Peas & Carrots Podcast and Blog From Fresh Baby

Amazing Asparagus

As the first vegetable of spring, asparagus is ready to harvest weeks before most vegetables even begin to sprout.  Asparagus is a perennial vegetable, which means you plant it once and it will come back every year.  An asparagus plant can continue to produce tasty shoots for up to 20 years. How is that for low maintenance vegetable gardening?

Asparagus is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals.  Nutrients include Vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium, zinc, dietary fiber, protein, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid and Vitamins A, C, E and K.

Asparagus plants do require some patience.  It can take up to three years to produce an edible crop. However, all good things do come to those who wait. You will still have 17 years of edible asparagus as a reward for patience.   I planted asparagus in my garden two years ago and I am getting ready to harvest my first edible crop in a few weeks.  As someone who is new to gardening, I decided asparagus is my favorite crop.  Anything that continues to grow for 20 years is A-Okay with me.

If you prefer to gather your asparagus at the local market, look for asparagus that is displayed upright in water.  If you are not going to eat it right away, store asparagus in the refrigerator upright in a cup with about an inch of water covering the ends, or wrap the ends in a damp paper towel.  You will find fresh asparagus in the markets as early as February, and it will be at its lowest price in April and May.  Buying asparagus when it is in season at a good price and freezing it for later use is a great idea.

Trim the base end of asparagus before cooking.  The best way to do this is to hold the stalk between your thumb and index finger and bend it until it snaps.  This is a fun job to give your kids.

Asparagus can be grilled, steamed, boiled, stir-fried, sautéed, roasted, and pureed in soups, added to eggs, pasta, casseroles… the possibilities are endless with this amazing, nutrient packed first vegetable of spring!

Cream of Asparagus Soup

(From the Fresh Baby So Easy Toddler Cookbook)

 

Ingredients:

 1 pound asparagus, cleaned and chopped

2 Tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced

1 medium potato, peeled and cubed (to save time use 1 cup uncooked frozen hash browns)

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 cup milk

Salt & pepper to taste

 

Directions:

Over medium heat, put oil, onions, and garlic in a large soup pot.  Sauté until soft (about 5 minutes).  Add the asparagus, potato, and soup stock.  Bring to a boil over high heat, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.  Puree the soup until smooth with a hand blender, food processor, or blender.  Stir in the milk.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.

Makes 8-10 toddler servings or 4-5 adult servings

 

 -- Rose Straebel

 

 

 

Fresh Baby Team Member Profile: Rose Straebel

Rose is a member of the Fresh Baby Marketing Team. She contributes to the Fresh Ideas Newsletter and manages reviews for Fresh Baby's newest products. 

 

City: Charlevoix, Michigan

Family: husband, Rob, 2 horses - Sky & Buddy, 1 dog - Abbie

Food favorites:

Drink: Hot green tea with milk

Vegetable: I cannot pick just one. I like all vegetables, except Brussels sprouts.

Fruit: I eat an apple every day, just for the health of it.

Cuisine: I love Italian food!

Meal: Pasta, pasta, pasta. Red sauce, olive oil, cream sauce… it’s all great!

Downtime: If I can call my commute downtime, I like listening to NPR while driving.

Hobbies: I am the office "Health Nut." I have an awesome vegetable garden and I really enjoy sowing, growing, harvesting and eating what I plant.  I also ride horses, run, bike, and cross country ski.

How would you spend your ideal day? Someone would cook, clean and do chores for me.  I would sleep late, do yoga, eat healthy food and spend the day riding horses with my gal pals.

Top tip for healthy eating: Eat lots of vegetables and fruit every day. Remember you are what you eat. Too many processed, high fat, high salt, or high sugar foods will take a toll on your health.

Favorite Mother’s Day activity?  Take my mom out for a delicious brunch and spend the day with her laughing and creating great memories.

Favorite Fresh Baby product and why? My favorite product is the So Easy Freezer Storage Trays.  Using the trays and making homemade baby food helps set the stage for providing a healthy diet from the first bite. 

