Tag: rainbow dinner

Rainbow Dinner – Challenge #6

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Purple, yellow and green. The 6th week of Rainbow Dinner and new foods are still being introduced.

What is Rainbow Dinner? Every Monday I cook a meal that has three colors from the rainbow that my daughter chooses for me. The goal? Introduce new foods to my five-year old in the hope that she will start enjoying some new foods.

I knew I had to fly out early Tuesday morning for a business trip so this needed to be an easier dinner. Yellow and green were easy but I didn’t want to repeat a rainbow food. I decided on yellow squash and green zucchini and used a gadget in my kitchen to make them into “pasta”. Now to purple. I googled, I searched Pinterest, I asked the employees at Central Market. Japanese eggplant. Purple on the outside, leave the skin on and we should be good.

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But what can I do with all the veggies? Buy dough and make pizza!!!!

I quickly sautéed the veggies in olive oil and garlic, stretched the dough(wasn’t so good at this) and decorated the pizza with my sauce cheese and rainbow veggies.

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She loved the pizza (which I knew she would) but she ate it with the green and yellow “spaghetti” veggies. She tried the eggplant but was not a fan. My husband said everything was great but the crust. I guess I’ll keep my day job selling software rather than making pizzas!!!

 

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Rainbow Dinner – Challenge #5

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In our house, Monday night is Rainbow dinner.  It started out of frustration since my daughter would not try new foods.  I never thought we would actually make it more than a month of these crazy meals but here we are!

The challenge?  Cook a meal with three colors of the rainbow that my five-year old daughter chooses. She gets one food choice that I cannot cook with.
The Goal?  Get her to try new foods regardless of the outcome.  This week the colors are red, white and blue.

Check out Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4!

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I figured I would be bold with a new food that most people don’t enjoy.  My red choice was beets.  I already knew my husband would not eat them so I just needed a small amount for me and my daughter.  She would get one bite, I would have the rest.  I found a recipe on Pinterest for Glazed Beets with a brown sugar and orange juice glaze.  (If she likes these, I will be shocked.)

White gave me lots of options so I decided to make one of my favorites – Homemade coleslaw with cashews.  Make my own dressing, add some chopped cashew and lightly dress the angel hair cabbage.  I knew she enjoyed this and now I could serve it with salmon(let’s see if salmon is still on the “I like” list).  

Blue. I still have trouble with blue.  Blueberries, blue potatoes, what else is blue?  I decided to serve something I know she likes but take advantage (again) of food coloring. She would have to taste it to see if it was really mashed potatoes or some other vegetable.

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Blue Mashed Potatoes, Red Beets, and White Coleslaw

It was a good night! She loved the salmon, loved the coleslaw, of course enjoyed the blue mashed potatoes, and after much convincing, tried the beets.  She had one bite, Dad had none and I ate quite a few.  Another success with trying a new food and still enjoying one from week three!  She said she would tell me colors for next week when I pick her up from school today – I think it’s time I ask a chef friend for some help!

Rainbow Dinner – Challenge #4

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The fourth week of Rainbow Dinner and one of the most successful.

The challenge?  Cook a meal with three colors of the rainbow that my five-year old daughter chooses. She gets one food choice that I cannot cook with.
The Goal?  Get her to try new foods regardless of the outcome.  This week the colors are pink, red and white. 

Week One was pink, purple and blue.  
Week Two was red, yellow and orange.
Week Three was green, black and white.

This week I wanted to make something that my husband and I would enjoy and make sure that I re-introduced a food back into our dining experience.  A pink food.  SHRIMP.  I love shrimp.  My husband loves shrimp.  My daughter tried it once, hated it and never tried it again.  This week she said I could not cook with red peppers (a red food) so I figured shrimp was fair game.  

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I started out with an old favorite of mine for red – tomatoes roasted in the oven with garlic, basil, oregano and olive oil.  20 minutes- DONE.  And you can smash the tomatoes to use as a light sauce.  

Next, I needed white.  Cauliflower.  She loved the purple cauliflower so let’s use the same vegetable and change the texture.  Steam the cauliflower, mash it up, add some cream, butter, garlic and salt and pepper, grab the immersion blender and a delicious Cauliflower Puree is ready to go. 

And then my favorite, Shrimp.   Light sprinkle of my new favorite spice mix- Kent Rathbun Steak and Chop Salt and then saute.   

imageFor my husband and I, the plate looked a bit fancier as I took advantage of the wonderful flavors from the tomatoes to use as a light sauce.  As for my daughter, I tried to keep the foods as separated as possible.  I even made a butterfly out of the cauliflower. But, once she saw the shrimp, she immediately said “I’m not eating that“.  Sound familiar??  But, quick thinking led me to the ketchup bottle(sadly excluding the horseradish) and amazingly enough, she asked for seconds.  What, she wanted more shrimp?  Five whole shrimp (completely covered in ketchup) eaten by my five year old … Mission Accomplished!!!

Rainbow Dinner- Challenge #3

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The third week of Rainbow Dinner. Green, black and white….thinking this is going to be easy. The challenge?  Cook a meal with three colors that my five-year old daughter chooses. She gets one food choice that I cannot cook with. The Goal?  Get her to try new foods regardless of the outcome.  This week the colors are white, black and green.  Check out challenges one and two to see how I did!

White– chicken, potatoes, rice, cheese, so many choices.  I can play this one safe.  
Green – numerous options, just walk into the food store and choose from broccoli, green beans, asparagus, wait– Brussels sprouts. One of my favorites – she has never had brussel sprouts.  I can always eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
Black– the one thing that comes to mind is squid ink pasta – now I am getting a bit crazy.  Black beans. Much easier, and since we live in Texas, they are always available at any Mexican restaurant if she likes them.

The plan – create a rainbow out of white rice and black beans. Use the Brussels sprouts as clouds. Cut the chicken in the shape of a “B” for her name.  If nothing else, she will think it is pretty!

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The results: A huge smile when she saw the plate.  She loved the chicken, loved the rice, no luck with the black beans or the Brussels sprouts. BUT she tried both of them which makes this dinner a success.

I wonder what colors she is going to pick next week – I bet we are back to pink. Suggestions???