These Laxota recipes will appeal to everyone at your table this holiday season
November is Native American Heritage Month and it’s an important opportunity to recognize and honor the original inhabitants of North America. Help kids (and their grown-ups) make that connection by filling their tummies with indigenous cuisine. These Native American recipes are also great for cooking with kids. We caught up with Chef Kimberly Tilsen-Brave Heart of Etiquette Catering in Rapid City, SD for some mouth-watering menu items that incorporate traditional Lakota ingredients.
“As the original inhabitants of this land, it is important to teach all children the significance of indigenous foods, history, and existence,” says Chef Kimberly Tilsen-Brave Heart. “We all reside upon the ancestral lands of indigenous people.”
With full recipes below, Chef Tilsen-Brave Heart has curated a special menu for Native American Heritage Month and beyond. The following mouth-watering dishes incorporate ingredients like pumpkin and bison, which are major food staples for the Lakota people. You’ll also find foods like cranberries and rice that are also indigenous ingredients.
Magic Pumpkin Squash Soup
Ingredients:
1 large butternut squash
1 tbsp. garlic powder
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Olive oil
1 stick of butter
1 medium yellow onion
1 can organic pumpkin puree
2 cups coconut milk
4 cups chicken broth or vegetable stock
Roasted pumpkin seeds (for topping)
Instructions:
Roast a large peeled and cubed butternut squash at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.
Sprinkle with 1 tbsp of garlic powder, sprinkle kosher salt, and cracked black pepper
Toss with olive oil and put in on a baking sheet before putting in the oven
1 stick of butter melted with a chopped medium yellow onion, sprinkle with some salt until translucent.
Braise 2 lbs of Buffalo meat (1-inch cubes) with half an onion (fine chop), in a warmed stockpot with 3-4 tbsp. olive oil
Spice 1 tbsp. garlic powder, 2 tbsp. kosher salt, 1 tsp. black pepper, 1 tsp. paprika, 1/2 tsp. turmeric, and 3-4 bay leaves
After browned, add Mirepoix (chopped onions, carrots, celery), and a can of diced tomatoes
Add 2 cups of water or stock/broth and simmer on medium-low heat for 30-45 mins or until tender. (Stir occasionally, more water or stick/broth may be needed) times will vary with the size of the meat and location
When meat is tender add 6-8 cups of beef broth/stock or water and bring back to boil 6-8 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces or bigger
Cook an additional 15-20 minutes until potatoes are fork-tender
Remove from heat and let stand for 10-15 minutes, serve
With a preschooler and toddler at home, it seems like someone in my house is always sick. My girls are exposed to a million germs a day between school and all of their activities. No amount of hand washing can spare us completely.
As a busy mom, I have no time for sick days that render me useless to my girls! When the sniffles strike (again and again and again) I have a secret weapon. This cold-busting wellness tea is super intense but if you drink the whole pot you will wake up the next morning feeling like a new person!
This tea is loaded with vitamin C from all the citrus, anti-inflammatories from the ginger, and turmeric while the dash of cayenne gives this tea a real kick.
Cold-Busting Wellness Tea
Ingredients:
1 orange
1 lemon
1 grapefruit
1 lime
1 cup water
1 T cinnamon
1 T turmeric
1 tsp cayenne
Several pieces of fresh ginger (the more the better!)
Raw honey (optional)
Directions:
Juice the orange, lemon, grapefruit and lime.
Add the citrus juices, water, cinnamon, turmeric, cayenne and fresh ginger to a pot and heat on medium-low heat for 20 to 30 minutes.
Sweeten to taste with raw honey and drink.
It is best to drink the entire pot if possible to maximize results and hopefully keep your home cold-free this cold and flu season.
I am a born and bred New Yorker trying to balance life as a mom of two, writer, wellness coach and fitness enthusiast. If I'm not chasing my girls at the playground, you’ll find me shopping the farmer’s market, checking out the latest boutique fiitness craze or blogging for mercer+green.
Some children are picky eaters, while others gobble down practically everything in sight. For those parents who struggle with getting their kids to eat, mealtime can feel nightmarish. Lucky for you, change is possible. Prepare to turn even the most challenging appetites into miniature foodies.
