How to Cook Healthy Food for Kids : Iron Chef Man Cooks Squid Ink Pasta

 

I like fish. Consequently, it always surprises me when people tell me they don't like fish. I wonder if my positive association with fish dates back to my childhood. My parents have always liked fish and they would often buy a prepared whole fish for dinner. My brother and I both distinctly recall them telling us that eating fish would make us smarter. Of course, now my parents innocently deny that they ever made such an assertion.

Can a simple statement such as, "Fish makes you smarter," rub off on a child's eating habits? Brian Wansink studied how to help children develop positive associations with food. In the Popeye project, children whose parents told them that spinach gave them strength, carrots made them see far, and fish made them smart, developed positive associations with these foods. 

Most kids I know idolize superheroes like Spiderman and Ironman. I know Colin certainly does. Just like Popeye gave kids the idea that spinach makes them stronger, you can tell your kids about the physical benefits of eating real food. Living organisms like plants have developed natural protective mechanisms called antioxidants. Although we still don't know what kinds of powers we can get from eating foods high in antioxidants, the very same foods are often full of essential vitamins and minerals. 

In the following video, Iron Chef Man uses his cooking powers to make squid ink pasta, a good source of antioxidants and a very tasty dish:

http://youtu.be/kXEV3nLvIcg

You could do a lot worse than telling your kids that eating natural whole foods gives them special powers. In the end, this kind of tactic can help them develop a healthful eating habit that will do them a lot of good for many years to come.

References

Wansink, Brian. 2006. Mindless eating: why we eat more than we think. New York: Bantam Books.

How to Cook Healthy Food For Kids : The Quest For the Holy Grain - Mushroom Quinoa Risotto

Lately, I've been on a quest to add new whole grains into the Ko family diet. Like many contemporary Americans, whole grains have not historically been part of my diet. Growing up in an Asian household, the primary grain in my diet was white rice. And while brown rice is a whole grain, switching from white rice to brown rice isn't particularly helpful because the glycemic index of brown rice is nearly just as high as that of white rice.

That is why I am always on the lookout for possible substitutions for rice. Cauliflower rice is one example of a healthy substitution for rice. Another healthy rice substitution is quinoa. Quinoa is an edible seed that is considered a pseudograin, as it is not a member of the true grass family.

I have previously featured quinoa as a substitute for other grains in sweet breakfast dishes like coconut cranberry quinoa and peanut butter and fruit quinoa.  One of my most popular posts features quinoa in a savory vegan chili, courtesy of chef Kristen Leidelmeijer.

In my search for recipes that use quinoa as a substitute for rice, I came across this tasty recipe for mushroom quinoa risotto. Traditionally, risotto is made from rice. Hot stock added in small increments softens the rice and adds flavor. Cooking quinoa in a similar fashion to traditional risotto, enhanced with the umami of mushrooms, results in a fluffy quinoa very similar to fluffy rice. I feature this dish in the first of a three part series entitled, "Monty Python and the Wholly Grain."

http://youtu.be/P4XNgD90XuM

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risotto

How to Cook Healthy Food For Kids : Homemade Chipotle Burrito With Grain Free Coconut Tortilla

 

We recently took the kids to Chipotle, and let me tell you, they ate it up! They enjoyed the whole Chipotle experience, from tender braised beef, to whole corn, to starchy black beans. They also liked the visual journey of building their own burritos. It was a rare instance where they actually stood patiently in line.  

Other restaurants are copying the Chipotle model of having patrons build their customized meals in a line. One of my favorite restaurants is Cava Mezze. Cava is a greek inspired restaurant where you build a delicious salad based on a selection of leafy green vegetables, dips, and braised meats.

