Marigolds

My husband planted marigolds in our backyard traditional garden this year as a natural pest control. We've tried this a couple times before but never gotten to them to grow very well from seed. This year they did awesome! I've never seen marigolds this huge before. It's so fun!


As you can see, they're several inches taller than my 16-month-old. With any luck, they'll seed themselves throughout the garden plot for next year.

In the gardening book, Just the Facts (p. 33), it states that marigolds are "The workhorse of the pest deterrents. Plant throughout garden to discourage Mexican bean beetles, nematodes, and other insects."

They're so pretty, too! Why wouldn't everyone want them scattered throughout their gardens?

"Super Salad"--or Kids and Veggies, 2

My kids' favorite salad meal is when I use our Bountiful Baskets salad veggies, make lots of toppings, and they get to make their own Super Salad. I love that they like this kind of dinner (even my 4-year-old, who only eats a couple lettuce leaves) because it's easy, healthy, and can be prepared ahead of time, if need be.

In fact, a couple nights ago when I made this dinner again, my 7-year-old exclaimed, "Mommy, you should write this recipe on the computer so other people can make it!" Her enthusiasm surprised me, and of course there's really no need for a recipe, but I thought, why not talk about it? This idea probably works for other people's kids too.

So here is what we do for our Super Salad night:

Main Salad:
Fresh green leaf lettuce (various types), broken into bite-sized pieces
Tomatoes, diced
Carrots (shredded or thinly sliced)--if available
Cucumbers, diced--if available

Toppings:
Cheese, cubed
Eggs, hard-boiled, peeled, and diced
Canned beans, rinsed (for salads, my favorites are kidney and black beans)
Hamburger, cooked and salted to taste with Real Salt, or seasoned with my homemade taco seasoning (I will note--again--that this topping is totally unnecessary, except when I have to resort to it for the oft-mentioned daughter, who is chronically low on iron)
Raisins
Salad dressing of choice

Another thing I love about this meal is that it makes more than one meal's worth and tastes great as leftovers, and can be added to subsequent meals as a side dish.

Pink Slime, Anyone?

I've been hearing a lot lately in the news about "pink slime" and am pretty disgusted by the whole thing. I know it's supposedly completely safe and completely beef, but the thought of yet more chemicals added to our lives is not a happy thought. Especially when those chemicals are passed on to our children in school lunches. (Yet another reason to send my daughter to school with safe, healthful food!) And yet, it is said that these chemicals are what make the meat safer than traditional beef.

Surprisingly--or not--this is a complicated issue. Here is a great article for those who are interested in learning more about this dilemma. For example, "[Pink slime] solves an enormous problem for meat producers. Only about half the weight of the 34 million cattle slaughtered each year is considered fit for human consumption. The rest has to be burned, buried in landfills, or sold cheaply for fertilizer or pet food. LFTB recovers 10 to 12 pounds of edible lean beef from every animal and is said to save another 1.5 million animals from slaughter."

Ugh.

At least this stuff is going to have to be labeled so everyone can make the choice for themselves. But my resolve to find fresh, safe beef locally continues to be strengthened...

Kids and Veggies

Not long ago I got talking to a friend about children and vegetables. She used to live in Taiwan and noticed that kids there don't have any issues with eating vegetables. They don't even think about not wanting to eat them because that's what everyone eats. I think this is so wonderful and wish our culture were more like that! As a country, we'd be so much better off in so many ways. 


When you study the evolution and disintegration of the American diet, it becomes obvious why our children turn up their noses at the green stuff (and yellow and orange and...). Adults aren't even eating the recommended amount, so how would their kids learn to like them?

When I was a child my family ate veggies often, particularly fresh vegetables from the garden. My mom had collected numerous squash recipes to make things interesting and to try to help us like squash. For me, at least, this worked. Since we didn't have much money, vegetables along with wheat and rice made up the foundation (and majority) of our diet. (Interesting how the least inexpensive, most natural foods are often the most healthful!)

I have raised my own children similarly. Now that we live mostly off a weekly Bountiful Basket, we have increased our vegetable consumption to the proper level (as I discussed here), but I served veggies to my children before that and we have always grown them in our garden. So why do my kids claim to dislike so many of them? Honestly, I feel sometimes like they're getting pickier as time goes on!

Back in September I was so frustrated with this I asked for ideas on how to get children to eat squash, in particular. Unfortunately, that is still an issue at my house. So whenever we have some on hand I try to sneak it into the meal without my kids knowing. Sometimes this works better than others, but what I have found that is most consistently effective is putting squash in spaghetti sauce. As long as I don't add too much and I blend it up well, the redness of the sauce disguises it. And since the sauce we use the most already has lots of veggies in it, my kids are used to seeing a sauce with textures.

So, I'll keep plugging away and keep serving all varieties of veggies, regardless of the complaints. And I'll keep looking for yummy, more kid-friendly recipes to try to change my children's mindset. I guess the fact that my 4-year-old will finally eat carrots and cucumbers with dip shows we're making progress...albeit slowly. :)

Sneaky Zucchini Chicken Nuggets (Vegetarians, Please see P.S.)

I love the name of these and love even more how well they worked for my kids! My children could count on one hand how many times they've eaten chicken nuggets in their lives, so they were pretty excited to find out what Mommy was making. My 7-year-old said they didn't taste like the chicken nuggets she's eaten, but I explained about the health difference between these and the fast food version and she still liked them. My 4-year-old was a bit turned off by their appearance and didn't think she wanted any. But eventually she came around (about the time we pulled out the ketchup to go with them), and then she couldn't stop eating them! That really did my heart good, to see how by once again being sneaky I was able to get her and her older sister to eat "yucky squash." The baby, of course, loved them without question. He just loves food, period. :)


You can find the original recipe here (along with a great picture) and I didn't make any alterations to the ingredients. Since I have home-canned chicken, I used that and it made things very fast and easy with my immersion blender attachments.


P.S. I have visions of making this recipe into an all-veggie version that my kids would eat. If any of you figure out the perfect combo, let me know!

Sneaky Zucchini Chicken Nuggets

1 1/2 c. zucchini, grated
1 lb. cooked, shredded chicken (the original recipe uses ground chicken)
1 egg
1 tsp. onion salt
2 c. crushed corn flakes or bread crumbs (or cracker crumbs--whatever you have on hand)

In large bowl, mix together zucchini, chicken, egg, and onion salt until well combined. 

Lightly grease cookie sheet.

Form 1-2 tablespoons of the chicken mixture into small balls and coat in bread crumbs, then press flat (until about 1/2 inch thick). Transfer to a prepared cookie sheet. 

Once nuggets have been formed and breaded, spray light layer of nonstick cooking spray over nuggets (I omitted this part since I don't have any spray and they still worked fine). 

 Cook at 400 degrees for 13-15 minutes, or just until nuggets have cooked thoroughly. Serve with homemade ranch dressing and garden-fresh tomatoes (or if you have small children, ketchup might just do the trick).

Question

Please help!

What summer squash dishes do you make that your children like? I have tried so many recipes, some new, some old favorites, but haven't hit one yet that my kids will eat without complaining. (Except, of course, with zucchini I make zucchini bread and cookies, etc, and they love those.) I don't know why they have this bias--crookneck is so pretty and has a sweet, mild flavor--but I'm guessing it's typical.

So how do you get your kids to eat summer squash?