Here are 7 creative ways to feed your kids:
1. Use Fun Utensils. If you have a fussy eater, now’s the time to buy those adorable kid’s utensils you’ve been eyeing at the store. There are forks shaped like airplanes, trucks made to hold tacos, and even plates that make eating a game!
Honestly, with devices like this, mealtime should be just as much fun as playtime.
2. Make Tasty Treats. This tip is twofold. Firstly, if your kids don’t have food restrictions, get in the habit of cooking adult food. Season it as you would your own food and demonstrate how much you enjoy eating it. This is likely to make your youngsters curious enough to try it.
If they grow up eating bland kiddie food, you’ll have a greater challenge transitioning them to adult foods. However, keep in mind that people frequently use salt to season their dishes. While you may appreciate the taste, children require very little sodium in their diet. Instead, focus on other healthy seasonings like turmeric, garlic, and ginger.
Secondly, offer your children dessert if they finish the food on their plate. Frozen fruit smoothies and popsicles can be a sweet but healthy end to their meal. Pretty much every kid has a sweet tooth — making a tasty treat the perfect incentive for them to finish their veggies.
3. Space Out Meals. The human body has limits on how much it can eat at a time. If your child had a big lunch, they might not be as hungry at dinnertime. Space out the meals and offer nutritious snacks throughout the day. Babies usually feed every one to three hours, while toddlers and older kids will eat a mixture of snacks and larger meals each day.
4. Cook Together. Do your children help in the kitchen while you prepare their meals? Cooking together is a terrific way to teach them about nutrition. As they help you prep dishes, they can try new ingredients. By involving them in the process, you are sparking their interest and imagination. If they’ve helped you make the dish, they’ll be much more likely to try the food.
As a bonus, your children learn vital life skills that will be useful when they move out of the house. Many people struggle with cooking, and teaching your kids will help them cultivate these skills early.
5. Form Interesting Shapes. You can transform most foods into something fun and interesting with a cookie cutter or stencil. Everyone knows that a star-shaped lunch is much more fun to eat than a basic square sandwich! You can apply this same method to other foods like fruits and vegetables.
If the ingredients are difficult to cut, you can position them on the plate to form an image or word. Even a simple smiley face is more enjoyable than shapeless blobs of food. While distracted by the unusual designs, your kids won’t mind feeding themselves. For an educational twist, ask them to name the icons you made.
Easy shapes to create include:
Stars
Triangles
Letters
Numbers
Faces
6. Invent Wild Names. Sticking with the theme of making mealtime fun and exciting, try inventing wild new names to pique your child’s curiosity. These can range from entirely different words to fun descriptions that will make trying new things an adventure.
Some examples include:
Broccoli, also known as miniature trees.
Bananas, also known as monkey food.
Grapes, also known as tiny juice balloons.
Carrots, also known as x-ray vision carrots.
Pretzels, also known as tree branches.
7. Eat at the Same Time. Do you eat at the same time as your child? Some parents choose to eat separately because they’ve only had time to prepare their kid’s meal and not their own. Break this habit by cooking more meals that are suitable for the entire family. A quick toss in the food processor will make atypical meals soft enough for your toddler to enjoy. However, make sure to follow safety suggestions regarding portion size and consistency to avoid potential choking hazards.
Besides encouraging your kids to try new foods, eating at the same time teaches them the importance of family mealtime. They’ll learn they have to wait at the table while everyone is finishing, which means they’ll have more time to nibble on their leftovers.
Look Forward to Mealtime
Using these creative tricks, your kids will be looking forward to mealtime. Remember to stay positive as you try these various methods with your family. Some will be more successful than others, but the key is to remain enthusiastic and optimistic. Children can sense things, and if you’re worried or stressed, it could impact their actions.
Keep an open mind, and feel free to try variations of these ideas. Maybe bright colors will interest your child more than fun shapes—do what works for you and your family!
