Chick Pea Salad with Tomatoes and Corn

If you tuned in last week you'll know I'm on a mission to get more beans in our snacks and lunches. Enter.....

The bean salad.

I love the bean salad. So much protein. So much vegetable. So much healthy oil. All in one bowl. Get your family into the bean salad and you and nutrient dense meals will be one.

The bean salad is so versatile. Especially when the weather gets warmer and more pool side munchies are called for. Especially when the kids go on PB&J strike and need fodder for the lunch box. With a simple vinaigrette and whatever veggies you have on hand, any bean can be transformed into a tasty and nutritious side dish.

This salad is a melange I threw together with what I hand on hand. It's a mixture of black bean salad and french rice salad meets diced cucumber. I wished I had some fresh herbs to brighten up the flavors, some cilantro or parsley would have been perfect whizzed into the vinaigrette.

Chick Pea Salad with Tomatoes and Corn
ingredients
15 oz drained chick peas (garbanzo beans) or substitute other beans
1 medium cucumber diced
1 cup frozen corn (thawed)
1 medium or 3 campari tomatoes, diced

Vinaigrette
1 tsp dijon mustard
3 TBS Red Wine Vinegar or lemon juice (anything will do, white wine, balsamic, cider etc.)
3 TBS Olive Oil
Salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Fresh parsley or cilantro (optional)

Directions
Whisk all ingredients together, until the mixture turns from transparent to cloudy. If you have fresh herbs, toss everything in the food processor and whiz it up.

Add diced cucumber, tomatoes, beans and corn to vinaigrette and mix. This salad will keep in the fridge for a few days.

Kid Appeal Tip If you have a hard time getting your kids to eat the food you send at lunch, try serving it at home for a few months before having it show up in the lunch box. Kids routinely will eat things WITH people that eat them (parents) that they won't eat on their own. My boys often come home with full containers of food they eat and enjoy at dinner time, but don't eat at lunch. I can guarantee that my son is the only kinder kid at the table with bean salad for lunch! If you continually see uneaten lunch coming home with your child, it's time to sit down and have a talk about lunch and learning. Let your child know that a big lunch is necessary for his brain to learn all day. Ask your child to focus on eating at lunch, and playing for recess. You may have to have this talk every day until your child starts eating more of what you send.

This post is participating in LifeAsMom's tomato ultimate recipe swap. Check out my Meats and Greens spaghetti sauce included in her tomato round up this week. This post is also participating in the Nourishing Gourmet's Pennywise Platter. What is more frugal than beans? If you're trying to eat healthy on a budget, eat. more. beans.

Food Revolution is Real Video Includes Food w Kid Appeal

Wanna know who was included in Jamie Oliver's "Food Revolution is Real" video currently on his websites front page? Me! Twice! Fun. This has been out on youtube for weeks, but I just stumbled on it today.

If you want to check out a few seconds of my mug, play this video. Don't blink at minute 1:54 and 3:56 or you'll miss me! Click the play button on the video right under the top navigation bar.



If that doesn't work, you can link out here to the video on Jamie's site. Don't you just love the little girl who talks about sugar, hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup as "stuff I just don't need." Love that.

And if you haven't signed Jamie's petition yet... Do. It. Now! If you have signed his petition, go get your hubby, kiddo, best friend, mom or grandma to sign it. Go get them, bring them to the computer and have them sign it. Here's the link. No excuses!

Final Count for Recovering Picky Eater Challenge
I barely made it past 10% of my goal, which was 1000 people. I know there were people interested who didn't sign the petition and hundreds of people read the articles and series. Lessons learned, next time I won't use a counter that requires people to leave so much personal information to participate, but it was pretty cool that everyone that signed up got to send a letter to Jamie!
I can't claim victory on numbers, I missed my goal by a mere 887 people. BUT...

• 113 people are out there trying to like things like raw tomatoes, green beans, peanut butter, avocados, water, bananas, fish, broccoli, liver, spinach and mustard!
• Many more are flirting with the concept that it's possible to learn to like a food they think they hate. Sometimes new ideas need to get planted first before they take root and sprout.
  
• At least a fraction of the 113 people were successful and probably evangelizing to other non-believers.
• If I compare it to the first recovering picky eater challenge I did, I improved participation by 1000% over the 2009 attempt.
  

