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great northern beans

#52newfoods Challenge: Sweet Fire Chilli

October 21, 2014 by Dana

Dana Carvell (3BoysUnprocessed)
One of the most common questions I get regarding healthier eating habits is “Do your kids really eat that stuff?”

In short, the answer is yes! They do. However, they are all their own little selves, so  there are some exceptions to that statement. After all, my kids aren’t heath-food robots and neither am I. We are a real family, trying to live a healthier lifestyle by cutting processed foods and cooking from scratch. Believe me, some days go better then others, but what I know at the end of the day is everything my kids eat in our home is home cooked, real food. Nothing comes from a package, they don’t eat boxed cereals and pop-tarts for breakfast, and I cook nearly every single meal from scratch. I also have the job of being a mom, in my home, where my food goals are easily attainable. Not to mention, I am already a trained pastry chef and cook, so cooking form scratch was never an issue for me. However, I would be foolish if I thought this was everyone’s life, and I know busy families will quickly fail if the only advice they are given is “cook from scratch.”


Removing processed foods from my household didn’t happen over-night. I was desperate to loose my baby weight, and I knew the key to doing that was getting rid of packaged stuff and replacing it with fresh stuff. Little by little my husband and I made smarter choices, came home from the grocery store with more produce, and started incorporating new foods into our family dinners. When my husband was grocery shopping alone I would ask him to bring home one mystery item for me to create a new recipe with, and to encourage all of us to try something new.

When I started sharing pictures on Facebook of what I was feeding my toddler for lunch, people were instantly interested.

” How do you get your kids to eat that stuff and how can I learn to do the same thing?” came from just about everyone I knew.

Unfortunately I don’t really have any fun or interesting answers! I changed the way we ate little by little, and began cooking everything from scratch instead of using convenience items. The more and more I read ingredient labels, the more I understood just how much food companies take a simple item and turn it into something horrible and unhealthy. I also realized relying on marketing wasn’t going to cut it. I began realizing the more items I purchased THAT DIDN’T EVEN HAVE PACKAGES, the easier making healthy choices became.

Since starting the blog I’ve been on the look-out for helpful ideas for parents trying to solve the never ending mystery that is getting their kids to try new foods. I know every family has their own story, way of life, and eating habits so I was really looking for something that was relatable to all families. When I came across Jennifer Tyler Lee’s new book: The 52 New Foods Challenge, I knew this book was exactly what I was searching for!

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The Book

Have you ever considered forgetting about pushing “healthy” foods and just asking your kids to play a game with you? How about pitting your oldest against your youngest to see who can eat the most colors and score the most points? What if broccoli and kale scored higher so they were now the most sought after foods at the dinner table?

I know, I know, it sounds crazy but when I was reading The 52 New Foods Challenge, I started thinking “Why didn’t I think of this before?” My boys absolutely LOVE to out-do each other and dinner time is no exception.

What about considering taking just one hour a week and putting it toward trying something new? No need to completely over-haul your life, just one baby step at a time, and you will be reaching your food goals in no time! Can you imagine next year at this time if your kids were familiar with 52 new fruits and veggies that you could now incorporate into your family dinners?

The 52 New Foods Challenge lays all of this out in a fun and exciting new way to deal with food. No more stressful evenings fighting with your children about why they won’t eat their veggies! Not only does Jennifer explain the game, the point system, and the foods, she also talks about how she plans her meals and packs lunches. Last but not least, Jennifer suggests NO SNEAKING! This was one of my favorite things in the book because I feel the same way. Foods don’t count if your kids can’t see them, and feel their texture.

*For more about Jennifer Tyler Lee’s new book The 52 New Food Challenge, check out her website here!

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The Recipe

One amazing thing about The 52 New Foods Challenge is that the foods are listed in season. We try to eat in season as much as we can because I can get a ton of produce at local markets, and it is cheaper! I also prefer food that comes from my area, and eating in season makes this goal really attainable.

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Sweet potatoes have long been a staple in our household. When my son was a baby I started feeding him sweet potatoes and he’s been loving them ever since. When he was small I would steam them really soft, and when he got a older I made fries with them. I still make my kids sweet potato fries a few times a week because I know for sure they will always, always eat them! Most of the time they are gone before I even get a chance to grab one!

When sweet potatoes became a staple in our home they started finding their way into our family dinners, and when I put them in chilli I knew I had a winner on my hands. It was absolutely the best chilli I had ever made, and I have been making chilli with sweet potatoes ever since! When I was thinking of a fall recipe to share, I knew this Sweet-Fire Chilli had to be the one. I take fire roasted tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and great northern beans to make a colorful, delicious dinner that your whole family will love. My kids love the color, I love the nutrition, and everyone loves the cheese and sour cream we get to put on top. 🙂 How many colors can you count in the bowl?