 

Fresh Baby Team Member: Becky Doan

Becky Doan is the an account manager for Fresh Baby. She lives in Charlevoix, Michigan with her two daughers, Hannah, 18, and Makenna, 15.

Food favorites:

Drink (nonalcoholic): Coke or water

Vegetable: Asparagus

Fruit: Raspberries and strawberries

Meal: Chicken Divan or Salmon with rice

Downtime: I’m usually on the go enjoying life.

Hobbies: I’d like to get back into dirt biking, hanging with friends, swimming, playing cards, long walks and anything electronic.

How would you spend your ideal day? Anything outside in the sun

What is your favorite springtime activity? Getting the yard ready for summer!

Top tip for healthy eating: It starts in the grocery store. I only buy in small quantities sizes and try to stock up on fruit.

Best part of the being a mom: Watching them develop into happy productive young adults with a positive attitude.

Favorite Fresh Baby product: All of Fresh Baby’s Products are unique but I am very excited about our new line of MyPlate products. It teaches portion control in fun ways with our Four-Section Children’s MyPlate, and our Adult Portion MyPlate is a great way to role model. Fresh Baby just launched our MyPlate Children’s 6 Piece Dinnerware Set. It combines healthy eating and being active for mealtime fun!

 

"Like" Us for Exclusive Offers

Have you “liked” our Facebook yet? Join us on Facebook to gain access to exclusive specials, updated monthly.

Currently, we are introducing our NEW Portion Storage Bags and NEW four-section Kid’s Portion Plate and offering 30% these products.

Is easy to to take advantage of this great offer. Simply “Like” us and click the “Exclusive Fan Offer” tab on the left side bar of our Facebook page! See you there.

 

USDA MyPlate Announcement

On June 2^nd, the USDA unveiled ChooseMyPlate, a new icon to promote healthy eating that corresponds with the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans that were released earlier this year.

This simple to understand graphic replaces the Food Pyramid that was introduced in the early 90’s. The plate is a visual reminder of how our daily intake of food should be comprised.  The icon is divided into 5 sections: vegetables, grains, fruits, proteins and dairy. Fruits and vegetables take up half the plate. Along with the new ChooseMyPlate graphic, the USDA offers these key pointers for healthy eating:

• Enjoy your food, but eat less
• Make half of your plate fruit and vegetables
• Avoid large portions
• Choose a smaller plate to help control your portion sizes
• Switch to low-fat or fat-free dairy products
• Compare the sodium content in your foods and choose the lowest.
• Drink water.  Avoid sugary drinks.

Here are a few of our thoughts on the new ChooseMyPlate announcement.

PROS:

• Easy to understand. It’s a plate, enough said.
• Logical and personal. My Plate is a sends that healthy eating starts with you.
• Offers more options. Instead of using the words “meat and beans” the plate now reads proteins which may encourage the consumption fish and vegetarian proteins such as tofu.

CONS: 

• MyPlate is a virtual plate; an idea of what a balanced day of eating should reflect and not necessary a rigid guideline for every meal.  You may see the plate and feel required to eat every food group at every meal. Instead strive to eat this variety and proportion over your total day.
• No pictures. People (especially children) need visual reminders and examples of what each group represents.  Concepts are communicated better through a combination of pictures and words.
• Does dairy need to be its own food group?  It’s a protein, albeit a calcium-rich one.  We’d like to see the dairy included in protein and the blue circle labeled WATER.
• The focus on activity is gone – Perhaps the biggest disappointment.  The steps on the old food pyramid were a great reminder that Healthy Eating and Being Active go hand in hand.

Fresh Baby a USDA Community Partner

At Fresh Baby, we’ve joined the USDA Community Partner Program to help communicate these messages of healthy eating. We like the concept of MyPlate and we know that parents and kids do too.  Since the beginning on the year, we’ve offered our own plate to you and your children. The Fresh Baby Kids Portion Plate is a divided plate providing appropriately-sized section for fruits and vegetables, proteins and grains. Since its announcement, the Kid’s Portion Plate has been a hit, getting rave reviews from parents and children alike. 

