Hope you're all having a lovely Thanksgiving weekend!! This week Freida came home with her very first "made at school" loot: the most adorable petite pumpkin pie I've ever seen! She was so excited, and even ate most of it (was pretty darn delicious, to boot!).
Wanted to savor, share, and document this small, sweet, and special moment...
Thank you Morah Esther!!
Enjoy the last day of this perfectly extended holiday vacation...laze around, and snuggle up!!
I was teaching the concept of "blessings over food" with my Hebrew School class (3rd graders), and decided to do a little project to culminate the discussion of how special and significant natural sustenance is. Want to rev-up the planting process a bit? Terra-cotta planters + chalkboard spray-paint =
The kids really enjoyed decorating their planters with the blessing and all different sorts of vegetables and herb (we planted parsley - it grows in cooler weather) illustrations. This is such a great way to spruce up your kitchen window-sill (who doesn't want to cook with fresh herbs always on hand?), and a super-cute way to label and mark different species...
On a recent trip to Trader Joe's Freida discovered the pumpkin display and was infatuated with the vibrant colors, shapes, and the different textures. I had been wanting to take her to a pumpkin patch, but wasn't really keen on the obvious atmosphere at those October patches. After seeing how interesting she found the pumpkins, I did some online research and discovered a myriad of "pumpkin patch" spots that were much more "fall festival" than halloween. We trekked out into the hills of Irvine Park Railroad, and had a lovely day of fall festivities! Might as well take advantage of the seasonal events in your neighborhood; there is so much for the children to explore! Freida enjoyed an old fashion train ride through the forest brush, a petting zoo with baby animals (she saw her first peacock!), a walk through a straw maze, lunch on the duck pond, her first free-style pony ride, and plenty of pumpkin exploration! Sometimes it's worth looking around a little to find something a bit more neutral this time of year, rather than skipping it altogether...
The next morning I let Freida mess around with the inside of the pumpkins. She helped me scoop out all those seeds, and I gave her a bowl of them with pumpkin flesh still attached as a tactile activity (she didn't like the feeling much). I roasted the pumpkin in chunks (with olive oil, salt, and pepper) and we had it with dinner that night. The pumpkin seeds make such a great snack (and are loaded with magnesium, iron, and omega -3) - this easy recipe rocks!!
I received an incredible amount of feedback from the Brussel Sprouts Post; apparently mothers are very interested in recipes, specifically those that are healthy for the kiddies. I also realized that nutritional education - especially for that of children - is really not such common knowledge...
I was recently at a social gathering where the conversation led to kids and food. When I mentioned the 3 things that I would never let my child consume, my statement of "no coffee, coke, or sugar-free anything", was met with total confusion! Many of us Americans were raised to believe certain things without actually understanding them: that sugar-free was better than sugar (for your teeth!), that coffee was natural (as a drug!) and that soda was created for kids (and a recipe for diabetes!).
I was fortunate enough to grow up with the most nutritionally-educated woman I know: my mother. Unfortunately, I'm not claiming to doing much of what she taught me, but there is something to be said for knowing what is healthy and what is not. It makes for a much better starting-point. :)
My (amazingly knowledgeable) mother is currently working on compiling a life's worth of research into a book. A few months ago, she sent me over a copy to leaf through, and do some editing (unfortunately the editing never quite came to fruition... sorry ma!), but I learned some of the most amazing food-facts ever! I don't want to run off on a tangent here, so I decided to start a little category on kids/health/food: Into the Mouths of Children, and I hope to share some of her wonderfully life-enhancing health insights with you all, every so often...
Here's one of her recipes: a super-easy, super-healthy soup recipe for even the most culinarily inexperienced.
RED LENTIL SOUP:
- 2 Cups of Red Lentils (rinsed)
- 1/2 Onion
- 4 Garlic Cloves
- 2 Celery Stalks
- 2 Carrots
- 1 Handful Fresh Italian Parsley
- 3 teaspoons Salt
- 2 Bay Leaves
- (about) 7 Cups of Water
Give the lentils a good rinse in a colander and let them sit over the sink to drain. Drizzle some olive oil into a pot and let it heat up on a medium flame. Roughly chop the onion and garlic, toss it into the pot to begin sautéing. Roughly chop the celery, carrots, and parsley. Add them to sauté as well. When the onions are nice and translucent, add the lentils, salt, and bay leaves. Add the water, cover the pot halfway with the lid, and after it hits a boil, let it simmer for a little over an hour. Remove the bay leaves, and use a immersion blender to blend it up in the pot. Serve hot. Pine nuts (or pignolis) serve as an excellent garnish - adding a delicious element of earthiness to this wonderfully deep soup.
P.S Freida loooooves this!! And I'm quite sure most children will go for it as well...
You can find red lentils in most grocery stores, by Bob's Red Mill, or Aromatica Organics. You can also buy them by bulk in Whole Foods Markets. Red Lentils contain an impressive amount of iron, fiber, folate and vitamin B¹ - but they are made up mostly of protein, so when serving to children remember that this soup is protein-laden, i.e. a small bowl with some whole wheat toast as croutons or garlic bread is a complete meal!
Enjoy the wholesomeness!!
When I turned 9 years old, my parents got me a very funny birthday card about 9 wishes and the only one I didn't find that funny was about not having to eat any more brussel sprouts... I loved brussel sprouts! I didn't have them that often, but once in a while, especially around this time of year, I'd enjoy some well grilled and seasoned brussel sprouts (I'm pretty sure I called them "cabbage balls").
Unfortunately in America, the green stuff all lands in the same dinnertime angry-toned-mother stigma - "eat your broccoli". I've been giving Freida broccoli since she was able to eat solids, and now, to her, a side of steamed broccoli can compete with a side of fresh strawberries any day! It's so important to involve your kids in the food choices, kitchen prep, and cooking process of all different kinds of foods. I want a home with a yard just so I can plant a garden for my kids to see that food comes from someplace a lot more amazing than a grocery store (even though Trader Joe's is pretty damn amazing, and I guess Farmer's Market cuts it close).
Kids in the kitchen are usually doing basics like baking or assembling. And while it's great for them to watch batter form from different ingredients, and tactilely beneficial for them to experiment with dough, I think it's wonderfully educational for children to work with ingredients that may not be up there on the list of kid-loved foods: garlic, fresh basil, artichokes, beans, brussel sprouts, asparagus, capers, scallions etc. It's been proven that a versatile taste for food begins to develop at a very early age, and if we teach and train them properly, it will not only be beneficial to their health but to our sanity as well!
Of course, there are the common issues, say, texture problems (Freida seems to have a diversion to mashed food; potatoes, avocados etc.), allergies, choking hazards etc. but if you are able to get around those and move forward - children will be healthier, more diverse, and culinarily well educated. G-d's food (in its natural form) is delicious in its own right, however with a splash and a dash of the right seasoning and spices - all food becomes kid-friendly.
The other day when I was unpacking my groceries, Freida walked into the kitchen to help me, and was completely dumbstruck by a stalk of brussel sprouts. She wouldn't put it down. She examined it, showed it to her "baby", pulled the leaves off, even snuck a bit of the raw stuff into her mouth for a taste-test. She wound up crying when I eventually had to take it away... so I let her sit up on the counter with me and pull them off the stalk, remove the outer leaves, and wash them (who knew prepping brussel sprouts was such a kid activity??). I spread them out on a baking sheet (cut the larger ones in half), drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled salt and pepper, and put in the oven on broil for 17 minutes. The result was popcorn like, kid-freindly goodness! Try it - they'll like it, and if they don't... you will.
