Yea for Fruits and Veggies

I apologize for not posting lately. After dental surgery (me) and an episode of the stomach flu (my son), I hope to be back on track -- at least as much as possible! LOL

This week started with the inaugural meeting of "Health Nuts", a group organized by a local homeschool Mom to raise awareness of healthy eating, nutrition and food options. Not only are we sharing information and tips with other Moms, but the kids have their own nutrition class. After the first kid's class, my son came home with a calendar and "homework" to track the amount of fruits and veggies he eats daily for the next 2 weeks. He will report back with his calendar at our next meeting. He was so excited and immediately started using his markers to record the fruits and veggies he had eaten for the past 2 days when we got home. He then asked what additional fruits and veggies he could have to add more servings to his calendar! Yippee!! We decided to add a serving of applesauce as a side to his sandwich at lunch, and he helped me blend fruit smoothies with mixed fruit, vanilla Greek yogurt, almond milk and ice cubes to accompany supper last night.

Today I'll focus on adding veggies. I realize I am lucky because my son actually LIKES salad, but it wasn't always this way.  When he was 3 he did not want to eat any veggies except a plain green salad with ranch dressing. Since iceberg lettuce doesn't have very many nutrients, I started substituting green leaf lettuce and slowly mixed in baby spinach leaves. Now that he is older, he is interested in trying new foods. I credit part of this to watching the Food Network, particularly "Worst Cooks In America". He enjoys watching Chef Anne and Chef Robert's creations, and is fascinated by some of the "new" foods and cooking techniques.

Being an avid reader and cookbook lover, I also use books for inspiration. When W was in his "I don't like veggies" phase, I learned about "The Sneaky Chef". She offers lots of terrific and delicious ideas that incorporate fruits and veggies. Some creative ideas include cauliflower in macaroni & cheese, breakfast ice cream (really!), and other "kid friendly" foods fixed with a healthy twist.

Since our nutrition group met at the local library, I also picked up a few kid friendly cookbooks we can use in the kitchen to create meals together. The first 2 books are Mexican cuisine (because most kids love these foods), and the third one is part of the series "Easy Menu Ethnic Cookbooks".  I selected "Cooking The English Way" by Barbara W. Hill as my first book in the ethnic series because the foods are recognizable and W wanted to try English tea time since seeing it mentioned on a program. I'll post later on making scones, tea and shortbread!

Since today is Fat Tuesday, I think we'll incorporate some okra and tomatoes into gumbo!

Have a terrific day!

Susan