Anytime I can find research supporting the benefits of fruits and vegetables, I feel compelled to share it!  This week from the American Association for Cancer Research, an article was published showing that a variety of fruits and vegetables can lower risk for lung cancer.  The study specifically concluded that variety was more protective that quantity of fruits and veggies. Even in smokers. Interesting, right?

The best way to ensure variety of fruits and vegetables is to eat from all the colors of the rainbow.

Each color in produce boasts specific nutrients related to that color.  For example

Red=beets, bell peppers, red apples, cherries, tomatoes, strawberries etc.  Strong in the phytonutrient lycopene and Anthocyanin, vitamins A and C. Known for controlling high blood pressure, reducing risk of cancer, and reducing risk of Alzheimers.

Dark Green/Green=Kale, Spinach, leafy greens, broccoli, Honeydew, peas, kiwi, collard greens, swiss chard,  Strong in Lutein and Indoles also fiber, potassium, folic acid and some B vitamins. Known for maintaining good vision, reducing risk of tumor growth in cancer patients.

Yellow/orange=Carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, apricots, oranges, grapefuruit, pears, pineapple.  Known for being high in Beta-carotene and bioflavonoids, fiber and vitamin A.  Benefits are boosts immunity, reduce heart attack risk, maintain strong bones and teeth, better skin.

Blue/Purple=Blueberries, blackberries, grapes, raisins, plums. High in Anthocyanin and phenolics.  Benefits are reduction of age related memory loss, controlling blood pressure, slowing the effects of aging (I like that one).

White=Garlic, potatoes, onions. High in allicin, fiber, potassium. Benefits are lowering cholesterol, reduces spread of cancer.

My niece, on her own, wanted to taste our Collard Greens we got from our neighbor Michelle.  So my sister and I watched for her reaction.

At first she said she liked it, then, not so much:

Oh well, maybe next time Doesn’t she know it will help protect her from lung cancer?  Apparently her mother hasn’t told her that yet.

I think this is good news for those with kids who don’t eat many fruits and vegetables.   It’s OK to get less, but focus on variety.  What do you think? Are you better with quantity or variety?  Does your child eat loads of broccoli, but won’t touch anything orange?

Swiss Chard is one of those Top 10 nutrient dense foods we had not tried in our family yet. Imagine my surprise when I got to the grocery store and saw this gorgeous Rainbow Chard!  I was in love right away.  The colors were so bright and pretty! Anyway- What I’ve learned about the Swiss Chard

• It’s season is from May-August.  Although with most produce these days you can get Swiss Chard all year long, however it tastes better and will be less expensive during May-Aug.
• When preparing your Chard, submerge the entire stalk and leaves in cold water to get the debris off.  Then dry with paper towels.
• Cut the stems away from the leaves.  Many people do not eat the stems.  You can eat both, but the stems need to be cooked longer than the leaves, so cutting them away makes this possible.

• Roll the leaves altogether and slice into thin strips.

• Swiss chard is the sweetest of all the leafy greens.
• If you don’t know how to use the leaves, use them much the same way you would spinach.

Here is how I cooked up our Swiss Chard!  It was super super super yummy! I hope you’ll try it ASAP! It got super approval from husband, neighbor, and semi-approval from children.

RAINBOW CHARD CHICKEN PIE

Prepare Swiss Chard by:

• Sautéing the chopped Chard stems in skillet with olive oil for 5 minutes.
• Add garlic and continue to sauté
• Add the leaves from the chard and sauté for another 3-4 minutes.
• Sprinkle salt over the entire mixture.
• Set aside.

Sprinkle and mix into swiss chard:

• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup cheddar cheese

Pour Swiss chard and cheese into prepared pie crust.  Then mix together separately:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk (mixed together)

Pour the eggs and milk over the greens.

I added chicken to the top of the greens. (optional)

Top with another pie crust.

     Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes, or until crust is cooked.

Readers also recommended these ways to cook Chard:

Beth.said Swiss chard is really good if you add it to soups, chopped up. It wilts a little, but still holds some shape. It’s part of the Olive Garden Zupa Tuscano soup recipe I have. But I’ve also heard you can saute it, like asparagus.

Marla said: Swiss Chard….toss it with some pasta & parm

Jeff  said: chard, cut away the center stem and cut to 1″ by 2″ or 3″ strips (they shrink during cooking). put in a touch of olive oil (easy though each spoonful is 120 empty fat calories) and saute for a while till they wilt, and even after that. it brings out the natural sugar in the veggies. you can add sea salt or kosher salt to taste/remove bitterness and italian seasoning or other seasoning your kids like. saute them with mushrooms, onions, garlic and/or eggplant for a nice side dish

Emily recommended this recipe that her family loves:  Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Swiss Chard and Pecornio Cheese

Thanks for all your great ideas!!

