Guacamole: A VegOut Inspired Love Letter

Guacamole is amazing for so many reasons. Here are a few of my personal favorites: It’s DELICIOUS, it’s easy to make so also-- hard to screw up. You can dip things into it, you can plop it on top of things, or you can just grab a fork/spoon/finger and eat it all by itself.

Guacamole is also magical. When I make a meal for my kids I often put sliced avocado on their plates. Half of the time they just eat it without comment and the other half I get a “I don’t like avocados, REMEMBER?” That’s when I feel like reminding them they happily ate avocados two days ago for lunch, but, you know, pick your battles. I take their plates, scrape the avocado into a bowl and mash it with a fork. Here’s where the magic happens…  I sometimes honestly don’t add one thing, I just mash them, put it back on their plates and then my kitchen blows up with all kinds of “Oh, GUACAMOLE! I love this. It’s the best EVER.” So there’s something we can all agree on.

Making guacamole is pretty fool proof and almost every recipe you see will offer a measurement and then say “or to taste” because it’s really about what you like. When you have a recipe like that it is always a good one to plan ahead and get your kids involved. The only special tool I would recommend is a potato masher for young kids. It tends to be easier than a fork for them to handle and mash with.

Step 1: mash

First things first: Find some medium sized non-breakable bowls that your kids can go to town on with a fork or a masher. Next set out a big selection of things they can add and let them get busy. That’s what my kids love to do. Some ideas for things you can experiment with when you make your own guac:  kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper, red onion, white onion, green onion, onion powder, tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice, lemon juice, minced garlic, garlic powder, cumin, cayenne or your favorite hot sauce.

Step 2: sprinkle, switch to fork

Step 3 : SQUEEEEEEZE

Even though I have a recipe, in real life I never follow the same recipe twice. I see what I have in the fridge, throw in a pinch of this or that until it tastes just right. Make sure and keep some extra veggies on hand, because (another magical quality) guacamole is a vegetable (and also technically a fruit) that you can dip other vegetables in. Pure genius. We like to put out sweet peppers, carrots, celery, tomato slices, hollowed out cherry tomatoes, raw and roasted cauliflower, and the list goes on. If you have these out while the kids are busy mashing, they automatically have something to dip and try out their creations.

Step 4: Dump

Here are two of my favorite guacamole combos. The one I make most often for the kids is quick and easy. The other one is great when you have a group and all of the ingredients on hand. I cut the quick recipe down to 1 avocado portion so you can multiply by the number of avocados you use. The other needs a few more to back up the fresh garlic and jalapeno. Both recipes use large hass avocados that will be close to the size of your hand from wrist to mid fingers.

Quick and Easy Guacamole

1 large haas avocado
¼ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp maldon flaked salt or ¼ tsp of regular kosher salt
a few cranks of fresh pepper
1 to 2 tsp of lime juice

Throw it all in a bowl and mash. Taste and adjust flavors as needed.

Party Guacamole

3 large haas avocados
1 clove of garlic, minced
¼ of a red onion, finely chopped
2 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2-3 tablespoons of cilantro, chopped
1 medium jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
3 tsp maldon flaked salt or 1 ½ tsp regular kosher salt
1 lime, juiced (should be 2 tablespoons of juice)

Throw it all in a bowl and mash. Taste and adjust flavors as needed.

If you ever find yourself with fresh pico de gallo, you can make the easiest guacamole in the world by throwing it on top of fresh avocados and mashing away. 

My last bit of guacamole love is reserved for how much it helps me introduce new foods to my kids, making it a perfect tool when you VegOut with your family. Certain foods that seem a little different are much friendlier when you can dip them in guacamole. It helps us get past that initial new appearance or strong flavor hurdle.  Get creative with your guacamole and have fun with your kids in the kitchen. 

Getting Ready to VegOut!

Our house is about to VegOut! for the third year in a row, and I’m so excited to get my kids back in the kitchen trying new vegetables and new recipes.   As a mom who splits time between home and the office, it’s easy for me to fall out of the habit of involving my kids in all the cooking prep and execution that happens between “what would you like to eat?” and “dinner is ready.” Doing VegOut! as a family gets everyone involved in the shopping, cooking and eating process. Involved kids are excited kids and excited kids try new foods!

