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Diet-Free Camp Culture

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Last July, I sat down to write a blog post late at night after I picked up my daughter from two weeks away at summer camp.  I had planned to write a post about easy summer no-cook meals. But I was having trouble getting my words on to paper. I opened a new document and started writing what I really wanted to write. I wrote a letter to my daughter’s camp counselor. After I picked her up earlier that day, Miriam had told me her counselor was on a diet and “counting her steps” in preparation for a post-camp trip to the Caribbean. Miriam’s camp is in the mountains and the days are filled with swimming, kayaking, rock climbing, sports and running up an down the hills of camp.

I hated to think that a diet interfered with anyone’s mind and body experiencing the joys of camp. Although I was certainly not surprised, it made me sad that diet culture had affected my 12-year-old’s camp experience. I also know that this is the norm in our culture and certainly the camp or the counselor hadn’t done anything intentionally wrong. 

Summer camp

My post An Open Letter to My Daughter’s Camp Counselor was shared online over the summer. It seemed to hit home for a lot of parents.

Camp Culture

I was a camp person. I went to summer camp for 8 summers as a child. And then I was a camp counselor for several years in high school and college. Summer camp is such a special place. It’s a place removed from the “real world,” without technology. It’s free of many of the social rules children experience all year. And camp is a place where acceptance and kindness are expected. Summer camp focuses on character development, facing fears, gaining independence and trying new things. When you are at camp, you are immersed in a new culture – Camp Culture. Camp Culture includes singing silly songs, giving lots of hugs, encouraging others, care packages, wearing bathing suits half the day, writing letters with pen and paper and looking up to the counselors.

Older teenagers and young adults, the counselors, are put in charge of the daily life of younger children. There are no parents there to make a child wear matching clothes. No one double checks that they brush their teeth well. The children, while cared for and safe, have a special kind of freedom with their young counselors in charge of daily life. The children look up to their counselors and want to be just like them. They hear them if they are talking about losing weight or dieting. Diet culture needs to not be a part of Camp Culture. 

Camp Staff Training

As summer approaches and college semesters come to a close, camp staff members around the country will soon gather to get ready for summer camp and the hundreds of thousands of children who will be in their care. The counselors will have extensive staff training to learn about the values of camp and the importance of being a good role model for the campers. The staff training will consist of safety procedures, leadership development, team building, songs, dining hall rules, and schedules. It’s my hope that camp directors will consider including information about the harm of diets and diet talk in their staff training. Because diets are so commonplace, information about dieting is not included as an important part of training those who spend time with our children. However, keeping diet culture out of the activities our children are involved in absolutely fits with the values of many of these activities.

Free Staff Training Lesson

We wanted to offer a short staff resource that can be included in summer staff training in the coming weeks. Camp Directors! Download our staff training lesson, Diet Free Camp Culture, for your staff training.  Download our free staff training lesson here.

Parents and Camp Directors

Parents, would you share this with your child’s camp? I think the best way to make a change is through the voice of parents.  Camp Directors, if you use this as part of your training or maybe decide not to, I’d love to receive your feedback on how this message can reach camps better and more clearly. 

Download our staff training lesson for your staff training.  

Easy Weeknight Tofu Veggie Stir-Fry

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Easy weeknight tofu veggie stir-fry

If you subscribe to our newsletter, you’ll know this shows up on my weekly meal plan often. I’ve been making this easy, weeknight tofu veggie stir-fry a lot recently so I thought I’d share it with you. When I was growing up, stir-fry was in our meal line up, too, and I always loved it. There’s something so satisfying about quickly cooked, crisp veggies in a quick sauce over warm, tender rice. YUM!

Make a big batch so you have leftovers

Lately I’ve been making a BIG batch of stir-fry along with a big batch of rice. I serve the leftovers for dinner a second night or lunch a number of times during the week depending on how much is leftover. It works well reheated and in a thermos for lunches.

No recipe needed

Easy weeknight tofu veggie stir-fry

One of the nice things about stir-fry is you can use any combination of veggies and protein you’d like. You don’t really even need a recipe. I tend to use carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, sugar snap peas, edamame and bok choy (or baby bok choy), along with those canned baby corn. You can buy cut broccoli and sliced mushrooms, as well as chopped ginger. So, this dish really doesn’t take long to make. Then, all you have to do is peel and cut the carrots and mix the ingredients for the sauce.

I go through phases where I use skirt steak in my stir-fry. Shrimp or chicken works well too! But these days we’re trending tofu. I used to just drain press the tofu for about 30 minutes, cut it into cubes and add it to the veggies and sauce. But, I much prefer it this way because the texture is nice and firm and there’s some additional flavor to the tofu with the soy sauce and olive oil.  (I got the idea for baked tofu here).

I tend to change up what kind of rice I serve it over.  Sometimes, I serve this over rice cooked in coconut milk. Sometimes, it’s white rice and sometimes it’s brown rice.  Most of the time I use Lundberg rice and cook it in a pan on the stove.

Don’t give up

Dishes like this stir-fry can work well with young ones and more selective eaters because you (or they) can separate out the items, if having everything together is overwhelming.

When my oldest child (now 15) was young, she didn’t care for many of the ingredients in my stir fry. She’d eat the carrots, broccoli, rice and whatever protein was in the combo. Lately though, she’s been eating the dish as is. She recently told me how much she loves mushrooms and noted that she used to hate them.  I’ve been cooking stir-fry (veggie sauté) for a LOOOOONG time. I share this because it’s a good example of the importance of continuing to offer foods even when children won’t eat them.

