Are you a salad person? I pretty much live for leafy greens!!! I dream up yummy flavor combinations and think of how different textures, temperatures and colors will blend together in a big ole bowl of greens!! A bowl of greens is basically my version of #selfcare in a bowl!
A notion I’ve really enjoyed sharing with our children.
Especially in the summertime!!!! The possibilities for a yummy summer salad are endless, delicious, so colorful and surprisingly kid friendly!
Think greens, chopped cucumber, + peaches + cherry tomato + pecans and a delish Tessemae salad dressing
Salad by Cortney Zieky
Or sweet greens + strawberry + pistachio + avocado + red onion
Salad by One Lovely Life
Or a crisp Butter Leaf + hazelnuts + shallots and lemon EVOO
Salad by The Food Network
Salads {and smoothies!} are a great tool for filling our bodies with protein, healthy plant phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals. AND…salads are completely customizable to your taste buds!!
Those are a few of the reasons I’m aiming to create little salad lovers out of Zander & Zia.
Maybe you are on a quest to share more salads with your children too? HOORAY!! Let’s do this!
Keep reading for FIVE Easy Steps to Raise a Salad Lover
1. Start Small
As with any new habit you have to take baby steps!! Little by little you make progress and it gets easier. You can’t persuade your child to eat a salad if they’ve never even seen one or helped you make one in the kitchen. They won’t feel connected to the notion of eating a salad. It will feel too foreign, too risky, too outside of their normal.
Step #1 is to think of the simplest salad comprised of produce items that are familiar and enjoyable in the minds of your child.
Our kids love Persian Cucumbers, Bell Peppers, Hard Boiled Eggs and Blueberries. So their first “salad” didn’t actually contain any lettuce. It was just a mixture of their favorite produce items in a bowl with sea salt [sans dressing}.
2. Invite The Kids in The Kitchen to Prep & Chop Veggies
Rebecca Dyan Photography
The more your children help you prepare salads, the more interested they will become in trying one. I love these Curious Chef knives because they actually work and slice really well…. without the worry of a chopping injury right before dinner!!
Our kids know that when we have family dinner, there will be a family salad. That’s always been our “normal”. Sometimes they ask for it and sometimes they refrain. No Biggie! It’s the visual consistency that will help them start associating a side salad with their dinner overtime. Watch before your eyes how it becomes easier to offer salads to your kids as time passes.
3. Try a Warm Salad
I have my daughter to thank for this tip!!! She doesn’t like cold food. It’s a serious problem for packed lunches on school days. Zia LOVES piping hot food, so one day I created a “warm” salad and she was enamored!! Score!!
Think roasted brussels sprouts, roasted sweet potato (w/ cinnamon), dried cranberry and some sauteed’ kale with EVOO and sea salt. Or you might simply add a fried egg on top of your child’s fav greens. It might not be a “salad” by standard definition, but it’s winning in my book.
Another warm favorite is Cauliflower Rice, Black Beans, Organic Corn, tomato and Avocado! Think Burrito Bowl :).
4. Romaine Calm!
Salad by Cortney Zieky
Add a little crisp romaine to your grocery list every week! Long before I introduced salads to our kids, I introduced romaine lettuce. Zander has been snacking on hydrating romaine stalks for years, way before he ever considered a salad.
Romaine, and Butter Leaf are amazing vessels and a great replacement for tortillas, bread, buns and the like. We use them to contain deli meat, chopped fruit + veggies, chicken sausage, hot dogs, burgers, ground meat and more! Amazing, crispy and sturdy!! We love how romaine doesn’t fall apart like a taco shell or tortilla might!!
5. Garden With Your Kids!!
Beets from our garden
Invite your kids to help you grow the veggies that eventually become your bowl of greens!! Gardening is super exciting and will naturally entice your kids to eat more salad. They will simply want to taste all of the veggies they worked so hard to grow!
I hope this post inspires you to sit down and enjoy a salad today with your kids! Let me know how it goes, I’m rooting for you!
