When I was dating my husband he used to make me dinner. And one of the salads he used to make me was his No Lettuce Salad. Cute concept, right? A salad without leafy greens, just the crunchy parts. Anyway, we haven't made it for years. So the other day when I was thinking about how to get my kids to eat more veggies, I made this salad. I was thinking that some of the veggies in it they love and some not so much. But it would offer me an opportunity to talk about these veggies and everyone can sample small bite sized pieces of each variety. Plus the salad is so colorful and pretty, it makes you want to try it.
Once I was finished with the salad, I left it sitting in my kitchen. Not realizing what a temptation I was leaving on my counter, I went upstairs to fold laundry. Can you believe I just called my salad a temptation. But it was a temptation! It is so beautiful with a wide variety of colors. When I came downstairs, they both were sitting in the family room watching TV with a bowl of vegetables in front of them. I yelled in my frantic funny mom voice, "are you kidding me? Are you two eating mommy's dinner BEFORE dinner? I cannot believe it!" They both busted out laughing and started telling me the story about how my son got the little bowls out and both of them started picking through the veggies and sticking them in their bowl. And I also hear how hungry they were. "Mommy, we are starving!" my son says to me.
I have to say I was very pleased to see them eating vegetables at 4:30. I figured they were just having their first course (veggie course) a bit early for dinner. And how perfect to have the majority of their vegetable consumed while they are "starving" for dinner. Instead of having the first thing they put in their mouth be a piece of bread, like we are served in most restaurants. We usually have dinner between 5:00 and 5:30, so in the end I didn't think of the No Lettuce Salad as a snack, but the early start of their meal.
Obviously the colorful bowl that was left within their reach was a temptation, but I also think an important key to this story is the NO SNACK rule that was put in place about one month ago. I used to give the kids a lot more snacks throughout the day. I have cut that back significantly. I used to give them a snack between breakfast and lunch. Now if they get hungry around 10:30, I give them some carrots and call it pre-lunch --- and give them their lunch at 11:00. Then since it is a longer stretch until dinner at 5:00/5:30, I give a small snack at 1:30. This makes them good and hungry for dinner. Hence at 4:30, the kids were "sneaking" some veggies off my counter. I only see a win - win in this situation.
So what is the moral of the story of The Mommy, a bunch of veggies, and her two hungry kids? Don't snack your kids until they are no longer hungry for the good food you put on the table and leave fresh attractive food within their reach. The End.
There were just a few changes I made to my husband's original recipe. I changed the dressing from a store bought dressing to my homemade dressing --- this was a healthy change. And he used to steam the broccoli until it lost it's raw texture and had a little give to it and shocked it cold to keep its pretty green color. I decided to roast my broccoli, but either way works.
Here is the recipe ---
No Lettuce Salad
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 orange pepper
some broccoli florets (steamed and cooled or roasted in oven at 400 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes)
2 -3 carrots
1 seedless cucumber
1 small zucchini
1 small red onion
some shredded cheddar cheese
Start by working with the broccoli if you want to cook it in some way. We prefer cooked broccoli to raw, but if you like raw... leave it. I placed my broccoli on a cookie sheet with salt and olive oil and roasted it in a 400 degree oven for 15 - 20 minutes. My husband used to steam it until he achieved the texture he was looking for, then he put the broccoli in the freezer to stop the cooking process and preserve the green color. Whatever works for you--do it. Then chop the rest of the vegetables into bite sized pieces and add the amount of cheese or no cheese that best fits your family. Only dress it when you are ready to serve on the amount of veggies you are going to eat, or it will get soggy in the refrigerator. The leftovers I leave in an airtight container.
Italian Vinaigrette
4 Tablespoons of red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
some chopped garlic and/or chopped shallots (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cups Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Mix vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper. Add the optional garlic and/or shallots at this point. Slowly drizzle in olive oil while continually whisking. At this point you should have a perfectly emulsified dressing. Brava!
Try leaving your No Lettuce Salad on your counter with hungry kids in the house and see what happens.
