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| Written by Angelle Batten, MEd, HHC |
 If I spend too much time reading other REAL Food bloggers I feel kind of, well, not very creative. Kind of the same way I feel not very organized if I visit one particular friend's home too frequently. Then I come home and look around. Ugh. There are so many creative moms blogging about how to make REAL food fun. I'm just not one of them. I'm more of a nuts-and-bolts person when it comes to feeding my kids. It's food. It's REAL. Eat it. That's pretty much how it goes at my house. I do make the Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies in the REAL Sweets eCookbook. And, I make the Mexican Chocolate Cake in our REAL Birthday eCookbook. Those are fun foods, right? Just not especially creative on my part. Hmmm...Jacob and Lucas made homemade blueberry ice cream last night. But, I probably shouldn't take credit for that fun food since I didn't make it. (Although I did find the recipe and give it to them, so I'll take a little credit.) My point is that if you're a creative REAL food mom who planned your REAL food St. Paddy's Day menu on February 15th, that's awesome. I can picture the shamrock shaped green peppers and the green apple oatmeal now. But, if you're less creative and don't have a special St. Paddy's Day menu planned out (raise your hand with me if you fall into this category) that's okay too. Setting out a plate of sliced green fruits & veggies and guacamole - even if it's not arranged in a leprechaun face on the plate - still works. It's food. It's REAL. So, if you've taken me up on the Green-a-Day experiment at your house, don't worry about being too creative, especially if it stresses you out. Just get those greens into your child (and yourself) everyday. Here's the list of green foods we've eaten so far since last week:
Green Wisdom: Collards are a cruciferous cancer-fighting vegetable that actually outranks broccoli, spinach and mustard greens in nutritional value. They are high in fiber, rich in betacarotene, vitamin C, calcium and B vitamins. So, how exactly do you prepare collard greens? So easy. They're big leafy greens. Hold the stem in one hand and strip the leaves off both sides. I roll them up and slice them into thin strips. For the mildest taste (they're pretty mild anyway) put them in a large sautee pan. Fill with water. Cover pan and boil for 6-8 minutes. Cooking the greens actually preserves some of the nutrients as well as the color and taste. These are a green I generally don't eat raw. After boiling, drain the greens - you can keep the water to drink or use to cook quinoa or rice in. I usually forget to do that. Now you're ready for the Collards & Raisins recipe. Truth-be-told, I usually skip the boiling and just go right to the recipe. I'm a bit lazy like that. And my kids still like the recipe. I usually start with less work and then add more work if I need to change up the taste of a recipe - that's just me though. No better week to give collards a try than this week. And join us on FB to share how you're getting your greens in everyday - creative or not! If you do want some creative recipe ideas make sure to check out these awesome websites (just know that if you start feeling uncreative in comparison just take a breath and come back to read my posts and you'll feel better!) Tastebudding Happy Monday ~Angelle P.S. - Do you listen to me each Tuesday on the Time Out Mom Blog Talk Radio Show? Last week we talked about greens! This Tuesday we'll be talking about detoxing - join us at 10 a.m. est. |