Thanks to Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, I came up with something brilliant last week.  Well, maybe not brilliant.  Great?  Oh alright.  How about worth a try?  I’d even go so far as to say that this new discovery should at least be tried by everyone with picky eaters.  Want to know what it is?

Last week I participated one of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Twitter Competwitions.  That’s right, no it’s not a type-o.  Competwition.  The team at Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution keeps coming up with great ways to get like-minded folks together to talk about fresh food and this is one of the events they host on Twitter.  When my son asked what I was doing, I explained that I was submitting an entry for a recipe contest.  The theme was salad.  My son looked at me for a long moment then asked, “So what’s your recipe?”  A  bit surprised that he was interested in this salad recipe contest, I told him what I was planning to submit.  He looked thoughtful for a moment then said, “I want to enter a recipe.” I began to type.

This child of mine, who avoids most green vegetables of any kind…scratch that, any vegetables of any kind, began to rattle off vegetables that he wanted in his salad recipe.  Cucumbers, spinach, avocados, tomatoes.  He thoughtfully chose his ingredients as I typed his recipe into Twitter.  Then, with a click of the button, my seven year old son’s salad recipe was headed to Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution for consideration.

“What should we do with your recipe?” I asked my son.

He shrugged his shoulders, “I dunno.”

“I’ll tell you what,” I started, drawing out the moment for suspense.  “Let’s make your recipe for dinner this week!”

And are you ready for his response?

“Cool,” he answered, a half smile proudly displayed on his adorable face.

He was proud.  Proud of his creation.  Proud that we would make it together and serve it to our family for dinner.  Proud of his accomplishment.

Then a tweet came in.  “Love it!!”.

Jamie Oliver’s team had responded to my son’s recipe.  If it’s at all possible, he was even more proud.

So my brilliant definitely worth-a-try suggestion is this:  host a family recipe contest.  That’s right.  Choose a theme and let your kids create.  Let them come up with the ingredients, develop the process, and invent the recipe title.  There should be guidelines of course:  a salad theme must actually include vegetables or fruit, a pasta theme can not include anything sprinkled from a packet, and of course, a soup must contain some ingredients beyond broth.  But other than that, let’s allow our kids to create.  To participate in their nutrition.  To learn to enjoy real food.

So without further ado, allow me to introduce you to the first ever Gerber Family Recipe Contest via Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Competwition Salad Recipe:

“Fresh Cucumber Salad”

Ingredients:

• cucumbers (preferably English or Persian w/skins)
• spinach
• avocados
• tomatoes (grape tomatoes work great)
• sea salt
• olive oil
• “a little pepper”

Directions:

• Wash cucumbers, tomatoes and spinach.
• Slice cucumbers, avocados and tomatoes.
• Toss sliced veggies with spinach.
• Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and “a little pepper”.
• Serve.

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Some additional Family Recipe Contest theme ideas:

• Kabobs – fresh veggies, meats, tofu, shellfish…even fruit.  These skewers will be fun for the kids to plan, and easy for us parents to grill.
• Omelets –  Obviously eggs are a necessary ingredient, but the rest is open to interpretation!
  
• Stew – beef, chicken, seafood, bean, or just veggies
  
• Oatmeal – what can our kids add to oats to make the best breakfast dish!
• Sandwich – layer upon layer of fresh goodness…no nitrites please!
  
• Burrito– what are the parameters for what we can put in a tortilla? There are none!
• Stir Fry – Will your kids stir fry recipe follow those served in the Chinese restaurants?  Why not make it an Italian stirfry?  Or Indian?

Please show your support for the wonderful changes Jamie Oliver is making for children’s nutrition by supporting his Food Revolution.  You can sign his petition at JamieOliver.com, follow his campaign on Facebook at either the Food Revolution Community page or the Food Revolution Los Angeles page or join like-minded supporters on his FoodRevTeam Twitter page and submit your own recipe in their Twitter Competwitions.

This post was fun.  I am beyond proud of my little chefs.  I’m telling you, this Out of the Box Food journey my family and I have been on has been the most inspirational, healthy experience we’ve ever tackled together.  Please.  We’re willing to share.  Join us.  Until next week…

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