Are you one of the 113 recovering picky eaters? How is it going for you? I ate squash and loved it tonight. Patty Pan Squash Noodleless lasagna is pretty darn tasty. I also made a big ol' batch of swiss chard the other day and it landed somewhere between edible and good. I had seconds just for my fellow recovering picky eater challengers!

In case you want to hear all the words I said to Jamie, here's the rest of my video submission. I never did figure out how to make the sound sync on the YouTube upload, but clearly the copy the Food Revolution folks got was fine. And yes. That is a lamp in the background. Don't ask.

Help! My Husband Won't Eat His Vegetables

In the early days of my healthy, real food transition Hubby often derailed me. The kids would generally eat up without much complaint but my man did not take kindly to meatless spaghetti or using coconut oil for popping corn. Recently when I suggested the kids go dairy free for a month to see if our allergy symptoms let up, he responded as if I'd just told him I maxed out all our credit cards on scrapbooking supplies and kitchen appliances.

I hear from many readers that the same conversations are happening in your house. Moms want to feed their kids more wholesome dinners and snacks, but Dad is carrying around a lot of sub-optimal eating habits that he doesn't want to give up.

Don't get me wrong, Hubby thinks I'm a hero for serving the best, most nutrient dense and wholesome food we can afford for our family. He just doesn't usually like it. And sometimes his resistance deters me from implementing some changes I'd really like to adopt in my kitchen. I do find that over time, when I change things slowly and enlist his support by discussing the WHY of the change, he usually comes around. Now if I could just get him to stop sneaking to the pantry to dump sugar in his oatmeal. He's convinced that he'd keel over if he ate oatmeal sans sugar.

If your beloved is stuck in his childhood eating habits and you fret he'll never come around, here are a few suggestions to slowly, one step at a time, get him on the same(ish) page as you about food and feeding the family.

New Ingredient, New Recipe
If you're doing something like replacing white rice with brown, or starting a meatless meal night, introduce the new ingredient/theme with a new recipe. People get attached to recipes and after a long day of work or school it's hard to come to the dinner table and get surprised by tofu spaghetti. Instead of subbing meatless protein in recipes your man already loves, make new recipes meatless. Play on something he already likes. If hubby is a salad lover start off by having a meatless salad night using eggs, nuts and/or cheese for protein. Or if hubby generally enjoys soup, find a hearty meatless recipe he'll enjoy. It's been three years now and hubby doesn't complain about meatless meals. Over time your better half will come to appreciate the new meatless, whole grain meals just as he does the recipes he grew up with, and will start looking forward to them. When my man walks in the door and smells ginger, he's excited about veggie stir fry. He nearly cried the first time I served it as a side dish, but now he eats it with relish.

Enlist a Partner
Working with Hubby and not against him is the best option. A few ideas to get him on your side are:

• Think about your food why. Why are you making the changes, why is it important to you that your kids do eat more X and don't eat as much of Y? Tell your spouse what you're after, and that it would help if both of you were leading the kids to be healthy eaters. If kids have two food role models, their eating habits are much better. He's making changes for the kids, and as a benefit his own wellness will improve. Tell him you want him to be your partner in your family's food revolution.
  
• Listen to your hubby. It's important to hear his side. He may not be OK with never having chips again. Instead of banning chips from the house, I serve them in a way he enjoys and I can live with. I buy organic corn chips and make nachos with left-over taco meat, cheese and guac. I serve this meal/snack about once a month. If you show you can compromise, hubby will be more willing to compromise as well.
  
• Appeal to his sense of leadership. If hubby refuses to eat his veggies, what does that say to the kids? Ask him if he's willing to learn to like veggies right along with the kids. Tell him what a huge inspiration he could be to the kids if he would try to put aside some of the thoughts he has about food, and approach the healthy food with an open mind. When hubby is staring at a plate with veggies, all he has to say is "Oh, we're having X? I haven't learned to like X yet. Let's see if I like them this way." If he needs some inspiration, he can join 112 other folks who want to learn to like food they think they hate and sign the Recovering Picky Eater Petition.

And Then There Were Kids
I think most of us who spent a decade or more eating frequently in restaurants before settling down and having kids are very used to getting exactly what we want to eat for most meals. If hubby doesn't join you for the family meal for breakfast or lunch, but does sit down at dinner, he may still want 100% discretion on what he eats. The cooperative family meal requires all participants to take turns eating their favorites. If you make one of Hubby's favorites every night, then kids and cook are not getting their share of what's for dinner votes.

