Vegetarian stuffed peppers

My new favorite food is hands down, Barley-stuffed peppers! It is easy and pretty fast to make. I found the recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens 365 vegetarian meals book.

To cut the amount of sodium in this recipe I do not use the vegetable bouillon cube, and omit the water. I make my own veg. broth and use that to cook the barley.  To make your own veg. broth save the scraps from vegetables such as carrots (the peel and the ends) onion skins, broccoli stems, summer squash ends, mushroom stems, leek ends and parts not used, etc. and boil them in water for about 20 minutes, discard the vegetables and you have home made broth. I do not add any salt and just add salt to whatever it is I'm cooking as it's needed.

The barley adds a meaty texture to the stuffed pepper which for me substitutes for the stuffed pepper of my youth my mother used to make, which was usually made with ground pork, rice and other ingredients.

The Ingredients

1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup water
2/3 cup quick-cooking barley
1/2 of a veg. bouillon cube
2 large red, yellow and or green pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup, chopped tomato
3/4 cup shredded low fat mozz. cheese
1/2 cup shredded zucchini
1/3 cup soft bread crumbs
1 tblspn. fresh basil or 1/2 tspn. dried basil crushed
1 tspn. fresh rosemary or 1/8th spn, dried
1/4 tspn. onion salt  (if you don't have this you can chop red onions very small and add them to the mixture when adding the cheese, tomato, etc.) then add regular salt to the mixture

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sauce pan combine mushrooms, water, bouillon cube and barley. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered for 15 minutes or until barley is tender; drain.

Meanwhile, halve sweet peppers lengthwise, remove the core, seeds and membranes. Combine egg, tomato,1/2 cup of cheese, zucchini,bread crumbs, basil, rosemary, and onion salt.
Stir in cooked barley mixture. Place peppers cut side up, in an ungreased 2 quart rectangular baking dish. Spoon barley mixture into peppers.

Bake, covered, for 20 to 25 minutes or until barley mixture is heated through. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake uncovered for about 2 more minutes more or until cheese melts.

I have to say that I add some prepared spaghetti sauce on the bottom of the pan and then add the peppers. Then I also have some of the sauce on hand to put on top of the peppers in case we feel like adding it.

Depending on how big your peppers are you might have some left over mixture, I usually do, so I make more stuffed peppers than the 4 halves the recipe says. Left overs are good for lunch the next day.

A well stocked pantry/shelf, fridge etc...

When I have a recipe in mind to cook a wonderful, healthy dinner for my family, I hate to find that I am missing a key ingredient. So I have a well stocked pantry. I like to have some great staples and then get the fresh ingredients as I go, but always have some onions and carrots in my crisper in the fridge. 

My pantry, or big white, free standing closet/with shelves, and the cabinet under my counter hold most of my stash :).

20 lbs. of rice, red and white quinoa, red and brown lentils, yellow and green split peas, barley, olive oil, brown sugar, brown rice, flour, and all types of pastas. I tend to have a few boxes of each: penne, ziti, elbows, shells, and spaghetti, as well as a few other types, tri colored and regular. Dried beans are a good thing to have as well, although I tend to use canned beans for the convenience of it. I have red, white, and black beans as well as tomato sauce and paste, diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes in sauce, green and black olives, chick peas, tomato sauces, refried beans from TJ's, butter beans, all of the canned food are no sugar added, low salt or no salt added, and organic when I can get it. I no longer buy canned corn and use only organic frozen corn. I also do not use any greens in a can because they taste like greens from a can. I buy both fresh and frozen, no pesticide spinach, and always fresh kale and other green leaf veggies. The corn tortillas are becoming another staple in the house, as well as tortilla wraps kept in my fridge for quick, last minute rice, bean and veggie burritos. 

Also the spices on hand are always, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, garlic powder, italian seasoning, cumin, cayenne pepper, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, and a myriad of other spices from all over. 

I like to have fresh organic garlic on hand at all times, garlic is so great for so many things, other than adding flavor and some spice to a meal, it is very healthy and boosts your immune system when eaten raw on a slice of bread (to help with minor stomach upset in some people). My kids and I love it. 

