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Easy Fresh Tomato Salsa with Baked Tortilla Chips

7/13/2020

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This salsa is made in a food processor, so you don’t have to worry about chopping tomatoes all day. Add a few other ingredients and you’ve got a delicious snack to eat with chips or anything you’d like. It’s great on tacos or to serve with quesadillas too. Kids can help cut the tomatoes into rough chunks, add the ingredients to the food processor, and pulse until everything is roughly chopped. Homemade chips are really fun for kids to make at home too, but you can serve this salsa with store-bought chips as well. (Please be aware that tortilla chips can be a choking hazard or are hard to chew for toddlers and kids under 4).
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This month we're celebrating tomatoes at Veggie Buds Club! If you'd like access to tons of kid-friendly tomato recipes, tomato crafts, tomato games, tomato growing projects, and more you can purchase our "Totally Tasty Tomatoes!" eBook or Box here.

Easy Fresh Tomato Salsa with Baked Tortilla Chips

INGREDIENTS
Salsa
  • 4 large tomatoes
  • 2 scallions or 1/4 of a small onion, trimmed and sliced
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro or parsley
  • Juice from 1/2 a lime
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon chili powder (optional)
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
Tortillas
  • 6 small corn or flour tortillas
  • Oil
  • Salt
NSTRUCTIONS
  1. Cut tomatoes into 8 wedges. Scoop seeds into a bowl and gently squeeze out any excess liquid in the tomatoes. If you skip this step, your salsa will be very watery. Cut tomato wedges into chunks and add to a food processor.
  2. Add remaining salsa ingredients and pulse until roughly chopped. Stop a couple times to check the salsa and scrape down the sides. You don’t want to over blend and get tomato soup.
  3. For Chips: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Brush both sides of each tortilla with oil. Sprinkle one side with a pinch of salt. Cut tortillas into 8 wedges (I like to use a pizza wheel) then lay them out individually on the pan. They can be touching but try not to overlap tortilla pieces. Bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Check on chips often because they can burn easily. Allow to cool then serve with salsa.

This recipe was developed by Heather Staller, a mom of two boys, ages 7 and 5, and cooking instructor specializing in bringing cooking into preschool classrooms. After college, Heather knew she wanted to be a teacher, but first followed her lifelong dream of going to culinary school. Teaching cooking combines both of her passions, and she truly enjoys introducing young children to the joys of cooking with fresh ingredients. Find Heather on Instagram (@heather.happykidskitchen), where she shares inventive kid-friendly recipes and ideas for cooking with kids at home.
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Pizza Rice

7/9/2020

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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!
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Pizza Rice

INGREDIENTS
  • 3 cups cooked basmati rice
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 Roma tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • Salt, to taste
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
  2. Roughly chop the Roma tomatoes (this is a great step for your child to assist with if you have a child-safe knife!).
  3. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pan.
  4. Add the chopped Roma tomatoes and stir, next smash them with a potato masher or large fork. Add all of the dry seasonings except for salt and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
  5. Add the cooked basmati rice, stir everything together, and season with salt.
  6. Pour the tomato-rice mixture into a baking dish. Sprinkle the top with shredded cheddar cheese.
  7. Place the baking dish in the preheated oven on a high rack and bake for 5 minutes to melt the cheese.
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Kids Love Rainbow Veggies!

11/22/2018

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We are excited to bring you this month's post from Katie Blauser, the creator of Eat Pretty Darling. Each month on our blog we feature a "Color of the Week" that corresponds with Veggie Buds Club's veggie of the month. November's veggie is KALE, and we're having fun this month by celebrating RAINBOW veggies and a RAINBOW KALE kid-friendly recipe!
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Katie Blauser is the mama of two boys, wife of a picky eater, and food lover at Eat Pretty Darling. She believes in making food fun, healthy, & pretty! Katie’s not only outnumbered by boys in her little family, but also by picky eaters. She loves trying to find new ways to get both kids and adults to eat healthy while making food pretty yummy, pretty healthy, and pretty fun! Find Katie on Instagram (@eatprettydarling), where she shares colorful and cute food ideas for both picky and adventurous eaters.

