Tip #3 for getting your kids to eat beans: Turn beans into something familiar, like chicken nuggets.

Did you happen to see the Jamie Oliver episode where he put a nasty chicken carcass into a blender and shaped it into chicken nuggets?  The kids, knowing what was in it, still ate it!  They ate it because it looked like chicken nuggets!  Our falafel had the same idea, except with CHICK-peas, instead of a chicken carcass.  lol, get it??  My kids didn’t know what was in it, but they loved these!

I started with this recipe from Allrecipes, omitting things I didn’t have.  My final recipe was this:

Chick-en Nugget Falafel

(printer friendly)

• 1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained

Mash into bowl. I use a pastry blender.

In a food processor, I put

• 1/2 onion
• Parsley (from my kitchen window…mmmm)
• 1 clove garlic

Blend the onion mix with the mashed beans:

Then in separate bowl combine:

• 1 egg
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 dash pepper
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 TBL olive oil

Mix with bean dip, and slowly pour in 1 cup bread crumbs.   Mix enough bread crumbs until your dough is not too sticky to shape.

Shape into chicken nuggets and either bake or fry.  I “grilled” in a cast iron pan with a small amount of olive oil.  Then I made that Origami Fry bag.

WE LOVED THESE!!  Just so you know!

Still need Ideas to get your kids to eat their beans?

• Tip #1  Add pureed beans to baked goods
• Tip #2  Use beans as dip
• Tip #3 Chicken-En Nuggets
• Tip #4 Roast Them!
• Tip #5 Mixing in the beans

Day 2 in getting your kids to eat more beans is to make the beans a dip.  Of course there is hummus, which we love, but since I’ve spoken of that before, here are two other healthy bean dips that my kids like.

The first recipe has no comparison to the second.  My kids ask for this dip on a weekly basis.  We cook black-eyed peas by the gallon.  As soon as avocado’s ripen up, Erica is begging for this bean dip.

Avocado, Bean, Tomato Dip

• · 3 tomatoes, sliced and chopped
• · 2 avocados diced
• · 2 cups black eyed peas
• · 1/8- ¼ cup zesty Italian dressing

Slowly stir all ingredients together. Served with baked corn chips, or eat with a spoon!

The second bean dip is so simple, I almost didn’t want to make a recipe out of it.  By like any good food blogger, I actually measured this time when I whipped it up.  So the final amounts are:

BEAN DIP

• 1 Cup Pureed Beans (Pinto, black, or kidney)
• 2 TBL Fat free sour cream
• 1 tsp ranch seasoning mix

Put all ingredients into food processor or blender. Mix until smooth. Serve with pita chips, baked corn chips, or vegetable sticks.

We had fun with this one and made all three beans into a different dip for tasting.  My kids liked the pinto beans best.  I wasn’t surprised.

(Printable recipe)

Any other dips from beans your family likes?

Need more ideas to eat beans?

• Day 1 Hiding Beans
• Day 2: Bean Dips
• Day 3: Chick-En Nuggets (vegetarian chicken nuggets)
• Day 4: Roast Them
• Day 5: Mixing in the Beans

Last week, reader Kendra asked for suggestions on getting her kids to eat beans!  What a great idea for some posts.  So this week is BEAN WEEK! I’ve got 5 ways to add more beans into your families diet.  Today will be #1.

First, why more beans?

• Beans are healthy! In fact, Joel Fuhrman recommends a full cup of beans PER DAY!
• Beans are cheap!  Food is not cheap, but dry beans can help you get control over your food budget.
• Beans last a very long time!  Besides having 50lbs of oats, we probably have 150 lbs of different dried beans.

So, Tip #1 Add them to baked goods

Are you still substituting applesauce for the fat in your baked goods?  I think bean puree turns out a better result.

The Journal of the ADA reports when pureed cannellini beans were substituted for shortening in Brownies for 25% and 50% of the fat, no difference was detected. (You can read the abstract here) “Yielding an acceptable and more nutritious product”.

So, while this practice is best when you replace 50% of the fat in cake like baked goods, we replaced 75% of the fat in a cookie (because I love cookies!).  They also turned out pretty good.  They were eaten at least. 

