Rising to the Real Food Challenge

I tried a new recipe tonight for the real food challenge and of course it was from Jamie's Food Revolution cook book! I wanted to try out a simple, quick one to add to our 'just got home from work & need dinner now!' list of quick meals. I chose the Salmon Fish Cakes, a basic recipe.

Ingredient list:

salmon

potatoes

italian parsley

egg

flour

lemon

salt & pepper

olive oil

I followed his recipe for the most part, but made it for 2 servings instead (4 salmon cakes) and kept the skin on my potatoes. Overall, they were so quick and easy to make, tasted yum (especially with the lemon squeezed on top) and got 2 thumbs up!

In the book he recommends to try it with a tomato, olive, basil and chile sauce (recipe in book) which I may do next time. I just served it with broccoli as we were wanting a light meal. But any other green side would be nice, especially a salad. 

A fun idea to make these salmon cakes more kid-friendly: prior to cooking, shape the salmon mixture using cookie cutters, such as a fish cookie cutter and add a pea for the eye! Or present your salmon fish on a sea of peas!

- Wendy

(image courtesy of The Cookie Cutter Shop)

Rising to the Real Food Challenge: Marie-Eve and Claude-Emilie!

Well, I threw down the gauntlet as they say, and two passionate friends from Quebec picked it up! Marie-Eve and Claude-Emilie prepared a lovely vegetarian meal using only "real food" and nothing processed! Their meal consisted of a lovely fresh salad and a large cold roll, served with homemade green tea with ginger and honey! Tasty and healthy!

Salad: 

lettuce

carrots

beets

zucchini

tomatoes

3 kinds of sprouts 

Cold Roll:

rice paper

rice noodles

peanut butter/honey/gomasio sauce

(gomasio is a combination of toasted sesame seeds and sea salt)

grated carrots and beets

sliced zucchini and mango

lentil sprouts

shallots

mint

coriander

Thank you Marie-Eve and Claude-Emilie! This looks like a delicious, light meal to enjoy and Little Foodies thanks you for sharing! You can read Marie-Eve's inspiring thoughts on her blog, A Commitment to Shine.

Cooking Challenge: Cook With Real Food!

These days everyone is talking about "real food" -- what does that even mean? Well, if you take the advice of author/journalist/food expert Michael Pollan, you are eating real food if you "don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food". You know the tips -- shop the outside of the grocery store, don't buy anything that has ingredients your 3rd grader can't pronounce, and so on.

But how easy is it to actually make a meal that doesn't contain any processed ingredients? In my opinion, it's easier than you may think. Granted, you may spend a few more dollars, but you will know that the food you're putting into you and your family's bodies is "real food". (It's actually absurd that we need to make the distinction, isn't it?)

So I set out to make a meal purely using natural ingredients and nothing processed. I ended up making a delicious meal that I can't really take credit for as it is featured in Jamie Oliver's latest cookbook, but it was tasty and easy to prepare! It wasn't overly time consuming and it included healthy ingredients, although I can't say it was perfect as I did learn a valuable lesson in the process, which I'll mention in a moment.

Without further ado, I bring you my meal: Italian Pan-Seared Tuna -- recipe by Jamie Oliver, preparation by yours truly. I have to avoid reprinting the actual recipe for copyright issues, but if you're interested, why not pick up a copy of his book?

Ingredients:
garlic
red and yellow cherry tomatoes (I used heirloom tomatoes)
black olives (I used Kalamata)
fresh basil
lemon
tuna steaks
sea salt and pepper
dried oregano (I used Italian Seasoning)
olive oil
anchovies

The finished product was a tasty, healthy meal that was probably one of the most delicious things I've ever made in my kitchen, and the entire process (including prep) only took me about 30 minutes!

I have to admit, I chose this recipe on a whim as it just sounded so delicious, but I realize now that there were a few flaws in my plan, but I have solutions for those flaws! First of all, I know what you're thinking: "Anchovies? Olives? My kid is sooo not going to eat that! Fish? Same!" I hear you, I really do, but I truly think that if you introduce foods early to kids, they will develop a palate for them early on and enjoy food that much more into adulthood. Sure, I don't have kids, how do I know this? Well, last year while I was working at a cafe, I witnessed a regular occurrence that confirmed my faith that kids will try anything and learn to love foods that they "think" they won't like, as long as you introduce those foods to them! A very cute family with very young children used to enjoy a long, leisurely lunch in our cafe; the children would nosh on cheese and bread of course, but also olives, pickled onions, beets and other savoury items. These kids and their pure enjoyment of this food was inspiring! So I do believe your kids will eat it!

