10 Garden Books for Preschoolers

One of the obstacles to children eating whole food diets is that many live in a world where food just "appears" - and mostly in processed form. Do noodles grown on trees? Do apples come from the grocery store bin? These are the things my toddlers ask! In order to develop an early love of clean eating, children need to have tactile, sensory experiences with whole foods. I really believe this. They need to understand the gift of food - where it comes from, how it grows, and how it's prepared.

That's why I'm such a big fan of our kitchen garden. Let's not pretend we actually save any money growing our own food. (At least we don't - not after accounting for set up materials, extra seeds the twins "accidentally" sowed in their sandbox, and replacement plants for everything the birds and bunnies destroy...) Full Discloser: We are very bad gardeners. But what we do gain from gardening is invaluable, hands-on learning for our little ones.

Now not everyone has space or time for a kitchen garden, I know. We've been in that boat too. One year, instead of flowers, we put big pots of tomato plants on our tiny porch. Or it's all over Pinterest how you can regrow vegetables on your windowsill. BUT there are also books. Maybe you don't have a park nearby to travers on a "Seed Hunt". But you can read about seeds as your toddler marches his pudgy fingers across the pages, hunting for seeds in illustration form. The amazing thing about literature is that it can gift experiences to us that we would never have explored without it. AND you don't have to remember to water a literary garden! Speaking of which... (that whole thing about being bad gardeners)...

Here are ten our favorite preschool-appropriate books about gardens while I go grab the hose and hope it's not too late to save our strawberries:

Songs & Poems about Gardens

1. Jo MacDonald Had a Garden
Beautiful illustrations depict a garden through every season. Make up your own hand motions and sing along to the tune of "Old MacDonald".

2. Anna's Garden Songs
Children will benefit from the rhythm of poetry read aloud. Whimsical illustrations make this entertaining as well.









Silly Stories about Gardens

3. Frog and Toad Together: The Garden (Caldecott)
Toad wants to plant a garden and Frog gives him seeds but warns him it is hard work. This amusing tale is a good time to discuss what seeds really need in order to grow.

4. A Garden for Pig
Pig is tired of eating apples and wishes he had his own garden. Imagine his surprise when plants sprout from his droppings! Perfect for poop-obsessed toddlers. Pair with A Seed Is Sleepy.








Classic Fiction about Gardens

5. The Gardener (Newberry, Caldecott)
Maybe not a classic but the most rigid definition, but this book is certainly award and heart winning. It is told through letters. Try planting your own seeds in a garden or window pot and write a letter to someone telling them about it!

6. The Tale of Peter Rabbit 
People aren't the only ones who enjoy food from gardens! We picked this old favorite up again when rabbits starting munching away our hard work!









Informational Books about Gardens

7. From Seed to Plant
Gail Gibbons is my go-to author for elementary non-fiction. Some content may be to difficult for preschoolers but the illustrations are colorful and informative.

8. A Seed Is Sleepy
I simply cannot get over the illustrations in this text. I am in love with them. The text is divided into large print, repetitive, phrases ("A seed is...") and smaller print detailed information. Read one or both to differentiate learning.







Cross-curricular Books about Gardens

9. Planting a Rainbow (colors)
Not all gardens grow food! Learn about colors while exploring vivid illustrations of flower variety.

10. Eating the Alphabet (letters)
While not technically a book about gardens, Lois Ehlers brings her beautiful art again to list fruits and vegetables from A-Z. What letters are on your plate?

Key Lime Easy Oats (with shh! spinach)

Today is the much anticipated LIBRAY DAY at our little house. The boys are eagerly gathering up our pile of books as I type, so this post will be short and sweet. We eat overnight oats at least four breakfasts a week, so I've been looking for a way to sneak in vegetables without ruining the flavor (or  the toddler enthusiasm). I finally found it! And - just because I hardly believe it myself - here they are. Eating spinach for breakfast.

After weeks of brainstorming, I finally got smart and took a hint from smoothie successes. The key to this recipe resides in these three little tips that I've shared before.

• Color Match - if the oatmeal is going to be green, I'd better have a darn good excuse. Flavoring the oats with lime juice and zest gives a plausible (if you're three-years-old) reasons for them to be green.
• Add Acid - again, the lime comes in handy. Citrus is adept at masking any subtle earthy flavor from greens. 
• Blend, Baby, Blend - hell hath no fury like a toddler who just detected a noticeable piece of spinach in their "sweet" breakfast (or smoothie). Run the blender on high for at least three minutes.