Transitioning to this mind-set, where only a fraction of meals are your favorite, just exactly what you wanted, what sounded good, what will taste amazing, will take some time. Putting it in that perspective, that Hubby is not the only mouth at the table, will help him embrace non-favorites. It is possible to eat food and be sustained by it, even if it doesn't sound like what you want to eat.

He'll also be proud to teach his kids that taking turns picking menu items is the right thing to do when working and living cooperatively with others. Let Hubby know his preferences matter, and ask him what meals he'd like to see on the table in the next few weeks. Let kids weigh in too, and put down a few of your own picks. In time, all eaters will be flexible and learn to eat up, even when they didn't pick the menu.

Go Slow and Give It Time
Getting rid of decades old eating habits will not happen overnight. Especially when Hubby is not the one who instigated the changes. He may willingly go along, but change will take time. Start off with one new "mission" at time. Then when that "mission" is assimilated, add a new one. You may be eager to make immediate changes, but what you're really after is lasting change. You want the changes you make to be sustainable, not just for you, but for your whole family. Don't think about what you've accomplished this week, think about what you want your your family's eating habits to look like in a year.

If you did one mission a month and kept it going for a year, in 12 months you could accomplish a lot. Any number of the following missions could be permanently adopted in your kitchen:

• meatless meals
  
• more meals and snacks with veggies
  
• high protein snacks
  
• less junk food
  
• organic or pastured dairy/meat/eggs
  
• switch to healthy oils & fats
  
• less fried food
  
• less packaged meal helpers
  
• more fresh fruit
  
• more nuts/seeds
  
• more leafy-greens
  
• reduce reliance on breakfast cereals
  
• locally grown food
  
• reducing/eliminating calorie beverages
  
• minimizing high fructose-corn syrup
  
• reducing sugar in meals/snacks
  
• home-made baked goods
  
• avoiding food coloring and additives
  
• including more nutrient dense fresh herbs/spices
• switching from margarine to butter
• more beans
• avoiding all/most GMO foods
• replacing pasteurized dairy with other nut milks
• finding some tasty make at home "take-out" recipes your family loves (pizza, chinese etc.)

What has worked for you? How did you get your man (or woman) to come around? Maybe you can help me persuade Hubby to do a trial run on avoiding dairy!

This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

Black Bean Salad with Corn and Tomatoes

We went cabin camping this weekend. To fortify our upcoming convenience food diet, I mixed up this really easy and nutritious salad before we hit the road. It can be made ahead and tastes better at room temp, although you can serve it cold. There's not a lot of fiber in vacation food, so I felt good offering the kids and our camping companions a fiber boost to go along with burgers and dogs.

I've eaten plenty of black bean salads and salsas at plenty a picnic but never made it myself. I've really been missing out! This was so easy, so colorful not to mention tasty. I have a feeling this will become a frequent family feeder. Not only is it packed with fiber, it's also bathed in a dressing made from extra virgin olive oil, so it packs in some very necessary omega 3s for all the allergy suffering we've been hit with. Omega 3s are anti-inflammatory and heal inflammation in the nasal passages and lungs.

As we've cut back on packaged snacks, and eliminated dry cereal from the breakfast menu, I've been struggling with protein rich snacks and lunch fare all year. I'm also trying to cut back on the amount of dairy we eat to see if that helps us handle all the mucus created by the allergies. That means less yogurt parfaits (sniff), and cottage cheese and fruit (sniff). Bean salad is one way to address that issue. My kitchen project of the month is to find a couple different bean salads I can make once a week to supplement lunches and after-school snacks with ready-made flavor and nutrient packed edibles.

Planning to Succeed
I think the saying goes "failing to plan, is planning to fail." So how am I going to get one more recipe into the weekly menu plan? Here's my plan:

1. Troll internet for recipes (want to share your favorite bean salad recipe with me? Leave a link to a recipe in the comment section)
2. Write salad ingredients on grocery list.
3. Soak beans every other Sat. night.
   
4. Slow cook beans every other Sunday in crock pot.
   
5. Sunday evening drain beans, use half for bean salad recipe, store half in the freezer.
6. Prepare salad and store in airtight container.
   
7. Pat myself on the back for taking care of half the week's bean consumption and providing nutrient dense snack for the family.

I know big boo will eat this in his lunch box or for a snack, but I suspect it'll be one I have to nudge little boo to eat it. I suspect like most new weekly additions to our menu plan, that in a month or three, he too will be eating up without much nudging.


