MONDAY: Fruits and Vegetables

I’ve got two kids who will only eat broccoli raw, and one that claims she only likes it cooked.  Usually, I can’t please them all, but with this salad, I did.

What I love about Broccoli Salad is you can be creative and choose different add-ins depending on what you have on hand.  I had very few things on hand, so it was simply broccoli, raisins, and pecans, with this dressing.

You can also include:

• Craisins
• Red onions
• Bacon bits
• slivered almonds
• grapes
• cheddar cheese
• sunflower seeds

Then, inspired by My Year Without (Nicole cut refined sugars out of her diet in favor of natural, unprocessed sweeteners), I decided instead of the traditional white sugar in the dressing, I was replacing it with honey. I also like the tang of mayonnaise, so I replace half of it with plain yogurt, and the other half with some light mayonnaise.  Here was the final recipe.

Why should your kids (and you) eat broccoli?  Its full of good stuff like Vitamin C, A, folic acid, calcium, and chromium.  Plus, it contains both protein and fiber.

Thank you for all your great oat ideas!  Everyone should check out the comments if you need some ideas.  If you haven’t already, you can still enter the contest here today and tomorrow.

Usually if my husband works late, I decide to opt out of preparing dinner.   So, instead my kids and I got creative.  The only rule was they had to eat everything they used.  Here is what they came up with. 

The red balls are cranberries. They were anxious to try them, since we enjoy dried cranberries. But wow! These were so not good! I guess we’ll use the rest of the cranberries for baking. I feel a muffin post coming on soon.  But they actually ate everything else. In fact, all of them mixed up the whole plate after pictures, added a little dressing, and made themselves a big salad for dinner.  Easy meal for me!

We have a chance to help a great cause! Save the Children works to ensure that children are healthy and well-nourished.  They assist to improve the health and nutrition of pregnant women, newborns, and young children.  Truly I marvel at how blessed we are to have so much, while many families are suffering just to get food on their tables.   All you have to do is go here to vote and Save the Children can win a million dollars!  For more details click here.