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
Packing Lunch – A Parent’s Groundhog Day
Kids Food

Packing Lunch – A Parent’s Groundhog Day

Have you seen the Bill Murray film, Groundhog Day?  The one where he wakes up each morning to face the exact same day….over….and over…….and over again?  Well, as I got up yesterday to pack my children’s lunches I felt a bit like Bill Murray (minus the dry sense of humor and experience as a Ghostbuster).  Alarm goes off, I pad into the kitchen, pull out our lunchboxes, open the fridge: turkey, cheese, bread — add some fruit, something for snack.  Done. (more…)

2 Comments
09/08/2012
Technology and Innovation – Shaping the Way We Feed Our Families
Dinner Table / Kids Food

Technology and Innovation – Shaping the Way We Feed Our Families

Technology and innovation.  For my second post in the GE’s Freshpedition series I was given two topics to choose from: the role technology plays in in healthy eating OR innovative ways to incorporate fresh food into our family’s diet.  As I pondered which topic to choose, I realized that in our Out of the Box Food journey, those two topics have gone hand-in-hand.  Without technology and innovation, Out of the Box Food would not exist and I might not have begun the journey to find new, innovative ways to feed my family.  I’m going to admit something to you I would never admit in front of my kids (especially when they’re whining for video games or computer time)… I am grateful for technology. (more…)

0 Comments
08/23/2012
Back-to-School Lunch Box
Kids Food / Lunch Box

Back-to-School Lunch Box

It’s back-to-school week here and as I contemplated what to write this week, I realized how many unknowns our kids are faced with as they head back to the classroom:

  • Who will my teacher be?
  • What friends will be in my class?
  • Who will I play with at recess?
  • Who will I sit with at lunch?
  • WHAT will I eat for lunch? (more…)

3 Comments
08/19/2012