Be the first to get a taste of our a next big idea in healthy, green fun!
           
About     Blog     Contact     FAQ     Press     Shop

Posts Tagged ‘kids’

Radicchio!?

Monday, March 26th, 2012

When we were grocery shopping this weekend Hannah picked up a Radicchio and declared that we just had to try it!! It really is a cute little thing and when we peeled the leaves it felt just like deflated balloons! Hannah ate some raw, I added some leaves to my morning juice and the rest we added to our baby spinach salad.

How do you eat Radicchio? Looking forward to hearing if you have any great radicchio recipes!

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!

March is Nutrition Month so let’s Eat Rainbows!

Monday, March 5th, 2012

In honor on March being Nutrition Month we are going to help you get healthy by showing you how you can eat a rainbow of fruits and veggies! Using a rainbow as a guide, you can ensure that your children benefit from a wide range of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients in their diet.

By breaking produce down into groups of fire-engine red, bright orange, sunshine yellow, emerald green, and  rich blue/purples you can make eating fruits and vegetables fun and easy for your kids!  Even at a very young age, kids can easily grasp the concept of eating a rainbow.

So how do you get your kids to actually eat a rainbow? As parents, we need to get into the habit of serving fruits and veggies at every meal and snack! Start off with ones that they like (if they don’t like any…stay tuned for my next guest post!) then you can slowly try new produce! If you do the typical 3 meals and 2 snacks per day then you have at least 6 opportunities a day to get your kids eating colorful fruits and vegetable! I encourage parents to make this fun and keep it light, no pressure, no battles. If your child starts off by eating one color a day that is a great start…you can build up to a rainbow over time. Healthy bodies are made one bite at a time so celebrate every step towards the rainbow!

Breakfast: Always provide a fruit! Bananas, Apple Slices, Seedless Grapes, Pears Slices. If you eat dairy and your kids like to dip their fruit, yogurt works well! Sometimes I’ll incorporate the fruit into the meal, such as a bowl of yogurt, granola and apple chunks. Or I’ll add a handful of Raisins to a bowl of oatmeal. Or make a yummy fruit smoothie!

Snack: Veggie Time!! Cut up Celery, Carrots, Cucumbers, Bell Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes. Once again, a dip might help encourage your little one, try hummus, or perhaps you have a great homemade dressing, a store bought salad dressing works fine too! We like to serve this on a fun plate or in a muffin tray to make it a little more interesting!

Lunch: Sandwiches are a great place to add veggies! Sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, leafy lettuce, avocado slices all work well in a sandwich. If we’re not having sandwiches we always make sure there is a plate of veggies, based on the colors eaten at snack time, we then offer a color or two that hasn’t been eaten yet.

Snack: Fruit Time!! At this point in the day think about what colors still need to be eaten…then serve a fruit that belongs to the color group that is needed. A little bowl of frozen blueberries is a tasty treat!

Dinner: We always have a vegetable with dinner! Salads, steamed veggies, raw veggie slices all make their way onto our table! We also try to include veggies in our cooking; we add things like zucchini, carrots, tomatoes to spaghetti sauce.

Dessert: Fruit again! We think Strawberry slices and Raspberries make a great way to top off a meal sometimes we’ll have them on top of frozen yogurt! If we re-think what “dessert” is, we can see that it can actually be a fantastic time to get in another serving of fruit!

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!

Playing with Food

Monday, February 20th, 2012

Ever since my daughter was little I’ve encouraged her to have fun with and play with her food. We’re not talking food flying around the kitchen playing but the kind where faces are made out of orange slices or veggies are cut into fun shapes.  I think it’s important to let kids relate to food in a fun and enjoyable way, especially when it comes to fruits and veggies who have a lot of tough competition with all the “fun” processed food that is geared towards kids.

Here is Hannah’s orange face work of art!

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!

Juicing – A great way to get a lot of colors in your diet!

Monday, February 13th, 2012

Our family watched a documentary last year that really inspired us to want to try juicing, that documentary by Joe Cross, is called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  So we started saving up to buy a juicer and this January it arrived and with it a whole new world of juicing!  Our daughter wasn’t too thrilled with our first attempts but we kept trying new combinations and added more sweet produce like beets, carrots and apples and now she can’t get enough of our juice.  We also make them into popsicles which she loves.

This was my breakfast this morning…mmmm it was delicious and quite filling! As much as we strive to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables there’s no way I’d eat this many in one meal!

This particular combo had apples, carrots, beats, kale, celery, cucumber, baby spinach and red lettuce.

We’re really excited for all the new combinations that we can try this summer when we are once again surrounded by a bountiful supply of fresh produce!

Happy Healthy Eating,

Kia Robertson

Kia Robertson is a mom and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow kit; a game 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

A Healthy Valentine’s Treat

Monday, February 6th, 2012

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!