Easy weeknight tofu veggie stirfry

The order I use to get tofu veggie stir-fry on the table

  • Pre heat the oven
  • Put rice on to cook
  • Drain and press the tofu
  • While the tofu is draining, gather together your ingredients for the rest of the stir-fry.
  • Make the sauce
  • Chop the ginger
  • Rinse and chop the veggies (or open the bags and containers of pre-sliced and pre-cut veggies)
  • Cube the tofu, toss it with the soy sauce, cornstarch and oil
  • Bake the tofu
  • Stir-fry the veggies!
  • Add the baked tofu to the stir-fry
  • Serve over cooked rice
  • Enjoy!

If you’re looking for more quick and easy recipes check out previous “go-to” meals posts here and here.

Let us know if you make the easy, weeknight tofu, veggie stir-fry. We’d love to hear from you!

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Weeknight Tofu Veggie Stir-Fry

  • Author: Elizabeth Davenport
Print Recipe

Description

The amounts here can be adjusted to your taste and needs.  This makes a big batch.

Scale

Ingredients

1 container, extra firm tofu, baked (recipe below)

2 TBS olive oil

2 TBS minced, fresh ginger

4-6 carrots peeled and sliced

1 large bunch of broccoli, rinsed and cut into small florets (slice the stem too and add it)

1 8 ounce container sliced mushrooms

2 cups (or 1 small bag) sugar snap peas

1 1/2 cups thawed, shelled edamame

1 bunch bok choy or 2–3 bunches baby bok choy, chopped and rinsed

1 can of baby corn, drained

Sauce

3 TBS Hoisoin sauce

3 TBS. rice vinegar

¼ cup soy sauce

1 cup water

Instructions

  1. Mix together the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar and water and set aside.
  2. Add the olive oil and ginger to a 5 quart sauté pan.  Turn heat to medium – high.
  3. Once the ginger begins to sizzle, add the mushrooms and carrots and cook while stirring for a couple of minutes.  
  4. Next add the broccoli and snap peas. Cook while stirring for another few minutes until they begin to turn bright green.
  5. This is where I add the sauce.  
  6. Then add the thawed edamame, bok choy and baby corn and continue to cook for a few more minutes.
  7. Last, add the baked tofu. Remove from heat.
  8. Serve over cooked rice.

Notes

Feel free to cook the veggies longer if you like them more tender.

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Baked Tofu

  • Author: Elizabeth Davenport
Print Recipe

Description

Tossing extra firm tofu with cornstarch, soy sauce and olive oil and baking it creates a tofu with a nice flavor and firm, almost crisp texture.

Scale

Ingredients

1 box extra firm tofu, drained

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Instructions

  1. Remove the tofu from the packaging
  2. You’ll need 2 paper towels each folded in half lengthwise.  Place one on a plate, then place the tofu on top of the paper towel.  Place the second paper towel on top of the tofu. Then place a pan on top of that to squeeze out the moisture.
  3. Let sit for 10 – 30 minutes.
  4. Remove the tofu from under the pan and discard the paper towels.
  5. Cut into cubes and toss with olive oil, soy sauce and cornstarch.  
  6. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  
  7. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from over and add to the stir-fry.

 

Grasshoppers & Ways to Support Your Picky Eater

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A few weeks ago, I had the honor of meeting Marsha Dunn Klein. Marsha is an Occupational Therapist, with Mealtime Notions, with over 40 years experience working with children with severe feeding issues and their families.  I have read about Marsha’s work for most of my career. So, for me, meeting her was like meeting a celebrity.

Marsha Dunn Klein shared with me this video about eating grasshoppers. Yes! You read that right, grasshoppers! The video is a story about Marsha’s experience in eating something new. It gives a great example of how someone can take small steps towards trying something new. There’s a lot of gray area between not eating something and taking a big bite of a new food.

Responsive Feeding

Marsha’s work as an OT is aligned with Responsive Feeding, an approach to feeding that focuses on the hunger and fullness cues of a child. It’s also a philosophy of some professionals, including myself, in treating children and adolescents with feeding and eating issues.  Responsive Feeding is in contrast to the methods of Behavioral Feeding Programs, that involve defined protocols for “training” or “retraining” children how to eat. Responsive feeding is based on the idea that feeding is a conversation between a caregiver and a child. If we ignore what the child is telling us with their eating (or not eating), we will end up pressuring or forcing the child to eat. We know pressure doesn’t help a child learn to eat well in the long run. Or, in constrast, we may end up being too permissive and not helping out child develop their eating skills.

Child Development and Feeding

I’ve been thinking about Marsha’s grasshopper story in the last few weeks. I’m in the midst of writing a developmentally appropriate nutrition curriculum for preschool and elementary schools with my colleague, Katherine Zavodni, RD. Through this work, I’ve been learning more about child development. I’ve learned about Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development. Vygotzky, a Soviet psychologist, defined The Zone of Proximal Development to be the “distance between the most difficult task a child can do alone and the most difficult task the child can do with help.”  Children can learn on the outer edge of their Zone of Proximal Development with “scaffolding” or assistance from teachers, peers or parents.

Vivian thinking about what shrimp taste like.

Authoritarian vs. Permissive Feeding: Finding the Middle Ground

We know being authoritarian with feeding, putting pressure on children to eat a certain amount or certain foods, doesn’t help children expand their variety, and often backfires. An example of this is telling a child that they “must clean their plate.” The opposite of an authoritarian feeding style, as described by Ellyn Satter, is a permissive one. A permissive feeding style may be short order cooking or allowing a child to eat anytime, anywhere. It’s common, when a parent is concerned about their child’s eating, that they go back and forth between these two approaches. Although it’s a natural reaction to being worried about a child’s eating, engaging in these two feeding styles doesn’t support the child in progressing in their eating. As parents, it’s important to provide the structure, or “scaffolding,” so that the child can expand their eating skills.

