A heaping plate of white food makes me so sad. Mac and cheese with french fries. A bagel and cream cheese. Pasta with butter and parmigiano cheese. Pierogies with sour cream (my husband’s go-to dish for the kiddos when I’m gone).  Bring on the red, orange, yellow, blue and even green to brighten up your kids plate and palate.

Since my lovely children came into this world and started weaning off the boob juice, I’ve been on a mission to introduce them to a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, proteins and whole grains. When my daughter says, “more quinoa please” or “can I have an avocado and toast sandwich for lunch?” I feel like a SUPERMOM….which is a rare and treasured moment. It’s been a long road, but I can finally say my kids are “good eaters.” By good eaters I mean they eat 5 colors almost every day.

Today I had an appointment with my nutritionist Willow Jarosh from C&J Nutrition. She keeps me healthy, happy and balanced. Today Willow had a present for me, something she snagged from Healthy Kids Concepts. It was a check list for my 4 year old (click on the link below for a printable copy)

EAT 5 COLORS A DAY CHECKLIST

True to her nature, Joslin took the task of eating 5 colors a day very seriously. We started the morning with a parfait layered with banana, blueberries, yogurt and granola….YELLOW and BLUE…Check! Check! She insisted on bringing her checklist to camp, gobbled up her strawberries mixed with mint and drizzled with honey (I totally stole this from Melissa Lanz of Fresh 20). RED and GREEN…Check! Check! Dinner was breaded and baked chicken with a quinoa and broccoli “risotto”. Extra credit GREEN check! It was time for dessert and what did my little overachiever ask for? An orange. Unfortunately we didn’t have any…so she got a double chocolate chip cookie instead. Job well done Joslin!

I know not every child is as excited about fruits and veggies or as competitive as my eldest. My son is a perfect example. At two and a half he’s in the “I don’t wannit phase.” Turning on Sophia the First (what can I say he has a big sister) and sneaking bits of broccoli into his mouth while he’s hypnotized by pretty little girls in in pink dresses no longer works. So we’ve turned to the next best thing….smoothies. We experiment with smoothies of every color. Click on the link below to check out the recipes Willow sent me.

Smoothie Recipes

My own personal favorite is a mixture of spinach, frozen banana, pear, almond milk, honey and ice. GREEN is delish!

Have fun experimenting!

Best,

Ereka