Without further ado - the recipe:

Key Lime Easy Oats (with shhh! spinach)

4 cups spinach

3 1/2 cups almond milk

3 cups old fashioned oats

1/4 cup vanilla protein powder (optional)*

Zest of 1 lime
3 Tbs lime juice (optional)**

3 Tbs chia seeds
3 Tbs maple syrup (or other sweetener)

Fruit for topping (pineapple, strawberries, and mango all go well)

Toasted coconut (optional)
Extra maple syrup for drizzling

1. In a blender, combine milk and spinach on high until spinach is not visible to the discerning child's eye.

2. Combine with all the other ingredients except toppings. Cover and refridergate overnight.

3. In the morning, portion oats out and layer or top with fruit of choice. Add a sprinkle of unsweetened coconut and drizzle of maple syrup if desired. Enjoy!

Serves 6

*If the idea of tart oats bothers you, I tasted the oatmeal after adding just the lime zest alone and was pleased. My kids have always like sour things though and enjoyed the added lime juice.
**We use a protein powder sweetened with stevia. If omitting, decrease liquid by 1/4 cup and add 1 tsp vanilla and 1-2 Tbs sweetener of choice. 

Pineapple - Almond Thai Noodle Bowl

As the weather gets nicer and the children and I spend more time outdoors, I start to lose track of time in the afternoons. (Darn you, Daylight Savings.) My internal clock is thrown off by the lingering sunshine and -more often than not- I find myself glancing at the clock in panic realizing that the witching hour is nearly upon us and dinner isn't even started. For those of you who are unaware -

Witching Hour: (n) 1. An unspecified hour in the late afternoon when every child in the universe decides they are instantaneously hungry, not hungry, tired, not tired, annoyed, incontinent, going to play with all their toys and unbearably bored ... and announce it in no uncertain terms. (2) The same time your spouse usually walks in the door also tired and hungry.

^^This is why I need a plan for a well-balanced dinner can be thrown together in a heartbeat. Crockpot meals are a fantastic solution to the "no time to make dinner" problem, but after a while we start to get tired of the slow cooker texture and long for the more al dente CRUNCH of meal based on fresh produce. Enter the ever-versatile Noodle Bowl! The issues with the traditional stir-fry dinners I grew up on were that they a) required a protein to be prepared and properly cooked, and b) often had us standing around ravenously waiting for the rice to finally finish cooking.

Side Rant - Have you ever cleaned up rice of the table floor, chairs, windowsills, and blinds after two toddlers made a meal of it? No. Thank. You. 

Solution A) An all veggie stir-fry enhanced by a protein-rich nut butter sauce
Solution B) Brown rice noodles, which can be cooked in 3-5 minutes, to replace regular brown rice.

And that is how the Pineapple-Almond Thai Noodle Bowl was born.

Step 1: Start your vegetables of choice in a pan on medium heat with a drizzle of olive, coconut, or sesame oil. You can prep veggies in the morning or even buy pre-cut vegetables to keep thinks extra simple. Stir-fry until al dente*. I use:

• 2 small heads of broccoli
• 2 good handfuls of shredded carrots (about 2 cups)
• 2 good handfuls of snow peas (about 4 oz)

*TIP: I set aside a few vegetables to steam instead of saute. This goes over much better with the twins who are still cutting back molars.

Step 2: While vegetables are sautéing, chop cilantro for garnish and put sauce ingredients in the blender and puree until smooth. This makes about 2 generous cups of sauce.

• 1 cup frozen pineapple chunks
• 1/2 cup coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup natural almond butter (no salt or sugar added)
• 1/4 cup tamari
• 2 Tbs rice vinegar
• 2 Tbs water
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced

Step 3: After sauce is pureed, set aside and bowl about 6 cups of water. (I use an electric water kettle to speed the process). Pour over oz of brown rice noodles. We love Annie Chun's brand. Allow noodles to rest 2-5 minutes and then strain. Quickly hand toss with a little oil. Rice noodles clump together quickly!

Step 4: Assemble bowls with noodles, vegetables, and sauce.* Garnish with cilantro if desired! Enjoy :)

TIP: You can toss everything together at once, but I have found it does not keep and reheat well this way. The noodles get very "globby" in the refrigerator when coated with the sauce.

A Better PB&J Two Ways

My love affair with the convenient, affordable, totally-packable PB&J ended abruptly two years ago when we discovered one of our twins - O - had a severe peanut allergy. I was eating peanut butter and jelly for lunch to try to keep up with the caloric toll of nursing two 5 month-olds. Without washing my hands, I bent down to pick up O (who was shirtless at the time.) Huge, angry welts in the shape of handprints instantly swelled where I had touched his bare tummy and back. Hello, peanut allergy! Seven months later at his one-year appointment, it was confirmed. Severe -very sever- peanut allergy. There was nothing I had done "wrong" (although strangers still like to inform me that I either overexposed or underexposed him to peanuts in utero and as an infant). Two babies had grown in exactly the same environment and one twin had peanut antibodies off the charts (literally off the charts - they stop measuring at 100) and the other had 0.03 reaction.

We immediately stripped the house of everything peanut and after that, it was on like Goldilocks and the Three Bears trying to find a nut butter replacement. Nothing suited.