Structure or “Scaffolding” to Support Your Child

Here are some examples of how a parent provides structure or as Vygotsky would call it “scaffolding” with food:

  • Establishing timing of meals and snacks so that the child arrives at meal and snack times hungry, but not starving.  
  • Deciding what is offered at meals and snacks, and not short order cooking.
  • Offering avenues to try new foods – a familiar sauce or dip for the child to have with a less familiar food.
  • Providing a child an opportunity to explore a food in different ways. This may include smelling it, licking it, kissing it, rubbing it on their lips and allowing them to spit it out, if they choose. If this isn’t accepted meal time behavior, you could experiment at a non-eating time.
  • Decreasing anxiety at meal time by allowing a child to serve their own plate and having a familiar food on the table.
  • Serving combination meals, like a taco bowl or salad, “deconstructed” so that the child can try the meal with he ingredients of their choosing.
Southwest BBQ Chicken Salad Bar
  • Not always serving the item “made to order.” For example, a child may prefer cheese quesadillas, but one night you may decide to put black beans or some chicken in everyone’s quesadilla. Or making a pizza for the whole family and having the child “pick off” what they choose not to eat.
  • When out to eat, asking a child to pick something unique to the restaurant, rather than defaulting to the kids menu of acceptable foods. For example, picking a Chinese dish at a Chinese restaurant, rather than mac ‘n cheese.
  • Asking a child to help you prepare an unfamiliar food.
  • Preparing an unfamiliar food in a familiar way. For example, serving breaded fish sticks, as a bridge to eating fish in other ways.
Fish Sticks – easy and looks familiar

“The Ask”- What Can Your Child Handle?

When I talked with Marsha a few weeks ago, I heard her say several times that “the ask” needed to not be too big.  “The ask” would be really big for me if someone asked me to have a grasshopper taco, but I could have a taco with a small piece of grasshopper inside. That’s a smaller “ask.” There is a way to support and “ask” our children to try new things and this must look different for each child so it doesn’t feel like pressure.  Permissive feeding may be not ever asking and authoritarian feeding may be having a “big ask” with lots of pressure.

“The ask” may not be saying “Will you please eat the hamburger?” The ask may be having the child tolerate the hamburger on the table or plate. Or, “the ask” may be suggesting without pressure, they have a very small piece of burger in their bun and see what that’s like. Or, suggesting or modeling for the child to take the hamburger out of the bun and dipping it in ketchup (if ketchup is familiar and accepted).  When we say not to pressure a child, it doesn’t mean not to support the child in their eating. The structure and “scaffolding” is very important for the child to be able to learn on the outer edge of their Proximal Zone of Development.

Look for Marsha Dunn Klein’s book that she is currently working on titled Anxious Eaters.

Meal Prep: Without a Side of Diet Culture – Part 2

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By: Jessica Long, Nutrition Masters Student

Guest Post Writer

As promised in my previous post, I’m sharing my favorite meals for anyone with a busy schedule! On days or weeks where you have more prep time available, opt for the ‘make ahead’ recipes. For nights where you need to whip something up quick, look for the ‘time crunch’ recipes. You’ll find ideas for breakfasts and dinners, as I almost always use leftovers for lunches.

In seasons of extreme busyness and a demanding schedule, I find that it can be easier to miss certain hunger and satiety cues, leaving me ravenous or with a headache. This is why it’s SO important to try to plan ahead and fuel ourselves properly when we are “go go go”; tackling a long to-do list is so much easier on a satisfied stomach!

To that end, I try to incorporate protein + fat + carbohydrate + fiber in most meals in order for them to be both satisfying and nourishing. However, there is great flexibility in this! We never want to create rigidity in our meal planning, and every single body has different needs and different combinations that best nourish it.

BREAKFAST

Make Ahead

  • French toast bake: Whenever artisan bread from my grocery store’s bakery is on sale, I grab an extra loaf or two (enough to fill an 8×8 inch baking pan). I whisk 3 eggs, ~2/3 C milk, a splash of vanilla, sprinkle of cinnamon, and a few teaspoonfuls of sugar. Arrange bread in greased 8×8, pour milk mixture on top, and top with a handful of walnuts. I put foil on top, then pop in my fridge overnight. I’ll throw it in the oven for 35-40 minutes at 350 F (or until it’s to your liking!) while I get ready for the day. I love to drizzle maple syrup on top and add scrambled eggs on the side for some extra protein.
  • Muffins: My favorite blueberry muffin recipe can be found HERE.
  • Pancakes are one of my favorite things to whip up on a Sunday afternoon and reheat each day during the week. My go-to recipe for years can be found HERE. They’re made even better by adding blueberries or chocolate chips.

Time Crunch

  • Oatmeal: Combine 1/2 C rolled oats, 1/2 C of whole milk, and 1/2 apple (diced) in a bowl and pop in the microwave for 2 minutes. Top with brown sugar and nuts! Try swapping banana for the apple or adding chocolate chips!
  • Egg scramble: Scramble eggs with whatever you have on hand and pair with PB&J toast. My favorite combination is eggs + cheese + sausage.
  • Yogurt parfait: Top whole milk yogurt with granola (or your favorite cereal!), fruit, and nuts.