Taking on 30 days of 30 vegetables with young children does have its challenges, but it also has huge benefits. One of the biggest ways to combat picky eating later in life is to introduce your children to as many different foods as possible between the ages of 4 months and 2 years. My son was eight months old for his first VegOut! and will be two and a half this time around. I am really excited about tracking our vegetables on the new free app this year. The instant gratification that it provides is going to be a huge hit with my almost five year old, and I’m looking forward to easy access to all of the great recipes and prep ideas.

Roasted red pepper sauce with helpers.

Parents have a tendency to get a little stressed when it comes to the food their kids eat. Is it healthy enough? Are they eating enough? Are they eating too much? I’ve learned a few things along the way that helped make this a fun and stress free event for our family.

      GIVE YOUR KIDS SOME POWER
When kids have power they have ownership in the situation and they are more likely to enjoy being part of it all. Let them pick out a new vegetable at the farmer’s market or grocery store. Pull out a cookbook or go online and discuss the different ways you can prepare the veggies, and then let them decide which way they want to try. Find some age appropriate tasks for them to take on in the prep/cooking process.
 
WHENEVER POSSIBLE, EAT TOGETHER
I did a 30 day program that required me to sit down at a table for every meal. As a consequence I ate a lot more meals with my kids. It was a huge eye opener. When I was having something different from them, they always wanted to try a bite. This led to my 2 year old requesting hot sauce and kale for his scrambled eggs, and my 4 year old eating grapefruit and spinach salad. Eating together also creates a familial environment where you are less likely to face a power struggle over food.
 
PICK YOUR FOOD RULES AND STICK TO THEM
Growing up it was usually “you have to finish your plate” or “you have to eat all of your vegetables.” I knew the rules ahead of time and that my mom was sticking to her guns. To eliminate a lot of back and forth, start smart and try to create meals for your kids that are balanced and healthy. Here is the number one rule in our kitchen: You have to try everything on your plate. If you take a bite and decide you don’t want to eat it today, that is totally fine, but you HAVE TO TRY IT. If you have a really picky eater and need a baby step, then start with licking and lead into biting and chewing. Celebrate the small steps and you’ll get there eventually.
 
LIMIT SNACKING IN BETWEEN MEALS
A hungry child is much more likely to try something new or different. A hungry toddler also does a lot less fork banging and feeding the dog from the table (is that just my kids?) and a lot more shoveling food into his sweet little mouth.

Not a fan of the roasted red pepper juice.

 MOST IMPORTANT: HAVE FUN
Fun is contagious. The number one thing your kids want is to have fun with you. Make a plan that fits your family, get your kids involved and HAVE FUN together. Let them start to chop vegetables, let them crack an egg and spill half of it on the floor, make the kitchen a fun and safe zone to learn and try new things. Realize that the green beans your three year old devoured yesterday might be her worst enemy tomorrow, and that’s ok. Young kids are more than a little unpredictable. Don’t let one bad reaction cause you to put a food in the “dislike” category. Kids change their minds from one second to the next. Enjoy and embrace the momentary chaos. And last of all -- age appropriate kitchen clean up. Four year olds love to sweep and two year olds are really good at throwing trash away.

So get out there and get ready to VegOut with your kids or your students or your friends. Make sure and join the party online using hashtag #VegOut2016. Track your veggies and find recipes on the VegOut app. Get in the kitchen and have some fun! 

Embrace Your Inner Hippie

Granola... It's not just a fancy word for describing hippies anymore. It's in my kitchen and it's delish. The more I try to stay away from chemical ingredients that I've never heard of and processed food, the more I look into things I can make at home. Let's be more honest... the more I look into EASY things I can make at home. Because buying things at the store is really, really easy, but if I can easily make something at home, then I'm game. 

So at the end of the chicken salad post I told you I was using the chicken carcass to make chicken stock. That is a super easy (you are going to be seeing this word a lot in this post) process and you can use chicken stock in all kinds of ways. I put the cooked stock in the fridge overnight. The fat floats to the top and hardens. You take the stock out, spoon off the fat and trash it, then freeze the stock in whatever portions you want. Mine is laying flat in the freezer in ziplock freezer bags. 

My next move was to try out homemade granola. My husband eats granola for breakfast and my daughter loves it too, and we've never really settled on the perfect granola. Most of the time they are just too sweet. I had been eying a recipe from 100 Days of Real Food for a while and I finally pulled the trigger. I had the spices and a few other things on hand. Everything I didn't have I could find in the bulk section of our HEB. The unsweetened shredded coconut was with the dried fruits. This was a GREAT recipe to make with kids too because it involves dumping things in a bowl. I had a three year old helper who was REALLY excited about making granola. 

