Bring Adventure to Your Dinner Table

How adventurous is your family when trying new foods? Grocery stores contain over 30,000 different items. Yet for most people, the same 8 or 10 items make up the majority of their purchases when they shop. Branching out not only makes meals more exciting and tasty, it also help you get the variety of nutrients your family needs for good health.

Try these ideas to bring new foods and fun to your table:

• Take the kids on a supermarket safari. Have each pick a fruit or a vegetable you all have never eaten before – try all of the colors: purple potatoes, orange mango, green kale, red pomegranate, yellow butternut squash, white jicama
• Have a party that is an International Potluck- each family brings a dish from a different culture. Try Middle Eastern tabbouleh salad, Asian stir fry, Mexican posole stew, Italian potato gnocci, Jamaican jerk chicken, German potato pancakes, Indian curry rice
• Cook with a different type of pasta – whether it be a new shape like fusilli, or a pasta made from brown rice or buckwheat
• Try a new recipe once a week
• Use the alphabet as a guide to try new foods, from A – Z: arugala to ziti
• Plant a new food in your summer garden – Swiss Chard, yellow tomatoes, golden beets, sugar snap peas
• Tweak a favorite recipe – add frozen spinach to spaghetti sauce, cook wild rice instead of white rice, shred carrots and cucumbers on to sandwiches, top a salad with walnuts, stir in legumes to homemade soup