The Colors We Eat in Cooking Matters!
Posted by Becca Story on Friday, March 25, 2011
They say March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. This is particularly true in New England when every year at this time we are anxiously awaiting the start of spring, the beginning of the growing season and an increased abundance of fruits and vegetables.
March is also National Nutrition Month, a nutrition education campaign sponsored annually by the American Dietetic Association http://www.eatright.org/nnm/. The campaign focuses attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. National Nutrition Month also promotes the American Dietetic Association and its members to the public and the media as the most valuable and credible source of timely, scientifically-based food and nutrition information. Every year the Eat Right theme is different. This year’s theme is Eat Right with Color.
Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters celebrates this theme all year, in every one of our six week courses. By bringing people into the kitchen, Cooking Matters staff, AmeriCorps members and volunteers empowered more than 11,000 families last year alone to rethink their food choices and discover that eating colorfully and healthfully with limited resources is realistic. National Nutrition Month gives Cooking Matters programs a reason to go beyond the norm try out new ways to encourage colorful meals. Many of the ideas being implemented apply to any person or family.
Cooking Matters in New Hampshire incorporated The Eat Right with Color theme a few different ways over the last month. When working with a group of kids and parents they were asked to recount their favorite colors to eat, tried foods of different colors and enjoyed making a White Bean Basil Chicken Chili with added vegetables like zucchini, summer squash, and tri-colored peppers. In another class, teens accepted the challenge of including as many colors as possible on their ham and cheese pizza, from veggies that they would actually eat. The group decided to add red and green and yellow peppers, zucchini, spinach and tomatoes. One of the teens, Megan, who is not a fan of vegetables, thought the pizza looked very pretty and was surprised at how good it tasted. “I would eat this again,” she told a volunteer, “but maybe with just the peppers and zucchini.” We count that as a success!
At the Center for Community and Family Services, Cooking Matters is launching a new initiative for all teen classes on March 25. “We’re starting a new effort to teach all our teen participants how to set tangible nutrition-focused goals,” said Catherine Luu, a Cooking Matters coordinator. “Part of this effort includes introducing an unfamiliar fruit/vegetable each class. Our staff and volunteers will work with teens to show them how to prepare and cook it.” The idea is that teens will be motivated and empowered to include variety and color in their food choices.
Here are some additional ideas to commemorate National Nutrition Month, suggested by Cooking Matters programs can be implemented by anyone. Though March is nearly over, there are many ways to Eat Right with Color any day of the year.
- Host a fruit and veggie color contest. Track the number of fruits and veggies as well as the number of colors. Reward those that incorporate the greatest number of fruits and vegetables and color diversity.
- Plan a scavenger hunt around mealtimes for kids to have them find as many colors as possible in their meals.
- Plan weekly menus around color themes so you eat from the rainbow each day. The following example includes suggestions using Cooking Matters recipes.
Red: Vegetable Lasagna, Eggplant Rolls, Turkey Chili
Orange: Squash and Orzo, Moroccan Carrot Salad, Mango Salsa or Glazed Carrots
Yellow: Banana Pudding in a bag or Corn Muffins or Frittata
Green: Veggie Stir Fry (with green vegetables), Brazilian Style Greens Broccoli Soup
Blue/Purple: Blueberry Crisp or Smoothie
White: Spicy White Bean Dip
March 25, 2011 | 0 comment(s) | Tags: Cooking Matters, education, recipe
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