Color of the Week - Rainbow

Some weeks we like to have a little fun and instead of picking a color, we pick all of the colors! Rainbow is a color in our book. We grabbed one item in each color to go with our green kale in this month’s Veggie Buds Club box. My son picked some of his favorites for each color. Blueberries for blue, carrots for orange, yellow bell pepper for yellow, tomatoes for red, and purple cabbage for purple.
Salads may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of kid food, but making it full of color and having them help pick the ingredients makes it a little more exciting. The fun thing about this recipe is you could use almost any fruits or veggies that fit the colors, as long as you try to make a rainbow! Have your kids be a part of it from start to finish.
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Rainbow Kale

Ingredients
  • 3 cups kale, stem removed and finely chopped
  • 1 medium yellow pepper
  • 1 cup shredded carrots
  • 1 cup diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup shredded purple cabbage
  • 1 cup blueberries
Dressing
  • 2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
  • Zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ⅛ tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Place kale in a large bowl. Mix all dressing ingredients in a small jar. Shake it well to combine.
  2. Drizzle dressing on top and gently massage dressing into kale (this is a fun part for the kids!). Add in remaining ingredients and toss to coat the vegetables in the dressing.
  3. Cover and place in the fridge to let the kale become a little more tender.
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Kids Love Red Veggies!

8/29/2018

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We are excited to bring you this month's post from Katie Blauser, the creator of Eat Pretty Darling. Each month on our blog we feature a "Color of the Week" that corresponds with Veggie Buds Club's veggie of the month. August's veggie is TOMATO so we're focusing on RED veggies this month!
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Katie Blauser is the mama of two boys, wife of a picky eater, and food lover at Eat Pretty Darling. She believes in making food fun, healthy, & pretty! Katie’s not only outnumbered by boys in her little family, but also by picky eaters. She loves trying to find new ways to get both kids and adults to eat healthy while making food pretty yummy, pretty healthy, and pretty fun! Find Katie on Instagram (@eatprettydarling), where she shares colorful and cute food ideas for both picky and adventurous eaters.


Color of the Week - RED

It’s time to find all things RED this week to go along with our yummy veggie (technically a fruit!) of the month, tomatoes. You could literally just stick to the tomato section this week and just get different varieties of tomatoes because there are so many! Are your kids like mine and they love everything made from tomatoes, just not an actual tomato? This is a great time to make some of their favorites like ketchup and red sauce to show them that some of the things they love are made with this pretty red fruit. And calling it a fruit is such a selling point for my picky eater!
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This week we ventured out of the produce department and snagged some red lentils. While there are tons of great fresh food options for the color red, there are so many others throughout the store! Just make sure to stick with items that are just the ingredient. This week, we’re making a crowd pleasing PIZZA!!! It’s allergy friendly because there are no grains, no nuts, and no eggs! Can you guess what makes our pizza crust red?

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Really RED Pizza

Ingredients
Pizza Sauce
  • 2 pounds whole fresh tomatoes
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 ½ tsp Italian seasoning
  • 1¾ teaspoons salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 1-2 teaspoons honey (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
Red Lentil Crust
  • ¾ cups red lentils, soaked up to 24 hours
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
  1. First, prepare the pizza sauce. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Make a small X in the bottom of each tomato and dunk into the boiling water until the skins are slightly loosened, about 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl of ice water for 1 minute. Peel off the skin.
  2. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook while stirring, until beginning to brown, about 4-6 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes (and any juice), Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and honey. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until tomatoes have broken down, about 2 hours. Taste and season with additional salt, pepper and/or honey.
  3. Transfer the sauce to a blender (or use an immersion blender), add tomato paste and blend until smooth. Use caution when pureeing hot liquids! If not using the sauce right away, cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 6 months. It will make more than you need for your pizza so you can also use it for spaghetti another day! Now it’s time to prepare the crust.
  4. Rinse and drain lentils and preheat oven to 425 F. Place all pizza crust ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until smooth.
  5. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour the batter onto the sheet and spread into an even layer about ¼ inch thick. Bake for 20 minutes.
  6. Remove pizza from oven, spread on pizza sauce and top with desired toppings and cheese. Bake pizza for additional 5 minutes or until cheese it melted, brown and bubbly. Slice and serve!
Get the kids involved!
Have them peel the tomatoes after they are tossed in the ice bath. Ask them help sprinkle on the pizza toppings and cheese! 

