Dark Green and Orange Vegetables

When I went grocery shopping on Saturday, I made a point to buy dark green and orange vegetables. A study that was published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association last year indicated that Americans are far from meeting their daily recommended fruit and vegetable intake, especially for dark green and orange vegetables. I checked out MyPyramid, the new and personalized version of the Food Guide Pyramid, and noticed that the recommendation for children 2-3 years old is 1 cup of fruit and 1 cup of vegetables every day. Since Caroline is only (almost) 16 months old, I know that she doesn't need this much. But she'll be 2 years old before I know it so I am trying to get her into the habit of eating lots of fruits and vegetables. The childcare center menu does include a limited variety of fruits and vegetables but I noticed last week that the menu doesn't veer far from California vegetables (which I assume is at most a mix of carrots, peas, zucchini, broccoli, and cauliflower), carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cucumber. I know that I am supposed to be mimicking the childcare center menus but frankly, I'd like to introduce Caroline to a larger variety of vegetables, especially non-starchy vegetables. So, this weekend, I loaded up my cart with a nice variety of produce including collard greens, winter squashes, and bok choy (all locally grown). I know Caroline likes winter squash and bok choy but collard greens will be new for her.

Caroline's Lunchbox Menu, November 19: Breakfast - O's, peaches (canned this summer), Lunch - marinated and baked tofu, steamed bok choy, brown rice; Snacks - Bartlett pear