Food of the Month - Cauliflower

Cauliflower is the ugly duckling of the vegetable world. To some, she is the bland white, knobby thing that ruins the frozen vegetable medley that we all keep stocked in our freezer. Or maybe she’s that horrible side dish that comes boiled and under-seasoned when you have dinner at Aunt Margaret’s house.  But to us, she’s SO much more.  All you have to do is take off her glasses and add a little lip-gloss and POW, she can be your new favorite vegetable. If you can’t already tell, this month we’re celebrating cauliflower, one of our favorite fall/winter vegetables.

First things first, why eat cauliflower? Not only is it totally de-lish, it’s a member of the cruciferous veggie family. Like it’s brothers and sisters (broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage and kale), it’s loaded with Vitamin C and K, folate, fiber and B6.  Cauliflower also helps the body naturally detoxify and has a strong anti-inflammatory effect on the body.

Now, how do we glam-ify this nutritionally packed veggie?  Here are our top three favorite way to make cauliflower kid/husband friendly.

When you turn a head of cauliflower into this famous junk food staple; you’ll totally turn heads. Check out our delicious recipea for BBQCauliflower wings. They look and taste just like your favorite finger food but they’re all veggie, have a perfectly crunchy outside and a deliciously “meaty” inside and are totally gluten-free.

When you turn cauliflower into this fancy Italian dish, you’ll leave your family singing, “when the moon hits your eye like a big dish of RISOTTO…that’s amore-eee.”  Simply dice up a half a head of cauliflower (dice into very small, rice like pieces) and add to your favorite risotto recipe. Most recipes call for you cook the onions and garlic then add your veggies (before you add the Arborio rice), this is when you’ll add the cauliflower. You want it to cook down and become creamy like the rice. Use a large pot because this will give you more servings of risotto. Most people won’t even know that you’ve replaced a good amount of the main ingredient with a veggie!

And our final cauliflower recommendation is something you don’t have to make yourself. Our FAVORITE way to eat this nutrient powerhouse is via our delicious AND fat-free cauliflower VEGGIE WEDGIES.  A serving of Peas of Mind’s cauliflower veggie fries contain 2 servings of veggies, are gluten-free, vegan and can be prepared in about 12 minutes.  If you want to spice up a bag of fries, check out our garlic fry recipe and get ready for your little ones to ask for seconds and thirds!

We're celebrating Friday with A Dinner Story

Here at Peas of Mind, keeping kids healthy and happy is what we do best. We like to think that we celebrate kids every day by feeding them their favorite foods while (unbeknownst to them) filling them up with their daily dose of veggies.  As you know, we think the time has come to celebrate the grown-ups because at the end of the day, it's the hard working parents that (no matter how chaotic and crazy their schedule) bring the food to the table.  This week’s Dinner Story is celebrating Alyssa, a mid-western Mom of two young girls who prides herself on dining in SIX days a week and practicing “stealth health” with our veggie fries!

Where do you live and how many kids do you have?

"New Lenox, IL. I have two children, Alexandra 3 1/2, Addison 2."

What meal do you make that you know, no matter what, your family will devour?

"Well that’s a tricky question because I have 2 EXTREMELY picky eaters, so I usually have to make 2 separate meals, one for them, and one for my husband and me. But when it comes to the girls, nuggets and French fries are always a hit!"

What's your favorite Saturday morning breakfast to enjoy as a family?

"French toast!"

What's your favorite Peas of Mind Product?

"Veggie Wedgies! Broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot fries! My girls have NO idea what amazing veggies are hidden inside each bite! When I bake them I sprinkle a small amount of olive oil and salt over them, toss until coated, and bake! Yum!"

How many times per week do you cook from scratch?

"We rarely eat out so I probably cook 6 days a week."

What's your go to "I'm feeling unhealthy and need a nutrient-power punch" meal?

"I make a salad. I recently discovered that Target sells Panera Bread salad dressings with their recipe on the side! The Fuji Apple Chicken Salad is my favorite! Romaine, red onion, fresh apple, tomatoes, avocado, raisins, gorgonzola and croutons!"

What kitchen tool could you never live without?

"A sharp knife! I am always chopping something :)"

If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

"Chocolate :) Donuts, brownies, ice cream, you name it!"

Fort FRYday!

