Category: Getting More Veggies

New Year, New Food! Crave-Worthy Brussels Sprouts

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Forget exercising more, being punctual, and sailing around the world… In 2011, I want to get more creative in the kitchen and fire up the Team Reilly dinner repertoire. Being a dietitian doesn’t give you immunity from making the same 5 dinners over and over again. While we all love veggie chili with cornbread, curried lentil stew and roasted veggies, pizza and salad, spinach lasagna, and overstuffed burritos, it’s time for some risk-taking, mess-making, and gross-dish ditching! Every week this year, I’ll make a new side dish, main dish, or dessert and test them out on the family (which includes the adorable “I’ll try anything” husband, easy-going 5-year-old daughter, unpredictable 3-year-old son, and “I can feed myself” 1-year old son).

The journey actually began in the grocery store the other day when I spotted a tall, dark, and handsome stalk of Brussels sprouts (pictured). Wouldn’t your journey begin that way? I just wish I could’ve had my bridesmaids carry these instead of flower bouquets! How hot would that have been?!

So here’s what I did (mind you dinner-time background noise is a soundtrack of “mommy” on repeat, so new dishes must be simple & quick!):

Crave-Worthy Brussels Sprouts
Serves 5 Adventurous Humans

30 fresh Brussels sprouts, plucked, rinsed, and cut in half length-wise
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt & pepper, to taste
hot heat & a cool attitude!

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Toss in the Brussels sprouts until they get frisky (the point at which you turn on your overhead fan). Add the water, cover, and cook 5-10 minutes.

Remove cover, sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and continue to cook until some are toasty brown. Serve immediately!

What the critics said:

Bitchin’ Dietitian: “Wow! I hope no one else likes these so i can eat them ALL!!”
Bitchin’ Husband: “More please!” (Bitchin’ Dietitian: “Crud”)
5-Year-Old: “Mmm! Better than that other mushy kind [the frozen variety]!”
3-Year-Old: “Tastes good, but too chewy. Can I spit them out?”
1-Year-Old: (if he could talk) “I can chuck these things all the way from the dining room to the kitchen!!”

So there it is! Week #1 was 3 stars out of 5. This one will be appearing again. Ideas for ingredients or dishes to try next?

Hands Held High for the Pumpkin

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Photo by: Liz West

National Pumpkin Day is October 26th, but November is unofficially Pumpkin Tribute Month. Pumpkin is loaded with cancer-kicking beta-carotene, and it can be buttered, souped, breaded, smoothied, and baby fooded. In honor of the “large melon” (“pumpkin” in Greek) — the largest, by the way, was grown by a Wisconsin farmer and was the size of a dumpster — here are a few reasons to stock up on pumpkin purée and celebrate.

PUMPKIN-APPLE BUTTER
Makes enough for addicts and their neighbor for 1 month

10 crisp apples (such as Granny Smith), cored and chopped into large chunks
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin purée (or about 2 cups cooked and puréed fresh pumpkin)
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of water
1/4 teaspoon each: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Plan on using a blender or food processor so you don’t have to peel the apples, making this recipe extra simple and higher fiber than the average American. If you’re doing this by hand, peel the apples, and mash the mixture with a potato masher once it’s cooked.

Place all ingredients in a large pot (covered) and cook on med-high heat until the apples are super soft, about 30 minutes. Remove the cover and continue to cook until about 80% of the liquid has disappeared, about another 20 minutes. Let the mixture cool for about 15 minutes, and then blend or process until smooth.

Enjoy it on toast or pancakes, as a dip for apples, or my daily way: in a peanut butter-apple-pumpkin-butter sandwich.

Store this beauty in the fridge.

PUMPKIN BREAD
Makes 1 loaf

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin purée (or about 2 cups cooked and puréed fresh pumpkin)
2 Tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water
1 2/3 cups flour (i like to do half all-purpose and half whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves

Mix sugar and wet ingredients together. Mix dry ingredients together. Combine them. Grease the loaf pan and bake 350 degrees for 65 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing or removing from the pan.

MEXICAN PUMPKIN STEW
Serves 6

Serve this in a scooped out pumpkin for a festive fall meal.

3-4 cups of small chunk (1/2-inch) raw pumpkin or butternut squash, or 1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin purée
1 cup vegetable stock
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup salsa
1 1/2 – 2 cups frozen corn (about 1 medium-sized bag)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
3-4 drips of hot sauce (optional)
1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
1 15-ounce can red kidney or pinto beans
salt and pepper to taste

If using fresh butternut squash or pumpkin, simmer them in the vegetable stock until tender. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer uncovered over low heat for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

PUMPKIN SMOOTHIE
Makes 1 8-ounce smoothie

1/2 cup pumpkin purée
1/2 cup vanilla soymilk, almond milk, or other vanilla non-dairy milk
1/2 cup crushed ice
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon allspice

Blend and enjoy. It’s like pumpkin pie in a glass!

How do YOU best pay tribute to the Godly gourd?

And the Winner is… Popeye!

