Back to School Cooking with Valeska Voiges, The Food Healer and Farm Cart Organics

Kale Chips

An oldie and maybe you are over Kale chips, but maybe it is also the answer to getting your kids to eat their leafy greens.  Make it fun and have them help you make this crispy snack. 

You need 1 bunch of kale, 1-2 tablespoons melted coconut oil, 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast.

- Preheat the oven to 300F

- Remove the stems from kale (I save the stems for veggie broth)

- Now wash and dry the kale, you can use a salad spinner to make sure the kale is very dry, so the chips become crispy

- Tear the leaves into pieces and place in a bowl (make sure you keep the pieces rather big as the kale will shrink)

- Add 1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil and massage the kale, so it’s evenly coated, be careful not to over oil the kale, just a light coat

- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and spread out the kale evenly, make sure not to overcrowd the pan.

- Sprinkle with the nutritional yeast

-Bake at 300F for 15 minutes and gently toss the kale around so it will evenly dry out, place back into the oven and bake another 15min

- Pull out of the oven and let cool before serving

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Have you ever noticed at a party how Kiddos love to dip? Kids will even eat more vegetables If they can dip them into a yummy dip or fruit into nut butters. 

Eating healthy food should be fun and not a chore. Try having your kid help wash and cut up the veggies and even make this super easy roasted pepper hummus with their help! I can get my daughter to try anything if she was involved in the process and yes, it will be messier that way, but maybe you will have a veggie eating child in the process.

- 2 red bell peppers, cleaned and cup into strips

- 2 cups cooked garbanzo beans or 1 can (drained)

- 2 garlic cloves (peeled)

- Juice of 1/2 lemon

- 1 tablespoon tahini

- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika seasoning + 1 pinch salt

- A handful of roasted pumpkin seeds

- Avocado or olive oil for roasting the peppers

Veggies for dipping

- Preheat the oven to 425F

- Place the red pepper strips on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with some oil and toss till coated.

- Roast for 20 min. add the peppers and the hummus ingredients into a food processor and blend till smooth.

- Pour the hummus into a serving bowl, sprinkle with a handful of roasted pumpkin seeds and drizzle with olive oil if you'd like.

Fruit kabobs + Watermelon Stars

Choose a fruit that you can thread onto the kabob. I used a cookie cutter to make the watermelon look more fun. Other great fruits for threading are strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, raspberries, and orange slices.

I love asking my daughter to help me in the kitchen, she gets so excited! Since we are all cooking so much at home these days, we should take it as a moment in time to teach our kids that cooking at home is easy and can be so much fun. Eating fruits and vegetables should be food that they don’t have to eat. I hear often people say “if you eat your veggies you get x” that sends the message of veggies and fruit being bad!

So let’s change that and have the kids have great memories with you getting their fingers dirty while preparing them.

Peanut Butter and Strawberries

Who really needs the strawberry jam if we have fresh strawberries?

Spread the peanut butter (or almond butter) over the bread and top with sliced strawberries.

Feel free to drizzle with honey!

Strawberry + Cucumber Smoothie

Nothing better then making a smoothie on a hot summer day, especially if mama lets you help.

All you need is:
1 frozen banana
7 strawberries
1 cup oat milk (or milk or your choice)
1 tablespoon almond butter
1/3 of a cleaned cucumber (Feel free to peel it if you think)

Add all ingredients into a blender and blend till smooth. This smoothie is very refreshing and also hydrating due to the water rich cucumber and strawberries.
Your kiddos will love it.

Enjoy!