Try to plan your menu a few days in advance so as to make sure you have all the fresh ingredients you will need. I tend to cook what I crave for each night, and my go to meal when I have no idea what to make, has always been rice with carrots and onions and a pot of beans(with potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic) with either sauteed kale if I have it or avocados for the husband and girls. 

What's in your pantry? 

black bean and toasted corn tacos

Black bean and toasted corn tacos for dinner, with roasted red peppers and spinach. Very easy to make. I mixed a can of black beans with 1/2 cup of salsa, 1 tsp. of cumin and 1 clove of garlic. let it cook for abt. 5 to 10 min. until it's a little bubbly. Meanwhile I toasted frozen, organic corn with a little bit of the cumin and black pepper until it was nice and toasted, a little brown on each side. cut the roasted red peppers into strips and wash the baby spinach leaves and you are set to go. You can add various other ingredients if you'd like or omit a few. My middle child doesn't like corn so I do not put them in her tacos, and my son doesn't like the red peppers, so out they go. But they all like cheddar cheese so that gets put in. The kids can fill the tacos themselves if you put all of the ingredients on the table. It's a quick, fun meal to have on a busy night. Last night we made dessert to go with it. We usually don't have dessert after a meal but since this was a very light dinner I decided to make a strawberry cobbler. My husband is the baker in the house, so he helped out :). It came out great, I bought 2 packs of strawberries earlier in the day, used 1/2 of 1 pack for a smoothie and the rest for the cobbler. This was the first time we had any type of cobbler and it was very well received. Next time I'll use the full 2 packs of berries, and add other types of berries to have a nice berry cobbler. 

The other night we had some simple veggie burgers embellished with romaine lettuce, spinach, mushrooms, red onions and avocados for the husband and the girls. Accompanied with potato-carrot-spinach soup. Also simple and easy to make. It has been a hot summer and I do not enjoy cooking for long periods of time over a hot stove. These meals are delicious and so fast. Most of them take less than 40 min. to make. The tacos took about 10 min. and the cobbler abt. 20 in the oven. While things are cooking I'm free to do things around the house so I am not in the kitchen. 

Hungarian green Pea soup and Canadian Potato salad

For dinner tonight I decided to make the Hungarian Green Pea Soup and pair it with Canadian Potato salad (made with red potatoes and sweet pickles). We picked fresh shelling peas upstate last Friday, there is such a nice difference between fresh week old peas and the ones you get from the store/frozen. But the soup can be made with frozen peas as well as fresh. The kids really enjoyed shelling the peas, which is something I remember doing with my grandmother when I was young.
Then as the soup was cooking the girls made the egg dumplings (galuska) for the soup. Simple, easy and delicious :). I like to get my kids involved in cooking special things. They like helping and it creates a nice tradition for them to follow, helping mom in the kitchen. I have noticed that they are more likely to eat food that they have helped to make. My middle child is not crazy about peas but she ate most of the peas in her bowl. (I added cut up carrots to this soup to give it some extra color and taste. I just added them at the same time as the peas. ) I also ended up adding extra water, about 4 cups, while it was cooking so as to make it enough for 5 people.

I got the recipe from recipes.vonmetz.com/recipes.html

Zöldborsó Leves (Green Pea Soup)

This delicious soup has a Springy, refreshing taste that no other vegetable soup will offer. When I was a little girl, my Mother never missed a chance during the late spring and early summer months of sending me out to our vegetable garden to pick the green pods from the vine. Shelling the peas together in the sun-lit kitchen, or sitting closely with bowls in our laps on the steps by our backdoor, always made me feel very secure and content.

Unfortunately, my own children missed all this, because I had to use frozen ready-shelled peas, or had to shell the store-bought fresh pods alone for our zöldborsó leves.

Ingredients

• 1 pound shelled peas, fresh or frozen
• 2 tablespoons butter
• ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon Wondra flour
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 clove garlic, cleaned and minced
• 1 egg
• ½ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• Salt
• Water

Shell and wash the peas if not using the frozen kind.

Heat up the butter in a medium soup pot and add in the garlic and parsley. Turn the heat down and simmer for 2 minutes. Add in the peas and sprinkle on the one tablespoon flour. Stir well until they are coated with the roux. Poor in the milk and two cups of water; add the sugar and salt to taste. Bring up to boil and cook uncovered on medium heat for 10 minutes. The peas should be almost done; add more water if necessary.

