If you don’t have a garden patch, you can certainly grow a salad in a pot or two.  There are some great ideas for container growing at the end of this post.

Ingredients

Mixed Lettuce Leaves

Cherry Tomatoes

Sprouts

Fresh Herbs

Radish

Beetroot

Carrot

Edible Flowers

Cucumber

Capsicum

Growing your Summer Salad

Mixed lettuce – these have fancy names like cos, buttercrunch, minionette, red coral, oakleaf, rocket, radiccihio, watercress and chicory.  When you grow these varieties, all you need to do is pick off the leaves (not the whole plant) you want and more leaves will grow.  They can be tricky to grow from seed, so you may need to find seedlings to get started.  If you wanted to grow lettuce from seed you could try placing seeds on a moist paper towel and place in a plastic bag until they germinate (start to grow a shoot).  Then you place these germinated seeds in pots with potting mix.  They will grow well with beetroot, carrot and radishes.   You should be able to pick lettuce leaves in about 8 weeks.  Be sure to keep the soil moist but not wet, especially on hot days – this will help prevent the lettuce going bitter.

Cherry Tomatoes – this is a very easy plant to grow, even in pots.  You will need a stake or a post to tie the plant to as it grows.  Tomatoes will be able to be picked at about 8-16 weeks.  They grow well with carrot and basil.  You can read more about how to grow tomatoes HERE.

Sprouts –  Sprouts don’t even need soil to grow in – all they need is a jar and a draining cover.  These are some examples of seeds that can be sprouted:  mung beans, alfalfa, pea, mustard and onion.  They must be specially labelled “spouting seeds” to be sure that they are suitable for eating.

1. Place one to two tablespoons of seeds in your jar, and cover with approximately ¼ cup of warm water. Let this sit overnight.
2. Place a pieces of cheese cloth or stocking over the jar and secure with a rubber band.  Drain the water.
3. Rinse the seeds by adding water the jar, swishing the seeds around, and draining.
4. Repeat twice a day, every day until your sprouts are the desired size. This will take anywhere from three to seven days, depending on the variety of sprout you’re growing. Sprouts are best when they’re still fairly small and just starting to turn green.
5. Store your sprouts in a covered bowl or food storage bag with a paper towel inside to absorb excess moisture. Use the sprouts within a week.

Herbs – Most herbs can make a summer salad very tasty.  These are also easy to grow in pots.  The type of herbs I love to use are chives, basil, coriander, mint and parsley.  But there are so many more herbs that would enhance any salad – so be daring and give them a try.

Radish  –  These are super easy and quick to grow and can be harvested in 5-7 weeks.  Radishes are a bit spicy  and they look great in a salad with their bright pinky/red and white colour. Simply cut very finely and toss through your salad.

Beetroot –  This is a root vegetable and you can use both the bulb and the leaves in a salad.  You can pull beetroot at 7-8 weeks or when they are any size, it’s up to you.  They don’t grow well with carrot, spinach or asparagus.  Then either grate them raw or cook them in water until tender.  My Grandma use to cook the beetroot in equal parts water and vinegar with sugar, salt, cinnamon stick, peppercorns and whole cloves to taste.

Carrots – These require some depth since they are root vegetables.  You could pick them when they are small and simply wash them and add to your salad.  It is certainly possible to grow these in containers but don’t plant near beetroot.  These can be picked in  12-18 weeks.

Edible Flowers – what a lovely addition to a summer salad to give a colour-boost.  A great website called Gardening 4 Kids has posted an article on edible flowers.  You can read more about edible flowers HERE.

Cucumber – This plant is a vine and would need something like a fence to grow along.  Cucumbers add a refreshing crunch to a summer salad, so have a go and plant some.  They can be picked in 8-10 weeks.  They don’t do well if planted with tomatoes, so keep these plants separate.

