How to Cook Healthy For Kids : Good Versus Evil Fried Rice

Lately, Colin has really been looking up to his hero.  I'm talking about a man that is tall, dark, and handsome.  I'm talking about a man that is mysterious, cunning, and daring.  Yes indeed, I'm talking about…Batman!  Who did you think I was referring to?    

While parents have some sway over their kids, most of us know to defer to the likes of Batman, Superman, and other superheroes.  Colin is in a stage where he loves to pretend like he is a superhero.  He loves to dress up in a cape and run around the house with imaginary super powers.  And he especially likes to dress up as Batman, his idol.  

As a parent, you can use your kid's love of superheroes to your advantage.  If your kids won't listen to you, perhaps they will listen to Batman or Superman.  Try channeling the persuasive powers of your kids' heroes to encourage them to eat healthier.  In the following video, I get Colin and Cailya into the act of eating healthy by pitting good versus evil.  In this video, I make batman fried rice.  One tip to make your fried rice healthier is to load it up with finely chopped bok choy.  The white parts of the bok choy blend nicely into the rest of the rice grains.  Happy Halloween!

http://youtu.be/xxAW3HXuWrg

How to Cook Healthy Food for Kids : Hide Green Vegetables Like Kale in Pesto Pasta

 

I have fond memories of family vacations at Ocean City, Maryland.  Every summer, my uncle would invite my family to come stay at Golden Sands condominiums.  While there, we established many Ko family traditions.  All the kids would roam around on the beach, collect seashells, build sand castles, and join forces to dig a giant hole in the sand.  In the evenings, we would play cards, shoot pool, and walk the boardwalk.

Another Ko family tradition was dining at Paul Revere Smorgasbord.  Sometimes that meant showing up extra early to Paul Revere's to take advantage of the early bird special.  Sometimes that meant under-representing yourself.  You see, at Paul Revere's, children ages 9-12 eat at a discount, children ages 5-8 eat at a heavier discount, and children ages four and under eat free.  At Paul Revere's, I was probably eight years old for three consecutive years.

So, when it came time to buy tickets to Busch Gardens for my own children, of course I had to carry on the honorable Ko family tradition of under-representation.
"Colin, for Busch Gardens, you are two years old." I said.
"I'm not two years old.  I'm three!" he retorted.
"I know your three.  But as far as Busch Gardens is concerned, you are two."
"I'm not two.  I'm three!  I'm three!"
This went on for a while until he finally understood that he was two years old in Busch Gardens land.

I continued to prep him on the drive down to Williamsburg.  As we approached the ticketing gate, my palms began to sweat and I nearly aborted the mission.  I nervously handed the attendant two adult tickets as I casually pushed the sit and stand stroller which housed Colin and Cailya.  The attendant wordlessly ushered us through, and just like that, we were in!

I don't know what lesson, if any, I taught my son that day.  What I do know is that my two year old son had one helluva time at Busch Gardens!

Just as you can sneak your kids into a theme park, you can sneak in healthy ingredients into the dishes you serve your kids without them knowing.  Take for instance, this delicious kale pesto pasta dish.  The kale goes undetected, with its dark green hues blending in perfectly with the aromatic green tones from the basil.  My kids loved this simple and tasty dish:
http://youtu.be/uavm29w75Z8

How to Cook Healthy Food for Kids : When Life Gives You Potatoes, Make Colcannon!

Sometimes life gives you lemons.  But that's not necessarily a bad thing.  As an amateur chef, I have found lemons to be a vital flavor enhancer.  That's why when life gives me lemons, I make delicious food!

I'm always trying to think of innovative ways to substitute healthy ingredients for unhealthy ones.  In my last post, I substituted white beans for white potatoes.  The result was a pureed bean dish that looked and tasted like mashed potatoes, but was much lower in glycemic index.

But sometimes it simply isn't convenient to substitute ingredients.  Perhaps all you have in your cupboard are potatoes.  Perhaps you are having one of those days where the kids are screaming specifically for mashed potatoes.  We've all been there.  So, when life gives you potatoes, I say, "Make colcannon!"

Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish consisting of mashed potatoes and greens.  Because dark leafy greens are nutrition powerhouses, they can really amplify the nutritional value of your meals.  In the following video, I show you how to make colcannon using kale and leeks:

http://youtu.be/E2Y_O5BPHLA

Here is the link to the recipe I used to make the colcannon dish featured in the video above:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chef-Johns-Colcannon/Detail.aspx

How to Cook Healthy Food For Kids : White Bean Starch for White Potato Starch, A Battle of Wits

Do you ever feel like you are in an epic battle of wits with your kid?  And do you feel like somehow you are constantly on the losing end of that battle?  It never ceases to amaze me that I am able to be outwitted by a three-year-old.  Like a trained pharmaceutical representative, Colin has somehow mastered the art of getting me to verbally commit to something and then holding me up to that commitment at a later date.  "Remember how you said you would take me to the playground on Thursday?  Well, today is Thursday."  Sometimes I'll gloss over a few words while reading Colin a bedtime story.  But, when I turn the page, my son will turn the page back and point out that I skipped some words.  At the end of the day, I put away his toys.  But, the next morning Colin will go to the exact spot where he had left his toys and ask me where his toys went.  The kid has a memory like a steel trap.  I blame his mom.  

