This month we're making tomatoes totally tasty at Veggie Buds Club! So let's get started with this rice dish that tastes just like pizza, a kid favorite! Your child can help chop the tomatoes and mash and stir them over the stove (if you're comfortable with this step). Finally, they can top the tomato-rice mixture with shredded cheese and then enjoy the final tasty meal!

Salad can be tricky for most kids to enjoy. For one, we don’t often serve kids salad and two, lots of greens can have a slightly bitter taste. Here are some things I’ve found that help my kids eat and enjoy salad greens:

1. Chop everything very small so it’s less intimidating for kids to eat.
   
2. Add fruit. Seeing pieces of their favorite fruit makes the salad feel more exciting.
   
3. A yummy dressing. Figure out what kind of dressing your child enjoys by trying a few different kinds.
   
4. Try a different presentation. Separate parts of the salad into bowls then let your child add them to a plate or bowl. You can also try serving the dressing on the side to dip pieces of lettuce into.

Keep experimenting with new ways to eat lettuce and exposing those kiddos to let them make friends with the crunchy greens!

This mashed chickpea salad is a vegetarian version of the classic tuna salad! The perfect no-cook meal that you can easily make in minutes. When served on lettuce “boats,” this quick meal instantly becomes extra fun for littles to eat as well as getting some extra veggies in!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups cooked and drained chickpeas
  
• 1 stalk celery, diced
  
• 1-2 teaspoons lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, or to taste
  
• 1-2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  
• 1/4 cup mayo or Greek yogurt, or to taste
  
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon onion powder, or to taste
  
• Salt & pepper, to taste
  
• Lettuce leaves, washed and patted dry

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Pour the cooked and drained chickpeas into a medium bowl. Using a potato masher or fork, mash the chickpeas until there are no more whole beans and to your desired consistency.
   
2. Add diced celery, lemon juice/apple cider vinegar, mustard, mayo/Greek yogurt, onion powder, salt and pepper to the bowl. Mix well.
   
3. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Add more mayo/yogurt for a creamier salad.
   
4. Arrange the prepped lettuce leaves (these will become your “boats”) on a serving platter or individual plates. Fill each one with a scoop or two of the mashed chickpea salad.
   
5. Enjoy as is or top with sliced tomatoes, shredded carrots or diced avocado.

We love making whole meals in one color! It helps get my picky eaters more interested in the foods that they are still exploring. Have your children pick 4-5 green colored foods to serve for a meal. They can even help prepare them with you! Serve them up on a color themed plate or even in a muffin tin to make it more like a sampling platter. Do the different foods taste, look, and smell different even though they are the same color? There are SO many great green foods out there. Have fun picking which ones to add to your monochromatic plate!

We’ve seen cauliflower try to be pizza crust for a while now and I can’t sell my family on it! It always tastes too much like cauliflower and for my picky eaters, that’s not going to fly. I decided It needed something more to help give the crust a little oomph. When I tested this recipe for the first time, my super duper picky eater husband willingly ate half a head of cauliflower and my kids loved it too!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 head of cauliflower
  
• 4 eggs
  
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
  
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
  
• 3 teaspoons dried oregano
  
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  
• Salt and pepper to taste
  
• 1 cup mix of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F. Take 2 large baking sheets and line them with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Spray a little oil on it to make sure it doesn’t stick!
   
2. Roughly chop cauliflower into florets. Add the florets to your food processor and pulse until cauliflower resembles rice.
   
3. Place the cauliflower in a microwavable container and cover with a lid. Microwave for 10 minutes. Place the microwaved cauliflower in a large bowl and add the eggs, mozzarella, Parmesan, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix everything together.
   
4. Separate the mixture in half and place each half onto the prepared baking sheets and shape into either a pizza crust, or a rectangular shape for the breadsticks.
   
5. Bake the crust (no topping yet) for about 22 minutes or until nice and golden. Once browned, sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and put back in the oven for another 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
   
6. Serve with your favorite tomato sauce for dipping and enjoy!!!

May is Cauliflower Month at Veggie Buds Club and this super simple cauliflower-packed recipe from Heather at Happy Kids Kitchen is a great way to celebrate! You can find more kid-friendly cauliflower recipes and activities that are guaranteed to connect your kids with cauliflower in our Facebook Group, request to join here.

If your little one loves pasta, this is the perfect cauliflower recipe to make together! Simply blend cooked cauliflower (fresh or frozen) with milk and a few flavorings and you’ve got a creamy sauce that’s full of veggies and easy to pair with any cooked pasta. It’s also easy to add any other veggies or cooked proteins you might have on hand. This recipe calls for a pound of pasta, but you can half the recipe if you want to make less.

Ingredients

• 1 pound (16 ounces) of your favorite small-shaped pasta, such as elbows or shells
  
• 16 ounces frozen cauliflower or 5 cups fresh cauliflower florets
  
• 1/2 cup milk (any kind)
  
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
  
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
  
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese*, plus more for topping

*For a dairy-free option, use 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast instead

Instructions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, drain, and set aside. Add cauliflower to the pot and cover with water. Simmer until cauliflower is very tender. Drain off any excess water and place cauliflower into a blender.
   
2. Add remaining ingredients to the blender and blend until very smooth. Place cooked pasta back into the pot and pour cauliflower sauce over the top. Mix well then taste for seasoning. Add more salt and pepper as needed.
   
3. Serve pasta warm with additional Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top.

This is a cute craft that celebrates cauliflower! Cauliflower comes in a rainbow of colors including white, purple, and orange. You can create your own rainbow of cauliflower plants using simple craft supplies that you most likely have at home already: coffee filters, green construction paper, brads (or pipe cleaners), safety scissors, and washable markers. And best of all- no glue;)

MATERIALS

• 9 coffee filters
• Green construction paper
• 3 brads (or pipe cleaners cut in half)
• Safety scissors
• Purple washable marker
• Orange washable marker

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Use safety scissors to cut around the circumference of 3 of the coffee filters to create a medium circle and 3 of the coffee filters to create a small circle (now you have 3 sets of large, medium, and small circles).
   
2. Leave the first set white, color the second set purple, and color the third set orange.
   
3. Run the purple and orange coffee filters under water, squeeze them out, and lay flat to dry.
   
4. Cut out cauliflower leaves from the green construction paper (following the shape seen in our example photo) and snip a small hole in the middle of each leaf.
   
5. Once coffee filters are dry, stack them in 3 piles with the largest filter on the bottom and the smallest on top.
   
6. Poke the brad (or pipe cleaner) through the middle of each coffee filter stack and then poke through the hole created in the leaf. Secure brad (or twist pipe cleaner to secure).
   
7. Scrunch the coffee filters and you made colorful cauliflower plants!

Our Veggie Buds Club Grow Box is full of quick, fun, and tasty growing projects that you can do at home.

Monica Irwin, the creator of Veggie Buds Club, recently Skyped with Twin Cities Live to discuss 4 simple snacktivities (1-2 ingredients!) that are guaranteed to keep your kids entertained and well-nourished. A snacktivity is simply a snack and activity combination, they are all guaranteed to make veggies fun for your kids!