How to Cook Healthy Whole Grains For Kids : Farro

Congratulations are in order. I've experienced some personal growth. My mom stayed over my place the other night to watch the kids so Cassie and I could go out. The next morning, I figured I would show my appreciation by cooking my mom breakfast. I decided to introduce her to quinoa and make her a mushroom quinoa risotto.

I knew it would take some time for the quinoa to absorb the chicken broth and soften, so I made every effort to wake up early. Of course, my mom woke up just as I was starting to cook. I knew she wouldn't want me to go though any trouble, so I tried to hurry the process along.

That was the first problem. You can't rush risotto. It takes time for grains to absorb hot broth, whether you're using rice or some other kind of grain like quinoa. Whole grains take even longer to soften up due to their tough fibrous exterior. The second problem was it's never easy to introduce my parents to new food. As supportive as they are, it is especially difficult to change their food tastes. I knew I had my work cut out for me.

I made the risotto and placed a sunny side up egg on top. I like my egg yolk runny, but I knew my mom would like hers cooked through because she is afraid of eating anything raw. I served our breakfast and carried on conversation like normal. I ate a spoonful. Oh no. I didn't cook it long enough. The quinoa was crunchy. My mom does not like to chew her food. Did she notice? Maybe she didn't notice. After all, she doesn't know what quinoa is supposed to taste like, let alone quinoa risotto. I took a sidelong glance at her bowl. It was barely touched.

I decided not to get upset. This was a huge moment of personal growth for me. I used to be very sensitive about my cooking. And of course, I am very sensitive about my mother's opinion. But you know what? Home cooked dishes don't always come out perfectly, but they're always made out of love. At the end of breakfast, I stole one more glance at my mom's bowl. She actually ate the whole thing, undercooked quinoa and all. Next time I'm gonna try making her this farro risotto with pear, prosciutto, and sage!

https://youtu.be/i0cTTaODpKg

How to Make a Healthy Stuffing Recipe For Kids on Thanksgiving Day

My grandmother recently passed away. She lived to be 100 years old. In the final years of her life, she developed dementia. When I visited her last year, she had no idea who I was. Even after relatives repeatedly reintroduced me, she'd point towards my general direction and say in Taiwanese, "Who's that guy?" However, even at 100 years old, seated in a wheelchair, and with obvious dementia, to me she was wise, dignified, and strong. The pictures above were taken from that trip to Taiwan last year. It was the kids' first trip to Taiwan, and their only meeting they would have with their great grandmother.

I didn't know my grandmother very well. As a kid, I just thought she was old and rich. Whenever she would visit from Taiwan, she would pinch my cheeks and give me a red envelope with cash. I would try to speak to her in broken Taiwanese, but inevitably my communication would break down into a series of polite smiles. In college, I visited Taiwan and stayed with her on some weekends. I would try to be a good grandson and wash dishes, but she would complain that I didn't know what I was doing.

When Cassie was pregnant with Colin, my mom said she would like to help us out, but we were in New Jersey at the time and she was in Maryland. Cassie and I talked things over and we decided to pack our bags. It turned out to be one of the best decisions we've ever made. My mom has been there for my kids ever since the beginning. Because of this, Colin and Caiyla have developed a very close relationship with their grandmother, a kind of bond that admittedly, I never developed with my own grandmother.

It is all too easy to take these kinds of relationships for granted. Loss of family members or family holidays like Thanksgiving are good opportunities to pause, reflect, and be thankful for the family we have in our lives. Thanksgiving is also a great chance to invite family over and cook for them. Try making your family this paleo Thanksgiving stuffing. I'm sure grandmothers and grandkids alike will love it!

https://youtu.be/YwvtR7ziZ7w

How to Make Cripsy Chicken Legs in a Cast Iron Skillet For Kids

Becoming a competent home chef for your kids is easier than you might think. You don't have to buy a ton of expensive equipment to make healthy and delicious meals for your kids. Instead of buying up every new kitchen gadget, stick to versatile tools that you can use again and again for multiple meals.

One of my favorite kitchen tools is the cast iron skillet. If you can pick one up (literally), it will help you cook delicious food both on the stovetop and in the oven. Once properly seasoned, the surface of a cast iron skillet can be made non-stick and easy to clean. Although cast iron skillets take longer to heat up, once hot, they contain more thermal energy than other pans at the same temperature. As such, cast iron skillets are great for giving your proteins a nice hard sear. A hard sear gives the surface of your protein texture and adds a lot of flavor through the mallard reaction.

If you are new to cast iron cooking, one easy dish you can try is this recipe for one pan crispy chicken legs. You'll be surprised what you can do with your legs.  

https://youtu.be/CJwu9AU2q7o

How to Make Healthier Low Glycemic Bread For Kids : Sourdough Muffins

"I don't like it." Another one of my food experiments is met with frustration and failure. You see, I only publish the winners on my YouTube channel, and not the many, many failures. One of the refreshing things about kids is their brutal honesty. You can see their immediate reactions plainly on their faces. And most toddlers have yet to learn the fine art of politeness.

So even before Colin said he didn't like my cauliflower "buns", I had already surmised as much on his face. For better or for worse, my children are my guinea pigs for my low carb and low glycemic index cooking. I am always looking for healthier substitutions for otherwise high glycemic starches. One of the most challenging searches is the quest to find a reasonably tasting low glycemic bread. In my search, I have attempted to substitute the carbohydrates of wheat flour with cauliflower or eggs. The results are often disappointing, often tasting more eggy than breadlike.

One way to lower the glycemic index of bread and make it more healthful is to make real sourdough bread from a starter culture. A starter culture is a mixture of flour and water that contains a colony of microorganisms including wild yeast and bacteria known as lactobacilli. As such, sourdough bread is made from real live food. This is the way bread used to be made, and is really the only kind of bread that can be considered true bread. Most of the processed bread on store shelves are dead, bread-like substances.

