Getting our kids to eat enough calories during the day, certainly takes a front seat to getting them to eat a variety of different foods.   But variety can be fun for kids!  Colorful fruits and veggies are meant to look appealing to humans and animals. 

Have you heard of EATING THE RAINBOW? Get kids involved by letting them color a rainbow (link to a printable rainbow page).  Then fill in all the foods they can think of that are in each color group.  Each day this week we’ll eat a different color.

TODAY, let’s start with RED:  Strawberries, watermelon, tomatoes, pink grapefruit, guava, raspberries, red apples, red grapes, cherries. Red foods are high in the powerful anti-oxidant, lycopene.  Studies have shown, men with higher levels of lycopene in their fatty tissue, were less likely to have heart disease than men with low levels of lycopene.

Although my kids will eat an entire pint of strawberries without any coercing, apparently they think I like to make their life more complicated than that.  I am ALWAYS in the mood for oatmeal.  So in an effort to have a “strawberries and cream” taste:

• I blended in the blender 6 strawberries and 1 cup of milk and 1 tsp of sugar.
• I used the milk/ strawberry liquid to cook 1 cup of dry instant oatmeal on the stove.
• I added a few slices of strawberries for garnish.

The beauty of this dish wasn’t enough to entice my kids to try it, until I took out a baby spoon left at our house over the weekend.  I called it the “tasting spoon”.  Then I had some eager testers.  They liked it. I LOVED it.  Then they ate cereal.  whatever.

Here are some ideas for different red foods.

• Watermelon slushy
• Strawberry fruit kabob
• Cher-Apple Smoothie
• Making your own Tomato sauce
• Tomato idea: Our favorite Chip dip

What will you give your kids today that is red?  Jolly Ranchers don’t count!

Monday: Fruits and Vegetables

I gave my kids watermelon homework for the holiday (Memorial Day).   Sounds mean I know, but they like homework sheets, I sware.  And of course, they had to EAT watermelon to do their watermelon homework!   We love watermelon.

Did you know there is a National Watermelon Association? Did you know they have a watermelon BLOG? And that there is a National Watermelon QUEEN?  This reminded me that I had a mission companion that was the 4H Beef queen!   Anyway, to be the watermelon queen, you must possess great knowledge of watermelon’s.

As for the Watermelon homework, there are some printable homework sheets here!  Perfect for summer learning activities.

I’m cutting up the watermelon for a Memorial Day neighborhood BBQ.  This way we can be sure to have something healthy and sweet to eat.  We also like Watermelon smoothies, and slushies.

Inspired by Roni’s delicious looking post yesterday, I HAD to make it. She pureed watermelon with yogurt, and froze. Click over to her post for more details. It was so terrific.  My kids devoured it. I was hesitant to share it!  There just wasn’t enough.  Ketchup boy and I actually drank some before we froze it.  It also made a yummy smoothie.  I like this idea, because I always cut up our entire watermelon right when I bring it home.  By the time we get to the bottom of the bowl, we have small broken pieces.   My kids do like eating the wedges with the rind on, but my chopped up pieces are so much cleaner.

Why we love watermelon:

• Good source of lycopene, vitamin C, potassium, vitamin A
• Good source of water (kids are going to start needing to be hydrated and watermelon is 92% water!)
• High in energy, low in calories and fat
• Excellent snack and fun to eat

Side note: my mean brother told me when I was very small that I must have eaten watermelon seeds and was growing a watermelon in my tummy cause it was so huge.