Every year come February you’ll find my family devouring greens and citrus like lost sailors. We are priming our bodies for what we know is in store, despite the snow storms and presence of winter woolens languishing by our front door: long days with aprons full of tomatoes, rhubarb bouquets and pea forests.
For the last two months we’ve had spinach salad with dinner, every night. No joke. And sometimes for lunch. We like it plain: leaves and dressing. My kids’ favorite dressings: Annie’s Goddess and Newman’s Caesar. Lately, I’ve been inspired to shake it up and have had made a variety of salads, some good and a few great. This one is pretty great.
asparagus + brussels sprouts spring salad
coconut oil (or other cooking oil)
one yellow onion, chopped
water
one bunch asparagus, cut into one inch chunks
one pile of brussels sprouts, thinly sliced
three fistfuls of spinach
feta cheese
dressing:
two tablespoons champagne vinegar
two tablespoons olive oil
one teaspoon dried sage
juice one lemon
salt
Heat oil over medium-high heat with onion and cook for a few minutes. Reduce heat a bit. Add asparagus and 1/4 cup water. Cook for three minutes or until bright green but still firm. Add brussels sprouts. Cook for two minutes. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and put in fridge to let cool for 20 minutes. Or eat warm. It’s great warm too!
Mix up dressing with a fork in a small bowl. Toss dressing with cooled salad. Add spinach and serve immediately.
My lunch the next day. It keeps well for several days.
We ate ours (sans spinach the first time; t’was good good but spinach adds so much) with black lentils, farro (both from our grain CSA) and feta.
We also made breakfast burritos with the salad, farro and lentils: add scrambled egg and fold into a warm tortilla. Good stuff. The kids did NOT go for this.
I get asked a lot about the food our kids eat. I’ve written a bit about it in my kids and food bravery post and I have a few things to add, some tips that work well for us:
* CHOP IT UP. Large chunks of anything in a sea of same-sized particles leads to skepticism. My kids loved this salad but if the brussels sprouts had been whole it’d have been a different story. Often, I make chunky soup like, say, white bean tomato kale. Andy and I eat it like that and I break out the immersion blender for my kids. Puréed soup = kids hoovering dinner.
* USE NEW INGREDIENTS. And don’t make a big deal about it. How can we expect our kids to try a new meal at a friend’s house if they aren’t practiced at trying new foods at home? Adding new veggies or herbs into something puréed is a great way to begin. Depending on your child or their mood, you may want to slip it into dinner, disguised and then talk about it after the meal. Or, include them in preparation which will naturally increase curiosity in the food. Ruby loves leeks simply because she thinks they are beautiful. Chopping them up together made her want to eat them.
* KEEP IT EASY AND FUN. Nobody wants dinner time to be a battle. Our kids are required to try everything we make. They usually like it. Sometimes they don’t and that’s ok. We don’t make them eat it. And I try my hardest to approach the whole thing peacefully and kindly, which is not always easy with a tableside meltdown. But I do it because it is important that mealtime is about connection and nourishment. As a woman who has experienced the depths of bulimia and anorexia, I am especially sensitive to nurturing healthy food relationships for my daughters. I never want to encourage food as something to fight with or about. We make new dishes and we make lots of easy, comfortable staples too. Every dinner needn’t be an exercise in experimentation and patience. If your kid is a picky eater, know they will outgrow it with your gentle guidance and support.
* CREATE EXCITEMENT AND INVESTMENT. My kids have discovered some favorite meals that we’ve developed through experimentation and exploration in the kitchen. When they like something we name it together, cook it together. My kids are three and five and they know how to make soups, french toast, pancakes, bread. They fetch the ingredients, tell me when to add the oil, when to turn it down to a simmer. They have ownership and pride in their recipes. For example, I made a corn and zucchini chowder last summer. Margot ate it every day until it was gone. So we call it Margot’s Corn Chowder and she loves to make and share it with friends.