Jennifer Landis is a mom, wife, freelance writer, and blogger. She enjoys long naps on the couch, sneaking spoonfuls of peanut butter when her kid's not looking, and binge watching Doctor Who while her kid's asleep. She really does like her kid, though, she promises. Find her on Twitter @JenniferELandis.
Disney Parks are well on their way to opening but as we gear up for safely returning to the magic, the company is releasing a new recipe that’s perfect for Father’s Day. Get ready to feast on Honey-Coriander Chicken Wings!
The recipe, which hails from ‘Ohana at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, is a mixture of spicy, nutty and sweet which means everyone in the family will enjoy. On the stickier side, it’s great served a la carte or with a delightful dipping sauce!
photo: Disney Parks
Some of the flavorful spices in this recipe include paprika, black pepper, turmeric, ground cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Disney has shared the recipe for both the wings plus a honey sauce that is a must.
Click here for a printable version of this finger-lickin’ recipe.
Starbucks is getting us excited for spring with a pop of color. This season, Starbucks is introducing two new coconut milk based iced drinks. The Iced Pineapple Matcha and Iced Golden Ginger Drinks are the perfect pair to get us ready for warmer weather.
The Iced Pineapple Matcha Drink features premium matcha green tea shaken with flavors of pineapple and ginger along with coconut milk and ice. The Iced Golden Ginger Drink features ginger, pineapple and turmeric flavors, shaken with coconut milk and ice.
Another drink rounding out the new spring offerings is the Nitro Cold Brew with Salted Honey Cold Foam. This Nitro Cold Brew is topped with salted honey cold foam and a strike of toasted honey.
We work hard to be good moms. We do our research, give up sleep, and ensure our kids have the best chance at health, happiness, and success. At a minimum, we hope product choices we find are honest in their offerings, giving us one less thing to worry about.
This is why we’re taken aback when we hear news stories that shake the foundation of these facts. Like the latest news from the CDC that found that kids under a year are eating the equivalent of seven teaspoons of sugar PER DAY. That’s more than the recommended sugar intake for adults! What? How? The last thing we want to do is train our kids to crave sweet foods like candy, leading to the risk of diabetes, childhood obesity, and heart disease.
And yet, if we take a hard look at the history of baby food commercialization and the marketing tactics still used today, we find clues that explain how we got here.
I asked Amy Bentley, NYU Professor and author of Inventing Baby Food, about the history of baby food advertising. Here are 5 surprising facts you should know before you purchase food for your baby:
“DOCTOR RECOMMENDED” WAS A CLEVER AD PLOY
Original baby food advertisers latched on to the popularity of “expert culture” during the rise of organizations like the American Medical Association. Big baby food brands began to use “Doctor Recommended” as a way to advertise and sell their products, but what consumers didn’t know was that these health claims were often paid for. What was meant to be “better for your baby” was not always as transparent as it seemed. This continues to be a common practice among big brands today.
MOM GUILT PLAYED A BIG ROLE IN MARKETING
A big trend during the first half of the 20th century was to guilt moms into buying jars of baby food by suggesting that time spent making baby food meant less time taking care of husbands. True story. Cue the eyeroll!
THE SOLID FOODS DILEMMA
During the 1950s, Doctors began to encourage feeding solid foods after just one month (you read that right: ONE MONTH). Some doctors even pushed for solids just days after birth. Baby food marketers jumped on the bandwagon and capitalized on the opportunity to sell more jars.
MARKETING HAS HISTORICALLY CENTERED AROUND BLAND BABY FOODS
White rice cereal and bland foods were once the gold baby food standard. But it’s now known that broadening your baby’s palate is important, and spices like cardamom, cumin, garlic, ginger, and turmeric help them develop taste. Not much has been done from an industry perspective to spice up baby food, which is why bland foods still dominate the grocery aisle.
SUGAR HAS ALWAYS BEEN A PROBLEM
Since the beginning of commercial production in the early 20th century, the problem with baby food has been added ingredients to make kids’ food more attractive. More recently, sugars from fruit predominate, meaning that products with less than one serving of kale can be marketed as a “healthy and organic” vegetable flavor.