Happy FRYDAY!  In celebration of Spring, the end of the week and our fat-free veggie fries being available in military commissaries, we're calling today a FORT FRYDAY!  

This week we're celebrating the woman behind        www.worldtravelingmilitaryfamily.com, Laurie Hebb.  She's a mother of three and military wife of a deployed husband.  So join us in saying thank you to Laurie and her family for all that they've done for our country.

More from this week's hometown hero, Laurie:

What branch of the military is your spouse in?
"The United States Air Force."

How long have you been a military wife/ husband?
"I have been a military wife for 14 years." 

Do you have kids? If so, what are their names and ages?
"We have 3 amazing kids.  Two boys 16 and 12 years old and a girl who is 9 years old."

Why did you start your blog and what is it about?
"I started my blog in 2008 because I was frustrated with the lack of information on the Internet in regards to traveling all over Iceland, Japan, and Europe.  Sure there was information about how to get to xyz or what to see, but not tried and true stories and pictures of people's adventures.  I'm a huge planner and researcher so this was really what I considered a huge need for the blog world, I wanted the ins and outs, the do's and do not's from other families who had done it before us.  So I started the blog so that it could be used as a resource for traveling with a family overseas, information on PCSing, experiencing different cultures, and just a general glimpse into the life of a military family. It's so rewarding knowing that other families can have access to the information from our tried and true trips and I look forward to posting about our adventures in Italy starting this summer!"

Do you or have you lived on base? Which one?
"We live on base and we love it. We tried living off base when we moved back here, (yes, back...it's our 2nd time here) and it just wasn't what was best for our family.  So as things go with the military I ended up doing a DITY (Do It Yourself) move after my husband deployed last time." 

What is the best thing about base life?
"I love that my husband's work is literally a 1 minute drive away so that he could come home for lunch, at least he did before he deployed.  It's also great that the kids are able to go out and play with their friends and I don't have to worry about them.  I also am thankful that the younger two kids get to attend the DODs school, the public schools in our area are not very good.  While we prefer living on base and have lived the 'Americanized' version of living overseas but still in the comfort of base housing, we'll be having a huge change soon.  We are PCSing to Italy this summer and there is NO base housing, excited but preparing myself for the challenges to come."

What is your favorite food to prepare for your family?
"Crockpot meals, you know the kind you throw in the morning and walk away and viola at dinner time you open the lid and serve the family :)  I've even found you can pre-make some of the meals and freeze them, then dump into crockpot when needed!  I use it at least 2 times a week and it makes my life SO much easier!" 

You are on a deserted island and can only bring one thing...Go!
"A Bible."

Is Military wife life what you thought it would be?
"No, its not.  Funny thing is that I remember swearing I'd never marry a military guy...and look here I am 14 years later happier than ever and LOVING our military life.  Being a military wife has been way better than I ever expected!  I love getting to move every 3-4 years and traveling the world.  I love making new friends, even though leaving them is hard. I love that being a military wife forces me to step outside my comfort zone, almost daily, I'm not the same person I was 14 years ago and I so thankful for how being a military wife has helped me to grow.  Yes, there are challenges but I haven't found one yet that we couldn't get through, including most recently a 15 month deployment."

Fort Frydays

Fort Frydays is back for 2013!  As you know,  Peas of Mind’s Veggie Wedgies are now in military commissaries, which means we get the honor of feeding the brave men and women who serve our country and the families who love them.  Fort Frydays is a celebration of the moms and dads (or Home Town Hero’s as we like to call them) who take care of the household while their spouse is/was away. 

This week we’re celebrating military wife and mom, Chantal Shelstad. When Chantel's not busy with her daughter and husband, she writes for her blog Scattered Seashells about life as a military mom helping her family live a healthy lifestyle (her life just got a little easier because now she can get Peas of Mind products at her commissary)! 

More from Chantel, this week's hometown hero:

What branch of the military is your spouse in?

“My husband is in the Army. He is training to be a helicopter pilot.”

How long have you been a military wife?

“We've been married since June 2008, and he's been in the Army since then too! So it'll be five years come this summer.”

Do you have kids? If so, what are their names and ages?

“We have one daughter, Penny, who just turned one in December.”

Do you or have you lived on base? 

“We live on base here at Fort Rucker. Before we lived here, we were stationed in Hawaii, and we lived on base there too.”

What is the best thing about base life?