First, I used

• 1 can of white beans (I used Great Northern Beans).
• Placed them in a food processor (remember, mine is just a $25 Cusinart from Costco)
• Blended until smooth (I did not add any water).  It turned out the consistency of shortening

Then, I used the puree in this cookie recipe, replacing 75% of the fat for white beans.  So, the original recipe used 1 cup of butter.  I used 1/4 cup of butter and 3/4 cup of the white beans.

Printable recipe

White Bean Chocolate Chip Cookies

• · ¾ Cup Pureed White beans
• 1/4 cup butter
• · 1 Cup brown sugar
• · 1 Cup white sugar
• · 2 Eggs
• · 1 tsp vanilla
• · 1 cup whole wheat flour
• · 1 ¼ cup White flour
• · 1 TBL baking soda
• · 1 tsp baking powder
• · 2 ½ cup Ground oat flour (put regular oats in blender or food processor until the consistency of flour)
• · Chocolate chips

Mix pureed beans, butter, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla thoroughly. Mix dry ingredients together. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix softly with wooden spoon just until all flour is mixed in.

Drop by TBL onto cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 6 minutes.

Makes 3 Dozen cookies

So come back tomorrow for Tip #2 for getting kids to eat their beans!

• Day 1: Pureed Beans in Baked goods
• Day 2: Bean Dip
• Day 3: Chick-En nuggets, Falafel
• Day 4: Roast them!
• Day 5: Mixing them in

Inspired by a class I attended at CBC#10 (which was fabulous), I decided to simplify our meals for awhile.  Sarah (my amazing sister and the Home Organization guru) along with Marie Ricks (House of Order) spoke a bit about meal planning and using a consistent pattern.  It will probably take your kids and your husband at least 5 years to notice there is a pattern at all, but will make your life so much easier.

So, this is what I came up with to simplify the meals and be more organized.

I’ll have this outline on the meal plan archives page.

So, with that menu as my template, this is our meal plan for the week.

Well, that’s it for today.  I loved the blogging conference. Met some awesome ladies.  And I’m excited all over again about blogging!  So, thank you readers for visiting my blog and sharing your ideas. I couldn’t do it without you all!

Your kids need more beans!  They are such a perfect food.

After a conversation with some friends last night who declared “My kids would never eat beans!”  I got to thinking…. Is it the kids, or is it the parents  (You know who you are!) bad attitude towards beans that leaves them uninterested.  Maybe a little of both.

My kids were such picky eaters before I started this blog.  However, I wasn’t exposing them to a variety of foods like I do now.  Now, when there are no other options, and since children don’t like to starve… they eat!

So, onto my bean dish.

I want to start using my $50 Costco blender more.

I posted this recipe for Black Bean Burgers moons ago.   But this time, I put in my blender

• 1 can of black beans
• oats (because I was out of bread crumbs)
• salsa and an egg!

I know it looks gross, but, it is what it is.

Then I added the cooked rice separately because I wanted it a little chunky.

Then I poured about 1/3 to 1/4 cup on my cast iron skillet.

And then of course put the patty between some delicious whole wheat buns (with a bunch of ketchup).

Then TJ added more ketchup to the TOP of his bun. Such a strange kids sometimes.

We topped it off with some homemade french fries, and the kids Gobbled it up.  Most kids won’t notice you used black beans instead of beef.  You will notice, but its still delicious.

More beans our in my blog future!!! They are cheap, low fat, good for you, high in protein, high in THREE kinds of fiber, and did I mention CHEAP!!  Way cheaper than ground beef.

Other awesome bean posts!

Beans 101

Did you know 5% of children age 2-5 were obese in 1980, and today that number has grown to 12.4%!  While I don’t like to spend much time on this blog focusing on the problem, this blog post (sent to me by Lisa) offered many solutions!

Runnerdude said, “Another big culprit is our busy, non-stop lifestyles providing much less time for meal planing and preparing meals at home where you have better control over content and portion size.“

Are we too busy as a family that we don’t have time to make a decent meals for the ones we love?  If so, some things need to be cut from your life.  I am currently guilty of this one.  (which may get worse because I did not do well on my first chemistry test!)   On busy days, I simply don’t take the time to prepare healthy food for my kids or myself.

Second solution:

Exposing kids to a variety of fresh foods and eating them with your kids will help. Kids watch what you do. If they see you eating healthy foods, they’re more apt to eat healthy foods.