Another flaw to this meal was the choice of fish: tuna steaks. Although they were extremely delicious, I felt a tad guilty eating them as I know that some types of tuna are not sustainable and being over-fished. This tuna was Yellowfin, which on some lists is not a terrible choice, but you never really know. So next time I would choose a more eco-friendly protein. If you'd like to learn more about sustainable fish, head on over to Sea Choice -- they have all the info, and even a little hand-held guide you can bring with you to the grocery store and restaurants! (I should have had mine with me...) Also the tuna wasn't cheap, but I figure I'd rather spend my money on great food than something else, but that is a personal choice. Speaking of value for money...

How to stretch this meal:

Depending on the quantity you make and the size of your family, you could have leftovers from this recipe. If so, I thought of some ways to stretch this meal further and get more for your dollar!

1) Cut up the fish into smaller pieces and use as a topper for a salad the next day

2) Do the same and mix it into a pasta dish the next night

3) Put the remaining tomatoes, olives etc. in a blender and turn it into a sauce, for the above pasta!

I learned a lot from this experience and I am anxious to see if anyone wants to participate in the challenge! No deadline -- whenever the mood strikes you, email me your photos and tell me what you made!

littlefoodiesblog@gmail.com

Bon Appetit!

~Heather

You CAN Win Friends with Salad! 

But if you can't, you can always make a salad friend! For the past couple days, I have had the little chant "you can't win friends with salad!" sung by Bart (Simpson) & family in the episode featuring Paul & Linda McCartney when Lisa becomes a vegetarian. Here's the clip: (the only one I could find - such quality taping your tv!)  

 

With that song playing through my head, I decided it would be fun to make a salad friend for my lunch yesterday. Which could also be a silly way to trick a little one into eating salad if salad is on the "I don't like" list. Getting kids involved in creating their food may make them more willing to eat up their salad friend! 

How delicious would it be to design your own salad face from an assortment of crunchy, fresh veggies? For my salad friend, I used spinach for the face, shredded carrot for the hair, mushrooms for the nose & ears, a red pepper for the mouth and a trio of  cucumber, almond & red peppers for the eyes. Check him out:

He looks like a Ben to me somehow. Strange. My salad friend would love to meet other salad friends. Why not get creative in the kitchen and make your own salad friend?Email littlefoodiesblog@gmail.com a picture of your salad friend and maybe if we get enough entries, we can have a little vote for 1st - 2nd & 3rd prize? A little competition is fun right?!

Along my salad thoughts, some wonderful felt play food came to mind. Another great way for kids to become familiar with and play with their food. Check out these delicious felt salads!

Salad by  Lilly Bean Market

Felt Playfood Tossed Salad by Eva Lauren - Etsy  

Looking forward to seeing your salad friends! There is no entry deadline for the photos, I'll keep adding them to the site when they arrive. Enjoy your next salad!

- Wendy

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

How do you get kids fired up about cooking? You ask them to be in a flash mob! I just finished watching the latest episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and with the help of a choreographer, Jamie and students from Marshall University staged a cooking flash mob where they made a beef stirfry in the campus quad. See for yourself:



Granted, these are university-aged kids, so they're actually adults, but with ideas such as this flash mob, Jamie is helping people of all ages to see that cooking can be fun! As a result of this flash mob as well as many other efforts in Huntington, West Virginia, Jamie was able to achieve his goal of teaching this recipe to 1000 people in one week. If you have not yet had the chance to watch the show, I highly recommend you curl up on the couch with a hot cup of tea and get viewing!

Jamie wants you to have fun in the kitchen!

Photo via Flickr user beastandbean

Some of you may be asking yourselves, what is this revolution all about? Well, in a nutshell, the revolution is all about empowering others to learn to cook. In school we learn how to read and write, we learn many other important skills that will help us in our adult lives. What we don't learn are life skills such as how to cook! Jamie wants to change all of that by educating people about a healthy, seasonal way of eating that won't break the bank. He's on a mission and yes, his revolution is being televised! Jamie also has a book on the subject, as well as an online community where you can sign the petition to support the cause. (You don't have to be in the U.S. to sign it!) Want to know more? Click here.

Jamie and his wife have three lovely daughters of their own (and another child on the way), and it was his love for his children that helped ignite this mission. He's long been an advocate for quick and easy meals, healthy food and cooking from scratch, but now he's taking it to the streets to help others. Here on Little Foodies, we are very inspired by what Jamie is doing and we can't wait to share more of our ideas with all of you! Let's prove that cooking can be fun, and kids will get on board!

What are you cooking this weekend? I challenge you to make one meal this weekend that has no processed food in it whatsoever -- I'll make a meal of my own and post it on the blog so you can see what I've made :) If you choose to accept this challenge, take a picture of your meal and email me at littlefoodiesblog@gmail.com and I'll  post it up on the blog!

So let's tie up those apron strings and get cooking!

~Heather