“HOW MUCH FOOD DOES MY CHILD NEED TO EAT?”

We hear this question a lot. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines place MAJOR emphasis on portion sizes with one of the main messages being eat less. Appropriately sized meals are a key to reducing your child’s risk of becoming overweight.  Unfortunately, the “size” of food has doubled, tripled and even quadrupled in the last twenty years.  You can find examples of this expansion everywhere - in the supermarket, restaurants, even the movies. 

Here are some examples, based on calorie content alone:

	About 1990	Today
2 Slices of pizza	500 calories	850 calories
Movie popcorn	270 calories	630 calories
Bagel	140 calories	350 calories
Cheeseburger	333 calories	590 calories
Dinner Plate Size	10 inches	12 inches

This increase in American portions doesn’t just fill us with extra calories; it also distorts our perception of what an appropriate portion is. Often referred to as “Portion Distortion,” this distorted food view issue is directly related to how much food we think our children need to eat.

We’ve created a to help you answer the question “How much food should my child be eating?”  Place it on the refrigerator or another central place in your kitchen as a reminder.  Correct portion sizes, for everyone, is a big step on the road to healthy eating.

We hope this guide offers you a fresh perspective as you look at your child’s dinner plate tonight.   Download Fresh Baby Portion Size Tip Sheet PDF

PLATE SPECIAL

To celebrate the announcement of ChooseMy Plate.gov , we’d like to offer all of our Facebook Fans 40% off your own Fresh Baby’s Kids Portion Plate. 

Not a Facebook fan?  Head on over HERE and “like” our page. Once you’ve joined us, click on “Exclusive Fan Offer” in the left sidebar to get your special PROMO code.

Offer ends 6/30/11.

FaceBook - Seeing Fresh Baby Posts

Did you “like” Fresh Baby on Facebook, but are not seeing Fresh Baby posts on your news feed page?

The "New Facebook" has a newsfeed setting that by default is automatically set to show ONLY posts from people/fanpages who you've recently interacted with or interacted the most with (in the past few weeks). So in other words, unless you have commented on one of our posts within the past few weeks - you are not getting notified about new posts from us. The GOOD NEWS is that you can change this…

HERE'S THE FIX: On your FaceBook homepage click the "Most Recent" title on the right of the Newsfeed, then click on the drop down arrow beside it and select "Edit Options", click on "Show Posts From" and change the setting to "All Of Your Friends and Pages" (Note: Business Fan pages do not have a newsfeed however page owners should adjust the settings on their personal accounts.

Here are some screen shots to help you out:

 
 

 

Introducing New Products from Fresh Baby

Safe, Sustainable Serving Ware Help Parents Make a Statement

Fresh Baby introduces new products that offer convenience and portability for serving fresh food

More and more, parents are beginning to look past the dim jar-lined shelves to the bright-colored rows of fresh produce for their baby’s nutrition.  A task that used to appear daunting to stay-at-home and working moms alike is becoming increasingly popular.  As the focus shifts back to family, buying local and cooking fresh, parents are taking a closer look at those first foods, both how they are prepared and how they are served.  Safety and sustainability are important, but cost, functionality and style shouldn’t be left behind.

As a follow-up to its line of products and books that help parents and caregivers easily prepare their own baby food, navigate through toddler dining and create healthy eating habits for life, Fresh Baby introduces a new line to proudly and safely serve every fresh-prepared meal and snack.

Homemade with Love offers stylish, functional, safe and sustainable serving ware that meets the needs of today’s progressive parent.  The So Easy Baby Bowl and So Easy Divided Dish not only provides portability to the foods prepared at home, but also are great for storage and serving.

Both the bowl and dish are spill-proof with airtight lids, keeping food fresh, while helping to maintain the desired temperature for longer periods of time.  Not only do they meet the needs of parent and baby, but the fun design is stylish and makes a statement, showing everyone that you are proud to be making your baby’s meals.

