April 11th, 2012 · Comments Off on Foodie Tots Move at the White House Egg Roll
On Monday, the boy and I were thrilled to take part in the 134th Annual White House Easter Egg Roll, courtesy of Let’s Move and the White House’s . We’d been before, three years ago, and were pleased to see that there was some food this time around — drinks from Honest Tea while you waited in line and apples and oranges courtesy of Whole Foods at the “Farmers Market.”
There were so many activities my son wanted to do that I didn’t get to chat with the chef manning the garden (not my buddy Sam, this time), but the boy did want to watch Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern‘s cooking demo. (I’m trying to track down his porcupine dumpling recipe. In the meantime, you can watch each chef’s demo here.) We then did the obstacle course, rolled the egg of course, and picked up our souvenir egg on the way out.
Read on to see the highlights …. and the surprise parting gift at the end. (Yeah yeah, everything in moderation, right?) And I also have to give a quick shout-out to Kaboom! and KidTribe, two kids’ fitness organizations who led activities at the event.
The foodie tots and I spent our spring break visiting the kids’ grandparents (my in-laws) in New York — Flushing, Queens, to be exact. In the 10+ years I’ve been coming to visit, we’ve rarely actually stayed in Flushing, so it was nice to do so this time and actually sample the local flavors. The boy really enjoyed learning about Chinese New Year at school earlier this year, so it was an ideal time to check out some authentic Asian cuisine — of which there are plenty of options in Flushing.
We started with red bean pastries (left in the photo) and pumpkin sesame doughnuts at Parisian Bakery:
Cooled off with afternoon bubble teas (mango green tea, pictured, and pearl milk tea) at Chatime:
And had dumplings and noodle soup at Nan Bei He:
The foodie baby is a little more adventurous than foodie boy these days (he asked his aunt to pick the scallions out of scallion pancakes) but fried dumplings are always a favorite. And as you can see, the baby scooted onto my lap and dove into the noodle soup.
Hope those who celebrate have a Happy Pesach and/or Happy Easter this weekend! I hear asparagus is arriving at the markets in DC … hello spring!
I’m not sure when St. Patrick’s Day became a national holiday nearly on par with Christmas. I know it can be a slow slog through the months of school between winter and spring breaks, but we still have a few stray pieces of Valentine’s candy around and now we’re in full-fledged leprechaun territory. And for kids, corned beef and cabbage has long since been supplanted with shamrock cookies and pots of gold. At least the chocolate is, well, slightly natural, but the barrage of bright rainbow-colored and artificially-dyed green treats flooding the internet frankly makes me nauseous. Even so, I wasn’t sure how my own little leprechauns would react to my latest green smoothie. Neither has touched avocado on its own since their first birthdays, though they will still dabble in guacamole occasionally. (I doubt anyone would suspect a toddler of being a rational being.)
Recently my five-year-old watched a VitaMix demonstration at the supermarket with rapt attention. When the woman placed handfuls of kale and spinach in the smoothie, he declared, “I LOVE kale and spinach!” Um, news to me, to say the least — but I determined to test his enthusiasm at home. And so my Leprechaun Smoothie was born — avocado, banana, orange juice and spinach. (According to the folks at Avocados from Mexico, a slice of avocado has a full gram of fiber — always something little ones can use more of.) Even if your kids load up on junk food the rest of the day, at least they can get a healthy start this St. Patrick’s Day.
As for my leprechauns? They both demanded seconds. To quote my five-year-old, “I’ll die if you don’t get me some more smoothie immediately.” That’s better than a pot of gold to this mama.
Recipe: Avocado Spinach Smoothie
Ingredients:
1/2 avocado, sliced
1 banana
1 cup orange juice
several fresh spinach leaves
Instructions: Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Makes 2 small servings or 1 large smoothie.
A few other healthy green options for St. Patrick’s Day:
When she heard I was finally conquering my slow cooker phobia, my friend Jill was quick to share her favorite black bean soup recipe. I made a few substitutions, starting with vegetable broth instead of chicken to make it Meatless Monday-friendly. Instead of the spicy serrano pepper I used a canned chipotle pepper with a bit of the adobo sauce, which gave it just a subtle flavor kick. (In fact, I may serve it with some sliced jalapeños for the adults, next time.) And as Jill noted in her instructions to me, don’t skimp on the lime juice, which really brightens the flavors of this soup.
Tofu-fearing- and bean-adverse-husband wasn’t wild about it (“needs bacon,” he suggested), but both kids devoured their bowls — which counts as a definite win in my book. We were out of tortilla chips so I toasted some corn tortillas to serve on the side.
Recipe: Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup Adapted from Cooking Light, March 2009
Ingredients:
1 pound dried black beans
4 cups (32 ounces) vegetable broth
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup water
1 tablespoon ground cumin
3 bay leaves
1 chipotle pepper and 1 tablespoon adobo sauce (chipotle canned in adobo sauce)
juice of one lime
1 teaspoon kosher salt
sour cream
fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)
Instructions:
Rinse beans, place in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Let soak overnight, then drain.
Combine beans, broth, onion, garlic, water, cumin, bay leaves, chipotle pepper and adobo sauce in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 10 hours.
Discard bay leaves. Add lime juice and salt, then serve. Top with sour cream and chopped cilantro.
We’re big fans of Dr. Seuss around here. The boy has been looking forward to PBS Kids’ Cat-in-the-Hat-a-thon all week — and, he even has the day off school so he can camp out in front of the tv in his pjs to watch. Meanwhile, I made a Seuss breakfast: Lorax pancakes, green eggs and ham, and pink ink. You know, of One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish:
This one, I think, is called a Yink.
He likes to wink, he likes to drink.
He likes to drink, and drink, and drink.
The thing he likes to drink is ink.
The ink he likes to drink is pink.
He likes to wink and drink pink ink. — Dr. Seuss
This breakfast smoothie is fast to whip up. And the best part — it’s all natural, no food dyes needed.
Recipe: Yink’s Pink Ink Drink
Ingredients:
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon honey (adjust to taste)
1 teaspoon ground flaxseed
Instructions: Place all ingredients in blender and puree until smooth and frothy. Pour into glasses, add a straw, and enjoy! Makes 2 small smoothies.
What’s the most read Dr. Seuss book in your house? Ours is probably Green Eggs in Ham, but One Fish Two Fish gets a lot of air time as well. Most exciting is that the boy is just about ready to start reading them to us — can’t wait!