“We love being close to his work so he can come home between breaks.  There are lots of perks of living on base - proximity to the commissary and PX, close to other families, good housing. I especially love being on post here because I'm close to friends, because my husband is gone a lot for training in flight school.”

What is your favorite food to prepare for your family?

“We have tons! But I like a good meatloaf with roasted broccoli and sweet potato fries on the side. I’m so excited to try Peas of Mind Carrot fries, they seem super healthy and easy to make.”

You are on a deserted island and can only bring one thing...Go!

“Does my husband count as a thing? Seriously, he would get us out of anything. I'm sure that's putting a lot of faith in him but I trust him beyond words. I know he would work to get us off that island.  Well, unless we liked it so much, and then he'd work to make us a great house!”

Is Military life what you thought it would be?

“That and more! I love the relationships I have with others who understand exactly what I'm going through. I love the opportunities we have to travel. I love the activities they organize. I love the sense of community. I love being an Army wife!”

Reinventing the Classics

Who loves pizza and fries!? WE DO!
Often times people ask us about our process for creating our products so we thought we'd take a minute to explain how we do what we do. Here at Peas of Mind, Reinventing the Classics is our brand strategy and in our eyes, all food has the potential for being healthy, so the sky is the limit.

Getting started: We imagine our all time favorite foods; the classics done in a tasty and healthy way; prepared so that we can feel good about serving it to our families and ourselves. Depending on how much time we spend dreaming of food, this step can take a while :)

Moving right along: Take the classic and make it HEALTHY. This requires endless hours in the test kitchen tweaking, baking, tasting and finalizing the recipe. Vegetables tend to be tough for parents to feed their kids so we focus on delivering them in yummy and easy-to-eat foods. When creating products, our priorities are nutritional stats, taste and feel-good-ability, meaning; do we absolutely love this product or do we need to add some more TLC?

Lastly, Eat Peas! After the final recipe has been endlessly tested and tasted we roll into production and get it on the shelves for all of our lovely Peas lovers to enjoy.

How Do You Eat Your Fries?

Tell us how you serve up Veggie Wedgies. 

Do you cover them in chile? 

Sprinkle your own garlic-salt concoction over them? 

Do you dunk them in curry ketchup?

We are looking for the next great reci-pea to pair with our Veggie Wedgies. Let us know what strange topping you put on them and you could win a few free bags! 

New Years Resolution: Eat More Fries!

Well... as long as they're Peas of Mind fries! Did you know one serving of our fries (Veggie Wedgies) has: zero grams of fat, 70-80 calories, and a full serving of fruits/veggies! Try this reci-pea for Curry Fries mmmm !

Curry Fries
-canola oil spray
-2 shallots, minced

-2 garlic cloves, minced

-2 stalks of lemongrass, sliced crosswise
-1 inch piece of ginger, minced
-2 TBL of curry
-3 cups of veggie broth

Preheat Oven to 425˚F.



Coat the inside of a small pot with pan 
spray and put over medium heat.  Add 
shallots, garlic, lemongrass, ginger and 
curry.  Let cook about 5 minutes.  Add the 
veggie broth and bring to a boil. 



Once curry begins to boil, lower heat to simmer and continue to cook down the broth with 
lid off, about 15 minutes.



Take out lemongrass stalks and puree curry in a blender until smooth.  Meanwhile, pour 
Cauliflower Veggie Wedgies® in a large bowl.  Spray fries generously with canola oil spray 
and toss.  Pour fries in one layer on a baking sheet and bake for about 8-10 minutes.



Salt the fries out of the oven and drizzle the curry sauce over them. Serve immediately.

Zucchini Cottage Fries

A cross between potato chips and oven fries, our zucchini cottage fries are a welcome addition to any dinner without using a drop of oil. With only a fifth of the calories of potatoes, zucchini makes this a veggie-rich side with a modest amount of calories.

 • 2 medium zucchini's
• 1 large egg white
• 1/2 cup of bread crumbs or panko
• 2 TBL of parmesan cheese, finely grated

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Line a sheetpan with a silpat or a sheet of parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine breadcrumbs with parmesan cheese. Set aside.

Whip the egg white in a medium-sized bowl until frothy. Set aside.

Thinly slice the zucchini, about 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick. Coat zucchini slices in egg white, allow the excess to drip off, then transfer the zucchini slices to the crumb and cheese mixture. Flip to coat, shake off excess crumbs and transfer to lined baking sheet.

