Easy Tips to Add More Veggies!

The best way to have your family eat more vegetables is to involve them with meal planning and preparation. Take some time once or twice a week to plan the family meals. Kids love to help in the kitchen, so let them! When your child is in the kitchen, try to relax and make the experience fun. You’ll make some great memories as well as food!

Here are some easy tips:

~Old favorites with a twist. You and your child prepare their favorite meal, but find a way to add at least 3 veggies to it. If it’s macaroni and cheese, then add chopped and steamed broccoli and carrots along with peas. Experiment with all your family’s favorites.

~Have your child cut veggie slices twice a week to include in their lunches. If they’re washed and chopped, they’re easier to grab!

~Add veggies to favorite dips. Add some spinach leaves to hummus and pureed peas to guacamole.

~Next time you make scrambled eggs, sauté some chopped onions, garlic and spinach before you add the eggs. This is an easy way to add more veggies to breakfast. Try adding cooked, cubed pumpkin to oatmeal and sprinkle with cinnamon. Yum!

~Soups are an easy way to add more veggies to your day. Chicken, veggie and noodle soup, split pea soup with grated carrots, celery and peppers. Minestrone Soup has many veggies. Soups are easy and can be made in a Crockpot to have ready when you get home.

~Salads are a delicious way to have your family eat more vegetables. Change the lettuces you use and the veggies you add to the salad. Change salad dressings and top with toasted nuts and seeds.

~Have your child walk down the produce isle or Farmer’s Market with you and pick a new veggie to try. Never had a rutabaga? Turnip? Parsnip? Have fun-and maybe some laughs- looking for recipes for the new veggie in your house!

~Ever grate zucchini in your brownies or add beets to your chocolate cake? Yes, you can add veggies to your desserts too!

One of the best ways to get your child to eat more veggies is to eat more veggies yourself! If you tell your child to eat their veggies, but you don’t, that sends a clear message that veggies aren’t good. Setting a good example is the best thing you can do to help your family be healthier.

Macaroni and Cheese
Everyone loves macaroni and cheese. This recipe does still have the cheese and butter (don’t eat often!), but it also has 4 different vegetables.

1 teaspoon olive oil
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 pound elbow macaroni
1 quart milk, heated
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups Gruyere cheese, grated (about 10 ounces)
2 cups extra-sharp cheddar, grated (about 6 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 ½ cups broccoli, chopped, lightly steamed
1 cup peas, if frozen, just run under hot water and drain
1 medium carrot, finely chopped, steamed
3/4 pound fresh tomatoes (4 small)
1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs, about -5 slices, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and the 2 teaspoons of salt and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.

Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large (4-quart) pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until smooth. Turn off the heat and add the Gruyere, cheddar, 1 teaspoon sea salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and stir well. Stir in the broccoli, peas and carrots. Pour into a 3-quart baking dish.

Slice the tomatoes and arrange on top. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, combine them with the fresh breadcrumbs, and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

To make ahead, put the macaroni and cheese in the baking dish, cover, and refrigerate until ready to bake. Put the tomatoes and breadcrumbs on top and bake for about 40 to 50 minutes.

Here’s the link to the Human Race!

I’m running in it for DirectionFive! Please sponsor me or run yourself for D5!

https://www.humanracenow.org/goto/DirectionFiveHealth

Spring Break- D5 KID’S CULINARY & NUTRITION CAMP (AGE 6-13) 5 DAYS New!
From knife skills to sushi, this camp will enrich and enhance kids’ cooking skills! We will discuss the importance of nutrition and health as we prepare minestrone soup with homemade bread, various salads and dressings, macaroni and cheese with a twist, chocolate chip cookies and vanilla bean pudding, just to name a few delicious recipes! Pssst…our not-so-secret ingredient is FUN! All materials and food are included. Please contact the instructor with any food allergies or sensitivities. (707) 575-6721. Min 10 Max 12
Instructors: DirectionFive certified teachers under the direction of Patty James – Certified Natural Chef with a Master’s Degree in Holistic Nutrition, founded and directed the Patty James Cooking School and Nutrition Center and co authored “More Vegetable, Please.” DirectionFive Culinary & Nutrition Program

Age 6-13
Mon-Fri, 3/17-3/21
10am-3pm
Finley/Kitchen & Maple Rm
$320 (S.R. Resident $310)
#69344

(Summer) D5 KID’S CULINARY & NUTRITION CAMP (AGE 6-13) 5 DAYS
From knife skills to sushi, this camp will enrich and enhance kids’ cooking skills! We will discuss the importance of nutrition and health as we prepare spring rolls with peanut dipping sauce, Panini sandwiches, Caesar Salad with homemade croutons, fajitas, and homemade ice cream, just to name a few delicious recipes! Pssst…our not-so-secret ingredient is FUN! All materials and food are included. Please contact the instructor with any food allergies or sensitivities. (707) 575-6721. Min 10 Max 12
Instructors: DirectionFive certified teachers under the direction of Patty James – Certified Natural Chef with a Master’s Degree in Holistic Nutrition, founded and directed the Patty James Cooking School and Nutrition Center and co authored “More Vegetable, Please.” DirectionFive Culinary & Nutrition Program

Age 6-9
Mon-Fri, 7/7-7/11
11am-3pm
Finley/Kitchen & Maple Rm
$260 (S.R. Resident $250
#69346

Age 6-9
Mon-Fri, 7/21-7/25
11am-3pm
Finley/Kitchen & Maple Rm
$260 (S.R. Resident $250)
#69347

Age 10-13
Mon-Fri, 7/14-7/18
10am-4pm
Finley/Kitchen & Maple Rm
$385 (S.R. Resident $375

Age 10-13
Mon-Fri, 8/4-8/8
10am-4pm
Finley/Kitchen & Maple Rm
$385 (S.R. Resident $375
#69348

Please Register for these very fun, educational and delicious camps at:
Santa Rosa Recreation & Parks |2060 W College Ave| Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Tel. (707) 543-3755 | Fax (707) 543-3736

DirectionFive is always looking for individuals and businesses to support our efforts and mission of helping kids lead healthier lives.