We did it! We tried Brussel Sprouts. I was so inspired by your comments on Friday because so many of your kids loved them.   Although my kids tried them ( I liked them by the way), the kids claimed they were gross.  But I’m not discouraged.  The Experts are always saying consistency is the key! OR  Something has to be presented 8-15 times before kids will accept a new food?

Heck, even I say that on my blog all the time.  So Here is where we will put it to the test.  Attempt #1: Nate and Erica ate one sprout.  Said they didn’t like it.  TJ didn’t even try.

I roasted them as suggested by Beth, Jen, and Morgan (just like we do with broccoli)

• Cut any stems off of the sprout
• Spread them on a baking sheet
• Drizzle olive oil
• Sprinkle with salt

Place in oven at 400 for 35-40 minutes

Wade boiled some, said he likes them that way- who knew?

• Cut stems off again.
• Place in boiling water for 5-10 minutes.  He added a little vinegar.

Other ideas readers had:

Natalie said:  I’ve roasted them with olive oil, and sautéed them with a little butter and garlic, then you can add toasted pine nuts – yummy! You can also sauté and add a little Dijon to the pan at the end

Jeff suggested sautéing with a little bacon

One last thought for all good intentioned parents, frustrated by your picky eaters:

 Karen Collens, RD, MS said, “Dislike of trying new foods, called “neophobia,” is very common in children ages two to five but can continue for years and is linked with low vegetable consumption. Parents help kids gradually outgrow this fear by continuing to serve a variety of foods. Studies show that parents often give up on a new food after three to five tries; experts recommend a minimum of 8 to 15 tries, and kids may still need to see and then try a food many times before they truly enjoy it. Very small portions make new foods less overwhelming.”

Thanks for all your great ideas!  I am committed to offering Brussel sprouts 8-15 more times

Has anyone else seen their kids change from Dislike, to Like of a food?

When people talk about the nutrient density of food, they are considering the amount of nutrients, divided by the total calories.  A food with excellent nutrient denseness would have loads of nutrients for very few calories.

Since our little ones don’t consume a large  number of calories, we should be sure the calories they are getting are dense with nutrients!  Of course the most nutrient dense foods are… VEGETABLES!  Each individual nutrient is packaged in a vegetable with other nutrients that allow them to work synergistically, giving us maximum benefits.

So, what are foods are the most nutrient dense? Here are the top 10 (from WHFoods)  Considering micronutrients to total calories (and eliminating calf liver.. cause I just didn’t want to count it …Bleehhhh)

• 1-Spinach  (We are good with this one… especially spinach salads we love)
• 2-Swiss Chard (Honestly, have not tried)
• 3-Crimini Mushrooms (I love all mushrooms… my kids won’t touch them…Yet)
• 4-Asparagus (My kids favorite way to eat Asparagus requires just a little brown sugar, but it’s so delicious!)

• 5-Broccoli (Check-they will all eat Broccoli now.  Cooked or raw)
• 6-Romaine Lettuce/ Salads (No problem)
• 7-Collard Greens (Haven’t given this a good try yet, but I’ve purchased it a few times- it ended up going bad)
• 8-Kale/ Mustard Greens (Ditto to Collard greens)
• 9-Tomatoes (The kids can be picky about tomatoes. They are limited to eating it as a dip like salsa, or other bean dips)
• 10-Brussel Sprouts (Haven’t tried these either)

Next week I’ll try to make something with the vegetables we’ve never tried for my kids.  We’ll see how they react.  I can already tell you Collard Greens might start a fight. 

When it comes right down to it, getting your kids to not only eat their vegetables, but like it too is going to give them a healthy advantage.

I’ve been wanting to spend more time on this blog diving into fruits and vegetables exclusively.  So, I was thrilled to find this site: Today I Ate A Rainbow! I love it!!!

We eat 6 out of the 10 (60%).  How is your family doing on the top 10? 

Zucchini has 36 calories per cup, yet 10% of your DV for nutrients such as; manganese, vitamin C, A, and fiber.  However, it is so much more beneficial than a vitamin supplement because squash has the ability to help you absorb other nutrients

Whether your garden is overflowing with zucchini, or picked some up at the grocery store, have your kids try these Stuffed zucchini pizza boats.

The process was simple, and the kids can help!