More recipes to come! I’ve been having loads of fun in the kitchen and am excited to post more here. What have you been cooking up? Please share your favorite recipes and links!
39 Comments
Please post the Margot’s Corn Chowder recipe! I have been dying to find a good corn chowder recipe, but haven’t found one that we love yet. And I really look forward to getting more recipes from you! 🙂
This looks delicious.
I loathe brussels sprouts, but I am beginning to suspect that is largely due to my mum overcooking vegetables. I recently tried them raw in a salad and actually liked them. I am hoping that this too might give me a new opinion of them.
I love your food posts, Nici – on here and Bug’s lunches on Instagram. Our thoughts on food and eating sound very similar. My boys also love to be in the kitchen with me, the garden too. As you know, both help tremendously in developing their own love of food. Currently, I’m loving River Cottage Every Day and Good to the Grain for recipes that are just outside of our norm. Current favorite dinner: whatever’s in the fridge frittata and salad. x, Katie
Bug’s lunch on Instagram is so cool! I’ve been pleasantly surprised how much my son loves to cook too.
I love Good to the Grain! It has the best whole wheat chocolate cookies I have ever tasted.
One thing I know my kids (2 1/2 & 4) will always eat is fried rice. I can use up any veggies I have – or use frozen. I saute onion, scramble eggs in for protein, season with soy sauce and sesame oil. It’s so tasty and easy.
Nici – I love your posts but this one has especially struck a chord with me! We recently battled it out at dinner with Leah and I hate the idea of for in new foods on her. We’re trying to take a gentler approach and I know we’ll get our once-all loving of veggies girl back to us!
Favourite recipe right now: cherry tomatoes and zucchini sautéed in a bit of olive oil, topped with feta and cracked black pepper. So simple and pairs well with any meat but can also stand alone!
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it as there are a few ingredients there I’m not naturally drawn to but would love to try. I hope you don’t mind if I point out however that anyone breastfeeding should avoid the sage as it will only aide in drying up your milk.
This space has such a freshness about it when alot of blogs get boring and all the same as each other, you have something unique I just wanna keep coming back to. Thank you.
Sounds like a perfect dinner tomorrow. Love your writing! So inspirational as a budding Missoula mama & blogger. Xo
That all looks so good! I’m going to make that salad this week.
So many good points here. I agree with the letting kids name the food thing. Our son’s favourite is “Mount Everest” – a big pile of brown rice and mexican-type salad ingredients. And I’ve found that pureeing chunky soups makes a world of difference to them.
Favourite new thing we’ve made here recently? Green vegetables (kale, broccoli, peas, peppers) cooked lightly in a small amount of broth over quinoa with either sweet thai chili sauce (son’s favourite), soy sauce (daughter’s favourite) or ginger wasabi sauce (adults’ favourite) on top.
Also, we made this thai soup on the weekend and it was amazing:
http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaisnacks/r/chickenlemongrassnoodlesoup.htm
Thanks for another great post!
I love your approach to food and your kids. Before I had my own children I worked in a nursery for a summer. I was amazed that all the children were eating their food. I asked one of the nursery assistants like ‘what the heck?’ She said that they never made an issue of food. If the children don’t want it they say okay and take it away. There was no other option to eat but each meal is thoughtfully prepared with a variety of things. A few meals of refusing most kids are hungry and realize they get no attention for refusing and tuck in. They said so many of the parents were like ‘how come they eat for you and not at home!’. I thought Im so doing that when I have kids.
Both my boys eat really well. We make meal times an event. Sometime they help cook (most times), we set the table, we talk. I get a few raised eyebrows at other people houses if we say okay when they don’t want to eat. But I feel it works for us. Sometimes they don’t like things, I leave it for a while and introduce it again. Like you say chopping things up small makes a big difference.
My husband is the one who mainly cooks (he is a genius in the kitchen) so i’ve shyed away from cooking. But actually I enjoy it and am started to do it more. I look forward to more recipes from you xxxx
I think I will be trying your recipe this week!