The inner bowl (or dish) is constructed of safe, durable 18/8 Stainless Steel, protecting food from potentially hazardous chemicals that can be in plastics.  The outer body is made of non-toxic polypropylene and is free of BPA, phthalates, lead and plasticizers.  This unique, double construction is designed to allow for separation when washing, while also keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold longer than traditional plastic containers.  Both feature a spill-proof, airtight lid and are dishwasher and freezer safe.

The solid construction of the So Easy Baby Bowl and Divided Dish make for a durable product.  From pureed peas to lunch box treats, these are the only dishes you will ever need to buy.

Fresh Baby Supports Parent’s Efforts to Raise Healthier Eaters

New Product Helps Parents Provide Variety, Balance and Moderation at Mealtime

On January 31, 2011, The USDA released The Dietary Guidelines for Americans.  Updated every 5 years, , these new guidelines urge Americans to make significant changes to their eating habits including increasing intake of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.   The call to action also recognizes the need to help facilitate behavioral changes and set the stage for lifelong healthy eating beginning with children as young as 2 years old.

It’s easy to see what needs to happen, but parents need help to make it happen.  In addition to making healthy choices readily available, parents need support to provide variety, balance and most importantly appropriate portion sizes for their children’s meals. Fresh Baby is proud to introduce a new product to our So Easy collection that will provide the support parents need to offer variety, balance and moderation at mealtimes while educating their children on healthy eating habits for life. 

The Kid’s Portion Plate is designed to help parents make mealtime easy, healthy and fun with three divided sections that are appropriately sized for fruits and vegetables, proteins and whole grains.  Additionally, the easy-to-read, colorful theme emphasizes a healthy lifestyle of being active and eating a rainbow of colors.   This new product enables parents to provide their children with the variety necessary among the USDA recommended food groups, while balancing the amount needed of each food and moderatingthe portion size their child’s meal.

The durable, dishwasher-safe plate is 100 percent melamine, containing NO lead, BPA or phthalate.

The Kid’s Portion Plate is available in English and Spanish and sold individually or combined with the So Easy Toddler Food Cookbook.   The cookbook is 48 pages of family-friendly, simple recipes that make it easy and fun to provide healthy meals.  It includes 35 recipes with full color photos and USDA nutrition facts information as well as guidelines and tips, including advice on how to convert a picky eater.

The plate is available for purchase on www.freshbaby.com and at major online retailers and independent baby and children’s boutiques beginning in March.

For More Information Contact:

Nannette Melamed

Nannette@freshbaby.com

(770) 374-3966

NEW! So Easy Toddler Food

 
Many parents have asked us to write a cookbook that goes beyond baby food. We are delighted to release the first in a series of cookbooks for toddlers.

So Easy Toddler Food offers 48 recipes using common, affordable ingredients easily found in grocery stores. Everything about this book is family-friendly: dishes are easy to prepare and delicious. There's also Nutrition Facts for each recipe and it's available in Spanish too.

The bright, contemporary design and beautiful photography makes cooking easy. The introduction offers a survival guide with tips for dealing with the unique eating behaviors of toddlers and covers the basic of cooking for those who are new to the kitchen.

Click here to pick up your today. 

Want America to be a Climate Leader?

Need a little added inspiration to get involved? How about winning Awesome Prizes!

The great folks at WE ADD UP have organized the World’s Biggest Green Sweepstakes! Sign up today and you could win green prizes from your favorite companies – including FRESH BABY! When you enter to win, you will also receive a nifty, weekly email with a simple and easy call to action and real things that you can do to make your life greener. If everyone does something, it all adds up.

This sweepstakes could not have better timing. In December, World leaders will be meeting in Copenhagen to hopefully come to an international agreement on the world-wide reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. If the USA is going to truly be a leader, our leaders need to hear from us now. So, let’s realize our power and show that we add up.

We are thrilled to be participating in this great event. There will be over 230 winners in the Climate Action Giveaway and each prize will help you lead a more sustainable lifestyle.

Enter to Win today!