• We sliced a zucchini down the center, and scooped the seeds out of the middle to create a well for the toppings.
• We then placed the zucchini in a microwave safe dish.
• Filled it with a mixture containing

1. 1/3 cup cooked rice
2. 1/3 cup spaghetti sauce
3. (add any other vegetables you choose)
4. Topped with mozzarella cheese.

Then, we added a touch of water to the bottom of the dish and covered it with plastic wrap.  (like 1-2 TBL)

Then we microwaved on high for 8 minutes (or until zucchini is tender).  You can also choose to bake at 400 for about 15 minutes.

  This pizza is a great alternative to pizza for those kids sensitive to gluten!  Overall, it’s great for all kids.

Here are some other zucchini posts from the past:

• Fried Worm Sandwiches
• Chocolate zucchini cake
• Zucchini Bread
• Crookneck
• Breaded zucchini

I had to be at church for most of Sunday, so my husband made dinner.  Our Japanese friends were so surprised to see him making dinner!  They said, “Why is Wade making dinner, he’s the father!!”  In their culture, father’s do not take part in meal preparation in Japan, so to see Wade make dinner, was culture shock for them.

So, here is what I’ve learned about dinner in Japan for Anna and Fumiko:

• Despite being working mom’s, Japanese mother’s spend a good portion of their time at home in meal preparation!  And what they spend most of their time doing, chopping and cooking vegetables!  Kind of makes me feel guilty for trying to get in and out of the kitchen as quickly as I can.
• Children help with preparing dinner if they are not at clubs (like soccer or tutoring).  Starting at age 6, Anna helped her mom with dinner preparations.  She would cut vegetables, wash dishes, or set a table.
• Although the fathers do not participate in preparing meals, the boys in the family (brothers) did help in the kitchen as children.
• When they have salads, they use lettuce, tomato, corn, tuna, with either a French dressing, a soy sauce dressing, or mayonnaise!  Straight- plain- mayo!  I couldn’t believe it! They even added mayo to their taco’s at our house!
• They never drink juice or soda. Always milk, tea, or water.

I love that they spend more time preparing dinner.  They said they chop their vegetables very tiny! When Anna made dinner for us, this is how she chopped our carrots for this meal:

I could not believe how she was able to cut the carrots so finely!  It takes time to do that.

Here is one of the recipes they prepared while they’ve been here.   They called them pancakes. If you make it, I don’t recommend calling them pancakes..TJ was quite disappointed that they didn’t taste like pancakes!

OKONOMI-YAKI

(As you like it- pancakes)

• 2 sausage links, chopped (or any other meat)
• 1 head of cabbage, chopped
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 cup water
• 3 eggs
• salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together.  Pour batter onto skillet like pancakes.  Flip and cook on both sides until browned.  Top with Okinomi-yaki sauce (or BBQ sauce if you don’t have any Okinomi-yaki sauce) and mayonnaise (which we did not use)

They served the pancakes with noodles and vegetables, which I could not get a recipe for, because they brought packaged noodles with an accompanying seasoning packet from Japan… but it was DELICIOUS!!  Even this cutie liked it!

(While I was taking pictures for the noodle dish, I put the chop-sticks in the bowl.  Anna and Fumiko quickly ran over and took them out, informing me  that by placing the chop sticks inside the dish, it implied it was a meal prepared for the dead… oops!) 

Thanks for sharing your own Japanese experiences!  Anna and Fumiko have loved reading your comments!!

(At the Summit County Rodeo)

We love our kiwi more than the average family!  If I get Kiwi from the store, it is gone before the day is over!  Every time my kids buy school lunch, they always get kiwi for their fruit!

But how can I complain when I know by eating kiwi my kids are

• getting as much vitamin C as an orange! 
• getting more potassium than a banana when they eat two
• getting more fiber than a half bowl of bran! 

We like them so much we have kiwi tatoos:

And what we like to call, a Kiwi spife (spoon plus knife)

Then, the Zespri Kiwi people sent me some recipes that I thought were pretty great.

The first was called:  FRESH KIWI FRUIT BUBBLE TEA

Fill the bottom of a glass with large tapioca pearls, cooked in water till soft:

Then in a blender:

• 1 cup ice cubes
• 1/2 cup low fat milk
• 1/4 cup low-fat sweetened condensed milk

After smooth, add

• 3 kiwi fruit peeled and sliced.  Only pulse for a moment. Don’t pulverize the kiwi.

Pour drink over tapioca pearls.

Then, we also tried their Kiwi Mustard Dip.  Sounds weird… but all it was was

• 1 sliced, peeled and chopped kiwi
• 1 TBL mustard
• 1 TBL honey

We used it to dip our chicken tenders in.  LOVED IT!!!