Of course, some of the most epic battle of wits come at the dinner table.  Some battles are not worth fighting.  Some battles really put me at my wit's end.  Still other battles are worth fighting, but as a parent, you need to know how to fight the good fight.  You've got to stay one step ahead of kids, anticipate their complaints, and give them food that satisfies your own sensibilities of healthiness while also satisfying their taste buds.  For instance, instead of mashed white potatoes, try a healthier white starch like pureed white beans.  Beans are a resistant starch that are much lower in glycemic index than are white potatoes.  Check out my epic battle of wits with Colin in this week's video, an homage to a scene from the movie, The Princess Bride. 

http://youtu.be/gC_6XvVfl_s

America's Healthiest Heroes - Playing it Cool

I wish I could say I play it cool when it comes to celebrities.  I often have trouble recognizing them.  When I'm watching a movie, at some point, I'll lean over and whisper to Cassie, "Where have a seen this guy before?"  Then, Cassie has to interrupt her movie-going experience to go over an actor's resume with me.  I'm even worse with celebrity sightings.  For instance, when I ran into Modern Family's Jesse Tyler Ferguson in Manhattan, the best I could do was blurt out, "Hey, it's you!"

So when I found myself in a YouTube video with Ian Ziering, I'd like to say that I played it cool.  But in reality, my reaction was, "Whoa!  I'm in a video with the guy from 90210!"  Yes, yours truly was fortunate enough to be featured in a YouTube series called, "America's Healthiest Heroes", hosted by Ian Ziering.

The premise of this series is to feature parents that are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to help kids adopt healthy habits.  Apparently, the series is intent on highlighting the parents since poor Cailya and Colin didn't make the final cut.

One of the things that I really enjoy about YouTube is the ability to reach a larger audience.  Trying to get a message out to others is infinitely more challenging than writing the message itself.  I am proud to take part in a larger campaign like "America's Healthiest Heroes" because celebrities like Ian Ziering have a wider sphere of influence.  Just like his character on 90210, Ian Ziering has the power of cool and the ability to make healthy eating cool.

Whether you are speaking to a YouTube audience of a few or a few thousand, or you are speaking to an audience of one or two in your own home, you can use the power of cool to make eating healthy the cool thing to do.  I encourage you to be your own kid's healthiest hero!

How to Cook Healthy Food For Kids : Cauliflower Mac N' Cheese

I was speaking to a friend of mine, Josh Coleman the other day.  He lamented, "All my kid eats is mac n' cheese!"  Macaroni and cheese is a common favorite food item of many kids.  There is indeed something comforting and disarming about macaroni and cheese.

The problem is that many of the white starches like bread, potatoes, rice, cereal, and some noodles are high in glycemic index and unhealthy.  Given this predicament, I decided to dedicate this post to Josh Coleman and attempt to come up with a solution to a very common problem.

It's time for cauliflower to rear its pretty little head once again!  Cauliflower is a great substitute for white starch.  It can be transformed in a multitude of ways to resemble mashed potatoes, rice, and even mac n' cheese!   Take a look as Sean Ko-nnery takes cauliflower undercover in this week's feature video, "Golden Cauliflower"

http://youtu.be/2mDUcIZ8gKk?list=UUOpV1RhtMV5h9QLKBVf_XFg

How to Cook Healthy Food for Kids : Make a Healthy Savory Popcorn With Nutritional Yeast

 

I am pleased to announce that my book, The Ping Pong Diet, is now available for sale at Amazon.com.  The Ping Pong Diet is a comprehensive dietary guide for adults seeking to lose weight, keep it off, and maintain a healthy lifestyle.  You can read more about my thoughts on weight management at http://www.mythicalweightloss.com. 

Ping pong was my main sport growing up.  While other kids were playing catch in their backyard with their old man, I was paddling ping pong balls in the basement with my dad.  

Although I didn't play catch with my dad as a child, I decided to play some catch up and go to my first father-son baseball game.  

We arrived at the Nationals Park stadium and joined a very lively and packed crowd, ready to cheer on the first place Nats.  As we walked towards our seats, I couldn't help but notice that one American pastime had been drowned out by another American past time…eating.  The concession stands featured a dizzying array of snacks and drinks.  I couldn't help but ask myself, "Was this a sporting event with food or a food event with sports?"

The problem was that there weren't many healthy food options.  Take for instance, the Cracker Jack.  Otherwise wholesome whole grains and nuts were steeped in butter and caramelized to a candied finish.  

As we sang "Take me out to the ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch, I wondered to myself, "Could I make a healthier popcorn snack?"

http://youtu.be/tjE6h1naloA?list=UUOpV1RhtMV5h9QLKBVf_XFg

Incidentally, if you make popcorn for your kids, be sure to have them gargle afterwards so they don't get any retained kernels of corn stuck in their teeth.

At our first baseball game, the Nats put on an offensive clinic and obliterated the Phillies 11-0.  We enjoyed some munchies during the game, but most importantly, my dad and I shared a truly memorable experience together.