While learning about marketing tactics and the history of baby food may be frustrating, understanding how we got here empowers us to make better choices. Knowing that most baby foods primarily use fruit sugars in kid’s products—even those marketed as veggie flavors—makes us aware of the problem and smarter about how we read labels. Always review nutritional information carefully and remember that in order to raise healthy eaters, we have to teach them to eat healthily.
Contrary to popular belief, kids are not born picky eaters. Picky eating is a learned behavior, so the more we focus on training their palates to accept a variety of flavors, the more kids can learn to enjoy bitter, tangy, earthy and savory foods that ease their transition to table foods and family meals. Try to skip or minimize the sugars in everyday foods and keep in mind that with a lot of practice and exposure, kids can learn to eat almost anything. Eating healthy is hard work and a long-term commitment that starts as early as a baby’s very first bite and continues through the rest of our lives.
I'm the Founder & CEO of Fresh Bellies baby food brand. I've won foodie awards, pitched to Shark Tank and appeard on Forbes and CNBC. Originally from Guayaquil, Ecuador, I live in New York with my husband, Fernando and daughters, Isabella and Alexa Luna.
In the world of plant-based proteins that appeal to people of all ages, hummus is a perennial favorite—and rightfully so. It’s an always flavorful sandwich spread and a dip for the ages (as we all know, kids just love to dip). And, yes, you can pick it up at a store and it will serve its purpose just fine.
Once you’ve blended your own chickpea chowder (catchy, right?), it might be hard to go back. So, how do you make hummus? There’s more than one way! All it takes is a blender (or a food processor) and a few minutes. Here’s our no-fail guide on how to hummus like a chickpea champ.
The Basic Ingredients
A pretty classic take is chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and paprika, but here’s another one that’s easy and delicious!
Put this in a blender (or food processor) and adjust amounts to taste:
Roasted eggplant (4 Japanese)
Tahini, about 1/3 cup
1 can garbanzo beans with about half of the liquid
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tbsp sea salt
Juice of 1 lemon
Olive oil (about 1/4 cup)
Mint leaves (about 30 leaves)
Turmeric, 1 tsp
Blend until smooth, surround with whatever you want to dip–pita bread, crackers, vegetables—there you go!
How to Take It Up One Pinkalicious Notch
And now, for something gorgeously garbanzo, not to mention spectacularly easy. Who doesn’t want to eat something pleasantly pink that’s healthy and plant-based? Beet hummus checks all the boxes. It tastes fantastic, its full of protein and it makes quite the design statement.
Here’s the drill: Roast one small beet—yes, just one—or even boil it. (Cook for 30 to 40 minutes either way.)
Toss it in the blender with basic hummus ingredients: chick peas, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper (see above). Add your ingredient to taste.
If you’re allergic to tahini or you don’t like it lemony or garlicky, drop one of those ingredients. It’ll be alright. And it’ll be pink.
We're Shelley Onderdonk and Rebecca Bloom. A veterinarian and a lawyer-turned-writer walk into a kitchen… We aren’t chefs and that’s exactly the point. We have a lot to share about food-smart living with our own young-adult children and other people and their children, too. Together, we wrote The Anti-Cookbook: Easy, Thrifty Recipes for Food-Smart Living.
It’s been a long day and a slice of pie for dinner sounds delightful. You consider the local options that accommodate your family’s plant-based diet and feel disappointment descend. Then you remember a friend mentioning a new alternative pizza joint opening on SE Division this past summer and you feel a spark of hope. There’s a reason for vegetarian and vegan families to feel excited about the recently-opened Virtuous Pie. This family restaurant is serving up dinner options that will make you want to eat out (or delivery) every night. Read on to find out what’s on the menu tonight.
Virtuous Pie is a Vancouver, BC-based restaurant founded in 2015 with mission of promoting the plant-based diet by creating food options that are affordable, fast and delicious. The goal is to promote positive change with food that is both good for the body as well as the planet.
The dining experience focuses on pizza and ice cream, but you can also enjoy salads and a variety of sips. They even have weekend brunch menu that includes breakfast tacos, sandwiches, bowls and calzones. Delizioso!
