Hero Foods

"Hero Foods" are foods that provide rich amounts of key nutrients, specifically the nutrients that can be challenging for vegetarians to get enough of (like calcium, protein, iron, Vitamin B12 and zinc). These Hero Foods are excellently healthy and great for everyone to enjoy, so we thought we'd share them with you.

From The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook, here's their list of Hero Foods:

Do you already cook with many of these 'hero' ingredients? 

Are there any that you are excited to work into your repertoire? 

This Blog's for you, Moms!

There is nothing better than a mug of hot tea in the afternoon or a cold winter's night! Lately we have been into the art of drinking specialty tea. When aromas like citrus, jasmine and lavender intensify as hot water hits the tea leaves, preparing a well-crafted tea is a pleasure and drinking it is a divine experience.  We have even started to blend our own teas and wanted to share one of our favorite custom blends with you.

But first more on one of our favorite specialty tea companies. Spoiled here in SF, we enjoy tea shopping/tasting in Chinatown. It's quite an experience in person, but luckily, our favorite stop on the Grant St. tea train,  Red Blossom Tea Company, has an online store! Favorites from Red Blossom include their Silver Needle (white tea), Jasmine Pearls, and Peppermint Rose (herbal tea).

(photo credit: citrus oolong from rishi-tea.com)

Come to think of it, teas like these would make great Valentine's gifts for even a casual tea drinker. There's still plenty of time to drop hints for (or be forthright with) your sweetheart! Teas make for a much healthier, feel-good gift than a box of candy!

Beyond our favorite teas on the market, we love to experiment with our own tea blends. :)

A simple blend of chamomile and lavender is a perfectly soothing herbal tea:

Chamomile Lavender Tea

• 1 teaspoon chamomile flowers
• 1/2 teaspoon lavender flowers

• Steep: in 8 oz boiling hot water for 5 minutes.

Our current favorite is a blend of citrus and herb aromas and is quite invigorating for an herbal tea! It's perfect for a full-flavored, no calorie, caffeine-free, afternoon pick-me-up. Here's our working recipe:

 Lemon Herb Tea

• 4 tablespoons lemon verbena
• 2 tablespoon lemon thyme (or 1 teaspoon thyme leaves and 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest)
• 1 tablespoon lavender
• 1 tablespoon tarragon
• 1 tablespoon rose hips
• 1 teaspoon licorice root
• 2 dried apricots, chopped (optional)

• Mix gently but thoroughly and store in an airtight container in a dark place.
• Steep: 1 tablespoon in 8 oz boiling hot water for 5 minutes.

Note: If you're pregnant, you may want to avoid certain ingredients in your tea. Here's a post on Herbal Teas During Pregnancy from babycenter.com. Definitely consult your doctor with questions.

Spice Up Your Next Bag of Veggie Wedgies!

Although we created Veggie Wedgies to make vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower more appealing to kids, we know that adults enjoy eating Veggie Wedgies too! Here at Peas HQ, we created our own low calorie, signature spice topping which we toss our Veggie Wedgies in. If you want to eat them like the pro's do, try this reci-pea for our "ranch" inspired spice blend (the kids will love it too)!

Veggie Wedgie Signature Spice Blend

• 1 tsp dried parsley, crushed
  (substitute with 2 tsp minced fresh parsley)
• 1/4 tsp dried dill
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
• 1 pinch black pepper (optional)
• 1 bag of Peas of Mind Veggie Wedgies
  Carrot, Cauliflower, or Broccoli fries
• cooking spray, olive oil preferred
• 1 Tbl grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven or toaster oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Place the desired amount of frozen Veggie Wedgies in a large bowl. Spray with cooking spray and toss to coat lightly. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake as directed, 10-12 minutes, turning the fries once about halfway through the bake.

In a small bowl, combine the parsley, dill, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix.

When your Veggie Wedgies have browned nicely, transfer them back to the oily bowl. Toss the fries with a proportional amount of spice blend. For example, if you baked half a bag of fries, use half of the spice blend, reserving the rest for when you back the remainder of the fries. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and gobble them down!

Those Picky Eaters… Ages 9-12

We get emails from parents all the time, and we love hearing from them! Our favorite customer emails are the success stories, like when a toddler who typically turns his nose up at steamed broccoli florets gobbles down Broccoli Veggie Wedgies, making dinnertime more enjoyable for the whole family. That said, we also really appreciate learning about current eating issues parents are grappling with regarding their kids.


One challenge we've been hearing about from parents lately is how to handle an older picky-eating kid who wants to make their own eating decisions and hasn't yet outgrown their finicky phase. 


Here at Peas, we've found that our Veggie Wedgies and Pizza help parents with kids of all ages (and even adults themselves!) eat more veggies, but we were curious to learn more about these older picky-eaters and how to encourage them to eat more healthfully and adventurously.


We hooked up with Melanie R. Silverman, a Registered Dietitian who specializes in pediatric nutritional care, for her thoughts on the topic. Here's what she had to say:


"I think the best nutrition recommendation I give to my families is to eat a wide variety of foods.  I cannot point to a single supplement, powder or pill that proves to provide all necessary nutrients our bodies need.  So what do you do when your ten year old child will eat six foods and none of them involve a vegetable?


Ah...the good ol’ times.  Remember when that ten year old was ten months old and ate everything you offered?  Your steamed vegetables went down as fast as fruits or desserts did.  So what happened? If your situation is like many families, the change came around eighteen months when kids strive for independence.  Kids this age cannot choose what they wear, when they sleep or where they go, but they can choose how much they eat and if they eat at all.  Panic sets in with parents when children this age begin skipping meals and snacks.  Frustrated and worried, parents start to give their kids what they know their kids will eat.  These actions support picky eating and can persist for years.


So what do you do if its ten years later and you have a picky eater on your hands?  First, stop talking about it.  Chances are, out of love and concern, you make comments to your son or daughter about his or her pickiness hoping they will spontaneously ask you to roast Brussels sprouts and grill salmon for dinner.  Keep quiet; they do not want to hear about it anymore.  Second, you can surely give them a multivitamin for nutritional insurance, but I want them to learn to eat a variety of food, not take supplements.  Prepare to make changes in how and what you feed your children.  Here are three ways to get started:

• Eat as many meals as a family as possible.  In my experience, people underestimate the value of family meals as a tool to expand their child’s repertoire of foods.   Family meals can expose children to a great array of foods and since you are not discussing their picky habits anymore, they may be more inclined to try new foods on their own.

• Plan strategic meals.  I am not asking you to serve tofu, chickpeas and kale for dinner.  What I am asking you to do is extrapolate in your meal planning.  Think about what your child will eat and build your menus from there.  For example, if your child is a white bread-lover, by all means, offer bread.  Offer rosemary olive, asiago cheese or pumpernickel bread with olive oil for dipping and see what happens.  

• Eat out.  Try different restaurants like Indian, Sushi or Thai.  If you child likes Italian prepared pasta dishes, Pad Thai is an option.

If parents begin with the changes I describe above, over time something will likely kick in with these kids and they will try new foods. If you start to notice your child trying and enjoying new foods, do not make a big deal about it in front of him or her.  Go with the flow and take comfort in the fact that you did some great parenting to get your son or daughter to this point."

Melanie R. Silverman MS, RD, IBCLC is pediatric registered dietitian and lactation consultant in Laguna Beach, California.  You can learn more about her private practice at www.feedingphilosophies.com and what her feeding philosophies are at blog.feedingphilosophies.com




Thanks for sharing your expertise with our readers, Melanie!