Hannah has been helping out in the kitchen for years so we decided it was time for her to take on a bigger role once a week and prepare a meal for us. We are around to offer a helping hand or answer a question but for the most part the whole thing is up to her.  Every Sunday we all sit down together and write our grocery list by planning out all our meals for the week, at this time Hannah picks her weekly recipe from one of her cookbooks and lets us know what ingredients we need to add to our shopping list.

We’ve done this for two weeks now and it’s been a fantastic experience for us all but especially for Hannah because she glows with pride when we’re all sitting around the table ooh’ing and ahh’ing over her creation.  I thought her cheeks might explode from the giant smile on her face when I asked for a second helping of her pasta casserole!

Hannah has also learned that it takes a lot of planning and energy to make a meal for the family! By the time she is enjoying the meal she prepared she is tired (and she likes to let us know how much work it is to cook).  This has also made her much more appreciative and grateful for the meals we prepare for her because now she knows exactly what it takes to get dinner on the table!

The challenging part for us to to keep our mouths shut and let her make mistakes and find her own ways of doing things.  As parents it’s so easy for us to just do things for our kids because let’s face it, it’s faster, easier and usually less messy!  But when we let our children do things for themselves they learn so much more and take so much more pride in what they have accomplished.

Happy Healthy Eating,
Kia

Kia Robertson is a mom and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow kit; a tool that helps parents establish healthy habits by setting the goal of eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day. Kia is passionate about creating tools that help parents raise healthy kids!

When you take the time to make your own food you can easily turn a not so healthy meal into something that’s delicious and much healthier than it’s fast food version. We all love pizza at our house so we decided to find ways to enjoy it without filling our bodies with unnecessary preservatives and cheap ingredients.

We found a great whole wheat pizza dough recipe online, there are plenty to choose from, here is one that we have tried. Hannah had fun helping us make the dough! Then we used a very small amount of cheese and loaded our pizzas full of veggies such as zucchini, spinach, olives and red peppers.  We make individual size pizzas so that we can each create our own combo and it helps keep portion sizes down.  It works well to kids involved in the kitchen and it makes it easy to customize based on food preferences.

Just a reminder that making healthy choices doesn’t have to mean missing out on some favorite foods!

Happy Healthy Eating,
Kia

Kia Robertson is a mom and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow kit; a tool that helps parents establish healthy habits by setting the goal of eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day. Kia is passionate about creating tools that help parents raise healthy kids!

It’s getting close to Valentine’s Day so we thought we’d share a favorite treat we like to make for our daughters class for their Valentine’s party. Her teacher asks that 3 families supply goodies and 3 families supply healthy treats in order to ensure the kids aren’t going to end up full of sugar by the end of the day. These lovable little ladybugs make a great treat and they’re really cute!

What you need: Adapted from Batter Up Kids: Delicious Desserts ~ Makes 16 ladybugs

16 seedless Green or Red Grapes

16 (6 inch) wooden skewers or toothpicks

16 whole strawberries

32 mini chocolate chips or dried black currents

Directions:

Step 1.  Wash your grapes and strawberries

Step 2.  Cut the grapes in half

Step 3.  Slice off a strip on one side of the strawberries (this will help them to sit flat on the plate)

Step 4.  Place a grape on a toothpick sliding it all the way to the end

Step 5.  Next place the strawberry on the toothpick and slide it down to touch the grape

Step 6.  Gently score a line at the top of the strawberry to create the appearance of wings

Step 7.  Finally, carefully push the pointed ends of the mini chocolate chips (or dried currants) into the strawberry to make the ladybug’s spots.

Happy Healthy Eating
Kia

Kia Robertson is a mom and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow kit; a tool that helps parents establish healthy habits by setting the goal of eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day. Kia is passionate about creating tools that help parents raise healthy kids!

Looking for something fun to do with your kids? Try cooking together! Sure it can mean a little extra time and clean up when you have little “helpers” but it’s worth it. Of course this isn’t something that needs to happen for every meal, even if you just cook together once a week, it can create cherished memories and traditions that will last a lifetime! Getting your kids involved in preparing meals is a fantastic way to develop healthy eating habits. Kids are far more likely to dig into a new dish if they helped prepare it!

There are lots of things even very young children can do in the kitchen. Toddlers can wash and rip lettuce, preschoolers can measure and stir, and older kids can find recipes and help create meals.

Here are a few ideas that don’t require much “actual cooking” but they are fun recipes for kids!

Rainbow Fruit Sticks

Need a colorful, tasty, healthy item to bring to your next potluck or school event?!? Try these easy to make Rainbow Fruit Sticks!  They are a huge hit at any event with kids of all ages.

All you need is a collection of colorful fruit and some skewers! I like to use: Pineapple, Green Grapes, Cantaloupe, Raspberries, Honeydew Melon and Blackberries to give the skewers a nice rainbow effect!

1. Wash your fruit and let dry a little so that they are easy to work with.
2. Arrange your fruit and skewer them in the same order.
3. Display your Rainbow Fruit Sticks on a platter and get ready for the compliments!

Cinnamon Apple Slices

All you need is an Apple and some Cinnamon

This is an easy snack.  Wash and slice an apple then sprinkle with cinnamon.  Adds a yummy twist to eating apples!

Kids want to have fun…that’s part of what makes them such great people to be around! So when you want to get your kids on board for something, try making a game out of it! Look at your kitchen through the eyes of your little one and suddenly the salad spinner becomes a merry-go-round for lettuce and the sink turns into a car-wash for vegetable vehicles! Use mini cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes in fruits and vegetables. Get them involved and have fun!!

Happy Healthy Eating!
Kia Robertson

Kia Robertson is a mom and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow kit; a tool that helps parents establish healthy habits by setting the goal of eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day. Kia is passionate about creating tools that help parents raise healthy kids!

When you have a little chef in your kitchen it’s fun to keep you eye out for cute and creative kitchen utensils that make cooking even more fun!  Cute aprons, colorful bowls, chefs hats are just some of the items you can get to help inspire your budding chef to enjoy the art of cooking!

We won these adorable mice measuring cups last year and these are the ONLY measuring cups Hannah will use because the other ones we have just aren’t as cute

We bought Hannah an apple shaped cutting board and a match red knife we buy at https://viebelles.ca/products/reserve-7-santoku-knife…she loves having her own special kitchen gear!

You don’t need to spend a lot of money or buy an abundance of kitchen gadgets for your kids, just a couple items is all it takes!  My daughter loves it when I ask if I can borrow her cutting board, fillet knife or any of her kitchen gear. I even enjoy cooking a little bit more when using her fun and colorful things!

Happy Healthy Eating
Kia

Kia Robertson is a mom and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow kit; a tool that helps parents establish healthy habits by setting the goal of eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day. Kia is passionate about creating tools that help parents raise healthy kids!