How to make Caesar Salad a New Food Favorite! (52 New Foods, Week 16) April 23 2012, 1 Comment

Spin up a healthy side! Teach your kids how to make a Caesar Salad your whole family will love and add this classic dish to their list of new food favorites.

Salad is the Mount Everest of new foods at our house. It remains a mystery to me what is so daunting about the notion of a bowl overflowing with beautiful green leafy ruffles drizzled in creamy, homemade dressing. It seems so simple and enjoyable, but it’s a trail my kids haven’t been willing to hike. How will we get over this mountain together?

Feature Recipe: Easy, Caesar Salad

As with any adventure (culinary or otherwise), it’s always more fun and interesting to put the kids in charge of the journey – it’s a surefire way to get them having fun making, sharing and trying new foods. Salad is no exception, so this week my kids and I had great fun learning how to make Caesar Salad.             `

How to Make Caesar Salad

Ingredients:
1 bunch organic Romaine lettuce
½ tsp minced garlic
½ cup organic mayonnaise
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp table salt
Juice from 1/2 lemon
½ loaf of herbed Italian bread

Directions:
For the croutons:
1) Slice the bread into ¼” cubes.
2) Toss in 1 Tbsp olive oil and a pinch of salt.
3) Bake in a 250 degree oven for about 10 minutes, tossing occasionally, until lightly browned.

For the dressing:
1) Place the garlic, mayonnaise, cheese, olive oil, salt and lemon in a food processor. Blend for 2 to 3 minutes. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Pull it all together:
1) Wash and dry the romaine lettuce. Tear into bite size pieces.
2) Add the dressing and croutons and toss until fully coated.

Dressing recipe inspired by Amy The Family Chef.

Crunch a Color Kids Vote: I’ll try a “taster”

What we liked: This easy Caesar salad dressing is fun for the kids to make with no worrisome ingredients like raw eggs. At its first appearance on our table, my kids hesitantly tried a “taster”, but they weren’t sold. So I worked in a few other cameos over the next few days: as a dipping sauce for snacktime vegetables, as a spread on fresh, chewy herbed bread, and as a dip for their favorite chicken wings. Slowly but surely they are warming to the taste, so we’ll keep trying. It’s important to remember, it can take up to 10 times of exposure to a new food before some children will like it, so don’t give up if they’re not gobbling up the dressing on the first try.

Do you have a family favorite salad dressing? Share the details!

Next up: May is the month for Mothers. To celebrate, we’ll be featuring a fun lineup of my favorite recipes. Be sure to tune in.

Craving more new recipes to try? Catch up on last week’s recipe: Easy, Italian chicken

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 and Twitter to tune into Crunch a Color's healthy eating adventure and Jennifer’s tips and kid-friendly, easy recipes.