Here is the recipe direct from 100 Days of Real Food. It makes 3lbs of granola:

Ingredients

• 3½ cups rolled oats (if you want bars use steel cut oats so it will stick together better)
• 1 cup raw sliced almonds
• 1 cup raw cashew pieces (or walnuts or pecans) - we used pecans
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• ½ cup raw sunflower seeds
• ½ cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1½ teaspoons ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ½ cup honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Also need – parchment paper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Cover a rectangular baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix the dry oats, almonds, cashews, coconut, seeds and spices together in a large mixing bowl.
3. Heat the butter and honey together in a small saucepan over low heat. Once the butter melts stir in the vanilla and salt.
4. Pour the hot liquids over the dry ingredients and stir together with a rubber spatula until evenly coated.
5. Spread mixture onto prepared pan in one even layer. Bake for 75 minutes.
6. The granola will become crisp as it cools at which point you can break into pieces (if making bars) or break it up into small chunks by pounding it in a zip lock bag (if making cereal). Store in air tight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Here's the sous chef showing off her dry ingredients. I did a little more stirring after this pic. 

Easy peasy honey and butter on the stove with the vanilla extract:

We mixed the wet and the dry with the spatula and then poured it on the parchment lined cookie sheet. (Look mom, I'm a real grown up who now has parchment paper!)

Seventy five minutes later, this crispy goodness came out:

and we did this to it:

And then packaged it away like this:

Later in the day my inner hippie wasn't done. (She had a big day.) I made my own hummus, which was so easy (there's the word again. Sorry) I was able to make a last minute decision to do it. There are tons of different versions and ways, this is what I did:

Lemon Garlic Hummus

2C Chickpeas (also called Garbanzo Beans) drained and rinsed

1/3 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice (I had two really juicy lemons and used them up)

1.5 Tablespoons of Tahini (found usually in the asian food section of your store. It's sesame seed paste)

3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced

Put it all in a food processor (I did mine in the medium sized Ninja Pro canister) like so:

 Then you pulse it and this happens:

BOOM! HUMMUS! And it was SO GOOD. I'm never buying hummus again. 

I have lots of facebook friends who make their own lotion. Hummus, granola & chicken stock are just child's play. You can totally do this. Or you can still buy it all at the store. No judgement here. But this tastes so much better. Just saying. 

Peace, Love & Granola,

RT

Cooking with Kids: Honey's Chicken Salad

There are certain things that remind me of summer, and chicken salad is one of those things. It's hot outside, you're spending time by the pool, at the park, or at the beach. You open up the cooler and pull out ice cold chicken salad. Yes time. 

I might be a chicken salad snob. I usually don't like grocery store chicken salad. There's always something wrong. I have certain chicken salad rules that put me in the position of making my own or eating my moms. Chicken salad must:

1. have something crunchy in it. Celery or onion or pickle. It can't all be mush.

2. have something sweet in it. Grapes, dried fruit, apple, etc. 

3. can't be too creamy. It's like too much dressing on a salad. All you taste is dressing. Gross. 

4. none of the above apply to a shredded chicken salad. Those are a category all their own. I recommend the chicken salad from Brown Bag Deli or Nielsons Deli for examples. 

This one is going to be short and sweet. We have a sick 10 month old in the house who happens to also be getting in three top teeth and this mom needs some sleep. If you prep the chopping, etc. this is a great recipe to make with a helper. Essentially it's a lot of dumping things into bowls followed by stirring. Kids get that kind of stuff. 

Honey's Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

8-10 pickled okra, sliced

1/2 a small onion, finely chopped (about half a cup)

2 large stalks of celery, finely chopped (about half a cup)

1 cup of red grapes, cut in half (I used a cup and a half because I like the sweet)

1 apple, cut into small pieces

1/4 C chopped walnuts

1 whole chicken (I just pick up a rotisserie chicken)

1/2 C full fat mayo

1/2 C regular sour cream

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Chicken Salad is great because you can make it into exactly what you want it to be. If you like more grapes, put more grapes in. If you want it saltier, put in more pickles or okra, or whatever. Make it once to see what the flavors are like and then adjust accordingly. What I love about Honey's Chicken Salad is the light curry flavor in the dressing. Next time I might add more Curry Powder to bring it out. 

 So here's what you do... take your chicken and shred/chop it. I hate having a chicken salad with huge bites of chicken. So I do a combo shred and chop. It makes it so that with each bite of chicken you have room for the other ingredients to sneak in. 