DINNER

Make Ahead

  • Baked potato bar: I love to put 5-6 potatoes in the oven to bake while I study on a Sunday. I’m partial to russets, but pick your favorite kind! Possible toppings include cheese, avocado, sour cream, sautéd spinach, ground beef, or bacon. With the potatoes already prepped, browning the beef and sautéing the spinach makes for a speedy weeknight dinner.
  • Chicken fajitas: Place 1.5-2 lbs raw chicken tenders (I cut chicken breasts into tenderloins to save money!), 3 sliced peppers, 1 sliced onion, 1/2 C olive oil, and a packet of fajita seasoning into a gallon baggie. Place in fridge for up to 3 hours. Pour into a 9×13 pan. Cook at 400 F for 20 minutes, flipping the chicken halfway through. Serve in warm tortillas or on top of brown rice! The leftovers make an excellent burrito filling.  
  • White chicken chili. Everyone’s family has their go-to recipe for white chicken chili. This is my mom’s tried and true recipe: in a crockpot, combine 2-3 chicken breasts, 1 can of cream of chicken soup, 2 cans of great northern beans, 1 can of corn, 1 envelope taco seasoning, 1 can chicken broth, and 1 can of green chilies. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. (I’ve forgotten to add cream of chicken soup and green chilies at times, and it’s still good!). Before serving, stir in 1/2 C of sour cream.

Time Crunch

  • Pizza: I highly suggest Trader Joe’s pizza dough; it is reasonably priced and freezes well. My favorite recipe for quick pizza dough can be found HERE. My favorite toppings are olive oil, garlic, mozzarella, and ricotta.
  • Pork chops: Thinly sliced pork chops are an affordable cut of meat, and they cook up very quickly in a cast iron skillet. Pair with red potatoes (roasted at 400 F for 20 minutes after tossing in olive oil + spices of your choosing) and a vegetable.
  • 5 ingredient green curry: I have used red curry paste instead of green, and the recipe is absolutely delicious. If you aren’t a tofu fan, add a can of chickpeas near the end of cooking. Recipe is HERE.

Jessica Long is a graduate student at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. She is an avid reader of research, and her interests include eating disorders, intuitive eating, and approaching medical nutrition therapy (MNT) from a weight-neutral lens. She is especially intrigued by the intersection of diabetes and weight neutral care, having experience working with patients with diabetes in a primary care setting. She is currently spearheading a research project investigating intuitive eating in minority undergraduate populations. Jessica can be reached via email at jlong@email.meredith.edu or on Instagram at @jessicalongrd.  

10 Easy, Everyday Sides

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This post contains affiliate links.

Getting dinner on the table can feel like a race. You’re juggling getting home from work, trying to protect bed times, helping with homework, and, maybe, getting kids to and from activities. All these moving pieces can feel overwhelming. I have some standby sides I rely on that are simple to make AND they taste great. They make getting dinner on the table a little easier.  I love to cook.  But my motto for weeknight meals (and most weekend meals) is — Keep It Simple!

A little meal prep can also help make getting dinner on the table easier. I really enjoyed Jessica’s guest post on meal prep! Click here to read the post if you missed it.  It got me thinking about the meal prep I do. (I hardboiled a bunch of eggs right after reading Jessica’s post!). My meal prep has looked different over the years and it looks different each week.  I go through phases where I’ll make a big fruit salad on the weekend, hard boil a bunch of eggs, roast a bunch of veggies, and make a big batch of rice or farro or quinoa. And, I go through phases where I don’t do any meal prep. A few items I meal prep on a regular basis these days are mustard vinaigrette and homemade taco seasoning. Keeping these around makes getting dinner ready easier.

Whether I’m in meal prep mode or not, here are some of the fruit and veggie sides I rely on (I’ll share my quick and easy carbohydrate sides to pair with these sides in a post soon):

1. Sautéed shredded brussels sprouts

Trader Joe’s typically has bags of shredded brussels sprouts.  All you have to do is add some olive oil to a saute pan, turn the heat to medium and empty the bag of brussels sprouts into the pan.  Add some salt and pepper and sauteé for about 5 minutes or until they’re bright green.

You can watch our video on how to cook them here.

2. Green beans (fresh or frozen) with butter and Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Salt.

This dish takes me right back to my childhood and being at my grandparent’s house.  My grandmother was an incredible cook and this was one of the veggie sides she served with dinners.

Fill a medium saucepan half full with water. Add enough salt to make the water taste salty (about 1 tablespoon) and bring the water to a boil.  Add the green beans, place a lid on the pan and cook for 5-7 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the beans from the water using tongs (or carefully empty the contents of the pan into a strainer over the sink).  Toss with butter and Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Salt.  

10 easy everyday sides


3. Cucumber and avocado with mustard vinaigrette (or Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Salt)

Another one from my grandmother. She used to serve this in the summer with cucumbers fresh from her garden.  To this day, the combination is one of my favorites. It’s also great on a sandwich with a few slices of goat gouda, a little Dijon mustard and some lettuce.

Peel and slice a cucumber.  Cut up an avocado and toss with mustard vinaigrette OR season with Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Salt.  

4. Braised Asparagus

Don’t let the term braised turn you away! This is actually very easy to make.

Rinse the asparagus and snap off the ends (great job for a child). Place a large sauté pan over medium high heat.  Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the asparagus spears, season with salt and pepper and sauteé for about 5 minutes or until a few of them begin to brown.

Then turn the heat down to medium low and cook for about 15 more minutes or until the spears have begun to soften a bit.  Remove from the pan and serve.

Anna roasts asparagus which works well, too – here’s her post: Easy, Convenient, Go-To Fruit and Vegetable Sides.  The benefit to roasting it is that you can make everything in the oven and even try to fit your entire meal on one sheet pan. If you’re roasting something like chicken thighs and little new potatoes, you can add the asparagus to the sheet pan at the halfway mark to prevent it from getting overcooked.