Black Bean Salad with Corn and Tomatoes
ingredients
1 can black beans, drained (or half 1lb pound of dry beans, cooked)
1 pint grape tomatoes, washed, cut in thirds (1 shredded carrot)
1 cup frozen corn, thawed

dressing ingredients
handful fresh cilantro or parsley
3 TBS olive oil
Juice from half a lemon
1/2 TSP cumin
1 clove garlic, sliced
Salt and Pepper to taste

directions
Toss all the dressing ingredients in a mini chop and pulse a few times until the herbs and garlic are finely chopped. Add the black beans, corn and tomatoes to a large airtight container. Pour dressing over top and stir to combine. This salad will keep for three days in the fridge.

Kid Appeal Tip Do you have a hard time getting your child to eat "healthier" snacks? Everybody has food preferences. My kids would prefer to always eat fruit or packaged goods as a snack. But too much convenience food and fruit displaces other important nutrients in their diet. One thing I do when my kids complain about the snack I provide is to give them a time when they can have fruit or whatever their requested snack is. I say:

"I understand you want Y. We can't always eat Y. Today we're having X. Let's make a plan for when you can have Y. Would you like it as a treat after dinner, or as a snack tomorrow?"

This doesn't always guarantee they'll eat what I offer, but it does reassure them they do have access to the food they want, and reduce the amount of complaints.

Lettuce Wraps

Salad is one menu item you want your kids to eat. It is a widely available vegetable. Salad is often the only vegetable kids will see at a restaurant or when others host dinner. Skipping salad may not matter too much when you're at home and can offer plenty of veggies your kids do like to eat, but on vacation, being a salad eater can save your colon from well....you know.

Most young kids won't just grab a huge bowl of lettuce and dig in. You know what they will dig into? These tasty lettuce wraps. This meal is messy and fun. Let the kids know that forks and spoons are banished from the table on Lettuce Wrap night and their challenge is to eat the tasty meat mixture off of a crunchy edible romaine spoon. I love the color of the carrot in the mixture, and all the onion, garlic and ginger flavors.

Lettuce Wraps are the gateway to growing good salad eaters. Get them interested in using lettuce as a utensil and they'll be more inclined to crunch a few leaves next time they see it in their salad bowl.

Big Boo (6) instantly loved this dish. Little boo (4) eats a decent serving, but likes his leaves and filling separate. It was also a hit with Hubby, yahoo for a new Asian crowd pleaser! I've served it twice now, the first time with chopped chicken thighs (don't try this at home....i regretted it although it was tasty), the second with 96% grass-fed ground beef - which did not require draining.

Lettuce Wraps (inspired by "let us roll-ups" recipe from the cookbook The Toddler Cafe)

ingredients
1 lb ground beef (or chicken or pork)
1 onion diced
1 finger of ginger shredded or minced
3 cloves of minced garlic
2 medium carrots, grated or minced
1 head of romaine lettuce washed and separated, placed in a serving bowl or plate.

sauce ingredients
3 TBSP soy or tamari sauce
1/4 cup water
1 TBSP cornstarch

Directions
Whisk sauce ingredients together and set aside. Put the meat in the pan and let it cook until juices run out without breaking it up. Once you see juices start breaking up the meet and add the carrot, ginger and onion. When the meat is thoroughly cooked add the garlic and cook for one more minute. Drain fat off meat if necessary. Stir the sauce and add it to the meat and veggie mixture, stirring to combine. Continue to cook a couple minutes. Remove to serving dish. Let the kids fill lettuce spears with toppings and eat sans utensils.

Kid Appeal Tip Don't tell your kids they don't like salad! Even if they just pick out and nibble the carrots, tomatoes, cukes and other veggie toppings in salad, let them know they are good salad eaters. Give them a few months or years and eventually they'll start eating the greens too. My boys both spent two years picking all the veggie toppings out of salads before they really embraced lettuce and salad greens. If you respond to their initial salad preferences like this "why do you always pick the carrots out and leave the lettuce?" or "you don't really like salad, you just like to pick out the veggies on top," they'll probably keep avoiding the greens. Try this instead. "With your next carrot bite, pick up a leaf and try them together." Be content with whatever reaction you get. I suspect they will adopt the greens eventually even if they are largely picked over at first.

Do your kids eat lettuce?