Friday, October 16, 2009

Ways to get your kids to eat their vegetables

Kids are always trying to find ways to avoid eating their vegetables, from secretly feeding it to the pet dog or have it magically appear in their napkin. So here is something you can do to get your kids to get their daily dose of vegetables such as celery, carrots, and broccoli.

  1. With adult supervision let your kids play with the vegetables so that the vegetable seems less scary.
  2. Toss them into a dish like Vegetable Steam Fry or Shepherds Pie
  3. Use a microplane to mince the vegetables and add it them to sauces

Recipe of the Day. Shepherds Pie

Shepard’s Pie

Ingredients-

  1. 1 lb Ground Beef 15% or 1 pack soft Tofu
  2. 2-3 ea organic potatoes
  3. 1/2 C warm chicken stock
  4. 1/4 low fat milk, heated
  5. 1 can tomato paste
  6. 1 Yellow Onion
  7. 10 baby Carrots (round slices)
  8. 1-Cup Chicken Stock
  9. 1 Bag uncooked Spinach
  10. 2 Tbsp Butter
  11. Pinch Salt

Steamed Spinach- How to Sauté

  1. Heat up sauté pan with 1 inch of water in pan
  2. Add spinach once it starts to steam
  3. Use spatula to move around
  4. Cook for 1-2 min
  5. Remove from pan
  6. After removed it continue to Cook-

Potatoes-

  1. Peel the potatoes and chop up to equal pieces. (Smaller pieces for faster cooking)
  2. In pot bring to a boil then simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Once they’re tender dump out the water, add back to the pot and cook out the water on medium heat.
  3. Once the water is cooked out, turn off heat. Then heat up 1 tbsp butter, chicken stock, and low fat milk. Once warm, slowly incorporate into the potatoes, mashing with a potato masher. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Ground Beef or Tofu

  1. Dice onion & carrots very small and in a sauté pan heat tablespoon of Olive Oil
  2. Sauté the onion till soft and golden brown
  3. Add the ground beef
  4. Cook ½ way then add tomato past and Chicken Broth
  5. Chef pinch of salt
  6. Let Simmer for 10min.

Directions-

  1. Get Baking Dish
  2. Bottom of dish add Ground Beef or Tofu
  3. Spinach
  4. Top with Mashed Potatoes
  5. Cover completely with Mashed Potatoes
  6. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes

What Types of Chickens do We Eat?

When I was on the farm with my dear friends at Pond Hill Farm they showed me around their chicken coup. Farmer Tim told me all about the different types of chickens. My video from Pond Hill Farm will be coming soon, and you can learn all about their amazing and educational farm.

When it comes to chickens, there are several different breeds used for different things. These breeds fall into one of three categories egg, meat, and the dual-purpose breed. Chickens such as the Ameraucana, Ancona, and Andalusian are used primarily for producing eggs. These breeds are known for being lightweight birds whose hens do not go broody.

While the Bresse, Cornish Game, and Ixworth are preferred for meat alone, though the commercial broiler market is currently monopolized by the Cornish-Rock (a hybrid of the Cornish and Plymouth Rock). Duel purpose chickens on the other hand are the generalist breeds used in barnyards the world over, good at producing both meat and eggs. Though some may be slightly better for one of these purposes, they are usually called dual-purpose breeds.