A Christmas Tree of Vegetables for Kids

This post brought to you by Frozen Food Foundation. All opinions are 100% mine.

Fun Vegetables for Kids at Christmas!

The holidays seem to be when my kids (and myself!) eat the least healthy foods.  If it isn’t the rich holiday meals and cookies, it’s take-out or fast food when I’m just too exhausted to get a healthy meal on the table.  So I was all about it when the Frozen Food Foundation challenged me to create a recipe with some produce-packed food from the frozen aisle.  Here’s the fun recipe with lots of vegetables for kids that I came up with…

A Christmas Tree of Vegetables for Kids

The Frozen Food Foundation sent me to the grocery store with coupons for some awesome frozen foods (all of which I already purchase on a regular basis anyway!) – Lean Pockets, Healthy Choice, Marie Callender’s, Birds Eye, Buitoni, Stouffers, and Green Giant.  Each of which includes frozen produce to help get more fruits and veggies in my kids.

 

The frozen foods made my Vegetable Christmas Tree Lunch for the kids super quick and easy.  I just used the microwave to cook the Birds Eye Steamfresh Green Beans and arranged them in a tree shape on a plate.  Then I microwaved the Green Giant Seasoned Steamer Fire Roasted Corn and used the corn and peppers from it as ornaments on the tree.  Finally, I grabbed a mozzarella string cheese from the fridge to use for the tree trunk and snowflakes.  Tada!  A fast and fun lunch full of vegetables for kids!

The Benefits of  Frozen Fruits & Vegetables for Kids

A study conduced by the Frozen Food Foundation and University of Georgia compares the nutrient content of eight commonly purchased frozen and fresh fruits and vegetables: blueberries, strawberries, broccoli, green beans, corn, spinach, cauliflower and green peas.  After analyzing these frozen fruits and vegetables in comparison to fresh-stored (after 5 days of storage in a kitchen refrigerator), they actually found that the nutritional value of the frozen product greater.  For more information and inspiration, make sure to follow the Frozen Food Foundation Facebook and the Frozen Food Foundation Twitter.  So quit feeling guilty, Mamas, for relying on those frozen foods in the freezer!  

More Ways to Get Kids Eating Their Vegetables:

    

What is your favorite fun recipe full of fruits and vegetables for kids?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!

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