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Photo by: Norwichnuts

 In an effort to rename the Shrek Smoothie, I called on the creative masses in a bitchin’ competition. Every one of the entries was scrumptious, but the grand prize goes to Sir William Hesselton of Virginia. From here on out, we’ll be referring to the green spinach-laden smoothie as the “Popeye Smoothie” (Popeye Smooth-Eye!), or in back alleys as simply “The Popeye.” Our pipe-smoking buddy (we’ll talk smoking cessation later) got strong with the green leafy, and who doesn’t want to get strong? Kids, adults, and even kid-at-heart adults. Way to go, Will!

Don’t be sad if you’re not Will… keep in mind that if you’ve got a favorite name for the drink, there’s no reason why you can’t call it whatever excites you to drink it more often: Puce Juice, Shamrock Smoothie, Spanikolada, Four-Leaf Cocktail, Greenhouse, Shrekoothie, Jade Smoothie, Emerald Smoothie, Emerald Forest, Spartan Smoothie, Green-Tini, or Shrek on the Beach. Drink up, and cheers to life enriched with green goodness!

Feeding Peter Piper, the Picky Pepper: Tip #3

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Your kids have now had 3 servings of veggies without even knowing it… the Popeye smoothie, zucchini pancakes and carrot cupcakes. So now it’s time to make sure they haven’t filled up too much before dinner. Tip #3:

Sayonara Snacktime! Make sure your kids are really hungry come mealtime. If they pounded Cheez-Its and lemonade at 4 PM, chances are that the broccoli casserole at dinner is going to look extra gross. Kids should go at least 3 hours between meals. The exception is if the previous meal was barely touched. In this case, avoid low blood sugar rages by offering a small snack a couple hours before the next meal. My rule is that a snack has to be an item i’d be happy with as part of a meal. Do Cheez-Its go with broccoli casserole? Right. And going even above & beyond, try to make the snack something of vegetable matter. When the heads start banging the walls, here are the snacks I offer:

  • Steamed, chilled carrot coins. Dipped in hummus for an extra punch.
  • Just Peas. They taste like popcorn, but they’re dried peas. I ate these before having kids, I swear.
  • Veggie Booty. Robert’s American Gourmet makes other yummy snacks, but these have powdered spinach, broccoli, kale, carrot, cabbage, and parsley. If your kids don’t like those veggies in whole form, they’ll no doubt rejoice in their powdered byproducts. Especially when they taste like cheese doodles.
  • Nuts
  • Whole, and dried fruit (dried mango goes over especially well in our house & is full of beta-carotene)
  • Raw veggies (cherry tomatoes are a hit)
  • Beans. Drained & rinsed, straight out of the can.
  • Edamame. Fun to pop out of the pods, and easy to pop in those cute little mouths.

While there are certainly even more ways to get healthy foods into your kids, including scare tactics, cookie cutters, and toothpicks, we’ll leave it at these 3 tips for now. Please share your successes, ideas, and requests for further tips in the Comments section. Happy eating!

Feeding Peter Piper, the Picky Pepper: Tip #2

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How was that smoothie this morning? Sounds like you’re ready for finicky kid Tip #2:

Shred or purée veggies and put them in everything. Pasta sauce, pizza sauce, pancakes, banana bread, cupcakes, even cookies. The idea here is that they’ll get the nutrients from the veggies and their bodies will learn to love them through deception, inception, and misconception. The best veggies to sneak in are zucchini, yellow squash, kale, spinach, and carrots. Jerry Seinfeld’s wife Jessica actually put together a book of recipes like this called Deceptively Delicious. While i haven’t actually tried any of the recipes, she’s got some great ideas to help get healthy food into your kids’ pods.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Tip, and share your ideas for sneaking in the good stuff!

Feeding Peter Piper, the Picky Pepper: Tip #1

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Before having kids, I did countless TV and radio interviews stressing the importance of establishing healthy eating habits in childhood, and ways to get picky eaters to eat veggies, fruits, and even vegetarian freak foods like tofu and tempeh. And then i had kids of my own. My first child (a girl) was actually a breeze. Right from the start she loved broccoli, avocados, Boca burgers, tofu, and would show up empty-handed and red-mustached when asked to go pick the tomatoes from the garden. So I was right all along! Offer them only healthy things and they’ll eat only healthy things. I can’t believe CNN even bothered to cover this. It was a no-brainer!

Then my son came along. Before even introducing him to solid food, I knew I’d be in trouble. So when he refused to eat food #1–avocado–I realized I’d have to reach into my bag of tricks right away. Thankfully, he ate other fruits and vegetables, but if you tried to feed him anything he didn’t like (like pasta), he’d channel his inner gag, and that was the end of that meal. For the whole family.  “Keep trying the foods they don’t seem to enjoy. One day, things might change. Don’t give up!” Did I really say that? Exactly how many times did i recommend people do this? 7 times?

The good news is, thanks to creativity, dessert bribery, and the elimination of snacks, at the age of 2 1/2, boychild is a pretty good eater even by dietitian standards. And as for the “keep trying” part—despite the consequences—I do. We had a major breakthrough last week. After 2 years of gagging, crying, and spitting out tofu, it finally made it down the esophagus. He even said “i like that toe food!” That, my friends, is some bitchin’ determination payoff! (I haven’t gotten the nerve to try him on tofu since, but i remain optimistic!)