On my salads I especially love craisins, nuts and nutritional yeast. I put nutritional yeast on just about everything. It is extra wonderful on homemade popcorn. Put some oil in a pot, popcorn kernels, keep them moving a bit so they don’t burn. Have them pop light and fluffy, put a little butter on them if you want, salt and then sprinkly nutritional yeast (either flakes or buds–I find less waste with buds) all over the popcorn. So yummy. Kids seem to love this snack too.
We are such fans of nutritional yeast on popcorn! My friend called it lesbian popcorn years ago and it stuck. 🙂
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Haha!
I so needed this post right now. My son is almost 8 and was such an awesome eater for so many years but lately I’ve been getting a ton of push back and we’re at the point where one of us leaves the table frustrated more often than not. Thank you for the gentle reminder that helping him become a healthy eater is hard when we’re constantly arguing about food.
Can’t wait until asparagus is ready around here to try this one!
I always love your food posts.
My three year old is hilarious when it comes to eating. Hilarious also means terribly frustrating some days. Last summer she ate the spinach leaves out of the garden raw with nothing on them, straight up. Now, she claims she doesnt like spinach. We have found that if we just ignore the claims, and don’t pay any of it any attention, she will eat everything. the less of a big deal we make, the more she eats.
Also, I think you may have mentioned posting a pizza crust recipe… maybe I missed it? Or maybe you haven’t yet? Just curious, I’m always on the hunt for a recipe that takes less time than mine…. while very delicious, it takes FOREVER. thanks!
Will make your Brussels Sprout Spring Salad this Sunday!
We crave this dish and have it at least once a week…so simple!
Cucumber cut into ½ inch chunks
Celery sliced diagonally 1 inch pieces
Campari tomatoes cut in various sized wedges
Red onion sliced thin rings
Toss together with small amount of Good Seasons Italian Dressing, just enough to coat
Fresh ground salt & pepper
Toss with a small amount of Greek Yogurt, I use Fage brand
Serve immediately so veggies stay crisp
Bon Appétit
ps….I hope this does not post 3 times….xo
Yum! Thanks, mama. Sorry you were being blocked you spammy spammer. x
Love this post! I’ve been reading a book about Ayurveda (Perfect Health for Kids by John Douillard) and it talks about eating seasonally and the benefits of some green vegetables like asparagus and Brussels sprouts on our bodies during the spring. My girls (ages 2 and 4) love both so we eat them a lot around here. I’m excited to give this recipe a try! Now if only I could get them to grow better in our garden… trying again this spring.
I don’t think I’ll ever grow brussels or cilantro ever again! I’ve failed so many times I just can’t bare another loss. Good for you for keeping on it. Apparently someone somewhere does a good job. I marvel every time I buy those items. I’d change $20/pound if I got a crop.
Yum! I am making this salad tonight! We are having a week of salads at our house to reset after some not so great eating lately. This sounds so good.
I’m about to look into the grain CSA too. We participate in both a meat & produce CSA & always say we wish we had access to grains. Hopefully they ship to MO!
Thank you too for the practical advice on getting children to be brave with food. My little one is 6 months old so we are just starting to dip our toes in that water.
Hey…is there a mustache on your phone? 🙂
Lips! Our phone has painted lips. 🙂
Totally made this for dinner tonight.
And? Did you try it with a bean martini? I forgot to mention that is VERY important. Imagining the tipping of the planet idea you mentioned. 🙂
I just made this for the 2nd time. Because I’m hard-core like that.
Oh, the Blue Willow plates! My mom adored this china and growing up it was always our “special meal” plates. I love that you are using them as your everyday plates!
I always love your take on food and eating with your kids. I too have struggled with eating disorders through my life and am determined to make food a positive adventure in my girls’ lives. My two-year old loves to cook with me and we have so much fun in the kitchen, and of course she always loves when she gets to eat what she makes. So proud. Thanks for the great recipe and I hope to try it soon!