Capsicum – Now here is a brilliant way to brighten your salad.  Capsicum comes in amazing bright colours like red, yellow, green and orange.  They all start as a green colour and change colours as they ripen further.   This plant is quite easy to grow even in pots.  They form a small bushy plant and can be picked in 10-12 weeks after planting.

Growing Your Salad Without Chemicals

An added bonus to growing your own salad vegetables is being able to avoid the use of chemicals.  Chemicals are used in farming to prevent pests and diseases from destroying the crop.  The only problem with using chemicals is we then eat these chemicals and that can cause damage to our bodies.  So consider growing your salad vegetables in an organic way.  You can read more about avoiding chemicals in vegetable gardening in a post I wrote for Gardening 4 Kids.  Click HERE to go to that article.

Container Garden Ideas

There are some great bloggers out there who inspire us to try different things.  These guys below take container gardening to a different level.  See what inspiration you can draw from them:

This idea comes from the Life on the Balcony blog.  Have a look at their tutorial on how to make a garden from a wooden pallet.

What a great idea to turn a shoe holder into a vegetable garden.  You can find out more on the Instructables.  Click HERE to find out more.

This looks amazing.  So find out more at LLH Designs Blog.

Really, anything goes when it comes to growing and making a summer salad.  Think about adding a variety of colours and flavours and you can’t go wrong.  If you have some lemons, limes or oranges, their juice would go beautifully with some vinegar, olive oil and a little sugar whisked together to make a salad dressing.

Enjoy your summer and especially the flavour and satisfaction of growing your very own home-grown summer salad.

Cheers

Alessandra

Credit: www.freedigitalphotos.com

Children need to know that there are FIVE food groups and that these foods will contain specific nutrients necessary for them to grow and develop.  These are big concepts for some kids to grasp and so by explaining these concepts in simple terms you will help them understand it better.  For example, explain to your children that our bodies are like cars.  Cars need to have gas/petrol in the tank before it can move.  And so too, our bodies need food and water inside to help us move.  There are other ways to explain nutrition to kids:

• Carrots have carotene and vitamin A to help our eyes see.
• Fish has omega-3 oils to help our brains be smart and happy.
• Milk, cheese and yoghurt have calcium and vitamin D to help our bones become strong.
• Bread and cereals have carbohydrate to help give us the energy to play.
• Fruit and vegetables have fibre to help us go to the toilet without hurting.
• Water helps all the vitamins soak into our bodies to help keep us healthy and not sick.
• Bananas have potassium to help our muscles move well.
• Tomatoes, oranges and kiwi fruit have vitamin C to help our bodies fight germs.
• Meat has iron and zinc to help us feel energetic and also helps to fight sickness.

FIVE Food Groups

Each of these groups contain their own unique nutrients and representatives from each groups should be eaten each day to obtain a good balance.  Within each of these groups are good- and poor-quality choices.  It all depends on the quality of the source of the food and also the way the food have been prepared.  Obviously, the more processed the food the poorer the quality.  Additionally, the more fat, sugar and chemicals are added to the food the poorer the quality.  So children need to know this.  They need to know that takeaway food that comes in the form of a highly processed hamburger, with fried potato chips and sugary fizzy drink is not going to give their bodies the nutrition it needs to grow, think, play, be happy or healthy.  Even though many kids nag parents to get these popular food stuffs, many children often prefer the taste to good home-cooked meals over these highly processed foods.

Also, the occasional takeaway is not a serious problem to health. But try not to say we are getting takeaway for a “special treat”.  Sometimes I slip up and say these exact words and then realize that I’ve just placed takeaway food on my children’s list of highly desirable food.  These foods can also be referred to as comfort food, so if your child is feeling down and they want a “special treat” to help them feel better, they remember the food we as parents have made special and comforting.  Let your home cooking be known as the “special treat”.

When children feel unwell, are hyperactive, have difficulty sleeping, have regular bad moods, or experience other symptoms, often times it can be directly related to what food they have or haven’t eaten that day.  This is a good opportunity to discuss how foods can make them feel and that good nutrition will provide better outcomes.