While the peas are cooking prepare the dumplings.

In a small bowl slightly beat up the egg with a fork; gradually add in the flour and a pinch of salt. Mix well until it forms a soft and smooth dough. With a teaspoon and the help of a dinner knife drop small and even dumplings into the boiling soup. You can also force the dough through a Spatzle machine (galuska maker) directly into the soup.

Cook on medium heat for few more minutes, until the dumplings come up to the surface.

Serve it immediately.

Experimenting with food

Seeing as I love to cook, I decided to commit to making a new vegetarian dish every night for 14 days. My family is adventurous when it comes to food and they are willing to try all types of food. I have numerous recipe books and at least 30 Vegetarian Times magazines that I have looked through and have said that I'd try and make the recipes that look so good. This time I am determined to make them...

Tonight for dinner I will make baked mac and cheese with cauliflower and elbow noodles since I do not have enough cauliflower.  Tomorrow I will make Hungarian green pea soup, with the fresh peas that we picked this past Friday when we went upstate to see my step daughter and her family.

Substitute cauliflower for the white pasta to make this meal a little bit healthier, the flavor is almost the same. My kids actually prefer this to the regular home made mac and cheese I make occasionally.  I try to substitute for lower fat ingredients where I can.  I know the recipe says it serves 8, but for my family of 5 I have to use at least 2 heads of cauliflower, or substitute a little of the elbow or medium shell pasta and add a little more of the cheese and milk mixture.

nutritional information

Per 1-cup serving:

• Calories: 273
• Protein: 16 g
• Total Fat: 16 g
• Saturated Fat: 9 g
• Carbohydrates: 18 g
• Cholesterol: 94 mg
• Sodium: 314 mg
• Fiber: 4 g
• Sugar: 6 g

• 

Mac-and-Cheese-Style Cauliflower

Serves 8

Get all the creamy, cheesy goodness of mac and cheese—without the high starch content of macaroni. To make your own breadcrumbs, tear firm, fresh bread into pieces and whirl in a food processor or blender until crumbs form.

• 1 large head cauliflower (1 ½ lb.), cut into medium florets (8 cups)
• 2 Tbs. butter or margarine
• 3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
• 2 cups low-fat milk
• 1 clove garlic, minced (1 tsp.)
• 2 cups grated extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
• ½ cup nutritional yeast
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 ½ cups fresh breadcrumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Add cauliflower florets, and boil 5 to 7 minutes, or until just tender. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid, and set aside.

2. Melt butter in same pot over medium heat. Whisk in flour, and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Whisk in milk, garlic, and reserved cooking liquid, and cook 7 to 10 minutes, or until sauce is thickened, whisking constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in cheese, nutritional yeast, cayenne pepper, and egg yolks until cheese is melted. Fold in cauliflower.

3. Coat 13- x 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spread cauliflower mixture in baking dish, and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Spray breadcrumbs with cooking spray. Bake 30 minutes, or until casserole is hot and bubbly and breadcrumbs are crisp and brown.

January/February 2012 p.46

Fruit, the natural sweetener

One thing I do love about summer, are all the wonderful fruits you can find.  In our house we love a variety of fruits, all kinds of apples, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, watermelon, grapes, cherries, oranges, mangoes, etc...

My kids are not afraid to try new fruit either, this week they tried papaya (which only my oldest liked).

I like to make a berry smoothie with strawberries, blueberries, cherries and raspberries, mix it with a little bit of OJ and blend. It is sweet as well as refreshing, no sugar added :).  My youngest likes a smoothie with low fat milk, bananas and peaches. There is an endless variety of smoothies you can make, my SIL makes a delicious one with mangoes, honeydew melons, and strawberries. Don't be afraid to experiment, and get your children involved. :)

My 9 yo made a fruit kabob the other day with bananas, peaches,  grapes and strawberries that she washed, cut and strung together herself. This is an easy and fun way to get kids to try a variety of fruits. I make sure we have a variety of things in the house for them to snack on when they get hungry in between meals, they are bound to like something if they have a variety to choose from  :).