Together we can change the world, one child at a time.

Our wish list:

-Monthly funds to support our web site. We’d like to add videos and more information. We are about to launch our own store (!) but funds to support these efforts would be appreciated. Ideally $500.00 a month would be simply wonderful. You, your business or you and 10 friends could help support our growth and our reach to more kids and families.

-A Videographer. We need new professional videos for our Kickstarter campaign and to add more cooking and health videos to our site. Are you one or do you know of someone to help us?

-A Marketing person to send press releases and help us tell everyone how great DirectionFive is!

There’s more, but those three items would help so much!

Even though it’s fall, there are still Farmer’s Markets in many parts of the country. Look at this beautiful produce!

Bring your kids with you if you can and let the farmer’s explain what they have grown and how to prepare it. It’s a great lesson for kids to understand how our food system works!

We just completed the 17 class series at Sonoma Academy and look forward to our next class series there. our most requested class series is for 5 after-school classes, but we are about to begin a 2-series class, and of course, we love to teach during the school day. In essence, we can work with your school and organization to create the program that works for ‘your’ kids!

Kids should not be exposed to synthetic food colorings and dyes. Please read on for options-that are really fun to make!

It’s Food Coloring Season

‘Tis the season for rolling pins, sugar cookie dough, cookie cutters, and little drops of color added to a bowl of white frosting that turns it into pumpkin orange, Christmas tree green and ornament red. The problem is what is in those little jars of color.

Did you know that every season is food-coloring season? Americans consume
15,016,634 pounds of dyes per year and just three dyes—Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6—account for 90 percent of all dyes used. The FDA’s data show a five-fold increase in consumption of dyes since 1955 pointing to the increase in the consumption of processed foods, such as soft drinks, breakfast cereals, candies, snack foods, baked goods, frozen desserts, and even pickles and salad dressings, that are colored with dyes. Synthetic dyes are produced from petroleum or coal tar, something none of us need in our bodies.

Recent studies have linked artificial food colorings to cancer and brain tumors as well as links to hyperactivity ADD, ADHD, and other disruptive behaviors in children.

So now what? Luckily you have choices. Avoid processed foods with synthetic food coloring-check those lists of ingredients- and when it comes to making all those holiday cookies and baked goods, use food coloring derived from vegetables, fruits and spices. If you don’t want to create your own food coloring, there are some companies that produce food colors and sprinkles produced from natural sources. Maggies’s Naturals is one of my favorites, but there are others as well.

Creating Natural Colors

Yellow: 
Saffron flowers and turmeric powder work well, but be careful as these spices are strong and a little goes a long way. If the recipe called for liquid, just combine the spice with the liquid and let sit a while to infuse the color into the liquid. This is infusing and is a method that works well in creating natural food color.

Orange: 
Carrot juice works great. If you don’t have a juicer just buy some fresh 100% carrot juice at the market. Carrots are naturally sweet so you won’t notice added flavor.

Red and Pink: You have options here. Just juice some beets, or boil them in very little water to make a concentrated liquid or roast them and add 2 tablespoons finely grated and then mashed, roasted beets into the frosting. Red berries and pomegranate juice work as well. Just mash them or blend them, then strain the liquid through mesh to remove the seeds.

Green: Spinach juice works well. Use your juicer to obtain the juice or infuse the liquid with spinach leaves, blend and strain. You can even whip whole spinach leaves right into your frosting if you have a powerful blender. Liquid chlorophyll adds anice green color and adds nutrients to that otherwise bowl of sugar, which I don’t worry about as it’s rarely consumed in my house.

Purple and Blue:
Boiling red cabbage until you get a dark, concentrated broth. Easy as pie. To make your purple dye blue, add a little baking soda at the end. Kitchen chemistry!

Remember all these tips if you color Easter eggs. With eggs I find that adding a little white vinegar to the infused water helps to set the color. Obviously you don’t want frosting to taste like vinegar, so this tip is just for eggs.

This recipe is a delicious way to use all that zucchini! The kids love it and enjoy making it.

Zucchini Pizza

For a vegetarian version, simply leave out the ground turkey.

Serves 6

4 cups zucchini, grated

2 cups brown rice, cooked

1 1/2 cups Monterey jack cheese, or mozzarella, grated

2 eggs, beaten

1 pound ground turkey

1 medium onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups marinara sauce

3 tablespoons fresh oregano, washed and chopped

3 tablespoons fresh basil, washed and chopped

2 cups cheddar cheese or other cheese, grated

Combine the grated zucchini, brown rice, jack cheese and the eggs. Press into a greased 15X11X1″ jelly roll pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned.

In medium skillet, brown ground turkey with onion and herbs. Set aside.

Pour marinara over crust, sprinkle with turkey mixture and top with cheese. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition tip

Summer’s bountiful zucchini is high in manganese, vitamin C, magnesium, vitamin A and dietary fiber.

It’s really fun-and very different- teaching different age groups. Today we taught 10-13 year olds at another Summer Camp. They had a great time and were really interested in the nutrition information as well as cooking! We look forward to seeing all their progress this week.