FREE Printable: Healthy Eating for Kids Poster

This poster is designed as a discussion prompt.  It lists the five food groups, explains the balance, tells you reasons why good nutrition is important, lists how many serves are needed each day, and a “Think” cloud alerting to poor choices.

Healthy Eating Plate

It is also a good idea to show your children what  healthy eating compared to unhealthy eating looks like.  I came across a great visual from NYC government (USA).  It shows two plates with the good and bad options.  I have changed this graphic slightly only because I disagreed with some of their placements of food.  So I moved the fruit juice and the bowl of rice over to the good side.  This is because they have nutritional benefits if consumed in moderation.  I also covered up yams, simply because we don’t really eat these in Australia.  I added sweets, donuts, fruitloops and biscuits to the “don’t eat” side.

The Healthy Plate is exactly what I use to show my clients the proportion of protein, starchy carbohydrate, and fruit and vegetables we should try to aim for.  It would be great to discuss with our children the way a healthy plate can be divided up.  See if they can identify what food groups are represented whenever a meal is placed before them.

Notice at the bottom of the poster the different ways to show portion sizes using your hand.

 Credit Link: NYC.gov

Healthy Recipes

A great idea to help your children begin to take responsibility for their own nutrition is to compile a collection of recipes.  Recipes can be placed in a book or folder binder.  Encourage your children to collect their own healthy recipes and to cook them.  Recipes can be found at your local library, in magazines, on the internet, pinterest, kindle and online bookstores.  Don’t forget to hand down recipes from your family and ask for recipes by friends.

Your children could make a start on their recipe folder with some of my recipes.  These recipes are our all time favorites and of course I make sure the nutrition in these recipes are sound.  If you would like to purchase my recipes, you can do that below:

This Recipe eBook is a collection of 21 recipes that my family just love to make and eat.  They are simple everyday meals and snacks.  Each recipe is on a single page for your child to insert into their recipe folder.  I have written the recipes in a way that is easy for children to follow.  Each recipe has a photo to refer to.  There are breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack recipes.

To purchase the ebook for $3.95 simply click on the add-to-cart button and pay by PayPal.  You will then be redirected to receive instant access to your recipe ebook.  Enjoy!

AU$3.95

Teaching our children basic nutrition and how to prepare and cook basic, wholesome meals and snacks will hopefully equip them to make wise choices as they get older.  I would dearly love to see a new generation evolve with a better understanding of healthy eating and therefore present with less nutrition-related diseases.

Eat well,

Alessandra

You can use this poster as a discussion prompt for your children.  It lists the five food groups, explains the balance, tells you reasons why good nutrition is important, lists how many serves are needed each day, and a “Think” cloud alerting to poor choices.

Teaching kids money skills is more than learning how to save, it also involves how to spend money wisely.  This FREE printable is a simple list of ten questions to ask yourself if what you are about to buy is worth it.  Some of the questions are: Do I have enough toys?  Is the product good value for money?  Will this product live up to the advertisement?

If children learn to stop and ask questions like these before making any purchase, they learn to be discerning consumers rather than impulse buyers.

This printable is related to this post: Money Skills: What every Child Needs to Know About Money.

This is a FREE Printable so please credit this site if you distribute to others.  It would be great if you could share this printable to help children learn more about how they spend money wisely.  I would love to know if you liked this resource so please leave a comment on this site, pin it to Pinterest or like it on Facebook.

Enjoy,

Alessandra

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Alessandra

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So let’s get on with it and start cooking.

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Alessandra

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Well, I do have some good news.  Finally, there is evidence that expressing Gratitude can contribute to a much brighter outlook on life!

If children (and adults for that matter) regularly express statements of gratitude they are more likely to be more joyful, forgiving, loving, enthusiastic and more optimistic about life.  These attributes were actually measured in a research study conducted by psychology Professor Robert Emmons in 1998.  During the study, a group of people were asked to keep a gratitude journal where they would write down things that they were grateful for and another group of people were asked to write down only complaints.  The results speak for themselves as the grateful group recorded greater improvement in psychological, physical and social well-being compared with the complaining group.