After you have taken your chicken apart, chop, slice and cut everything else and throw it in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix your sour cream, mayo, curry, and garlic. The sour cream really cuts the richness of the mayo. I might try this again with some greek yogurt taking the place of a portion of mayo, but today I was a traditionalist. Once you have the dressing mixed and it tastes the way you want, dump it into the bowl of ingredients and stir. 

Stir and taste and stir and taste, etc. Adjust the flavors you feel are lacking. Chop more of this, add a pinch of that, do what makes it taste best to you. It's your chicken salad after all! It won't last long. This is a great one!

If you want a bonus, take the chicken carcass and drop it in a pot. Fill with water and boil to make homemade chicken stock to freeze for rice, pasta, soups, beans, or other recipes. Our little rotisserie carcass was not thrown out. If you want to cut the fat from your chicken stock, put the cooled stock in the fridge overnight and spoon the fat off of the top the next morning before putting it away.

** Not So Sweet May Update - it seems like lots of other people are giving up sugar recently. I'm a trend setter. This is the halfway point. And not to be undone, it is also nation cookie day. Jerks. Here is where I am:

It is getting easier. I am happy to say that. I am getting used to turning to fruit instead of junk sweets.

My energy is the biggest tell. It used to be so hard to get out of bed. Now, even if I have a horrible night's sleep, I can get up more easily and get my day going. This is huge. 

Again with the not as bloated, but I have also lost two real pounds. Not water weight or fluctuation, real pounds. 

So we are going along. The smoothies are what has made this doable for me. They are sweet and I sometimes imagine they are milkshakes. I will keep them forever and always. It is giving me a daily dose of fruits and veggies that I wasn't getting before. 

Hope y'all are seeing some positive differences. It's so hard. 16 more days!

-RT

Cooking with Kiddos - Chicken Tamale Casserole

Did you know that weight patterns and food attitudes are very difficult to alter after age 11? And by "very difficult" I mean nearly impossible. It's the difference between knowing what is healthier, but still turning to the foods you grew up with. Emotional food ties. A tough nut to crack. 

One thing I am trying to do with my kids to create a healthy relationship with food is getting them in the kitchen helping as early as possible. It started with non cooking tasks like handing out the silverware from the dishwasher and just watching. That led to stirring and whisking and dumping and holding pans still. Recently L has been very eager to help more, which I love. I just have to get used to not caring about things looking too pretty. 

We are having casserole season at our house. Lots and lots of babies being born, lots of baking being done. This is one of my favorite recipes that we recently adapted to make it more organic & real food friendly. You can link to the original Chicken Tamale Casserole from Cooking Light Magazine HERE.  Below is a breakdown of the original recipe and what we did differently. Either option is easy to make with a little helper and tastes great. 

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup (4 ounces) preshredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese, divided (We use organic cheese)
1/3 cup fat-free milk (We use organic milk)
1/4 cup egg substitute (I don't believe in egg substitute. One scrambled egg = 1/4C)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn (I couldn't find organic cream style corn. Here is an easy way to make your own. One recipe = one can)
1 (8.5-ounce) box corn muffin mix (if you want organic you can find it at whole foods)
1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
Cooking spray (I rub the pan with an empty butter wrapper)
1 (10-ounce) can red enchilada sauce (there are a few organic options, but you can also make your own. This is a little more complicated at home)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (two breasts will do it and shredding is a great job for kids too!)
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream (fat free just means more chemicals and sugar. I use full fat)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Combine 1/4 cup cheese and next 7 ingredients (through chiles) in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. 

L was great at this. I took the ingredients out and put them into measured cups and bowls and she poured them all into the big bowl for mixing.

This is what all of that mishmash looks like.

 3. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

4. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until set. Pierce entire surface liberally with a fork. L was great at this step, too. Pour enchilada sauce over top. We did this one together. 

After 15 mins in the oven

 5. Top with chicken (another great kid job!) sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese. (and she loved this step, too)  Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces; top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream.

The finished bowl

 I also think this tastes wonderful with fresh avocado. It's very easy and very delicious. When we know Landon will be eating it we eliminate the red pepper because she sometimes will complain that the corn part is "spicy". I put spicy in quotations because she says this even when things are not spicy by definition. It means there is something extra flavorful about it. That's a good thing, right? 

The roasted cabbage rounds and roasted artichokes posted on the istagram account got a lot of great feedback. I'll post those SUPER easy recipes later this week. We are definitely finding that roasting is a very easy way to cook very delicious things. 

- RT