This blog post is sponsored by Eggland’s Best. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
It can be very overwhelming to choose where to put your energy. I think this is especially true when it comes to choosing a cause. As much as I’d love to, I can’t give to every charity. So, my cause usually centers around healthier eating for families- it’s my time as a nutrition instructor for Cooking Matters. Each week, we learn a nutrition lesson, cook a meal together, and participants go home with groceries to recreate some of the recipes we made for their families. I love this happy coupling of learning, making, and eating.
Eggland’s Best has launched its Better Family Meals Program to help educate families on the importance of not only eating well, but also spending time together. The program isn’t simply designed for a one-time promotion, but rather aimed to develop lifelong healthy habits for both children and adults. Plus, they’re taking their efforts to Sur La Table to do in-person cooking tutorials with families who need a little extra help and guidance in terms of cooking and getting in the kitchen.
The Sur La Table classes are at various locations until December 15, 2019 and you can sign up here. I took my mom here once for a cooking lesson as a birthday gift and it was absolutely amazing. The ingredients used were stellar and the food came out SO GOOD! Plus we were the only ones in the class and got to leave with lots of leftovers. Insert happy drool face here.
Eggland’s Best eggs have ten times more vitamin E than ordinary eggs, and they never use any animal by-products, recycled or processed foods, hormones, steroids, or antibiotics of any kind. Their hens are fed an all-vegetarian diet that is nutritionally superior to other feeds, so compared to other eggs, Eggland’s Best eggs have six times more vitamin D, more than double the Omega-3’s and vitamin B12, and more lutein.
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In addition to a recipe I’ve created in honor of this incredible program, I wanted to share a few tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years re: how to get a few more servings of vegetables into kiddos. I very obviously do not have children, so this list is by no means complete. It’s a product of what I’ve learned from participants as well as cooking for my cousins over the years. After college I needed an income to supplement my PCA “salary” ($11.47 an hour) so I did personalized cooking and meal plans for a few families!
- Sneak spinach into smoothies – virtually undetectable! Especially with boldly flavored other items like banana and peanut butter.
- Make egg cups with just one vegetable in them. A slow introduction paired with a food they’re already familiar with.
- Try vegetable alternatives to traditional grains – half zucchini noodles in chicken noodles soup, for example. Or jicama hash instead of traditional potato hash browns – or half and half!!
- Blend squashes like butternut squash into soups – they make them extra dreamy and creamy!
- Walk around the farmers market and gaze at all the product! Beginning the positive association with the beauty of mother nature!!
- Go for the no tricks at all technique! Plan a fun activity in the grocery store where kids pick out 1-2 vegetables to try at home. Prepare the choices in different ways (sautéed, raw, roasted, steamed, etc.), and talk about different flavors and textures.
- Make a carrot cake breakfast loaf, or a chocolate zucchini loaf!
- Invite kids to cook / prepare food with you. That way, they’re invested in the process and more likely to eat the result!
And now to the recipe:
Something I’ve been so hooked on is a jicama hash. Jicama is a root vegetable with tons of fiber as well as vitamin C, tons of B vitamins, and vitamin E. And so crunchy and delightful! I love it to dip in avocado or as this hash.
Ingredients:
- 1 jicama
- 1 potato
- 1 white onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- Avocado oil (high smoke point and great for cooking / baking)
- Spices: salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme
- 1 bell pepper (orange, red, or yellow)
- 1-2 cups kale
- 4-6 Eggland’s Best organic eggs
Recipe:
- Set oven to broil
- Make rings out of bell peppers by slicing them horizontally
- Peel and grate jicama and potato
- Dice onion and mince garlic
- Sauté onion on stove top with avocado oil
- When onion is translucent, add garlic
- Next add potato and jicama
- Sauté until soft
- Add handful of kale (1-2 cups) and mix in
- Place ringed peppers onto hash
- Crack eggs in rings
- Place in oven for ~4 minutes, until eggs set
Thank you Eggland’s best for sponsoring this post. I am so excited to align with companies whose mission and efforts so perfectly parallel my own!
