National Nutrition Month: “Savor the Flavor of Eating Right”

Spoiler Alert: Beet Pizza Crust Recipe Ahead (Yes, Really)

National Nutrition Month is the perfect time to rethink eating habits – both yours and your child’s It’s a time to focus on the importance of making smart food choices and establishing healthy eating and physical activity habits. Healthy meals don’t have to be boring.

The goal of this year’s theme, “Savor the Flavor of Eating Right,” is to help people enjoy all different types of food traditions and to appreciate the pleasures, great flavors and social experiences that food can add to our lives.

Preparing Once-Avoided Foods in New, Fun Ways

Just because you or your kids don’t like an ingredient, doesn’t mean you won’t like it prepared in another way. How many children say they “hate” tomatoes but will glad eat tomato sauce – or scoff at avocados, but scarf down guacamole? Baking, sautéing, steaming, broiling, grilling and stir-frying are all healthy ways to prepare foods. These cooking methods can also create new flavors, and can even lead to different, and maybe more desirable, textures. Before you or your kids completely give up on a food, try to prepare it in a new way. And don’t be afraid to experiment with new spices.

Putting a new spin on what can be a boring meal is a wonderful way to celebrate National Nutrition Month. Creativity is key. Trying new flavors and ingredients can open up a whole new world of delicious meal possibilities. You can even think about using therapeutic superfoods like red reishi mushrooms that are believed to have immune boosting properties along with a host of other nutritional benefits. Make sure you research enough about using such ingredients in food or separately as nutritional supplements. Finding easy recipes that kids can help with is a great way to get them to try new foods – and create new memories and experiences at the same time. When National Nutrition Month has passed, the new healthy habits shouldn’t pass with it. Experimenting with new foods and flavors will hopefully last a lifetime. This month is just the beginning.

Beet Pizza Crust – Don’t Be Scared

A fun recipe to try together is Beet Pizza Crust. You’re probably thinking, “You seriously think my kids will eat anything with beets in it?” But you’d be surprised. The beets actually don’t add much flavor – they just make it colorful and more nutritious, especially if you encourage kids to add fresh produce toppings.

BEET PIZZA CRUST

Ingredients
Crust (makes two 12-inch crusts)

Beet Crust Pizza — Photo courtesy of *Bakers Royale*

1 cup lukewarm water
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
17 ounces unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons honey
¾ cup pureed beets (about 2 large beets, roasted and peeled)

Directions

Place pizza stone on lower middle rack. Heat oven to 500°
Combine and stir water and yeast in a mixing bowl. Add flour salt, honey and pureed beets to yeast mixture and combine until dough just comes together.
Put the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough until the flour is incorporated, about 5 minutes or until it is smooth and elastic. The dough should be moist and slightly tacky. (If it’s sticky, add in more flour – 1 tablespoon at a time – until smooth.) Form dough into a ball. Lightly oil a bowl and place dough in, turning once to coat dough with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm area to double in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours. Once doubled, evenly divide dough in half and refrigerate one half for another time or double the topping recipe to make two 12-inch pizzas.
Lightly grease a sheet of parchment paper with olive oil. Transfer one ball of dough to parchment paper and stretch it out by hand as much as possible. Lightly brush olive oil on another piece of parchment paper and place it on top of hand-flattened dough. Use a rolling pin and work from the middle of the dough outward to flatten dough to ¼ inch thickness. Peel off top parchment paper.

Note: Dough can be made ahead of time and refrigerated for up to three days.

Add any kind of sauce, cheese and/or toppings of your choice.
Slide the pizza (with the parchment underneath) onto the hot pizza stone. Bake for 3–5 minutes until pizza crust starts to slightly brown. Rotate the pizza once and remove parchment. Continue to bake for another 3 minutes. Remove from oven. Slice and serve.

Recipe courtesy of Bakers Royale. (If you’re feeling really adventurous and think your kids won’t completely turn up their noses, try the full recipe, with toppings like pesto, goat cheese and soft-boiled eggs. If they hate it you’ll have amazing leftovers for yourself for days.)

Learn more about Nutrition at Nemours.

This National Physical Therapy Month, we have the privilege of spotlighting Erin Baker, a Physical Therapis (PT) and Assistive Technology Practitioner (ATP) at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Florida. Amber Yampolsky, Nemours Children’s Rehab Manager, Erin’s co-worker, and one of Amber’s direct reports, shares her perspective on what makes Erin such an outstanding Nemours Children’s Physical Therapy team member. Erin and Amber’s journey began before their time at Nemours, back when they were acquaintances working at a different hospital in Central Florida. However, their professional paths converged when they both joined the rehabilitation department at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Florida. Erin’s journey at Nemours began before Amber’s. She arrived with a clear mission: to specialize in Assistive Technology practice within the rehab department. Shortly after, Amber came to Nemours, determined to make a mark in the field of pediatric inpatient rehabilitation. Erin’s dedication is second to none. She has not only specialized in Assistive Technology […]