In our continuing quest to try new fruits and veggies we picked up a gorgeous orange fruit that we had no clue as to what it was…even the produce guy was confused because he told us it was a persimmons but I’m pretty sure it isn’t.  We spent some time on Google trying to find it but didn’t have any luck.  So we decided to just cut it open and give it a try!  It was hard and almost crunchy to cut through!

We were really surprised to see the inside!!!!!

It looked a bit like the Kiwano fruit we tried last week so we ate them the same way!  We grabbed some with our fingertips and enjoyed the flesh around the seeds.  It tasted AMAZING…very fruity like a mix of citrus with sweet strawberry!!!  It was messy and a lot of work but it was so worth it!

If you know what this fruit is leave a comment and let us know what we ate

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!

Hannah is having so much fun in the kitchen helping us prepare our meals! It’s amazing to see her kitchen skills improving each time! At first it was a bit scary to see her using a knife so close to her cute little fingers But like most things practice makes progress!  I’m sure one day she’ll be chopping and dicing like a pro!  Learning how to cook and how to use kitchen gear is such a valuable skill to pass on to our kids!

Washing and drying our hands is always the first step to any meal!

Fresh from Nana’s garden!

Chopping chopping chopping!

Adding chopped onions with a little help from daddy!

In goes the rice!

Stirring it up!

Yum!!

Passing down special family recipes is a wonderful benefit of cooking with kids!  Now that we know Nana’s rice recipe we think of her every time we make it!

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!

Whenever we go grocery shopping my daughter is always drawn to anything that is her favorite color…PURPLE!!!  So it didn’t surprise me when she squealed with delight at these gorgeous purple peppers and asked if she could get it.  It is such a vibrant color and was the perfect topping to add to our homemade pizzas!  We also spent the rest of our shopping trip doing our best to recite the Peter Piper Picked A Peck of Purple Peppers tongue twister

Colorful peppers are generally more expensive than green ones because they have been left longer on the vine to ripen and gain their color.  This also results in less yield per plant so it’s more costly for farmers.  But we always think it’s worth the wait and the extra money to enjoy colorful peppers like this beautiful purple one!

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!

Imagine a place where you could buy the freshest produce, learn how it was grown, support your community and provide your children with a fun and educational shopping experience.  Look no further than your local Farmers Market!

Farmers markets have a magical quality that brings families and communities together; farm fresh produce, knowledgeable farmers, and a relaxed outdoor feeling are just some of the benefits you’ll enjoy!

Here are 4 reasons to take your family to the farmers market:

1. Aside from growing your own produce, you won’t find it any fresher than at a farmers market! The colorful produce is grown locally and picked when perfectly ripened and full of nutrients.  This means it will look, smell and taste fantastic…experiencing produce at its best is great when you are introducing them to your children!  No one likes soggy old produce!

2. You have an opportunity to talk to the people that grow your food!  Farmers are a fantastic source of information and some have a favorite recipe or two to share!  Your children can come up with a few questions for them such as: “what vegetable grows the fastest” or “how do you know when carrots are ready to be picked”? Connecting your children with the foods they eat and the people who grow it is an important step in teaching them how to make smart food choices for themselves.

3. You are making an earth friendly choice when purchasing produce grown in your area. Buying local produce reduces transportation pollution and costs.  Choosing to buy locally grown produce is healthier for you and the planet!  It’s also a great way to support the hard working farmers in your area.  Talk about a win-win situation for all!

4. It’s a wonderful hands-on learning adventure for your children.  Give them a bag and start them on a scavenger hunt to find a rainbow of colorful fruits and veggies! They’ll have fun tracking down a red fruit, an orange vegetable and so on! Let them help you select and purchase the produce.  The more you involve your children in selecting, preparing and cooking produce the more comfortable and willing they’ll be to eat it!

My family looks forward to our weekly trips to the farmers market where we see familiar friendly faces, sample new produce and come home with bags full of beautiful fresh fruits and vegetables!

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!

Last week we talked about putting together snacks based on color as a fun way to keep things interesting! This week we focused on creating a healthy snack with just orange produce!

Hannah enjoyed sliced orange peppers,  cubed up cantaloupe and orange slices!  It can be fun to come up with different ways of presenting fruits and veggies! Sliced, cubed, crinkled cut, grated…there are a lot of options.

Here are some other ideas for healthy ORANGE day snacks:

Carrots
Mangoes
Apricots
Peaches
Squash
Nectarines
Papaya

Next week will be YELLOW snack day!

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!