Actually, the story was born after Anika declared she is “tired of having soup all the time!” There was a little teenage angst coming coming from our four-year-old regarding our having soup again, so I pulled the old “it’s princess food” trick.  It worked like a charm.  And then Princess Clementine gave her a clementine from her clementine orchard for dessert. She really liked that one, too.

Is using fairy tales at the table bad form?  Hey, not if it gets your kid to eat her soup!

I made some Indian Chili with Avocado tonight.  I love the recipe.  Isaac wanted some right after it was made, but it was still very hot.  So what did I do?

I added ice cubes of course!  But cooling with ice creates a problem: it waters down your food as it melts.

Science Lesson

If there’s one thing I’ve learned while studying free radicals and natural products in a laboratory, it’s that a standard freezer has a temperature of -20ºC.  But (and this is important) ice begins to melt at 0ºC.

So what?  Well, that means that you have 20 degrees of cooling power in an ice cube before it starts to melt!  Isn’t that amazing?!

Real-world Application

I put my neurons to work on Isaac’s quandary.  Because I care about the little guy, I didn’t want his chili to be watery, so I added six ice cubes immediately out of the freezer, stirred madly for ten seconds, then scooped the cubes into the sink.  They were a little melted around the edges, but were not that much smaller.  The magic?  His chili was the perfect temperature, but it wasn’t watery!  I put those extra 20 degrees of cooling power to work.

The bottom line for cooling without watering down

The bottom line is this: when you have hot soup, stew, or chili you want to cool down without watering down, add a lot of ice cubes, stir them in quickly, and then discard them just after they start to melt.  This way you get maximum cooling power with minimum wateriness.  Oh, and it helps if you have a lot of ice cubes on hand.

I should teach this concept to Isaac.  Naahh…It’s his bed time.  Maybe he’ll read this some day.

1. I bring a big tub of pre-washed spring mix, spinach, or lettuce to work on Monday. I keep it in the fridge, alongside a nice bottle of healthy salad dressing.  The big Costco-sized bag lasts me half the week, or the whole week if I ration it.
2. I also bring a pre-mixed bag of toppings. And no, they’re not sundae toppings, they’re raw nuts and dried fruit type stuff.  A good combo to get you started is: pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), sunflower seeds, and golden raisins.
3. Oh, and I keep a fork and plate in the drawer. Anything else for the salad?  I don’t think so… not unless it’s an extra special day.

That’s it.  Here’s a photo for some eye candy (this was an extra special day with smoked salmon):

The problem was, I wanted food

1. I wanted it FAST
2. I wanted it healthy
3. And I wanted it real (as in, like a meal)

Kind of hard to do, right? Years ago I might have stopped at step one, but this time I used a few brain cells, got creative, and saw that we had some rinsed romaine in the salad spinner in the fridge.

SCORE.

It pays to have prepared food at times like this. But what substantial food could I add to the lettuce?

AHA! Black beans in the pantry. I didn’t want to spend the time heating them and cleaning a pan, though. So I opened them, drained them, put them in a bowl an added a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and a tablespoon of olive oil. Then I mixed it up with a fork and spread it over the romaine.

That was it.  It was gone in a few minutes, AND IT WAS VERY ENJOYABLE.

So what’s the point of this story?

The point is:

1. It’s a good idea to have a meal plan, but…
2. If you don’t have a meal plan, it’s good to have some healthy, fresh food prepared. And…
3. If you don’t have healthy fresh food prepared, at least you can have some healthy items stocked in the pantry.
4. THUS… it’s not necessarily hard to eat healthy in a hurry (if you take a few minutes to get some helpful tips and info)

So, what should you do?

We’re in the process of putting together some FREE QUICK TIPS on eating healthy.  Sign up and we’ll start sending them to you as they’re ready.

And guess who’s feeding the little animal?

Can you see the love in their eyes?  What sweet little angels.

I thought young kids had a natural aversion to bitter foods.  This kind of debunks that theory.

]]> http://www.wholefamilynutrition.com/2009/10/broccopalooza/feed/ 1 http://www.wholefamilynutrition.com/2009/07/liver-mcnuggets/ http://www.wholefamilynutrition.com/2009/07/liver-mcnuggets/#comments Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:05:00 +0000 Nicholas http://www.wholefamilynutrition.com/?p=366 My kids ate liver!

For years, I’ve admired the spectacular nutritional profile of liver, but I secretly wondered if my kids would ever really eat it, let alone incorporate it into their regular diet. I thought it was such a shame. That is, until today!

While reading my friend Jordan Dietrich’s unpublished booklet about healthy eating, I zoned in on his Asian Flair Liver and Onions recipe. I was so inspired because in it he promised that freshly grated ginger would “take the yuck out of liver.”

I carefully prepared it making especially sure to get enough fresh grated ginger on it. I diced it up into small bite-sized pieces and mixed some dijon mustard in with some of it. Then I excitedly touted it to my kids. To Isaac, I pumped it up as a “Power Ranger” food. For Anika, it was a “red princess lips” food.

Isaac said “it’s so good! It tastes like chicken!”

Anika seemed to enjoy the first bite well enough. On the second bite, however, she got that all-too-familiar sour face and spit it out.

“Uh-oh,” I thought, “she’s detected the foul liver taste. There goes liver for her.” I was disappointed.

But to my utter delight, she said, “It’s too spicy!”

I was ecstatic because it was the mustard she protested, not the liver! I promptly hurried to get her some more—without the mustard—and she had several more princess-sized pieces. I was bursting with pride.

It’s no prime rib, but the liver was very tasty and much better for you than Chicken McNuggets®.

I got the liver from slow food usa (more about this later)

Recommendations

Only buy organic liver: the liver is a filtering organ. If the cow is exposed to pesticides, antibiotics, or hormones, they’re likely to concentrate in the liver.

Because of the high cholesterol content, liver should not be eaten in large amounts at one sitting, but rather in small amounts regularly, like once or twice a week. And, as with all meats, it’s a good idea to eat it with a healthy dose of vegetables to round things out. I’ve had good luck cooking a pound of liver at a time and then freezing it in 2-ounce portions (8 portions) in baggies within a larger tupperware so I can grab one to reheat for lunch occasionally.

Tonight I decided to make the same thing again since our leftover guacamole and beans were perishable. This time, though, I was determined to make the whole dish more palatable to them so they’d eat it all and get a more balanced meal. I got the lettuce (something I had forgotten last night) and realized they might eat it, but they would more likely just avoid it. Then I had the wonderful idea of shredding it finely with a vegetable knife rather than giving it to them in big old chunks like I often do. I figured they’d be more likely to eat it that way.

I slathered the guacamole directly on the beans so it’d be hard to separate. I added the shredded lettuce to that. Then I crushed up the chips and placed them on top. Then I just mixed it all up with a spoon: beans, guacamole, crushed chips, and finely shredded lettuce, right before serving it. Oh, and then I drizzled fresh lime juice over it.

And they ate all the items because they were all mixed in together and not easily separable.

Isaac loved it (he’s a good eater). And I have to say that Anika liked it (although she’s not quite the “adventurous eater” type). I think she was on a slightly rebellious kick, i.e., “I don’t want to eat it because daddy wants me to.” What a sweetheart. I wish I could say she gobbled it up, but all she could say was, “can I have a chocolate chip after this?”

All in all, I think it was a success. The kids got a well balanced meal!

And I gave them each a whole grain chocolate chip cookie afterwards!