For the 4th of July I will be making a red.white and blue treat. Lactose Free vanilla ice cream layered with strawberries and blueberries.    

You can add fruit to your breakfast, today's breakfast was hot farina with strawberries for me, bananas for my youngest, blueberries for my son and apples for the 9 yo.  Home made pancakes in our house (made by my husband) always involve a variety of fruits. My favorite is the triple berry one, cherries, raspberries and blueberries. My youngest eats her with bananas inside, he also makes some with apples and choc. chips. The sweetness of the fruit doesn't make syrup the main thing on our pancakes.  If you eat cold cereal be sure to put some fruit in it for added flavor. Sugary cereals are not healthy and fruit is a great way to add flavor and some sweetness to most cereals. 

Yellow split pea soup for dinner

Decided to make an easy dinner tonight, yellow split pea soup. All of us really like this soup and it's relatively easy to make. I served it with buttered toast tonight, but usually it's with a grilled cheese made with whole grain bread and cheddar cheese.  We have been eating a meatless dinner at least 5 nights a week, with fish or chicken the other 2 nights, for years now. My youngest daughter asked her older brother if he knew why I made such yummy food every night? He said because I'm mommy? She answered no, it's bec. I'm trying to fatten them up so I can eat them!  I found that so cute and funny, I had to share :).

It makes my mommy heart glad to hear that my kids truly love what I cook for them. When I see/hear about all the health issues some of the children are facing now days, it makes me very happy that my children know what real food is and actually prefer real food to sugary, fatty, and processed foods. Our job as parents is to help out children make healthy, good choices in their lives. Food is a big role in that in my opinion. They read labels, and look up unfamiliar ingredients, discuss what their food is made of, ask questions about how to prepare their favorite foods, and occasionally help in the kitchen.

They are free to try new things, my son decided to try duck for the first time last week at his birth day party/dinner with some of his best friends. We all sat down to a Thai food dinner, and he ordered duck. He said he enjoyed it some what but he prefers the taste of mock duck, made with tofu and flavored with duck. I love that all 3 of my children as well as my son's friends are not afraid to try new things and share the enjoyment that whole, real food brings to their palates.

As a parent you have to be open to eating a variety of dishes, we have to be an example to them. It is not enough to say 'eat your vegetables', we have to eat them as well :).

For dinner 2 nights ago I decided to try and make stuffed peppers, vegetarian style :) It came out very well. The pepper was stuffed with quinoa that I cooked with grated carrots, onions, spinach, diced tomatoes and black beans. I left out the celery because none of us likes it, but I think for the next time I will try and add a little bit just to see if how we like it. Seasoned with salt, pepper and cumin. Then added some monterey jack cheese. My son had the idea of adding the black olives, great idea! It added to the flavor beautifully. From beginning to end it took me about an hour to prepare. My son doesn't like peppers so he ate one bite and then took out the stuffing and left the pepper. This is a dish that I will be making again. :)

here is the entire recipe from Vegetarian Times

Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers

Vegetarian Times Issue: February 1, 2009   p.66

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This dish freezes well for future meals. Quinoa provides whole-grain goodness and a serving of protein.

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and celery, and cook 5 minutes, or until soft. Add cumin and garlic, and sauté 1 minute. Stir in spinach and drained tomatoes. Cook 5 minutes, or until most of liquid has evaporated.

2. Stir in black beans, quinoa, carrots, and 2 cups water. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 20 minutes, or until quinoa is tender. Stir in 1 cup cheese. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour liquid from tomatoes in bottom of baking dish.

4. Fill each bell pepper half with heaping 3/4-cup quinoa mixture, and place in baking dish. Cover with foil, and bake 1 hour. Uncover, and sprinkle each pepper with 1 Tbs. remaining cheese. Bake 15 minutes more, or until tops of stuffed peppers are browned. Let stand 5 minutes. Transfer stuffed peppers to serving plates, and drizzle each with pan juices before serving. 