This is great! I’ve been giving some talks lately for parents and teachers on “teaching your kids to love healthy foods”, and I think that the patience part of it is the hardest. (I know that’s the part my husband struggles with the most). My 6 year old is in a picky stage, but he will eat spinach salad like it’s going out of style. My favorite thing to repeat at mealtime to avoid battles is “the next meal’s breakfast”. All 3 of my kids (they’re 8, 6, and 3) help me cook, pick out ingredients, harvest from the garden, etc. My 8 year old made scrambled eggs and toast for all 3 of them one morning last week (and made me coffee!). I think it’s so important to teach them those food skills early! I wrote a cookbook last year with healthy recipes for kids’ snacks, and my kids use it like a catalog, picking out which recipe they want to prepare to bring for classroom snacks or for parties.
These are such great tips! The recipe looks amazing, too- I love brussel sprouts when other people have made them, but I’ve never succeeded with them at home- I think this is the ticket! I’ve been doing some talks for parents and teachers about “teaching your kids to love healthy foods”, and I think the hardest thing for people to learn is to be patient. They give up and make something kid-appealing, or they think it’s a failure if a kid doesn’t try something and love it the first time they see it. My 3 kids are 8, 6, and 3, and they help with all aspects of food prep- gardening, harvesting, choosing ingredients, and cooking. My 8 year old made scrambled eggs and toast (and coffee for me!) for breakfast for everyone the other day. It’s so important for kids to learn those food prep skills early!
I love this and can’t wait to make it, though the women of the house are the only brussels sprouts eaters.
Avi has been through a super long (at least long feeling, anyway), picky eating phase. I keep hoping and praying it will pass. Part of the push to get the vitamix was that I imagined blending tons of veggies for him to drink, but then he sees me making it, or we make it together and he’s all “ewwwwww” while Lilit exclaims, “this is dee-wish-ous, isn’t it?” with a green mustache.
I truly believe it will pass but it’s good to hear some more ideas about how to try. He jokes that his BFF from school loves kale and then adds, “but i hate kale!” even though he totally ate it all the time just a few months ago.
Can’t quite believe we are going to have another one in the fall!!
Your writing is so lovely–always, but especially lately! xo
I just devoured 2 bowls of this recipe. I am so in love. Who knew brussel sprouts could be so good?! (obviously NOT me) I’ve tried them before but just never found something I could fall head over heels for. This, though, is IT. And so healthy and hearty. Thanks for posting the recipe. Please post more and more and more!
Oh yay! I love hearing from people who try my recipes and love them! Thanks for the comment. xo, Nici
Tried this last night! It was so good! My MIL and I couldn’t stop eating it! Thanks for a great recipe. Can’t wait to try it again when the goods are in season…
Looks amazing! Can’t wait to try the recipe. Just recently started following your blog and it’s so inspiring- we have so many of the same interests and our home lives look very similar but that doesn’t mean I don’t find encouragement and inspiration from another woman with the same values and priorities. Blessings to you and yours this week. xo
Can not wait to try this salad, looks so delicious! I also now make my own yogurt…thanks to you:) Ok,I have an easy and addictive salad recipe to share:
Mash 1/2- 1 whole avocado in the bottom of a lg bowl
add 1 smashed clove of garlic (more if you like to stink like me)
a good squeeze of lemon juice
salt
mash together till smooth (adjust amounts of avocado,etc. to amount of kale that you use)
add fresh kale, mix well until coated and voila! Your girls could make this it’s so simple. My kiddos love it and ask for it every night…seriously.
Thank you for all of your recipes and please keep them comin’!!
I absolutely loved this salad. So much that I am willingly sharing it with everyone I know- shouting from the rooftops I guess you could say. I didn’t make the dressing as I was missing some ingredients but I just used a Greek feta vinaigrette w freshly squeezed lemon. It was seriously awesome. Keep em coming!
🙂
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