*Recipe adapted from Braised Asparagus in At Home in Provence by Patricia Wells

10 easy everyday sides

5. Roasted Cauliflower

It’s one of my favorites.  And it’s one of those foods my children don’t like (at least not yet). It’s easy to get stuck in the rut of cooking what we know our children will eat. It occurred to me when I was writing this post that I haven’t made roasted cauliflower in awhile. So, guess what I’m going to cook soon!?  Keep offering foods even if your children refuse to try them. They’re likely to try it. If you stop offering a certain food, there’s no opportunity to try it.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Cut the cauliflower into florets. (Or you can follow the same steps for roasting and use Trader Joe’s frozen cauliflower florets pictured here). Toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place on a ½ sheet pan like this one here and roast in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the cauliflower has begun to brown.  Remove from the oven and serve.

10 easy everyday sides

6. Marinated chard (or any dark leafy green)

Strip the leaves from the stems (a great job for kids!).  Cut or tear the leaves into about 2 inch pieces. Rinse the leaves under cold water.  Heat a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Then add the chard (or other leafy green leaves) to the pan.  Season with salt and pepper, turn the heat down to medium low and cook for 5-10 minutes stirring occasionally. Different types of greens will take different amounts of time to cook.  The leaves will look bright green and slightly wilted when cooked.

When they’re done, toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, a chopped clove of garlic, and about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.  The recipe also calls for a pinch of red pepper flakes which I don’t use.

*Recipe adapted from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters

10 easy, everyday sides

7. Roasted cherry tomatoes with basil or pesto

It doesn’t get much easier than this.  Preheat your oven to 425 F. Toss the rinsed cherry or grape tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper and place on a ½ sheet pan.  If you like you can add a few whole cloves of garlic on the pan with them. Place them in the oven and roast for about 15 minutes or until they have begun to burst. Once they come out of the oven add 1 tablespoon of pesto and stir. Or add chopped basil instead of pesto.

8. Broccoli with butter, salt and pepper

Even though this one is obvious, I included it because it’s so easy and we are a houseful of broccoli lovers, so it’s something I make a lot.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the broccoli into florets (or buy pre cut florets) and add to the boiling water. Place a lid on the pan! If you forgot this step, your whole house will smell like broccoli! Cook for about 5 minutes (a few minutes longer if you like broccoli cooked more tender).  Carefully remove the broccoli from the water using a slotted spoon. Toss with a bit of butter and salt and pepper.

10 easy, everyday sides

9. Sautéed baby bok choy with lemon or soy sauce

This one truly takes less than 10 minutes, at most, to make.  

Cut each bunch of bok choy in half and then cut the end off.  Separate the leaves and rinse under cold water. Heat about a teaspoon or 2 of olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat.  Add the baby bok choy leaves along with some salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes or until the leaves are bright green and have begun to wilt.  Squeeze fresh lemon juice over them and serve. Or, you can drizzle them with a little soy sauce.

10 easy, everyday sides

10. Sugar Snap Peas

These are super quick. They’re also good cold (add them to a salad or eat them on their own) or reheated — if there are leftovers.

Rinse under cold water. Then remove the ends and strings from the sugar snap peas. Place a medium sauté pan over medium high heat. Add about 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Next, add the sugar snap peas and some salt and pepper.  Sauté for 3-5 minutes or until they’re bright green.

As we often remind everyone, meals don’t have to be complicated to be nourishing!

What are your favorite quick and easy fruit and veggie sides?  We’d love to hear from you!

Meal Prep: Without a Side of Diet Culture

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By: Jessica Long, Nutrition Masters Student

Guest Post Writer

As a graduate student, my days are spent reading, writing, and working on my research, and my nights are spent in class or catching up on an ever growing to-do list. As you can imagine, finding time to shop, cook, and prepare meals is a challenge, and I’m certainly not alone in that struggle. Whether a student, young professional, or a parent, we all face difficulties in balancing our schedules and giving our bodies the fuel they need to keep up with everything on our plates (pun intended!).

Meal Prep and Diet Culture

It should come as no surprise that the hashtag ‘mealprep’ has nearly 10 million tags on Instagram. However, one peek into the photos associated with #mealprep and my mind begins to spin. Sure, some of the photos are beautiful, but many of the captions and recommendations are brimming with diet culture. For instance, lots of “eat this, not that,” low carb meal prep guides, and calorie counts next to Tupperware filled with grilled chicken, broccoli, and cauliflower rice. Although it might seem that diet culture has a tight grip on meal prep, there are many reasons to plan and prepare your meals that have nothing to do with weight or weight loss…

  • Save time.
  • Save money.
  • Satisfy hunger.

For many with busy schedules (myself included!), spending copious amounts of time in the kitchen might not be a top priority, and that’s perfectly OKAY! My focus is on simple, quick meals that are both nourishing and satisfying.

Here are my #mealprep tips, without the side of diet culture:

  • Make a master list of your favorite easy meals (Look for a Part 2 post for my “go-to” meals). Anna and Elizabeth wrote about their “go-to” meals at each of their houses: here and here.
  • Take an inventory of your fridge, freezer, and pantry to see what you have on hand.
  • Sit down and make a grocery list. There are lots of free templates out there to choose from!
  • Leftovers are your friend. I rarely purchase food solely for lunches, and I try to use leftovers from one meal as the base for another meal.
  • The freezer section is also your friend; I try to keep my freezer stocked with pizza dough, ice cream, and frozen fruits and vegetables. Check out Elizabeth’s guest post on The Benefits of Adding Frozen Foods to Your Meal and Snack Line Up.
  • If you have the opportunity, take an hour or two to prep items for the week.