You can apply the Chipotle model to your home. Just line up the ingredients and put the kids to work! They'll enjoy seeing what goes into their food and being part of the decision-making process of building their own meal. Get creative with your ingredients and choose foods with different colors and textures. Try making your own green sauce by pureeing kale with sesame dressing and olive oil.  You an make your own homemade barbacoa and use lean stewing beef.  Have your kids accessorize their burrito with sour cream, mexican cheese mix, salsa, cuban black beans, or cilantro lime rice.  And instead of a corn or wheat based tortilla, try wrapping things up with a grain free tortilla made out of coconut flour.

http://youtu.be/itF_kTrDa9A

How to Cook Healthy Food For Kids : Lower Their Glycemic Index With Pickled Carrot Sticks

 

The other day, we went to a fascinating exhibit called, "Food: Our Global Kitchen" at the National Geographic Museum in D.C.  Not only did we take a journey through the history and culture of food, but we learned about food systems, food transport, and food engineering.  In an effort to feed the hungry, farmers and scientists have mass produced wheat and corn, increased crop yields, and selectively increased the size and sweetness of our food.  For instance, instead of eating wild watermelons that are small and bitter, "...breeders gradually turned watermelons into huge balls of sugar and water."

Although sweeter and bigger may seem better, neither are necessarily healthier.  What happens when you take a melon that is high in glycemic index, make it sweeter and bigger, and then feed it to an overfed population? 

If you have been following my blog, you know that I consider foods low in glycemic index as healthy and those high in glycemic index as unhealthy.  Even foods that are considered healthy, such as carrots, can be made unhealthy by what you do to them.  For instance, the glycemic index of a raw carrot is 16 while that of a boiled carrot is 49.  Understanding how foods change through cooking and processing becomes ever more important in a food environment where foods are genetically engineered or bred to be ever sweeter and ever bigger. 

You can lower the glycemic index of the foods you serve your kids by:

1. Sticking to whole, unprocessed foods.
2. Keeping fiber intact.
3. Serving starchy vegetables in raw form.
4. Adding acid through fermentation.

These principles are particularly important for foods that are generally high in glycemic index such as grains and starchy root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, parsnips, beets, and corn.  Try this recipe for dilly carrots, which uses all of the above principles to lower glycemic index.  Your kids will love this crunchy, sweet, sour, and healthy snack!

http://youtu.be/uOPOAVa45uw

References

Foster-Powell K et a.  International table of glycemic index and glycemic load values: 2002.  Am J Clin Nutr.  2002.

Liljeberg HGM & Bjorck IME. Delayed gastric emptying rate as a potential mechanism for lowered glycemia after eating sourdough bread: studies in humans and rats using test products with added organic acids or an organic salt. Am J Clin Nutr 1996;64:886-93.

How to Get Healthy - Tell Your Story

Whether you are trying to lose weight, get healthy, or serve as a role model for your kids, it's important to tell your story. Your story can inspire others to face their own challenge. However, sharing your story is also personally meaningful.

Keeping a food journal has been demonstrated to be a useful tool towards adopting a healthy lifestyle. Not only does it help you keep track of your food choices and hold yourself accountable, it also serves as your personal memoir. Over time, a collection of meals becomes a rich story about change, growth, and personal betterment.

Last year, I decided to do a spoof on the Oscars by throwing myself an imaginary award ceremony I entitled, "The OsKos". This year, as the Oscars approached, I wondered if I should put together another OsKos. In the end, I decided it would be personally meaningful for me to do so. Like compiling a year's worth of random photos into a photo album, the OsKos is my way of reflecting on my blogging and vlogging experience over the past year.

Producing weekly cooking videos has been my way of making a commitment to cook healthy for my kids. As an added bonus, my videos record my children's lives for posterity. Setting a goal to cook and write about one healthy meal per week has been both a goal and a reward. While the goal itself has been an external motivator to hold myself accountable, I have found the experience of achieving that goal to be personally rewarding and fulfilling.

I have learned so much about food, cooking, and health. I have applied those lessons towards personal and professional betterment. Along the way, I have also learned the value of sharing my experience with others. Thanks for tuning in and being part of my story!  Without further ado, on with the OsKos!

http://youtu.be/ec31YeRzSKM

How to Cook Healthy Food For Kids : Why I Love My Instant Pot

Roses are red. 

Violets are blue. 

Let me count the ways, 

that I love you.

You a wonderful slow cooker,

that takes the work out of cooking.

You have a shiny exterior,

which makes you good looking.