Our Japanese visitors loved the dip too!  Zespri Kiwi has more recipes on their site here.  And in full disclosure, they did send us the kiwi for my kids to eat (as well as the tatoo’s)!!

So, go get some kiwi!  I’ll be honest.  TJ only started to like kiwi because of peer pressure!  You gotta love it when their friends are the ones to get them to try new, healthy foods. Sometimes nothing you as a parent will say has any impact, then one day when their friends make the suggestion, BAM! They are converted!

Well, we are sure having fun with our Japanese friends.  They REALLY wanted to go to East High where High School Musical was filmed.  So we headed off to the school, not expecting to get in, because it is an ACTUAL working high school.   Well, when we got there THREE vans full of Japanese tourists showed up! It was hilarious.  We followed them into the school, and the girls were able to get pictures of EVERYTHING!  Classic, right?

 And one more thing… My blogs tech support (also known as my sister) fixed my shopping cart!! So now you can buy plates.  again! Thanks Sarah!!

PLUS… One more thing:  You can win a trip for 4 to New Zealand with The Great Kiwi Adventure!  With this post, I am also trying to win a trip to New Zealand with the Kiwi-a-go-go Blogger contest.  I hope we both win!!

I was thumbing through this book at Costco, and these “Guacamole Cones” caught my eye.  If your kids like chips and guacamole, they’ll also like these cones!

So, the way we made ours was to

• take 6 inch whole wheat tortilla’s (you could make your own)
• Then we sliced the tortilla in half 
• Then rolled them into a cone, secured with a toothpick.
• Placed on parchment paper
• Brushed with olive oil
• sprinkled with chili powder
• Baked at 350 for about 7 or 8 minutes.

   Our guacamole recipe is

• Mashed avocado
• 1 tsp lime juice
• salt and pepper to taste.

Do you add anything else to your guacamole?  My kids seem to like it plain, and so do I.

Or should I say, no added sugar, considering the fruit sugar.  Either way, this jam was so easy, I don’t know why I haven’t been doing it for years.

This recipe actually came from my mom.  She first gave us a box of apricots the other day, that needed to be used ASAP!  Then she told me about some new pectin in the stores that do not require adding sugar to your fruit.  It specifically says on the box, “No sugar needed.”

I used

• 6 cups of apricots
• 2 TBL lemon juice
• 1 box No sugar needed pectin
• 1/4 cup concentrated apple juice
• 3/4 cup water

I through everything in a pot, and stirred.  Waited it to start boiling, and break down the apricots.

Then I put it into jars and straight into the fridge! No canning at this house!

MMMM,  and you know what it tastes like?  Apricots!  Tangy and delicious, not sickingly sweet.  Apricots are supposed to be tangy!

We pick up our Japanese friends from the airport today!  We are excited. I asked Anna what she and her friend wanted me to pick up at the grocery store.  She’s so cute, her reply was

Hi, this is Anna. Today is Monday morning (10:10) in Japan. But I’m still sleep… Because I’m excited too!! I couldn’t be sleep.

Dinner menu is anything OK. But, my friend can’t eat "sea foods" And I can’t eat milk, cheese and butter. We have their allergy. We’re so sorry

Isn’t she cute?

We need low cost, organic vegetables.  Kids need to get outside.  Kids need to play in the dirt!  What does that boil down to? Kids should be helping in the garden!  This is my favorite photo of TJ literally eating dirt

I have mentioned before, we aren’t much in the world of gardening.  Basically throwing out some seeds, and hoping for a harvest. Well, it happened! We got our first zucchini yesterday.  Hooray for us. And so exciting for the kids.  They practically were fighting over who got to pick it.

Starting kids in the garden while they are young is not tough. They naturally want to get outside. They can begin by helping you with some herbs in the window sill.

Then, other potted plants.  Erica and her friend painted some containers and planted seeds. They were super excited when their seeds sprouted.

And then of course, no child is too young to get outside and pull weeds with you! 

This recent comment from gardening.org sums it up why I believe kids need to be out in the garden with you.

..Gardening helps children to understand and explore the natural world, as well as learn first-hand the benefits of growing, harvesting, and eating healthy foods. It’s called the ‘people-plant connection’, and every child deserves an opportunity to have access to this relationship. 

No activity better links young people to food and nature than gardening. The garden experience bonds youngsters to the cycles of life and teaches them to understand where their food comes from. Is there any greater satisfaction – or “greener” activity – a child can experience than smelling a flower from his or her own garden, plucking a carrot from the ground, or digging new potatoes from warm soil? What can make parents happier than hearing their child tell them they want chard for dinner?

Do your kids help in your garden?