BBQ AZ Style

So I've been amazingly busy these past few weeks, so I have a few guest bloggers filling in for me. Lindsay, my dear friend, has great experience getting kiddos to eat their veggies. She's going to be sharing some tips with us on how to get our kids to eat better {and possible us as well}. And Nina, my lil' sis, will be reviewing training pants for you all. So now that we've got the next few blogs planned out, I hope you all enjoy! {And thank you Lindsay & Nina for helping me out!!}
~Tonya


We just finished having an outdoor barbeque at our house. Barbeques in February is one of the perks of living in warm Arizona. One of my favorite parts of having BBQ’s is the food. Not just any food, but the food that my friends and family bring. It is a great way to try new foods or familiar foods prepared in different ways. Tonight was a perfect example.
Our guests were given the task of bringing any side dish they would like. One friend came with a spinach salad topped with diced fresh strawberries. The strawberries complimented the baby spinach perfectly. Now these are two ingredients that I commonly have on hand, but hadn’t thought to put them together for a simple salad at home. The flavors so nicely paired that the salad didn’t need salad dressing, saving fat and calories, (that were later spend on dessert!). Another tasty dish that arrived was a broccoli salad. This was made with fresh broccoli, red cabbage, sweet onion, raisins and a very small amount of coleslaw dressing. Both of these salads were a simple combination of ingredients that boast a large nutrition load. The darker and brighter the color of the vegetables and fruits, the more phytonutrients it has and the better it is for you. Broccoli, spinach, red cabbage and strawberries are all great examples of this. These foods are also full of fiber, another very important nutrient for our health.
In addition, for those of us with picky eaters, foods with few simple ingredients are often better accepted, especially when one ingredient is easily liked such as strawberries. Even if your picky eater just picks the strawberries off the top of the salad today, she is becoming exposed and getting familiar with the spinach. Continue to offer these simple health foods and eventually they will be likely to try them and like them! The bottom line is that healthy can be delicious and easy!

What are some different methods you have used to get your little one{s) to try new foods?

~Lindsay