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Jennifer also suggests getting kids involved with food preparation, so I let the kiddos cut up their dessert, a fruit salad. The used baby oranges, strawberries, and pomegranate seeds to mix together to make themselves a snack after school. They had fun eating their fruit as they were cutting, and even helped me with some of the tomatoes for the chilli. It actually went a lot smoother then I thought it would because typically I don’t let them help.

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Filed Under: Entrees, Recipes

Mediterranean Orzo and White Bean Salad

August 12, 2014 by Dana

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Truth be told, I learned something about myself today. I don’t know how to spell the word Mediterranean. I tried many times. Is it two d’s? Two t’s? Heck I have no clue, I still don’t think I could spell it right if I wanted to! I’m not even convinced Google knows how to spell it.  Thank you auto-correct! Regardless, that doesn’t take away from how much I love this pasta salad! *Insert blogger sales pitch about how amazing this pasta salad is* The orzo, the feta, the veggies, the beans, the salty sweetness, I mean really it is just a party in a bowl all around. I searched high and low for whole wheat orzo because I wrongly assumed it was a thing. Why wouldn’t every grocery store carry it? We are living in 2014, you know… the future, where people have woken up to the fact that the bleaching and enriching process is poo-poo! Thankfully, my search ended at Wegman’s where I ran into a box of whole wheat orzo and the rest is history.


I have been making pasta salads all summer because they are quick, easy, and able to pack protein and veggies. I love putting pasta salads over spinach or greens and eating it for lunch (no dressing required). My lunch is usually just shoving some food in my face because I’m too busy feeding hungry boys to even think about what I am eating. Even though I’m home with them I can relate to the people at day jobs who feel too busy to eat and a lunch like this is a great solution. You don’t have to fiddle around with those stupid plastic dressing containers, or a bunch of baggies. Throw some spinach and pasta salad in a container and you have a meal in a bowl. One bowl, one spoon/fork and there you have it!

medsalad

The dressing for this salad is a mix of a few bold flavors, which is what makes is so good! Whole grain mustard, tomato paste, and red wine vinegar come together to create the perfect companion for olives and feta. My husband’s grandparents hooked us up with some yellow tomatoes and they were super sweet and complimented the saltiness of this salad perfectly. If you can’t find a sweeter tomato, I would suggest adding a few extra sun dried tomatoes, or even a handful of dried cranberries to give the salad a nice balance.

I struggled with what to call this flavor bomb, but I think Mediterranean White Bean and Orzo Salad about sums it up, right? Sheesh I really need to start getting more creative but it seemed better then “The Best EVER Pasta Salad Recipe!” agreed? 😉

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Filed Under: Recipes, Sides

White Bean Tacos (With Avacado Cilantro-Lime Sauce)

May 27, 2014 by Dana

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I love mixing things up with meatless Monday meals! We were on our way home from a trip with the in-laws for Memorial Day weekend and we spent a good part of the day traveling. I can’t even explain how tired I was when we arrived home. The latte I had on the way home just wasn’t cutting it! Needless to say we arrived home with nothing to eat and take-out was calling my name. The problem with take-out though is NOTHING fits our lifestyle. We have not found any places in our area that don’t serve refined food bombs, so take-out for us is almost non-existent. We do bend the rules once in a while but  I’m always left feeling really drained after eating highly refined foods. My body quickly reminds me how much it doesn’t like bad food choices, and I always experience pretty bad “crashes”. This is reason enough for me to stick with the good stuff because with 3 kids I need energy, and I was already drained from traveling.


I pinned the Avocado Cilantro-Lime Sauce from The Garden Grazer on the way home from our trip, which she paired with another bean taco recipe (thanks for the inspiration!). I switched a few things up with the bean filling and it was amazing. My kids didn’t even question the fact that the tacos weren’t beef and after I ate 2 tacos the only words I could utter were “I really needed that.” The best part was, it took about 5 minutes to make the filling and another 5 for the sauce. 10 minutes to an amazing and healthy meal is where it is at!

I should also mention that we are really choosey when it comes to taco shells. We purchase certified Non-GMO shells from Garden of Eatin because they are Non-GMO and do not contain soybean oil. They are a dollar or two more then the big name brands but the extra money is worth it when you are getting a quality product from a good company. We also love their blue corn tortilla chips!

*Here is a link to the strained tomatoes I use, that are jarred instead of canned. This product is about as good as fresh as it gets, and contains no added salt! LOVE IT!

Filed Under: Entrees, Recipes Tagged With: great northern beans, tacos

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I'm Dana! Foodie + Photographer. Momma of 5. Baby lover. Coffee addict. Cooking through the chaos one recipe at a time! I've built this food blog out of a desire to create and share. My time spend around the table with my family and friends means the world to me. My hope is that you get to feel that too!

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Foodie + Photographer. Momma of 5. I've built this food blog out of a desire to create and share. I feel most alive when I'm talking with family and friends around the table. My hope is that you get to feel that too!

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