Member Rating: 

ingredient list

Serves 8

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped (1 cup)
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 ribs celery, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
• 1 Tbs. ground cumin
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
• 1 10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 2 15-oz. cans diced tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
• 1 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3/4 cup quinoa
• 3 large carrots, grated (1 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups grated reduced-fat pepper Jack cheese, divided
• 4 large red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, ribs removed

Nutritional Information

Per 1/2 stuffed pepper:

Calories	279
Protein	14g
Total Fat	10g
Saturated Fat	3g
Carbs	36g
Cholesterol	15mg
Sodium	518mg
Fiber	10g
Sugar	9g

Market Spice Lentil Packet :)  I found this recipe in my Vegetarian Times magazine and with a few adjustments, made it for my family. It was a hit! My youngest is not crazy about curry so I omitted it from her packet and none of us like cooked raisins so I didn't add them. I also add onions to every dish whether it calls for it or not :).  We all love sweet potatoes and lentils which are the main ingredient, and since the packets are all individually made you can add/omit various ingredients according to what you like/don't like.

I make my own vegetable broth with no salt. You can use either the canned lentils or cook the lentils yourself. It takes about 20 minutes to cook about 1 1/2 cups of lentils.

Sweet potatoes and lentils get cooked in a curried broth inside packets for a lightly spicy dish. Serve with quinoa.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Place 4 16-inch lengths of foil on work surface. Fold foil in half from short side. Unfold. Shape corners and edges of one half into semicircular "bowl" with 1/2-inch sides. Coat insides of foil with cooking spray.

2. Combine sweet potato, bell pepper, green beans, and raisins in medium bowl. Add oil, and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

3. Whisk together broth, ginger, garlic, and curry powder in small bowl.

4. Divide sweet potato mixture among packets; top with 1/3 cup lentils. Pour 1/4 cup broth mixture over lentils, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Fold other half of foil over ingredients, and crimp edges in overlapping folds until packets are sealed. Transfer packets to baking sheet. Bake 25 minutes.

5. Transfer to plates. Let each person open packet carefully—escaping air will be hot. Top with chutney, if using.

ingredient list

Serves 4

• 2 cups finely diced sweet potato
• 1 large red bell pepper, diced (1 1/2 cups)
• 1 cup fresh green beans, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 2 Tbs. hot sesame oil
• 1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
• 2 Tbs. minced fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
• 1 tsp. curry powder
• 1 1/2 cups cooked lentils or 1 15-oz. can lentils, rinsed and drained
• 4 Tbs. prepared mango chutney, optional

Nutritional Information

Per packet:

Calories	265
Protein	9g
Total Fat	7g
Saturated Fat	1g
Carbs	43g
Cholesterol	0mg
Sodium	253mg
Fiber	10g
Sugar	13g

Mashed red potatoes, steamed broccoli, carrots and spinach, baked salmon with sauteed leeks on top. One of my family's favorite meals, the sauteed leeks were a last minute addition that added the perfect flavor to the salmon.
This is an easy meal to make, simple and not time consuming. From beginning to end it took about 45 minutes, while the potatoes are boiling cook the salmon in the oven, when it is almost ready, start steaming the veggies, and sauteeing the leeks. I add salt, pepper and lemon juice to the salmon before baking it for abt. 25 min or so.

Another way to serve the rice and beans and greens, with some lightly steamed vegetables. Can't you just see a theme here with the rice and beans :). I interchange the type of rice I use, some days it's white and other days it's brown. I always add carrots, onions, garlic and either spinach or kale to the rice dish.

There are so many ways to serve this dish, beans give you protein, greens calcium and a host of other vitamins....and of course the glass of water to top it off :).
We have had it with corn on the cob, avocado salad, roasted beets, sauteed chicken, etc....







I love the colors of this easy to make dish on the left. Red cabbage, carrots and scallions (I added later). Sautee in the wok until the cabbages are wilted and the corn is a little crispy, add the scallions and cook for a few minutes more. Meanwhile boil some Udon noodles according to the package directions. Then add it to the vegetable mixture and pour some low sodium soy sauce mix it well and serve while hot. I cut the cabbage ahead of time and then go about my business while it settles, (about 45 min) then drain the water out. The cooking time from beginning to end is about 20 minutes or so.. (not counting the time to cut the cabbage). My kids love this dish!
The main objective in feeing your children healthy dishes is to get as much color as you can on their plate. I love to experiment with food and try new dishes that I'm pretty sure my family will eat. Usually I'm right. :) But you shouldn't be afraid to do the same, even if your kids are not crazy about a lot of vegetables or flavors. The rule as far as food goes in my house is you eat what you are served, if you don't like it you can get a healthy snack. I usually have apples, organic yogurt, bananas etc if they try a few bites and really don't like the food. My youngest one is usually the pickier of the 3 but she has gotten used to a lot of various flavors and I have only had to use the 'get a snack' route 3 or 4 times in the last year or so.  :)