• Name brand almond butter - too pricey.
• Store brands - nonexistent 
• Sunbutter - cheap, but too salty. 
• Cashew butter - too fattening. 
• Justin's Almond Butter - delicious! But processed with peanuts. 
• Jiff alternative nut butters - surprisingly not processed with peanuts, but full of additives. 

Sigh.

We didn't even have a health food store in town to help us out.

Then - all hail Kroger - their Simple Truth brand came out with an affordable almond butter. Nothing could match the economy of peanut butter, but as a store brand this fell within the realm of "reasonable". It was smooth and creamy with just a little mixing (not rock solid on the bottom and all oil on the top). And the ingredients? One: "Dry roasted almonds". We fell in love. We now use this brand in all our thai dishes, oatmeals, smoothies and ... sandwiches. Because, let's face it, when you're a busy mom the PB&J (or AB&J in our case) is just too convenient to give up. How else are you supposed to one-hand lunch while nursing a baby with two hungry toddlers wailing in the background and only ten bucks left in your grocery budget?

But I ramble. Besides containing deadly poison PEANUTS, the other looming problem with the traditional PB&J is its sugar content. Read the labels on your jelly, nut butter, and bread. The average peanut butter and jelly sandwich can contain nearly 20 grams of sugar. That's an awful lot for a little tyke's lunch. So here are my three suggestions. They are extremely simple. But, then again, so is the humble PB&J.

1. Go for a natural, one-ingredient nut butter. If your child is used to regular nut butter, this can be a slow transition because the all one-ingredient brands lack the sweetness they've come to expect. But if you find one in your price range with a good creamy consistency and mash it with banana (about 1/4 a banana per Tbs of nut butter), with a little patience you can overcome!

1. Ditch the jelly. Jelly is really where all the added sugar is at. Try fresh berries instead. You lose the sugar and gain antioxidants. My kids love arranging their own berries on sandwiches and wraps. 

1. Use whole wheat. Whether it's bread or a wrap, don't be fooled by the sneaky "whole grain" label. This is NOT the loaf you are looking for. Look for "100% Whole Wheat" and carefully check the nutrition label for sugars and syrups. (Note: If you've ever baked you know that some sugar is required to start the yeast.)

The simplest way to better your PB&J is just to mash 1/2 a banana with 2 tablespoons of natural nut butter, spread on whole wheat bread of your choosing, and top with fresh berries. But, I'm the first to admit, it's a little messy.

The second (and better IMO) option is to make "banana dogs" loaded with "strawberry ketchup" and "blueberry relish"! Not only are they whimsical and fun to make, but they are neater and wrap up tidily for picnics or lunches on run. Simply spread your nut butter on a whole wheat wrap, top with half a banana (sliced lengthwise), and add lightly mashed strawberries or blackberries* and whole blueberries if desired. This has the added bonus of being a "recipe" that even a toddler can feel very grown-up following.

*Strawberries and blackberries are rather big for a wrap. They have the tendency to "pop" out when my kids try to bite them leading to an empty tortillas, berries all over the table, and MELT. DOWNS. Simple crushing the berries a little first with a fork saves all the sanity! Plus, mashing things is fun when you're two.

**Coming soon for my paleo friends will be the the PB&J non-sandwich option ;)** 

5 Tips to Get Your Kids Drinking Their Veggies

     If you think passing a Kale and Cucumber Smoothie off on a non-veggie-loving adult is hard, it can be even MORE challenging to make appealing to a non-veggie-loving TODDLER! Here are my 5 Tips to get your toddlers drinking their veggies.

1. Go Slow

It's unlikely that a two or three-year-old will just love a green monster the first time it's presented. In fact, it takes multiple exposures for young children to decide conclusively if they like any new food. Make a smoothie you love and offer a little bit to your child. If they don't like it, don't sweat! Offer it again another day, and another... and another.

2. Name It

Again, the word "Kale" is probably going to send my twin toddlers running! Currently, however, they are BIG into monster trucks and so our smoothies have more suceessful names like "Carrot Crusher", "Nut Butter Mudder", and "Green Monster-Truck".

3. Color Match

Toddlers have a keen, discerning eye for veggie deception. Hide carrots in a mango smoothie, kale in "limeade", and - when in doubt - add blueberries. Blueberries dye anything purple!

4. Blend, baby. Blend

Dare I leave one small carrot nib in a smoothie, my texture-sensitive kid will passionately declare (with drama only a toddler can muster): "I can't drink like this!!" And then there's the lump-stuck-in-my-straw meltdown that must be avoided at all cost. Blend toddler smoothies FOR.E.VER (or at least on high for 3 minutes.)

5. Involve Them

Once my little guys got used to drinking smoothies with hidden veggies, I started involving them in the process. Helping chop, add, or blend produce made them more open to trying new things!