Here are some of my “go-to’s” when I have an hour or two to spare…

  • Hard boil half a dozen eggs for an on-the-go snack, to top a salad, or to make an open-faced sandwich.
  • Make a grain to keep around; I suggest farro or quinoa in a time crunch or brown rice when you have more than 30 minutes!
  • Wash and cut up produce. I recently bought several 32 oz. deli containers and I use them to store fruit for snacks and vegetables for recipes during the week.
  • Make a batch of granola. Not only is it cheaper, but you can tailor it to your liking! I’m known by my classmates for bringing a tupperware with granola, yogurt, berries, and nuts.
  • If the recipe allows, brown any meat ahead of time. I like to cook sausage to add to eggs at breakfast and to top pizza.

I’ll share with you my “go-to” meals in a future post!

Jessica Long is a graduate student at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. She is an avid reader of research, and her interests include eating disorders, intuitive eating, and approaching medical nutrition therapy (MNT) from a weight-neutral lens. She is especially intrigued by the intersection of diabetes and weight neutral care, having experience working with patients with diabetes in a primary care setting. She is currently spearheading a research project investigating intuitive eating in minority undergraduate populations. Jessica can be reached via email at jlong@email.meredith.edu or on Instagram at @jessicalongrd.  

Preschoolers Don’t Grocery Shop: The parallels between dental care & weight focused medical care

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A couple of weeks ago my 3 year old daughter came home from preschool with a small plastic bag full of dental hygiene products. She was so excited to show me her new toothbrush, toothpaste and floss. Vivian LOVES to brush her teeth. SHE will make sure it happens at least twice a day. So, I can only imagine her excitement when an educator from a dental office came to talk to her class.

When I came home from work, my babysitter, Kate, did the “handoff,” and updated me about their afternoon. She let me know that Vivian’s teacher had told her about the classroom visit from the dentist office and that they learned about “healthy” and “unhealthy’ foods.  She told me with a bit of a grimace on her face, because she knew how I would feel about that.

Adult Concepts, Taught to Young Children

This is an example of age inappropriate nutrition education.  It doesn’t make sense to tell young children what they need to be eating. My daughter is 3 years old. She eats what I put in front of her. Well, not everything I put in front of her, but she doesn’t have a say in what I buy or give her to eat. She doesn’t go to the grocery store and I would never want her to be fearful of a food I give her.  Can you imagine a 3 year saying, “I can’t eat that Mommy, the dentist said it’s unhealthy?”

Furthermore, age inappropriate nutrition education causes our children harm. When we tell children certain foods are good or bad, healthy or unhealthy, red light or green light, “go” or “whoa” foods, we are trying to teach them an abstract concept in a concrete way. You and I can understand that a food high in sugar may increase one’s risk for tooth decay (depending on several factors), and we can also understand it’s ok to eat foods sometimes with  sugar in them. They are not foods to fear. However, its an abstract concept to understand the complexities of this. A 3 year old doesn’t have the ability to understand abstract concepts and nutrition is very abstract. Young children may hear this lesson and become fearful of the foods that the educator deemed as “unhealthy.” Sensitive children may stop eating adequately because of this fear around food. Sometimes, I think that our method of nutrition education is to scare the child so much, that they say something to their parent. We think we can get the message to the parent through instilling fear in the child.

Vivian’s bag from the dental educator did include a handout about nutrition.  It is appropriate to provide this health education directly to the parent. The parent could then assess how or if they are going to implement this information in their family feeding.

After I heard this frustrating news and had a “Mommy Bear” reaction of wanting to shield her from fear based nutrition education, I reached out to my colleagues who understand the complexities of age appropriate nutrition information. I was reaching out for support and for people to commiserate with me. However, our discussion was much more than that. It was fascinating to discuss the topic of food, shame and dental care and the parallels with weight based medical treatment became clear us.

Genetics Plays a Role in Cavities

My two older children have two different experiences when they go to the dentist. My oldest child brushes her teeth religiously, much more than my middle child. She has had several cavities and always gets many questions from her dentist about what she eats. Does she eat sugary cereal? Gummies? Lots of candy? My middle child gets served the exact same food as my oldest child, brushes less and has never had a cavity. He typically doesn’t get questioned about his food intake. It’s clear to me, and from what I understand, people’s teeth and mouth environment can be more or less susceptible to plaque and, thus, cavity development. Factors that affect this susceptibility are largely out of their control.

Several of the dietitians that I contacted about my frustration with the preschool dental education began to share their own experiences with going to the dentist. A couple of these dietitians shared that no matter how much they brushed and flossed, they would go to the dentist as a child and young adult and feel shame that they didn’t clean their teeth well enough. They would dread going to the dentist. The dentist would ask them a million questions about how much they were brushing and flossing and what they were eating, because of the amount of plaque and cavities they had. It wasn’t until they were adults and/or changed dentists that they understood that the cavities weren’t their fault. Some people are more susceptible to cavities. No amount of brushing or flossing will totally prevent cavities in some people. They were shamed because of factors that were outside of their control — genetics, oral environment, water supply, and deep grooves in their teeth.

Genetics Plays a Role in Weight

The parallel between how they felt going to the dentist and how children (and adults!) in large bodies often feel going to the doctor, became clear to us. Children in large bodies go to the doctor’s office and, because of their weight, are often drilled about what they eat. They may be instructed to make certain changes to their eating and if their weight doesn’t change, they may feel shame about going back to the doctor. Children in large bodies often dread going to the doctor. Children in smaller bodies are much less likely to experience this.  