This exercise of journaling gratitude may seem simplistic and too easy, however it is more intellectually demanding than we think because it requires contemplations, reflection and discipline as Professor Emmons remarks in his book  Thanks!: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier.

So how can we teach this concept to our children?  Well it all starts with us, I suppose.  We begin to adopt the attitude of gratitude and it becomes an example set for our kids.  It is a real change in mind-set.  Whether we verbalize it or not our worrying about money, complaining about the traffic, being concern about our children’s education and future and being suspicious of strangers and sales people becomes and attitude that our children can sense.  Since reading a beautiful Christian book called  One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are I have begun to express in front of my children things that I am grateful for.  I would say things like “Oh do you see that beautiful bird just sitting there next to us? – Well that is a very special gift from God, just for us right now.”  It is amazing how these simple proclamations set an example of gratitude for our children.  My son now often makes his own expressions of gratitude like these without any prompting.

The ART of Gratitude

Being grateful is a very subjective term because people are grateful for different things and they hold value to each person uniquely.  So when we are trying to instill the value of gratitude in our children we need to be mindful of what each child values.

Ask yourself what are you truly grateful for right now?

Now, tell your children what they are.

Then, show them how you want to express this further.

Some Suggestions:   Write a love note.  Draw a doodle picture.  Cut pictures out of a magazine and paste them on some coloured cardboard.  Write them on some river stones and place them in a glass bowl.  Bake some cupcakes and stick flags on top with your words of gratitude. Use a noticeboard to pin statements of gratitude. Take photos. Write a journal.

This is how kids learn the art of Gratitude – by seeing how it is modeled by you.  They will soon pick up the idea if it becomes a natural part of your life.

The following points are some areas of expressing Gratitude in greater detail:

JOURNALING

I think the skill of journaling needs to be taught to our children because it can be a great resource to refer to when they are feeling down.  A journal that has written expressions of gratitude can give hope when they need it.

Let me make some suggestions to help guide your children develop a habit of journaling with an emphasis on gratitude.  Firstly, obtain a blank notebook just for them and perhaps a special pen of box of coloured pencils.  This places the act of journaling as a special and meaningful activity.  Now go for a walk with your child.  Draw attention to the things you see and hear – in fact use all your senses to make observations of your world.  You might pick up a stone and observe how it feels and the colours it has.  Ask your child what they think about it.  Maybe you could take a photo of something or pick up a leaf to stick in the journal.  When you get back ask your child to write down what they experienced in that walk and what they were most thankful for.  Give you child some space and some quiet time to reflect on this experience.  Simply put:  this is the beginning to journaling a life of gratitude!!

I have designed a 13-page FREE PRINTABLE of Journal Prompts for Kids for you to download, if you wish.

I came across this great idea (below) on Pinterest of a Journal Jar.  This is where the whole family can get involved and write down things they are grateful for during the week.  The ideas from this can be endless – perhaps at the end of the end all the journal entries are placed in a book and read out on New Years Eve.

Credit Link: Teaching With TLC

CREATIVE OUTLET

When the topic of gratitude is being explored, it may be useful for children to express this in creative ways.  Gratitude is not a concrete attribute and so using creative mediums like paint, drawing, collage, story-telling, drama, music, sewing, sculpture, cooking and the like, may help the child confirm the meaning of gratitude to them.

I came across a wonderful book that gave some great ideas about how to express gratitude creatively.  The book is called The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections.  The author Amanda Blake Soule says in her book:

“Gratitude, and recognizing gratitude, can have a powerful effect on our whole lives.  When we feel grateful, we feel full – full of love, full of inspiration, full of ideas, and full of creative spirit.“

Here are some ideas on Pinterest I have come across:

Credit Link: Simply Vintage Girl

Credit Link:  Wedding Wire