Bake at 450 F until the bottom sides begin to brown, about 6-8 minutes. Flip them over. Bake another 6-8 minutes or so until golden brown. Sprinkle with salt and serve.

For a gluten free / dairy free option, use just zucchini and egg white. Cut the zucchini 1/8 inch thick and be sure to use parchment paper when omitting the crumb/cheese coating. They turn into crispy chips this way!

Veggie Wedgies vs The Competition

We're dedicating this blog to Veggie Wedgies!

See how they stack up against the competition (store bought frozen french fries and fast food french fries):

Apple Seeds & Green Potatoes

What they have in common...

When a friend of mine attempted to eat an apple core on a hike a few weekends ago, I stopped him. "Don't you know that apple seeds contain cyanide?" I exclaimed. Though I'm not sure he believed me, the possibility alone was enough to discourage him. Had we had any reception, I'm sure 20 seconds on an iPhone would've settled it right then. Ah, the great outdoors!

It was then that I realized that there must be other seemingly innocuous foods in our diet that could, perhaps under odd circumstances, be potentially harmful to us. This entry is not intended to spook or discourage anyone from eating the following foods. Instead, the hope is to offer a Botany-of-Desire-like perspective to provide an informative look at a few common foods.

Why Plants Make Toxins
Many species of plants produce chemicals that discourage animals from eating them. Although we've domesticated varieties of fruits and vegetables to be edible and tasty, some still contain toxins as a natural form of defense. Below are a few examples:

Cyanide in Apples, Pears, and Citrus Fruits
The seeds of apples, pears and citrus fruits contain cyanide. However, swallowing the seeds whole isn't terribly risky; these seeds have a durable outer coating designed to protect the seed while it passes through an animal's digestive system. The seeds could be dangerous if ingested in large amounts especially when the protective coating is damaged (by chewing for example).

• Avoid by: removing the seeds of apples, pears and citrus fruits, particularly before feeding them through a juice extractor (a juicer that obliterates fruit and vegetables). Also, avoid chewing these seeds.
  

Cyanide in Yuca
Yuca (also known as Cassava, Manioc or Tapioca) is a starchy root that grows in the tropics. The "sweet" varieties sold in the produce section have been bred to contain far less cyanide than the potentially toxic "bitter" variety, but still contain significant amounts concentrated near the skin.

• Avoid by: peeling and then soaking or boiling yuca(cassava) before baking or frying. Luckily, cooking yuca in water makes it healthier but also much tastier.
  

Alkaloids in Potatoes
Alkaloids are a family of compounds that often taste bitter and have an effect on animals. Alkaloids are produced by plants to affect the consciousness of the animals that eat them, effectively distracting the animal and sparing the plant. Though most alkaloids are toxic at high doses, a few common alkaloids that (some) humans utilize include caffeine, morphine, nicotine, theobromine (responsible for increased heartbeat when eating chocolate) and capsaicin (responsible for the spicy burn of hot chili peppers).

Potatoes contain an alkaloid called Solanine that is both bitter and toxic. All potatoes contain small amounts of Solanine, but potatoes exposed to light can have three times the normal amount. Because the potato turns green (for a completely different reason) when exposed to light, green potatoes should be peeled aggressively or, better yet, thrown out.

• Avoid by: storing potatoes in the dark and avoiding potatoes that have turned green. Also, note that the leafy stalks of the potato and its relatives, including the tomato, chili pepper and eggplant, contain even greater amounts of alkaloids and should certainly be avoided, though they supposedly taste terrible anyway.
  

Oxalic Acid in Rhubarb (and, to a Lesser Extent, Spinach)
Oxalic acid is a waste product of plant metabolism that is found notably in spinach, beet greens and rhubarb. Oxalic acid locks onto minerals like calcium and iron, preventing your body from absorbing them.

While the amount of Oxalic acid in spinach and the red portion of rhubarb is safe to eat, the green leaves of rhubarb contain much higher levels making them unsafe.

• Avoid by: never eating the green leafy tops of rhubarb stalks. Cooking spinach will destroy some of its oxalic acid, rendering the calcium and iron more available for absorption by the body.
  

Sources:

* On Food and Cooking - Harold McGee
* The Wellness Encyclopedia of Food and Nutrition - UC Berkeley
* http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/apples.asp