There is something so special about eating fresh and making mealtimes a daily family gathering. I’ve found that cooking fresh is definitely nourishing, but when I’m able to cook with my family or friends, it brings out an ample dose of love and creativity that enriches our relationship on a much deeper level. And then when we sit down to share our bounty, there’s a comfort in the ritual of breaking bread while sharing the highlights of every one’s day, world events and whatever else is on our minds.
That’s why, this week we’re excited to share a post + recipe by Chef Hollie Greene, the Founder & CEO of JoyFoodly®. Chef Hollie is passionate about helping parents feel good about the food they feed their kids, and helping families celebrate the JOY of mealtime together….what could be better than more families taking the time to cook and eat fresh TOGETHER!
Best of all, Chef Hollie is giving away a few memberships to her Joyful 12™ Online Kitchen Learning Lab….more details at the bottom! So without further ado, here’s Chef Hollie Greene…
Exploring Seasonal Veggies with the Joyful 12™ by Chef Hollie Greene
Helping families discover new ways to love a familiar vegetable is one of my greatest joys. Take carrots for example. Beyond the crunchy orange carrot we all love snacking on is a whole world of rainbow colored carrots, spices, and methods to cook carrots that most kids and adults never explore.
One of the first realizations I had while teaching kids to love eating seasonal produce is that children are natural explorers. Even the smallest discoveries, like cutting into a purple carrot and seeing its sunny yellow interior, help them experience new foods in positive incremental steps by using all of their senses while cooking. After teaching thousands of children across the country, I built an online cooking lab called the Joyful 12™ that helps parents explore twelve new vegetables and fruits with their children each season. With 144 gluten free and allergen friendly recipes, over 50 skill building videos, and tips for every recipe, my program helps parents grow healthy kids one butternut squash, pomegranate, and cauliflower bite at a time.
With each vegetable and fruit, I give families an easy, medium, and adventurous recipe to explore. One of my fall favorites is my “easy” Orange and Chili Roasted Rainbow of Carrots with a Sunshine Dipping Sauce. This simple yet flavorful preparation is chock full of fun. I hope you’ll relish this new way of enjoying carrots with your family, and I look forward to seeing you in my Joyful 12™ program this season!
Get your kids to love Orange and Chili Roasted Rainbow of Carrots with a Sunshine Dipping Sauce
| Yum it up (actions and vocabulary) | Wow! Our carrots are purple, orange, and yellow? How come? Teach your kids about varieties within each produce group. It’s fun to see how many varieties you can eat. The purple ones even have a surprise yellow center. |
| Be a Food Explorer | What’s the story on carrots? They’ve been prized for 5,000 years! The purple variety, not the orange one we love today, was the first to be recorded in 900 ad in Middle Asia. |
| Taste More, Talk Less | Carrots are root vegetables that grow underground. What other types of veggies grow underground? Can you eat the tops? Yep. What do they taste like? Try one! |
- carrots, multicolored, medium to large, 6
- orange, 1 small
- olive oil, 1 TBS
- salt, ½ tsp
- chili powder, ¼ tsp
- chili powder, ½ tsp
- salt, ¼ tsp
- lime, ½
- sour cream (or plain yogurt), ½ cup
- Take 5 minutes to get out all your ingredients, measuring and cooking equipment needed, and place them on a cookie sheet within easy reach.
- Wash all produce.
- Preheat oven to 425F.
- Peel carrots. Note: if buying organic, you can skip peeling them. Just be sure to wash them well!
- For each carrot, first cut it into two whole pieces. Then cut these into halves lengthwise. If your carrot is really thick, cut those into quarters. Try to cut all the carrot sticks into equal sizes.
- Toss carrots in a bowl with olive oil, salt, and chili powder.
- Slice the orange in rounds or into half moon slices.
- On a parchment lined baking sheet, lay out carrots evenly, so they have some space between them. Top the carrots with slices of the orange on top.
- Roast carrots for 15 minutes at 425F. Note: we are not trying to cook them all the way through, just brown them a little and allow the oranges to roast and infuse some flavor. Most kids and adults do not care for cooked carrots, so the texture still needs to be crunchy not soft.
- While the carrots are roasting, make the dipping sauce. Combine the zest and juice of ½ lime, chili powder, salt, and sour cream in a small bowl. When the carrots are finished roasting, use 2-3 of the orange slices or wedges and squeeze the juice into your sauce. Just be careful, as the oranges and their juice will be warm.
- Serve carrots as a snack or fun side dish. Be sure to dip them in the sunshine sauce!
GIVEAWAY
So, this week we’re excited that Chef Hollie is offering our readers 3 lifetime membership to Joyful 12™!
Whether you have a family or not, Joyful 12™, is awesome program to explore…especially as the year winds down and we start a fresh at the New Year! You’ll love having a lovely repertoire of fresh and seasonal veggie recipes! All you have to do to enter is in the comments below tell us what your favorite vegetable is and who you love to cook it with by Dec 13.
And on Friday, Dec 11, Monday, Dec 14 I will randomly choose 3 names and will announce them on our blog…so, get busy and leave a comment 🙂 and then stay tuned to find out if it’s YOU!
ABOUT JOY FOODLY
At Joyfoodly®, our goal is to help entire communities improve their health by learning how to build their plates around vegetables and fruits first to increase daily consumption. Through our Joyful 12™ Online Kitchen Learning Lab, Chef Hollie Greene makes buying, cooking, and trying seasonal vegetables and fruits a family adventure that builds confidence in the kitchen and helps parents joyfully excite their children to explore healthy foods with an open mind.
Chef Hollie is passionate about helping parents feel good about the food they feed their kids, and helping families celebrate the JOY of mealtime together. Engage with Chef Hollie on: Facebook: www.facebook.com/JoyFoodly Twitter: @JoyFoodly Instagram: joyfoodly
Kajal, thank you for this beautiful post and inviting me to be a guest blogger! I love how you spread the joy of delicious wholesome food on your blog. My favorite vegetable, by the by, is fennel and I love to grill it and squeeze lemon on top–and I always make this with my husband (who is now a fennel lover, too)! Happy cooking! I’m looking forward to seeing some of your members in the Joyful 12!
Thank you Chef Hollie…we definitely love the goodness you’re spreading out into the world, too! Fennel is definitely one of my husband and I’s favorite veggie, too :)…we’ll have to try it your way next time!
What a great blog with beautiful photos! Im inspired to chef it up this week! My two equally loved veggies are cauliflower because its able to become almost anything! I just used it in chili! And brocolli because its the only veggie my husband will eat and its green and makes me feel like Ive fed him well 🙂
Thanks Jenifer! Cauliflower and broccoli are favorites in our household too…and you are so right about cauliflower being able to become almost anything :).
Terrific post. Thank you! Love how Holly incorporates teaching children as part of the preparation/delivery of the meal.
I love most veggies but brussel sprouts and asparagus are currently at the top of my list! Would actually love to try this recipe w/ carrots and brussel sprouts!
I love cooking with some foodie friends as well as just at home with my boyfriend. 🙂
Thanks Diane…cooking with foodie friends is always sure to be a good time :). And brussel sprouts with this recipe sounds delish!
I love roasted cauliflower. My grandson loves to help me cook it with different sauces or seasonings.