Couldn’t agree more!  Kids should be exposed early and young to a variety of foods!

And here is my favorite one:

Take a walk with your kids each afternoon before dinner (even if it’s only 15 or 20 minutes). This also provides you time to talk to your kids about their day.

I am going to do this!  I think this is the best way I can get away with my kids and connect with them after we are away from each other all day.  There are so many things at home that distract me.. the phone, email, dinner, etc. that my kids don’t get my full attention.  If I can’t spare 15 minutes to walk with my family, then we really have too much going on!

Remember: Teach healthy habits to your kids young.    Kids overweight by the age of 8 will most likely become overweight adults.

Related articles:

Childhood obesity with Jared

On Cathy’s blog I noticed her taking part in Meatless Mondays! What a great idea.  My spouse is not on board with becoming vegetarian, but I want to reduce my family’s consumption of meat.. and save money in the process, Meatless Monday is a perfect compromise.  (or any one night a week)

I guess our garden isn’t a total waste.  My daughter and her friend spent Friday night searching for the ripest tomatoes they could find, and they actually came out with about 45 small Roma tomatoes.  Quite frankly, I was shocked.  I didn’t want them sitting on my counter forever, so I decided to make some tomato soup.

I used to not like tomato soup, until I had some at Paradise Bakery!  It was so delicious!  Tons of flavor, and thick like spaghetti sauce.  My version was not quite as thick, but it was still delicious!  Cereal boy loved it and had two bowl fulls.   Ketchup boy wouldn’t give it a chance, although I told  him, it was pretty much the same thing as ketchup!!  He wasn’t buying it.

Unfortunately, I have to post my recipes in my blog posts for awhile.  When my laptop died, I lost my web design program with it.  I’m so sad!!

WARNING:  From plant to table, this process took me 1 1/2 hours!!  It was Sunday though and we didn’t have church till 1pm, so I had some time.  But I probably wouldn’t try this during the week.

• 30 small roma tomatoes.  I plunged them in boiling water.  Waited for the skins to crack.  Then I took them out and put them in a sink full of cold water.  Then I removed the skins and put the flesh in a big bowl.  I ended up with about 48 oz of tomato flesh.
• In large pot, saute two chopped onions and 2 cloves of garlic.
• Then add about 50 oz tomatoes.
• 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 6 oz can tomato paste.
• 3 cups water with 3 chicken bouillon cubes (or 3 cups chicken broth).

Bring all ingredients to a boil, simmer for 30 minutes.

Take all ingredients out of pot and puree in blender.  Not too long if you like it a bit chunky. (I did this 2 cups at a time.)

Return to pot and add

• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 cups of milk.

Cook for 5 minutes longer.  Serve with Saltine crackers, bread sticks, or we used strips of tortillas grilled slightly on a hot skillet.

Other things to do with all your tomatoes:

Deal of the Day

Photo: Laurel and Me

We had several amazing people talk to us today in Chicago about Tropicana’s history, the process of making the juice, and their carbon footprint, which I am happy to answer any questions you may have about those topics.  But the one topic of course I am most interested in is the nutrition information of 1 glass of juice. 

Joy Dubost, Ph D., R.D., spoke to us and answered questions.  Here were some highlights.

• 8 oz glass of juice equals two servings of fruit.
• Vitamin C important for tissue and red blood cell development, and healthy immune system.  one OJ glass 8 oz provide a full day’s supply.
• Only half of US adults don’t consume enough Vitamin C
• Potassium is found in every cell in your body.  OJ 8oz contains as much as a medium banana.  Potassium may reduce risk of high blood pressure and stroke.
• Folate: B vitamin required for normal cell growht and maintenance.  OJ has 15 % of recommended daily intake.
• Calcium: 35% and 25% for Vitamin D
• only 50% of the adult pop consume the recommended amount of calcium needed to maintain good bone health.
• American Pediatrics Association says 4-6 oz juice can be appropriate in a child’s diet.   Its all part of a balanced diets.

Reasons Juice can be part of a healthy diet

• Juice can help increase fruit intake
• Fruit juices are a valuable source of certain vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.  (to help defend against free radicals)
• Breakfast skipping is associated with other health indicators, and juice is a great part of breakfast.
• Breakfast eaters tend ot have more success with maintenance of weight loss than skippers. 
•  Breakfast help build body, nourish brain, jump start your day, manage weight.
• Americans are short on calcium, potassium, fiber, magnesium, vit A, C, and E.