The truth is, body size in mostly determined by genetics, just as someone’s oral environment and susceptibility to cavities is. Research shows us that kids in larger bodies do not eat more than children in smaller bodies. Yes – you read that right. Children at the upper end of the growth charts as a whole do not eat more than children on the lower end of the growth curves. As a medical field, our “solution” for kids who have larger bodies is to tell them to eat less but they are typically not eating differently than their thinner peers. Genetics and someone’s zip code, factors outside of children’s control, are much more predictive of body size than anything else. Just like my son doesn’t eat differently than my older daughter and he doesn’t get cavities, some children have larger bodies and their genetics, not diet, determine that. A focus on weight and restricting one’s intake by the doctor, sets up children in larger bodies for shame, dieting, weight cycling and avoiding the doctor, all things that lead to health problems.

Focus on Evidence-Based Health Care

What if instead, as medical providers, dentists, dietitians, doctors, and nurses, we approached our work from an evidence-based philosophy, including giving age appropriate education to children and adult appropriate education to parents? What if we stopped shaming children for factors that they have no control of? What if we focused on behaviors that enhance health, not weight loss or fear based messages that cause health problems?  What if we reduced the dread that many people feel coming to see us? We can do better.

Homemade Soft Pretzels – Cooking With Kids Part 2

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It snowed here yesterday!  YAY! Snow days are some of my favorite days!  I love snow for its beauty and the slowed pace it brings our life.   Here in the DC Metro area snow often means school is closed. What a gift to have an unexpected day to spend time together.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Another reason I love snow days is they’re a great opportunity to bake and/or cook something I might not make regularly.  There’s something so comforting about being in the kitchen on a snowy day.  Rain and ice were predicted for the afternoon yesterday so I decided we’d make homemade soft pretzels.  The recipe is simple to make. And kids love the soft, smooth feel of the dough.

It’s fun to make some unconventional pretzel shapes!

Homemade Soft Pretzels

I’ve always used Alton Brown’s Homemade Soft Pretzel recipe.  I’ve rewritten the instructions in my own words, but the ingredients and measurements are unchanged from his recipe.

How Kids Can Help Make Homemade Soft Pretzels

As I mentioned in my previous post about cooking with kids (you can read it here), cooking with them doesn’t have to be complicated.  Here are some simple ways even young children can help make these. You could invite them in at any one of the steps in the process. (Kids shouldn’t help with the step that involves boiling the pretzels).

  • Measure ingredients
  • Put the dough in a bowl to rise
  • Punch down the dough once it’s risen
  • Cut the dough into pieces before shaping
  • Roll out the dough
  • Shape the pretzels (we like to make unconventional pretzel shapes!)
  • Crack and separate the egg
  • Brush the pretzles with egg wash before salting them
  • Sprinkle the pretzels with salt before they go in the oven
Homemade Soft Pretzels

As you can see, it looks like one pretzel didn’t get the egg wash (this is what helps then brown). But no big deal! It still tasted great!

Cooking together creates opportunities for connection, creativity and curiosity.  

Cooking provides a great opportunity to teach a little reading, math, science, history and where our food comes from.  It also offers children a chance to experience new foods. Kids are more likely to try a new food if they’re involved in the preparation.

I’ve made this recipe for years and when the girls were in preschool I made these at their school with each of their classes.  Any recipe that uses yeast provides a great opportunity for a quick science lesson.

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Simple Tips For Cooking With Kids

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I hope you had a Happy Valentine’s Day! Each year I usually bake cookies with the girls. Click here for the recipe for the Valentine’s cookies we made last year. Today, Ellie and I made sugar cookies! Baking is just one simple way to involve kids in cooking. You can measure out all of the ingredients ahead of time and have your child help cut out the cookies or sprinkle on the sugar to keep things simple.

The thought of cooking with kids, especially young ones can feel overwhelming.  But it doesn’t have to be complicated. You can let them just stir something, or sit on the floor with an empty pot and spoon and “cook” on their own or simply unwrap a stick of butter. As they get older and begin cooking on their own, things can get pretty messy! This is a great opportunity for them to take on the cleanup process, too.

Cooking with kids
It’s a bit hard to see, but note all the flour on the floor and the Learning Tower. We got so much use out of ours.
(This picture of Caroline is from about 13 years ago!)

Tips For Cooking With Kids

Kitchen safety

Safety in the kitchen is often a big concern for parents.  Think about age appropriate kitchen activities. Use the back burners on your stove and keep knives and other sharp utensils out of reach of young children.

You’ll want to give children activities that are safe and age appropriate.  For instance, your toddler/preschooler isn’t going to cook anything on the stove or use a sharp knife.  

Letting children help in the kitchen provides a nice opportunity to teach them about kitchen safety, following rules and even math.

Put spinach in a bowl

Toddlers

They’ll need lots of supervision and something safe to stand on or in (we used this Learning Tower when Caroline and Ellie were youngl).

  • Pretend cook – just give them a spoon and a bowl and let them sit on the floor and bang away
  • Rinse fruits, veggies, beans
  • Stir dry or wet ingredients that aren’t hot
  • Whisk dry or wet ingredients that aren’t hot
  • Help measure wet or dry ingredients that aren’t hot
  • Put ingredients in a bowl
  • Tear herbs or lettuce
  • Brush on oil or egg wash with a pastry brush
  • Toss the salad
  • Use a cookie cutter to cut cookies
Anna’s daughter helped crack the eggs.

Preschoolers

  • All that toddlers do PLUS:
  • Fill muffin tins with muffin or cupcake batter
  • Pour cold ingredients
  • Get out pans, bowls utensils and ingredients
  • Let them cut soft foods like strawberries or butter with a butter knife or one of these knives designed for young children (Put a damp towel under the cutting board so it doesn’t shift around).
  • Crack eggs
  • Separate eggs
  • Roll or knead dough
  • Top a pizza or fill burritos or quesadillas
  • Mash avocado with a fork or potato masher
  • Counter clean up
  • Snap green beans
  • Shuck corn
  • Unwrap butter or cream cheese
This is Ellie about 9 years ago concentrating hard on licking the spatula!

