Posted January 23, 2012 - 4:05pm by Jenise Celestin
Cooking with kids...my discovery on the healthy eating challenge
So, if you haven’t heard yet, I’m taking part in a 28-Day Whole Foods Challenge with a number of my co-workers. You can read more about the background of our challenge here.
Today marks the first official day of the journey, but I feel as though I’ve been gearing up for this all month. Yesterday, a marathon (and very healthy) shopping trip to HarvesTime, followed by literally hours of cooking. I’ll tell ya, by the time I finished cooking (and freezing the majority), I was hardly hungry enough to bother eating any of it…but I digress.
One unexpected benefit that I’ve just discovered: Kitchen time with Molly (my nearly-3 year old daughter). Our family has always eaten fairly healthy, but there hasn’t been a lot of laborious cooking time. We have salads, soups, lots of sandwiches – most of the time quick (Subway or at home). Although we seek out low-sodium, low-fat, whole grains, and so forth, some is processed and it’s usually not cooked from scratch. If we do cook at home, it’s typically a quick whole wheat pasta or pan-sauteed chicken tenderloins over brown rice…nothing fancy. Boy have I been missing out!
It all started with the lentil soup. I was chopping up all the ingredients for the soup, and Molly wanted to be a part of the action. Actually, it probably looked like I was playing on the countertop: noisy and messy – she was all in. How could a toddler not want to be a part of that? ;) So Molly pulled a stool up to the counter and stood there asking how she could help. Sure, it takes a little extra time to find tasks for the little ones, but in the end they develop a better understanding about food and how to make healthy choices.
It’s funny, I’ve been preaching about this for the past year – in support of our friends at Purple Asparagus and various community events – but I wasn’t actually taking the time to do it myself at home. This is life-changing.
A day ago, she helped make fresh hummus. This hummus recipe didn’t even have olive oil in it, so it’s really low in fat too…would you believe Molly ate it straight off the spatula? Like cake batter or frosting! I should have taken a picture, but I didn’t. Later, she helped put halved cherry tomatoes on a cookie sheet for fresh marinara sauce (she even popped a couple like candy along the way). Instead of a cookie or ice cream for dessert (which is a rare treat for her anyway), we made fresh fruit smoothies in the new Ninja blender, consisting of: 1 banana, 1 cup strawberries, ½ cup blueberries, a few blackberries and a splash of milk (as needed for desired consistency). That’s it!
Is this a great start to the 28-Day Challenge or what?
In the words of my Miss Molly “It sure is Mommy, it sure is.”
Comments (2)
Fun! My son can rarely sit still long enough to help me in the kitchen, but it is great when he does. I hope Molly continues to enjoy that with you!
January 24, 2012 - 10:16amKudos to you for including Molly in the kitchen. Our children are never too young to start! Heck, my children can go to the herb garden and select the fresh herbs better than I can. We have a blast in the kitchen creating new recipes.
It is such a wonderful learning experience with our little ones; learning their way around the grocery store, all the questions, the taste sensations, vocabulary building, and just having fun in the kitchen with them.
ENJOY!!
January 24, 2012 - 10:13am