Holli Thompson

This article is # 2 in a 4- part series on Kids Summer Nutrition for Ask Miss A magazine. www.askmissa.com Tune in next week for Healthy Kids-Summer Beverages. For article #1 on Easy Summer Meals, see Mrs. Obama below.. Are you facing a long hot summer of “kids food” at amusement parks, the country club pool or even your best friends home?  What can you do to keep your kids from succumbing to the processed food tidal wave?  Do you have to choose between the ice cream cone with 30 ingredients, a bag of salty chips with trans fats, or candy bars made with high fructose corn syrup? Snacking has become a national pastime, and today’s kids seem to view snacking as an on going eating style.  Schools have contributed to this with morning snacks, afternoon snacks, extended care snacks, parties, birthdays and math class where they count jelly beans. It seems like kids can’t move without one. How do we transition them to a healthy and hopefully active Summer? Here are a few snacks I recommend to my clients with kids; all are taste tested by the 6-12 year olds that pass through my home on a weekly basis….

The morning talk shows, blogs, newspapers, and magazines have jumped on the many scientific studies that show how important Vitamin D is to our health. Even traditional medical doctors are testing their patient’s D levels. Vitamin D deficiency has been indicated in different cancers and heart disease, and studies have shown that Vita D can help prevent osteoporosis. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with low bone mass and osteoporosis because vitamin D is needed to absorb calcium from the diet. Low levels of vitamin D have also been linked with poor muscle strength and other chronic conditions, such as autoimmune disease. If you live north of South Carolina, you are almost certain to be deficient, so join me on this Vita D bandwagon. Doctors are right to be concerned. We need this vital nutrient. But it’s a tough one to get from our foods. The foods that provide Vitamin D are certain types of wild fish, like salmon, white beans and some dark leafy greens. Because we can’t get ALL the Vitamin D that we need from food, lots of great new supplements are showing up. (Dole just launched a new portobello mushroom powder said to increase Vita D levels) According to…

  Serves about 4 Ingredients: 1 1/2 pounds collard greens, sliced into ribbons 1 medium shallot, thinly sliced 1 15-ounce can white beans (1 1/2 cups), rinsed and drained (Eden brand please, no BPA in can) 2 teaspoons lemon zest-organic 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1/2 cup vegetable broth Cayenne to taste, celtic sea salt to taste Instructions: 1. To prep the collards, fold each leaf in half and slice off and discard the stem. Stack all the leaves together, and thinly slice them crosswise. ( “chiffonade” is the correct term) 2. Prep the shallot and white beans. Before zesting the lemon, scrub with a brush and a little soap and water. Rinse it well and dry it. 3. Add olive oil to a large sautée pan over medium-high heat. Stir in the shallots and reduce the heat to medium. Season the shallots with your celtic sea salt and cayenne pepper. Stir until the shallots are translucent, 2-4 minutes. 4. Stir in the collard greens to the same pan. Cook, stirring often, until they turn bright green, 2-4 minutes. Season the collards with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper to taste. 5. Pour in the vegetable broth. Stir…

  I grew up on artichokes. They’ve  always been one of my favorite foods, and my mother made them often, in season of course. She stuffs them with parmesan, bread crumbs , olive oil and salt and pepper.  I used to make them that way, until I found that dairy and gluten are my undoing.  Every once in a while, I make my own stuffed artichokes for my family, with gluten free bread crumbs and raw sheep cheese, shaking the ingredients in between the tender leaves as they sit upright in the steamer.  Then I drizzle with olive oil and season and let them cook. The beauty of these gems is the heart, and the heart of the choke needs no garnish in my book, so I love to make them in this very simple way that I’m sharing with you today. Artichokes are a good source of fiber and high in antioxidants; so high in fiber that I caution you to not put them in your garbage disposal.  (I tried that once many years ago and found my self having to buy a nice new garbage disposal that day)  They also soothe our digestion thanks to silymarin, an antioxidant…