I suspect our 3rd babe (also a boy) will bring yet another personality to the kitchen. He’s only just now starting on solid food and seems to prefer spitting things out and wiping them in his eyelashes. So obviously this is a personal work in progress. But, over the next 3 days I’ll share tips that have gotten us through thus far. Here is Tip #1:

Start the day with a green smoothie. The kids are hungry, and thirsty. Get them started on the right foot. The green part is pre-washed raw baby spinach, which is tasteless in a smoothie. The rest is up to you… fruit (banana makes it creamy, but be warned that dark-colored fruits will make the smoothie brown), something frozen (fruit or ice), and then enough liquid (ideally fortified non-dairy milk and/or water) to reach the height of the solid foods in the blender. Blend until it’s a beautiful ogre-green color. Here’s one that totally rocks:

Popeye Smoothie
Serves 4

1 banana
3/4 cup frozen chopped mango
1/2 cup frozen chopped pineapple
1/2 cup green grapes
2 tablespoons calcium-fortified orange juice concentrate
1 1/2 cups (2 large handfuls) raw baby spinach
1 tablespoon spirulina-type green powder (e.g. “Very Green” from Trader Joe’s)
8 ounces unsweetened calcium-fortified almond milk
ice cubes for a thicker smoothie/ chilled water for a thinner smoothie

Per serving: 78 calories, 1 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 17.8 g carbohydrate (2.2 g fiber, 12 g sugar), 1.2 g protein, 70 mg calcium, 42% of your daily vitamin C, 29% of your daily vitamin A.

Comment with your own tips and tricks over the next 3 days… I often deplete even my own arsenal!

It Ain’t Easy Bein’ a Collard Green

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Before Dinner

Collard greens have taken over our garden in weed-like fashion. They’ve been roasted, stir-fried, smoothied, and even pancaked, and they’re still exploding from the ground. So I consulted @floridagirlinDC and her foodie blog for suggestions on other ways to ride this calcium-crazed green. She suggested the Food Network’s Fried Collard Green WonTons.  While they sound absolutely delish, I knew by putting them through the Bitchin’ Dietitian health machine, I could come up with an equally scrumptious but slightly better-on-the-buttocks version. Here’s what we had for dinner:

Collard Green WonTons
Makes 16 WonTons

1 large bunch collards, stemmed, rolled, and sliced into strips
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 package (12.3 oz) silken firm tofu
1 can (15 oz) white beans, drained & rinsed
4 ounces cream cheese (Tofutti or other)
16 WonTon wrappers (eggless recipe here)
Olive oil for frying

Boil the collards with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and rice vinegar until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain the liquid.

Blend tofu, beans, cream cheese, and another dash of salt until smooth. Mix in with the collards.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan, using low heat. Place 2 tablespoons of creamy collard mixture in each WonTon wrapper, fold ‘er up comme ca, and fry on each side for about 5 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm.

Nutrition Info per WonTon: 212 calories, 5.7 grams fat, 32.4 g carbohydrate, 4.7 g fiber, 9.9 g protein.

Pancakes as Vegetable Vehicles

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Having trouble getting your kids or spouse to eat veggies? How about this recipe:

Confetti Pancakes
Makes enough pancakes for a family of 4

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sweetener (agave nectar, sugar, etc.)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup shredded zucchini
1/4 cup finely diced collard greens
1/4 cup shredded carrot
Optional: add 3 dark chocolate chips to each pancake
(“Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, anyone?!”) 

Mix all ingredients together, and add more almond milk as needed for thinner pancakes. Cook in a large skillet with a touch of oil. Add fruit sauce, maple syrup, agave, or nothing at all. YUM.

Eat Like You’re Pregnant, Exercise Like You’re Not

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Guys listen up too. I’ve noticed this more often than not: Women in their pregnant state are more likely to eat veggies and other healthy fare than when they’re eating solely for themselves. (They also have no problem justifying the key lime pie with extra whip, but we’ll leave that for another entry.) People tend to err on the side of invincibility. But when a little human is depending on them, they often reach for power at the salad bar. So, pretend for a moment that you’re building a being. Because in reality, you really DO need to build a being—a better and more nutritious you! Imagine every bite you take contributes to your “mini-me.” Which would the “baby” prefer… the mango wheatgrass smoothie or the caramel macchiato? You got it. Poof! You just made yourself an improved lymphatic system! Chlorophyll keg stand!!

Now when it comes to exercise–lucky for you–your “pregnant” state isn’t physically debilitating, nor will you be putting your mini-me at risk. So, not only can you sneak exercise into every possible corner of your existence… e.g.  jack-jumping your way through Direct Buy and Pillow Pet commercials, scaling the stairs rather than standing in awkward silence in the elevator, conference-calling from your cell phone while lapping the office building, and butt-squeeze repping while sitting in traffic… But you can also treadmill or bike yourself into a tizzy after work. Afterall, don’t you feel like a pony when you sweat?

Give this mindset a try. Get in touch with your maternal ethos and Grow, Baby Grow. Then Perspire, (no) Baby Perspire. Did it work?