: 8 to 10 min
Cook time: 1 to 2 min
Ready in: 9 to 12 min
Step 1: Shell the Beans. Pull the stem,
unzipping the pod on both sides.
Step 2: Boil the
Beans. Boil the shelled beans in water for about 1 to 2 minutes.
Step 3: Bathe the
Beans. Give the beans a cool bath in ice water before peeling off the waxy
outer covering.
Step 4: Enjoy!
Now those tasty fava beans are ready for eating!
Fava beans have a buttery texture, and a mild, nutty
flavor. Simply delicious on their
own, they made a perfect snack and lunchbox companion. We also discovered a simple recipe
for grilling fava beans, from Sunset Magazine, which we’ll give a try this
weekend. Sounds like a tasty and fun weekend activity!
A note of caution:
Some people may experience allergic reactions to fava beans, according to NPR.
Be sure to consult your doctor if you are concerned.
What inspired you at your local farmers’ market this
weekend? Share your comments!
Craving more new recipes to try? Catch up on last
week’s new food adventure: How to pick your own strawberries.
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. Watch her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the
game. Follow @crunchacolor on Facebook , Twitter and Pinterest to
tune into Crunch a Color's healthy eating adventure and Jennifer’s tips and
kid-friendly, easy recipes. Crunch a Color is a proud supporter of non-profit children’s
nutrition programs including Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and FoodCorps.
Available online at www.crunchacolor.com
and in stores nationwide at Pottery Barn Kids.
Read More
Posted by Jennifer Lee on June 06, 2012 0 Comments
Imagine the giddy
laughter heard from kids picking and eating their way through an open farm
field covered with fresh, ripe strawberries. Pure joy. This week our new food
adventure takes us to a coastal farm where you can pick your own strawberries.
Our new food adventure took on a different flavor this week.
We were traveling, so cooking wasn’t top on our list. But we found a new food
inspiration at a local farm. Nestled in a sun-drenched field along the
California coast, my kids discovered the joy of picking your own strawberries.
How and Where Pick
Your Own Strawberries
There is something thrilling about venturing into a
wide-open field, little pails in hand, to find and pick your own bounty of
summer fruit. Maybe it’s the simple pleasure of eating fruit straight from the
vine, or the excitement of standing face to face with thousands of sweet buds
lining the carefully laid rows of strawberry plants. Whatever the reason, this
adventure provided a jam-packed morning for the whole family. It’s a food
adventure we’d highly recommend adding to your list of summer activities. A few tips to get you started:
1)
Find a local pick-your-own farm. Pick Your Own is a great resource for finding farms in your area, as well as what’s in season.
2)
Choose organic. Seek out farms that are
certified organic. When grown conventionally, strawberries are considered part
of the dirty dozen,
which means they can be laden with pesticides.
3)
Bring two pails. One for perfectly ripe fruit,
the other for just-past-ripe fruit. Farmers will often give you the
just-past-ripe fruit for free (as they did in our case this week), and the
fruit is perfect for making jam!
4)
Save a portion of your bounty for freezing.
You’ll appreciate those sweet summer berries in smoothies when the winter blues
hit.
5)
Use your just-past-ripe strawberries to make
jam. The Naptime Chef has a wonderfully easy and tasty recipe for Strawberry
Vanilla Jam – yum!
6)
Enjoy with friends. Upon returning to our hotel,
the resident chef was kind enough to wash and prepare the several pounds of berries
that we picked. The most fun part: enjoying an overflowing bowl of fresh local strawberries,
and the stories of our adventure, with friends and family.
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. Watch her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the
game. Follow @crunchacolor on Facebook , Twitter and Pinterest to
tune into Crunch a Color's healthy eating adventure and Jennifer’s tips and
kid-friendly, easy recipes. Crunch a Color is a proud supporter of non-profit children’s
nutrition programs including Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and FoodCorps. Available
online at www.crunchacolor.com and in
stores nationwide at Pottery Barn Kids.
Read More
Posted by Jennifer Lee on May 29, 2012 0 Comments
Kids lunch boxes can be the worst offenders when it comes to waste. But a few simple changes can help you green your lunchbox. Swap disposable plastic baggies for BPA-free, reuseable lunch containers. Use cloth napkins instead of paper. Only pack what you really think your kids will eat to minimize food waste.
A Few Reasons Why We Need to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Did you know...
On average, Americans use 20 million plastic baggies a day.
100,000 sea turtles (and other marine life) die each year by ingesting plastic bags.
According to the EPA, each child generates 67 pounds of waste each year.
Packing a bag free lunch saves over $2000 per year.
You and your kids can make a difference with a few easy changes and by keeping the 3 Rs in mind: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
Read More
