52 New Foods for your Family – Guest Post
Dinner Table / Kids Food

52 New Foods for your Family – Guest Post

A New Year’s Food Challenge: 52 weeks, 52 new foods – Guest Post 

By Jennifer Tyler Lee

52 weeks, 52 new foods. How one family achieved the most frequently broken New Year’s resolution: to eat healthy.

Battles over broccoli and Brussels sprouts were fierce at our family table. Getting my kids, ages 3 and 6, to eat healthy was a terrible struggle. Over time, the diversity of dishes on our family table narrowed so much that even my husband and I weren’t eating very healthy anymore. I wanted our table to be a place of joy and fun for our family – a place where we could gather for great conversation and healthy food together. It all changed when I turned healthy eating into a game. (more…)

1 Comment
12/16/2012
Homemade Pop Tarts – With a Twist
Breakfast Table / Kids Food / Lunch Box / On the Go / Snacks / Sweet Treats

Homemade Pop Tarts – With a Twist

I’ve seen quite a few homemade Pop Tart recipes on the internet.  They look delicious and fun, but for me they were still made with white flour, and well –  I wanted to find a way to bring them even further Out of the Box.  These homemade Pop Tarts are chock full of whole grain wheat, flax meal, and fresh fruit – Making them a win in both taste and nutrition. (more…)

8 Comments
12/09/2012
Kid-Friendly Vegan Mushroom Soup
Dinner Table / Kids Food

Kid-Friendly Vegan Mushroom Soup

First let me preface by saying that every recipe I post on Out of the Box Food must first be kid-tested by my own children.  Having said this, yes…this mushroom soup has been kid tested AND approved by two fairly particular nine year old boys.  Don’t be intimidated by the words “mushroom” and “vegan”.  In fact, for the kids’ sake let’s just call this soup: “Souper Mushroom Broth”…later you can fill them in on the rest.

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1 Comment
11/18/2012
Meatless Monday Family Style: Nacho Usual Nachos
Dinner Table / Kids Food

Meatless Monday Family Style: Nacho Usual Nachos

What do your kids think of when they hear the term “Nachos”?  When I was a kid, my idea of nachos was simply the compartmentalized plastic container filled with overly salted chip that I could dip haphazardly into a thick, oozy processed cheese sauce at a baseball game.   Unfortunately for me, that horrible, chemically created cheese sauce still evokes fond memories of the distinct sound of the crack of a bat as it connects with a ball, the smell of a well-worn mitt and time spent with my Dad.  But it’s time to take nachos out of the ballpark, and redefine them into a fun way to get fresh ingredients into our kids. (more…)

6 Comments
11/03/2012
Make it together: Fruit Kebabs
Breakfast Table / Kids Food / Lunch Box / On the Go / Snacks

Make it together: Fruit Kebabs

We are back to summer here in Los Angeles this October weekend. Temperatures are rising into the 90′s, warm winds are blowing and we’re heading to the farmers market to pick up lots of fruit! Getting kids involved in the kitchen is a sure way to get them trying new foods.   While our kids are little, we begin working to prepare them for life — we teach them strong study skills, the value of saving their allowance for a solid financial future, and  help them learn early on the value of healthy foods so that (hopefully) they won’t try to survive on Cheetos and Diet Coke in their college dorm room.  It may sound simple but we can start with something as easy and fun as Fruit Kebabs. Fruit Kebabs are simple way to allow kids to create their own healthy dish while giving them a fun activity. We lay out out a variety of fruit and skewers (or plastic coffee stirrers for younger children) and let them invent their own creations. Let’s get our kids creating in the kitchen!

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1 Comment
10/26/2012
Meatless Monday Family Style – Vietnamese Summer Rolls
Dinner Table / Kids Food / Lunch Box

Meatless Monday Family Style – Vietnamese Summer Rolls

Summer may be officially over, but Vietnamese Summer Rolls are a delicious way to celebrate Meatless Monday all year long.  These vegetable filled rolls are fun for the kids to assemble, and pack a nutritional punch.  We put out all the fixings and let the kids make their own rolls for dinner, and a few extra for tomorrow’s lunch box.

Feel free to adjust the ingredients seasonally to include what’s in currently available near you.  Try winter vegetables such as butternut squash, carrots and blanched broccoli Raabe or spring vegetables such as asparagus and assorted greens. (more…)

2 Comments
09/29/2012
Local Food Gets Convenient for Families
Kids Food

Local Food Gets Convenient for Families

Local, “Real” Food is a gift we can give to our families.  We’ve talked about ways to include the kids in Farmers Market shopping, we’ve taken a trip down “Blueberry Lane” to local U-pick farms, and we’ve brought our experiences back here to Out of the Box Food and talked about ways to involve our kids in preparing this Real, local food.  By sharing the taste of fresh picked fruits and vegetables with our children, chances of their enjoying it grow exponentially.  When they bite into a just-picked peach, or a tomato ripened on a vine down the road, they learn to appreciate the true flavor of “Real Food” not the prepackaged, delivery truck-aged flavor of most supermarket produce.  True apples and oranges. (more…)

1 Comment
09/23/2012