When kids or adults get their hands on a good piece of bread, they can have trouble stopping. What is more, a typical bread loaf pan makes such a large loaf of bread that it is difficult to exercise reasonable portion control. One fun way to bake sourdough bread for your kids is to make sourdough muffins. Start with a basic sourdough starter, then use this recipe for sourdough muffins (I omitted the sugar), and split the dough up and bake it in a muffin tin pan.  This recipe makes tasty, healthy bread, in reasonable portions that your kids will love!

https://youtu.be/A6BJdIV2S2c

How to Make Bloody Eyeball Eggs on Halloween For Kids

 

I can still feel the wedgie of my extra small thermal underwear pants riding up under my Mickey Mouse costume. Several sizes too small, the cuffs of my thermal undershirt ended halfway up my forearms, making the costume I recycled from the previous year feel especially tight on me. Coming from a balmy island like Taiwan, this cool Autumn holiday of ghouls and goblins must have felt especially foreign to my parents. And yet, knowing how much it meant to me, they slipped on their winter jackets, pulled out their flashlights, and trudged down the neighborhood streets with me.

Having no peripheral vision and distracted by the sound of my own hot breath against the inside of my mask, I held on tightly to my mom's hand as she led me from house to house. "Trick or treat!" I exclaimed as I held out my plastic Jack-o-lantern. The excitement of going door to door and being handed a small package was more thrilling than the package itself. When we returned home, my brother and I would line up all our pieces of candy and categorize them accordingly.

Nowadays, Halloween is a bit of a conundrum for me. Obviously, its premise is antithetical to my low glycemic lifestyle. But Halloween doesn't have to be about the candy. When I think back on my fondest childhood memories of Halloween, the experience of Halloween was far more memorable than the confections.

For my kids, I want them to experience the joy of dancing around in their costumes, pretending to be Spiderman and Minnie Mouse. I want them to experience the thrill of going out at night and going door to door. I want them to appreciate the shared ritual of a collective community. And of course, I want them to feel the pinch of the wedgie formed by their tight thermal underwear.

You don't have to make Halloween about the candy. Bring some Halloween fun into your house with these "bloody eyeball" eggs. Happy Halloween!

https://youtu.be/3USYX41rgQs

How to Make Healthy Baby Bok Choy Chips in the Oven For Kids

 

Did you know our sense of smell, sight, touch, and sound contribute more to the pleasure of eating than our sense of taste? As much as 80% of our sense of taste comes from the olfactory receptors in our nose. Human teeth are exquisitely sensitive, able to detect a grain of sand or grit 10 microns in diameter.

One of the reasons people like potato chips is because they make a pleasing crunchy noise when chewed. Mary Roach, author of Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, notes that the audible crunch of crispy foods comes from their inherent brittle facture: a sudden, high-speed crack. In order to get this noise, you need crack speeds of 300 meters per second. Roach writes, "The crunch of a chip is a tiny sonic boom inside your mouth."

Roach suggests that we like crunchy food because historically, crispness equaled freshness. Compared to a crunchy apple, a mushy apple is decidedly less fresh. However, while processed food like a six month old bag of Cheetos stays crunchy, it is certainly not fresh. Instead of giving your kids food-like products that have been on the shelf for months, why not make your own fresh chips?

You can make your own chips from fresh produce like eggplants. I have also tried king oyster mushroom chips and kale chips. Baby bok choy chips are especially tasty. Each leaf can be peeled off into a conveniently sized chip, and the dark green leafy parts nicely crisp up in the oven.  

https://youtu.be/ELp8mExv3Qs

References

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/WineTasting.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/health/mary-roach-on-studying-food-and-how-humans-eat-it.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Roach, Mary. 2013. Gulp: adventures on the alimentary canal.

How to Eat Like a Caveman : Paleo Pot Roast & Mashed Cauliflower for Kids

When I listen to my adult patients, I can often commiserate with many common barriers that affect the nutritional quality of their diet. Themes include being overworked, having a lot of stress, and feeling tired all the time. For many well-intentioned adults, it is hard to prioritize eating healthfully in the modern age. 

However, my heart really aches when I hear some of the stories that my pediatric patients relate. Many American kids today are starving for real nutrition and being poisoned by processed foods. Parents' work is so consuming that they really have no idea what their kids are eating. As a result, kids are often left to fend for themselves. Many kids skip breakfast. Still others eat breakfast and lunch for free at school. While special nutritional programs for indigent families are well intentioned, they are actually part of the problem.   

The other day, I was speaking to a pair of young sisters, each afflicted with morbid obesity. At the ages of eight and ten, they already manifested health problems due to their weight, including elevations in cholesterol and blood sugar. I asked them what they ate for breakfast. They said that they usually skipped, but if they made it to school they delighted in eating Bosco sticks. I didn't know what a Bosco stick was, so I asked. A Bosco stick is essentially a pizza rolled into a breadstick. I asked them what they ate for lunch. The reply was cheese pizza, usually washed down with chocolate milk. Halfway through their day, these kids had yet to have any real nutrition. 

Today's kids are more familiar with manmade products like Bosco sticks than they are real food like plants and protein. The diets of so many kids is so devoid of essential vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, it's no wonder that some require supplements like Flintstones vitamins. The irony is instead of taking Flintstone sugar pills, kids today would be much better off if they simply ate their vitamins and minerals from real food, like we used to do when we were cavemen. In the following video, I take a page right out of history and show you how to make a Paleo pot roast that your kids will love. 

https://youtu.be/FrxZCBXYsW8