Eat for a Low-Stress 2011

One of our New Year's resolutions is to reduce stress in our lives... through what we eat! We thought this would be a great blog entry for the whole family!

A stressed person's body will hold onto less calcium, magnesium and potassium. Prolonged stress can lead to deficiencies of these minerals as well as B vitamins and electrolytes while experiencing increased production of free radicals which stresses the body further, leaving us more susceptible to illness and slower to heal. Although we'll be preemptively reducing stresses in our lives, when faced with unavoidable stresses, we'll count on certain foods to help our body fight the physical effects of stress.

Here's the list of soothing, stress-relieving foods that we'll be eating more of in 2011 and hope that you will too:

Other recommendations include:

• a diet that's 50% raw fruits and vegetables
• minimize dairy consumption
• limit caffeine intake
• supplement vitamin D to aid calcium absorption
• regular exercise
• "tense and release"progressive relaxation. Tense a muscle group for a count of ten and then release.
• solid night's sleep. For mild, natural assistance, try camomile tea and/or melatonin.

Wishing you a happy New Year!

Homemade Candies in Minutes!

This December's recipea is one of our simplest and most elegant yet. These chocolate candies are great to bring along to a holiday party, to make for last-minute gifts, or a fun way to enjoy a snow day with the kids.

Chocolate Cherry Candies

Make your own chocolate candies this holiday season. These have half the fat of traditional store bought chocolate candies, so you can feel great about giving them to little ones, gifting them to loved ones, and having a few yourself. In place of excess saturated fat, sugar, and calories; these treats offer antioxidants and iron from the dried fruit, healthy unsaturated oils, Vitamin E, and minerals (like Calcium, Magnesium and Zinc) from the nuts. Hap-pea Holidays!

• 8oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate
  (50-70% cocoa, chips, or chopped)
• 1 cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped
  (substitute with dried cranberries or apricots)
• 1 cup slivered almonds, toasted (substitute with chopped hazelnuts or walnuts)
• 1 cup crispy rice cereal
• fleur de sel or other finishing salt

Prepare one 3-foot-long piece of parchment or waxed paper with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Combine the dried fruit, nuts and crispy rice cereal in a medium-sized bowl. If using chocolate bars, chop the chocolate into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces. Melt the chocolate by heating gently either in the microwave or a double boiler, stirring regularly until fully melted, about 100 degrees F. Continue stirring the melted chocolate using a folding spatula.

Fold the fruit mixture gently into the melted chocolate. Once all the fruit mixture is covered, working quickly with two small spoons, drop heaping teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto the prepared pieces of paper. Before they set, sprinkle a few grains of fleur de sel onto each cluster. Let cool completely, about 1 hour. Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to a few days.

Let Kids Play with Their Food

Well, with fruits and vegetables at least!


Nurture your kids' curiosity and creative side by encouraging them to arrange fresh foods in fun ways. 


Just like the ambiance of a nice restaurant might have you eating foods that you ordinarily avoid, making a game out of eating fruits and vegetables (and by playing and eating right along) can get kids to try and enjoy foods they used to 'dislike strongly' (rather than 'hate').


Here at Peas, we know that the eating experience is very important to kids. We love the looks of shear delight as kids hold, dip and dunk our Veggie Wedgies into organic ketchup.  Those moments are the highlights of tradeshows and other events, watching a child smile while eating a broccoli fry and watching their parent's eyes bulge out of their head in disbelief! 


How else can you and your kids have fun together with healthy foods?

"Name this fruit?" photo from "Kids: 3 Reasons to Play With Your Food" on http://whatscookingwithkids.com

• bring your kids with you to the store. Let them pick out a fruit or vegetable of their choice. Let them select, weigh and bag it. Let them (with help, as needed) take it from the cart to the check-out belt, let them do it all. Prepare this new item together. I used to play this game with myself in college. Every time I went grocery shopping, I'd look for a new-to-me vegetable and just buy it. I'd bring it home and consult Deborah Madison's - Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, prepare and enjoy it. It was always a highly satisfying experience, even when my dish wasn't perfect, and for some kids, the "I made it myself!" factor cannot be underestimated! And you'll be learning too.