Red Food Ideas

There are more out there, but here’s a list to get started!
  • Apples
  • Cherries
  • Red Lentils
  • Cranberries
  • Red Pepper
  • Tomatoes
  • Red Meat
  • Raspberries
  • Red Onion
  • Strawberries
  • Watermelon
  • Red Potatoes
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Roasted Tomato Ketchup

8/21/2018

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August's featured veggie is TOMATO at Veggie Buds Club! We hope you enjoy these delicious recipes for Roasted Plum Tomatoes and Homemade Roasted Tomato Ketchup from this month's Veggie Buds Club subscription box.
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These recipes were developed by Heather Staller, a mom of two boys, ages 5 and 3, and cooking instructor specializing in bringing cooking into preschool classrooms. After college, Heather knew she wanted to be a teacher, but first followed her lifelong dream of going to culinary school. Teaching cooking combines both of her passions, and she truly enjoys introducing young children to the joys of cooking with fresh ingredients. Find Heather on Instagram (@heather_kidskitchen), where she shares inventive kid-friendly recipes and ideas for cooking with kids at home.
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Roasted Plum Tomatoes

Roasting tomatoes concentrates their sweet flavor. Use the finished tomatoes in the ketchup recipe below, or they are great on pizza, in sandwiches, on toast, or in a pasta sauce!
Ingredients
  • 6 plum (Roma) tomatoes* (about 1 ½ pounds)
  • 3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • Salt and black pepper
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees then line a sheet pan with parchment or aluminum foil.
  2. Trim stem end off tomatoes then slice into ¼ inch thick rounds. Tomatoes are difficult for little ones to cut, so have your child get involved by placing tomato slices side-by-side on the sheet pan.
  3. Your child can help pick the tiny leaves off of the thyme stems and scatter them over the tomatoes. Make sure you both smell the fresh thyme and talk about what it makes you think of.
  4. Gently smash the garlic cloves to make them easier to peel. Cut each garlic clove into thin slices then have your child scatter them over the tomatoes. Together, drizzle the oil over the tomatoes then sprinkle on a big pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Show your child how to hold his hand up high to “shower” the salt all over the tomatoes like rain.
  5. Place pan in the oven and bake until the garlic is brown in spots and the tomatoes have shrunk in size, 20 to 25 minutes.
*You can also use small tomatoes such as grape or cherry tomatoes in this recipe. No need to cut smaller tomatoes, and they may take less time to roast, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Homemade Roasted Tomato Ketchup

Everything is better from scratch! Making your own ketchup lets you control the sugar content and quality of ingredients, and it tastes great. Homemade ketchup is the perfect kid-friendly condiment!
Makes 2 cups
Ingredients
  • 2 teaspoons oil
  • ½ sweet onion, diced (about ½ cup)
  • Roasted Plum Tomatoes, recipe included
  • 6 ounces tomato paste (1 small can)
  • ¼ cup honey or agave nectar
  • ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
  • ½ cup water
  • ½ teaspoon coarse salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground allspice (optional)
Instructions
  1. Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until lightly browned and softened, about 5 minutes. If you are comfortable with your child at the stove, have her carefully stir the onions a few times while cooking.
  2. Together, add the remaining ingredients to the pot and stir carefully. Turn heat down to simmer and cook for 10 to 15 minutes.
  3. Allow mixture to cool slightly then use a handheld immersion blender or regular blender to purée tomato mixture. Your child will love to help push the buttons to turn your blender off and on.
  4. Taste ketchup for seasoning. You may want to add more salt or extra  sweetener depending on your taste. Allow ketchup to cool then place in a jar or airtight container. The ketchup tastes best when chilled but you can also serve it at room temperature. Store ketchup in the refrigerator for up to one month.
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Three 3-Ingredient Bruschettas

8/15/2018

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August is Tomato Month at Veggie Buds Club so we are excited to bring you three ways to try tomatoes from Noelle Martin of @motherhoodandmeals!
Be sure to check out Veggie Buds Club on Instagram to participate in our Veggie Buds Cooking Club competition- kids across the US and Canada will be cooking up these yummy recipes for a chance to win a fabulous prize from Veggie Buds Club and Nature Fresh, grower of incredible and flavorful tomatoes year round!