Elementary Age

  • All of the above PLUS:
  • Read the recipe and get all the ingredients out
  • Peel vegetables and fruits with a peeler
  • Make toast
  • Use a mixer with supervision
Assembling strawberry shortcakes. Yum!

Tween and Teens

Once kids reach this age group and they have all those years of cooking with you, they’ll really take off. Teach them to safely use a sharp knife. At this stage they can help with making meals on a regular basis, even. They still need reminders of kitchen safety (tweens especially). And there might still be a big mess when they’re done.

Using a small sharp knife to cut butter

What’s Your Earliest Memory of Cooking?

One of my earliest and fondest memories was in preschool when we cooked lunch for our parents.  We made tomato soup and grilled cheese (or maybe it was open face toasted cheese sandwiches.) I have a memory of standing on a chair so I could have my turn at stirring the soup. I’m sure that’s where my love of cooking began! If you’d like to read more about the benefits of cooking with kids click here to read a previous post.

Tips for cooking with kids
Stir mushrooms (in 2005)!

What are your favorite ways to cook with kids? And how do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? We love to hear from our readers!

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.

This recipe is adapted from Maida Heatter’s Cookies.

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Maida Heatter’s Sugar Cookies

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews
  • Author: Elizabeth Davenport
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Description

Bake these yummy cookies up either crispy or soft.  

Scale

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Scant 1/4 teaspoon salt

6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon milk

Additional granulated sugar for topping

Instructions

Gently whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.

Cut the softened butter into about tablespoon size pieces. Place them in the bowl of an electric mixer and cream using the paddle attachment.  Then add the sugar and vanilla extract and beat for a minute or two. 

Add the eggs one at a time beating after each addition.  Then add the milk and beat until combined (just a few seconds). Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.  

Remove the dough from the mixer bowl and divide the dough in two.  Wrap each half in parchment paper or wax paper.  Chill for 1-2 hours.

Preheat your over to 400 F.  

Roll out the dough on a floured surface using a lightly floured rolling pin.  Roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thickness.  Use whatever shape cookie cutter you’d like.  

Place the cutouts on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle generously with sugar.

Bake for 5-10 minutes depending on the size and thickness of your cookies.  

Notes

Sometimes we make these thick and bake them on the short side so they stay soft.  Then we frost them.

And sometimes we roll them thinner, sprinkle them with colored sugar and bake them a little longer for a nice crisp sugar cookie.

Easy Black Beans and Rice

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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about “go-to meals.” I define “go-to meals” as meals that we typically have the ingredients for in our pantry and meals I can make without planning and make quickly. I imagine you know the scenario: It’s dinnertime. Dinner hasn’t been started and you either don’t have a plan, the plan would take too long to get on the table, or you planned an easy meal because you knew it would be a hectic evening.

black beans and rice

“Go-To Meals” Are Different for Different People

Last week, Elizabeth wrote a follow up post, “Go-To Meals – Part 2,” with her family’s “go to meals.” We got a kick out of each of our lists, because many on her list would probably be on my “standard meals” list. They are not “go to meals” for me, because I would think they would take too much effort for me to make. This highlights how we all have different skill levels and comfort in the kitchen and, thus, some meals seem harder for some than others.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, cooking and planning meals takes a bit more effort for me. I very much value it, but it’s something I have to be constantly working on. Elizabeth is an amazing cook and makes cooking look easy. She actually taught me how to chop vegetables when we were in graduate school. Her ability to be calm in the kitchen has helped me learn simple skills to make cooking a little easier for me. For example, I am no longer intimidated to make a really yummy salad. Putting together a salad has become a “go to side” for me. When, before, I would have felt like it was “too hard” or that it wouldn’t be very good. Having more experiences in the kitchen and having simple skills can make cooking feel a bit easier and can expand your list of “go-to meals.” However, the fact is, we all have our own strengths and what may be a “go to meal” for you may not be for me, and vice versa.

“Go-To” Black Beans and Rice

After my post about “go-to meals,” a reader asked me for my Black Beans and Rice recipe. This is a super easy recipe (for me) and something we have been making for years. This is a recipe I share often with my clients.

First, open 2 cans of black beans and pour them in a colander in the sink and rinse. I let them sit there awhile. Then, put 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium sized pot. At this point I don’t actually measure any of the items. 4 tablespoons is about four circles around the pot. Add 4 garlic cloves, minced and sauté for 1 minute. I usually use a garlic press such as this one. However, when I made this last week, I didn’t have any garlic and made it without it! Add the beans, 2 bay leaves, 1 cup of salsa, and 2 teaspoons of cumin.

Stir and simmer for about 10 minutes. Serve over rice.

We like to serve with shredded cheddar cheese and diced avocado and each person can top their bowl as they’d like. I’ve been recently making rice in my Instant Pot. It feels like one less pot to attend to during the busy dinnertime. I put the rice and water in the pot and then just set it.

The beans can also be very good with tortilla chips or inside a tortilla, as a burrito. This is not authentic black beans and rice. But quick and very easy!

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Easy Black Beans and Rice

  • Author: Anna Lutz
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Description

Simmered Black Beans with Tex-Mex feel. Very easy “go to meal” 

Scale

Ingredients

4 Tbs olive oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup salsa

2 bay leaves

2 tsp cumin

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a medium sized sauce pan. 

2. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute

3. Add beans, salsa, bay leaves and cumin

4. Stir and simmer fo 10 minutes. 

5. Remove bay leaves and serve over rice