Trop 50 (Tropicana’s newest product) marries the good things in OJ, with less sugar and calories. 

Although still full from our amazing breakfast, we had lunch! I was not hungry at all.  Seems like in conferences and workshop things you are always eating.  The day goes so fast for me, pair that with sitting all day, and it didn’t seem like time for another meal. 

This afternoon, without 2 hours to burn, I decided to walk around town.  I walked down Michigan Avenue, which must be some sort of shopping district, with these really high end stores.  There was people EVERYWHERE! I saw Street performers like a really flexible guy putting himself in all sorts of contortions.  Then I watched 5 guys play amazing music on 5 gallon buckets they turned upside down. 

Then I found the Hershey store.  I got my kids a little souveneir.  Don’t worry though, I didn’t get chocolate!  I got a Reese’s bat and ball, a Reese’s football, and a Reese’s teddy bear.  My kids will love it.

It’s shocking how many varieties of rice I have to choose from, yet I choose the same kind over and over.  It used to be Calrose or California rice, then Sweet Brown Rice.  But I’ve been eyeing the wild rice for some time, and decided to dive in.

What I found out was, wild rice, isn’t truly rice at all.  All though many varieties in the grocery store has mixed it with other rice’s (the Wild rice is the black grains you see),  it is actually the seed of a grass. It’s extremely high in protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, folic acid, and fiber.

Did my kids like it?  They didn’t hate it. They tried it.  With some foods I have found its best to NOT to say, “It’s just like the rice you always eat!” Cause its not.  Just like I told them not to compare my Macaroni and Cheese with the kind they have tried from the grocery store, but simply we are having “Elbow noodles with a cheese on top”. 

The wild rice took much longer to cook, so start early.  It had a nutty, savory flavor to it.  Even I only needed a small portion of this rice, whereas white rice, we could literally eat a whole cup, EACH OF US!

Its a great idea to expose your kids to different varieties of similar foods.  Not only do some varieties have more nutrients than the traditional ones we eat (such as in this case) but this movie, The Future of Food, discusses the dangers of eating and growing only one variety of corn.  In other countries, they are still eating hundreds of varieties of corn.  So if one variety gets diseased, they still have 99 other varieties to consume.  Pretty fascinating.

I can’t believe how busy we have been this summer.  Which is why this tip is so important!  When you have too much produce, freeze it! 

My mom gave us a HUGE bowlful of cherries from her neighbors tree that they needed to pick right away.   They were all ripe, and I knew we wouldn’t eat them all before they went bad.  Immediately, I kept a bowlful out for snacking, and the rest I washed and spread onto a cookie sheet for the freezer.  I put the cookie sheet in the freezer for a few hours, and then bagged the cherries (pit and all) into freezer bags.  Freezing on a cookie sheet first, prevents clumping that would occur if you threw all the cherries into a bag at once, and then froze.

The frozen cherries, EVEN though pit is still in tact, have been a perfect snack.  They are not rock solid.  They are kind of like grapes.  We can take one cherry out of the bag and eat it immediately, and its this slushy, delicious, refreshing snack. 

Other things I have been doing with the frozen cherries:

• Chopping for smoothies.
• Topping on salads
• Mixed in with plain yogurt.
• And taught my kids how to have a cherry spitting contest.  Truly a lost art!  Even the kids who were, not so interested in having a cherry, ate several just so they could spit the seed.

Freezing is so much faster than canning or other methods of preserving.  I probably will never can something again!   Other things we have frozen when there was a great sale, our garden produced it faster than we could eat it, or a neighbors tree was overflowing:

• Zucchini (I store this shredded and used in bread)
• Summer squash ( I puree and then freeze to add to baked goods, macaroni and cheese, or soups)
• Onions (chopped first and then frozen)
• Strawberries (usually because there is a great sale)
• Other berries (We have a blackberry bush and this is our first year of getting a real good amount).
• Celery! (only because I forget to use it out of my fridge and its about to go bad…but it works)
• bananas! (for smoothies, because fresh ones go REALLY FAST at my house.)
• Corn
• Broccoli

WHAT PRODUCE DOES YOUR FAMILY FREEZE?