If you asked me to list off 5 foods that ideally everyone would eat every day tomatoes would be on that list!
They are packed with incredible nutrition such as vitamin C which supports our immune system and increases iron absorption as well as lycopene, an antioxidant that helps reduce the risk of cancer.
You can imagine my excitement when I learned that August is TOMATO month at Veggie Buds Club! I hope this month your little ones enjoy trying tomatoes in all sorts of ways including the fun and easy bruschetta recipes below! All three recipes only have 3 ingredients so getting your children involved will be super easy! 

Peach Bruschetta

Mix together 1 diced peach, 8-10 diced cherry tomatoes, and 1-2 Tbsp of hemp hearts. Add to your favorite whole grain crusty bread and serve!
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Feta Bruschetta

Mix together 1 cup of Tomberries, 10 pieces of thinly cut baby spinach, and 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese. Add to your favorite whole grain crusty bread and serve!
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Cucumber Bruschetta

Grate one large tomato and spread onto your favorite whole grain crusty bread. Add a slice of cucumber and a sprinkle of shredded or grated Parmesan cheese and serve!
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​Noelle Martin is a Registered Dietitian and mom of three young boys. She has a passion for education, inspiring, and empowering moms to make healthy choices for themselves and their families. Noelle loves involving her children in food planning and preparation for their home and sees the kitchen as a perfect area for teaching both academic and life skills. Follow @MotherhoodandMeals on Instagram for Noelle's nutrition tips, recipes, product reviews, and motherhood moments.
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Roasted Corn and Watermelon Salsa

9/20/2017

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We're happy to welcome Heather as a guest blogger this month!

Heather is a mom of two boys, ages 4 and 2, and cooking instructor specializing in bringing cooking into preschool classrooms. After college, Heather knew she wanted to be a teacher, but first followed her lifelong dream of going to culinary school. Teaching cooking combines both of her passions, and she truly enjoys introducing young children to the joys of cooking with fresh ingredients. Find Heather on Instagram (@heather_kidskitchen), where she shares inventive kid-friendly recipes and ideas for cooking with kids at home.

Have you ever roasted corn? Cooking the fresh kernels at a high temperature, intensifies the corn's sweetness and takes corn flavor to a whole new level. The sweet kernels get golden brown and crunchy around the edges, making them reminiscent of popcorn. Roasted corn is great as a side dish, on its own, or combined with other fresh, seasonal produce like in the salsa recipe I've included below. Get your kids in the kitchen to help prepare the corn for the oven. They can help transfer the cut corn to a bowl, drizzle the corn with oil, sprinkle the salt, and spread the corn on the baking sheet. Simple, delicious, and easy... what could be better?

Simple Roasted Corn

Ingredients
  • 3 ears of corn
  • 2 teaspoons avocado or olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
  2. Carefully, cut the kernels off the corn cobs. Transfer corn kernels to a bowl.
  3. Add oil and salt to the bowl and stir to coat the corn.
  4. Dump corn onto the prepared sheet pan and spread into an even layer.
  5. Roast corn until golden brown around the edges of the pan, about 15 minutes. If you want the corn extra crunchy, stir the corn and return to the oven for 5 more minutes. Watch closely so corn does not burn.
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Roasted Corn and Watermelon Salsa

​Scoop up this fresh salsa with your favorite chips, serve on top of simply cooked chicken or fish, or pile on top of a green salad. Feel free to add whatever produce you have on hand: fresh herbs like cilantro or basil would be delicious. Bell or spicy peppers would also be a great addition.
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Ingredients
  • 2 cups watermelon, diced small
  • 1 small cucumber, peeled, if necessary, and diced small
  • 2 to 3 cups tomatoes (any kind), diced small
  • 2 scallions, minced
  • Roasted corn, recipe above
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients together.
  2. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.
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