Slow cooker, pressure cooker, and steamer

all in one,

your multi-function capability 

makes cooking so fun.  

Just press your button

and I'm out the door. 

You even have a timer, 

which I absolutely adore!

When I come home from work, 

a meal is waiting for me. 

Cooked to perfection, 

and oh so tasty!

Stews, braises

soups galore!

Try making this pinto bean dish. 

What are you waiting for?

Happy Valentines Day!  Check out this romantic short film of a man who falls in love with his own instant pot: http://youtu.be/Q0JMebo0xEQ

How to Cook Healthy Food for Kids : Substitute Jicama Fries for Potato Fries

In The Third Plate: Field Notes on a New Cuisine, Dan Barber argues good food arises from good farming practices. A James Beard award-winning chef, Barber practices what he preaches by serving up delicious food at his restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns. The food at his restaurant is sourced from local farms in the Hudson Valley as well as his own farm, the Stone Barns Center. Moving beyond the farm to table movement, Barber promotes whole farm cooking, where cuisine is developed from what the landscape provides. For instance, he offers a seasonal dish called, "Rotation Risotto", which features whole grains, legumes, and a puree of brassicas instead of rice.

Barber laments the industrialization of our food, which converted the diverse land of the midwest into a grain producing machine. He notes that more than 80% of American farmland is in grain production—corn, wheat, and rice, mostly. In contrast, vegetables and fruits occupy just 8% of our farmland. Corn sweeteners and wheat are the primary sources of grain in the American diet, with the average American consuming 130 pounds of wheat per year.

Not only is the great majority of farmland in America devoted to just a few grain crops, the industrialization of our food has led to a homogenization of our food. Early domestication of wheat yielded diversity of flavor and species. Then, Norman Borlaug, a scientist working for DuPont, discovered that adding fertilizer to wheat production tripled growth. However, growth was too rapid and the variety of wheat he was cultivating rotted. Borlaug then used samples of a short-straw wheat from Japan and began growing new semidwarf crosses which grew rapidly and thrived. By 1963, ninety-five percent of the wheat grown in Mexico was of the semidwarf variety, which now dominates U.S. farmland as well. Not only did semidwarf wheat increase yields, but the harder wheat was also better suited for processing by steel roller mills, which enabled mass production of highly refined flour.

Wheat isn't the only example of monoculture in our food supply. Food industrialization also homogenized the potato industry. An article in The Modern Farmer notes, "In the early 1900s, the Russet Burbank was just one of thousands of different types of potatoes grown in the U.S. By the late 1980s this single variety made up the vast majority of U.S.-grown potatoes and is still the most familiar potato in the country today. Why? Well, it’s an all-purpose potato that holds up all right—though by no means ideally—whether baked, boiled, or mashed. But its most common and popular form is also the main reason for its rise to dominance: the McDonald’s French fry."

While some may argue industrialized food feeds the masses cheaply, it comes at a significant cost. Industrialized food lacks diversity. The loss of food diversity reduces flavor variety. Humans are designed to seek out a variety of foods and flavors.  From an evolutionary standpoint, eating a variety of different foods in the wild ensured all vitamins and minerals would be accounted for. By moving towards a food system that supports monocultures, we run the risk of developing micronutrient deficiencies.

One way you can combat food homogenization is to diversify.  Introduce a variety of colorful vegetables into your child's diet and constantly expose them to new types of foods.  For instance, instead of the same old french fry made from Russet potatoes, diversify with spicy spiralized shoe string jicama fries.  Jicama, also known as the Mexican turnip, is a tuberous root whose crispy white interior resembles that of a pear.  Unlike other root vegetables which are typically starchy, jiicama is low in carbohydrate density and glycemic index. Incidentally, I found these jicama fries to live up to their spicy name.  I recommend cutting the chili powder and cayenne pepper down to 1/4 teaspoon for the kids. These jicama fries are a great way to get away from the monotony of our industrialized food system, as I demonstrate in the following video:

http://youtu.be/xsaYsvIGuYE

References

Barber, D. (2014). The third plate: Field notes on a new cuisine.