A favorite in our house, rice and red beans with sauteed greens, so easy to make and soo good! The beans take the longest to cook, and the greens take about 5 minutes in the wok. You can pair this meal with a nice big slice of avocado like my girls and Dh do.








Another meal I make fast (under 45 minutes) is chicken and vegetable stir fry with rice. I use only chicken breast, cut up small, and summer squash, carrots, broccoli and onions. But you can use pretty much any favorite vegetable. I do use the store bought stir fry sauce which is not the best if you are watching your sodium intake, I buy the low sodium version and use it sparingly. To make the sauce a little thicker I use corn starch and water. I have not figured out how to make my own stir fry sauce :(.

While searching for a Vegetarian food pyramid I came across this, from the Harvard school of medicine. I like it as it doesn't tell you to never eat sweets, just in moderation. There is no section for meat as protein, it is replaced by the legumes & bean section.  As far as drinks go, the only thing I give my children is 100% juices, sparingly, and water with lunch, dinner and in between. One way to get your children to think healthy is to introduce them to food labels. Read it with them and explain why the food/beverage is good or bad for them. Educating yourselves and your children is the key to life long good healthy eating habits. There are so many options for each category so if they don't like one kind of vegetable, try another kind, aim for a variety of colors on your dinner plate. One thing that worked for my children when they were younger is to make a game out of it. For each meal (we used dinner) I had them name some foods that were yellow, blue, green, red etc... and when we went food shopping at the market I had them search for foods that fit the colors. Periodically I had them draw, or cut out pictures from magazines of foods of different colors and made an art project. The point is to get them used to eating a variety of colors, they are bound to like more than a few of the fruits/vegetables they try. :) Now there will be a few things that your child will not like, any way you prepare it, present it, etc... my son who will be 12 soon, hates summer squash! He has tried it so many different ways (roasted, stewed, steamed, sauteed) and just doesn't like it. He ate it as a baby, but once he turned 2 or so there it went. He said a few weeks ago that he realized it's not the taste he doesn't like, it's the texture. I still have him try it once in a while, just to see if his taste for it has changed :). He know that and tries one bite and then doesn't eat the rest, I have not stopped serving him squash. There were a variety of foods that DH and I hated growing up but now love so there is hope :).  

PCRM | Power Plate

PCRM | Power Plate

Some great resources for what you should put on your plate, with links for kids to check out....you can click on each part of the plate and get more detailed info.

Rice, white beans,roasted beets and sauteed greens

We tried beet greens a few days ago and fell in love. One of my family's favorite dinners is rice (made with carrots, onions and kale) white beans, and sauteed greens. Dh and the 2 girls have it with avocados as well, I can't eat avocados. The kids and I love roasted beets and I bought them at the market with the greens attached.  After looking at some recipes, and asking a few friends about what to do with the greens, I decided to just sautee them along with the kale, adding onions and garlic. It came out so good! I caught the kids picking at the greens that were left in the wok :)...

When we first started eating sauteed greens a few years ago, my now 7 yo did not like the greens. She loves the rice and beans so I chopped up the greens into small bite size pieces and mixed them with the rice/beans. It took her a few tries to decide that she really likes greens. Now I can serve them any way, and no more chopping them up. Sometimes she mixes it with her rice/beans but eats it all up!

Moral of the story :), just because your child says they don't like something doesn't mean you should stop serving it to them.  It can take a few tries and some creative ways to get them to eat new things. I do not believe in hiding the new food, then they don't realize what they are eating, but mix it with a favorite food and serve it whenever the rest of the family is eating it.  It goes without saying that if you want your children to eat healthy you have to eat healthy as well.

Happy eating! :)