The Atmosphere
Virtuous Pie goes out of its way to provide an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome. The staff is exceptionally friendly and there is a family-style eating area in the middle of the diner, and bar and window seating as well. The building is spacious with high ceilings that help hide the noise littles with big voices often have. As we mentioned above, if your kids’ appetites won’t allow them to sit and wait, you can always call in for delivery and enjoy your favorite pie in the comfort of your own home.
The vast majority of the food served at Virtuous Pie is hand crafted and made in-house. The wide variety of pizza options offered is almost as shocking as how incredibly good they are. The Meatball + Chevre Pizza($14) tastes a whole lot like a traditional pie. The kids are sure to love it and you are bound to wonder if the cheese isn’t actually cheese made from dairy. The answer is, “no”! The cheese is nut-based and made in-house as is their three-day dough, which makes incredible crust—not too thick and not too thin.
Some additional slices you should consider giving a try are the tasty Margherita ($10) with it’s San Marzano tomato sauce, cashew mozzarella and fresh basil. This pizza is flavorful but mild-enough that young palates can enjoy it. Stranger Wings ($14), on the other hand, is flavorful, spicy and reminiscent of chicken buffalo wings with all of the buffalo in a crispy fried cauliflower topping—just what the parents needed.
Good news for the gluten intolerant, Virtuous has kept you in mind. You can order your pizzas with Gluten-free crust. Now that’s something to celebrate.
photo: by Annette Benedetti
Dessert
It’s hard to believe you can get full-flavored, creamy ice cream with out even a dash of milk in it, but Virtuous delivers in the frozen dessert department. Choose from a list of options that includes Pumpkin Pie + Pecan, Hawaiian Vanilla, Mint+ Dark Chocolate, Lavender + Lemon, Double Chocolate + Salted Caramel, and our favorite: Turmeric + Black Pepper. That’s right! Turmeric + Black pepper makes for a beautiful yellow scoop that is surprisingly sweet and sure to bring smiles.
If they all sound too good to pick just one, order up a flight ($8) and pick three scoops to enjoy. You may even want to splurge and take pint ($11) home. Another treat on deck is their Ice Cream Sandwich ($8). You’ll love the modern twist on this classic favorite.
Sips
Round out your meal with some local sips. Virtuous has Kombucha on tap ($4/Glass), Heart cold brew ($4), craft soda by Fentimans ($4), and coconut water ($3). On the boozy side they offer wine, beer and cider on tap as well as cans of beer.
Insider Tip: This is a big one…you don’t have to be vegan or vegetarian to enjoy this restaurant! Their pies will please foodies with all dietary leanings. Go ahead meat-eaters, give it a try. You’ll thank us.
Virtuous Pie
1126 SE Division St.,
Portland
503-334-2073
Online: virtuouspie.com
Have you been to Virtuous Pie? What’s your favorite slice? Share it with us in the comments below.
Add the oil, then the onions, garlic, paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and turmeric.
Cook just until the spices become fragrant, then add the tomato paste. Cook for about an additional 1 – 2 minutes.
Add the eggplant, poblano pepper, and mushrooms and cook until the vegetables are softened.
Add the crushed tomatoes, and salt (you may not need much as the feta is quite salty) then cook for another 4 – 5 minutes.
Add in the feta cheese in small clumps throughout the mixture. Make sure the cheese is submerged into the tomato sauce.
Create 5 wells in the pan and add the eggs into the wells.
Lightly run your spatula into the whites to break it slightly and allow it to incorporate some of the tomato. Leave the yolks whole.
Cook for about 2 – 5 minutes, depending on how hard you want the egg whites.
Cover and cook for 1 minute to lightly cook the top of the egg whites, but not much longer, or else you risk cooking the yolks.
Sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper over the eggs and serve hot with a side of bread.
At Eggland’s Best, their commitment is to produce a more nutritious egg, which is also the finest, freshest, and most delicious egg possible. From unique hen feed and strict quality standards to their network of USDA-inspected local farms all over the United States, you can be confident that a classic, organic, or cage-free egg with the EB stamp on the shell is a nutritionally superior egg that delivers farm-fresh taste.