• have a taste test. As a family, try 2 or 3 different varieties of apples, for example. Talk about how they are different, ask each person which is their favorite, discuss textures and flavors, embrace your own descriptive language and encourage you child to join the conversation. Ask them what they think?

• give it a year or two and then try again. Humans are born with innate dilikes to certain tastes, particularly bitterness and astringency. From an evolutionary standpoint, this is useful because many poisonous plants taste bitter and/or astringent, so this innate reaction of disliking bitter foods makes sense. However, over a lifetime, a person's ability to detect these unpleasant tastes degenerates. In fact, by age 65, a person can only taste 25% of what they could taste when they were born. As sad as it may be to think about in that context, use this fact to your advantage. Kids really do 'grow out of' dislikes. If your child had a repulsion to a particular food when they were 1 or 2, at age 5 they may not be able to taste the exact compound that they reacted to at 1 or 2. They may just shrug at eat it. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Have you had a new-food-breakthrough playing with your child? 


Sources:
 * http://whatscookingwithkids.com
 * http://fatherhood.about.com

Edible Homemade Holiday Gifts

Who wouldn't love a holiday gift that was 'homemade with love by your child!

Here are a couple simple recipes from a blogger that we love, The Stone Soup | Minimalist Home Cooking, we have adapted the recipes to use U.S. measurements and are great for kids to make as edible gifts this holiday season.

Dukkah: an Egyptian blend of spices and nuts.

Traditionally served with olive oil and bread for dipping, this flavorful mixture can also be sprinkled on a variety dishes for a hint of nutty spiciness. Makes enough to fill 3, 8oz mason jars. If you like, wrap with a bottle of extra virgin olive oil and a copy of the *suggested uses* listed below.

2 cups sesame seeds
1 ¾ cups hazelnuts
1 ⅓ cup macadamias
½ cup coriander seeds
⅓ cup cumin seeds
extra virgin olive oil, to serve
rustic bread, to serve

Toast seeds and nuts separately until golden. In a food processor, grind the coriander and cumin seeds to a fine powder and transfer to a bowl. In the same food process (no need to wash it) process the sesame seeds, add to ground spices. Process hazelnuts and macadamias until coarsely ground, ⅛” to ¼” pieces, add to the spice mixture. Season well with 1 tsp sea salt (or to taste) and pepper to taste. Stir well. Store in an airtight container in a dark place at room temperature. To keep fresher/longer, store in the fridge or freezer.

Serve on a platter with oil and bread. To eat, dip bread first the oil and then the dukkah.

*Suggested uses for Dukkah:*

• as a dip with olive oil and bread for breakfast, lunch or dinner, or a great standby starter for last minute guests.
• add a crunchy topping to many soups.
• sprinkled on sandwiches
• sprinkled over fried eggs with feta and sliced spring onions with a squeeze of lemon juice.
• as a crust on fish or chicken before pan frying, served  with an extra sprinkle of dukkah.
• sprinkled over roast veg, especially pumpkin and sweet potato.

Marinated Olives

2 cups olives, any variety or a mixture
1 large sprig rosemary, leaves picked
4 cloves garlic, skin on, bashed with the back of a knife
zest of one orange
freshly cracked black pepper
1/2C olive oil, plus extra to top

‘Sterilize’ a large jar with a tight fitting lid by putting through the dishwasher or placing in a saucepan of water and bringing it to a boil for about ten minutes.

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and heat gently over a low to med heat for approx 10 minutes to allow the flavors to infuse. Remove from heat and transfer everything to the clean dry sterilized jar. Top with enough olive oil to keep the olives submerged.

The olives will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of months.

*Suggested uses for Marinated Olives:*

• simple snack, all on their own
• starter for guests, served with toothpicks and rustic bread to dip in the marinating oil.
• as a garnish to jazz up store-bought hummus
• as a simple salad with sectioned oranges and a tablespoon of minced shallot or onion.
• as a relish to accompany grilled fish. chop 1 cup of olives and 1 cup of cherry tomatoes roughly, add the juice of a lemon, 1 tablespoon of the marinating oil and a tablespoon of minced fresh basil.

Sources:

* http://thestonesoup.com/blog (see for more ideas)