Healthy Breakfast on the Go: Reality vs Fantasy

Breakfast commercials often feature smiling families sitting down enjoying a freshly made meal, or at least slurping down a bowl of cereal, the kids with their hair combed and the mom in full make up.

The reality in our house is screaming over lost shoes, misplaced homework and coffee that just won’t drip through fast enough. The dog needs to pee, the litter box has to be scooped, a soccer uniform is dirty and no one picked up the dry cleaning.

Are we having fun yet?

So my kids grab whatever they can and run out the door.  Sometimes I have planned ahead and made relatively healthy muffins that they can pop in the microwave, but that is the kind of advance planning that would have also foreseen the dirty uniform, dry cleaning slips and overdue library books.

And maybe picked up some more coffee beans.

But for those crazy mornings, Garden Lites comes to the rescue. A new line of delicious frozen vegetable muffins, Veggie Muffins hit the trifecta - they are tasty, healthy and portable.

The muffins are also gluten free, low in calories and a good source of fiber.

And they take 35 seconds to heat up in the microwave- faster than you can say," did you find your homework, remember your gym shoes, take your lunch, bring an umbrella and oh no, step over here and avoid the puppy’s accident."

Consider the zucchini chocolate muffins. The first two ingredients? Zucchini, then carrots. One muffin has 50% of the RDA of vitamin A, and 40% of the iron. And they taste great.

My daughter loved these and I had to fight her for one post workout (much more satisfying than a granola bar).

The corn muffins don’t have quite as impressive a nutritional profile - but they are also not loaded with crap.

There are also a veggie berry oat and zucchini banana chocolate chip, both with zucchini as the first ingredient, and a carrot berry with carrots at the helm.

Veggie Muffins are sold frozen, but take about 4 hours to thaw, so they are great snacks for a road trip, or for teens who can’t stomach food first thing in the morning.

Veggies to Go: Healthy Drinks

Orange Mango Smoothie

One of the first things my kids learned to make in the kitchen was smoothies. First, they just peeled the bananas and dropped them into the blender; they gradually added skills such as washing berries, cutting mangoes and pouring in milk.

As they became tweens, they took over the whole operation (minus the clean up). But as busy teens, they don’t have time in the morning to make a smoothie.  Enter Green Mustache, fruit and veggie juice smoothies. These veggie packed drinks come in grab and go 10 ounce bottles, ideal for a vitamin packed drink on the run.

The brand was started by a NYC mother of two, VanTrang Manges, who had to sneak veggies into her younger daughter’s diet. Once your kids learn to read, though, the gig is up.

The orange mango has spinach and kale, plus chia seeds, but the fruit flavors dominate. My daughters liked the strawberry banana which had pineapple (I’m allergic) and more spinach, kale and chia seeds. There is also a mixed berry, with pear, three berries and more of the healthy green stuff; soon to come is Tropical Twist, with pineapple, guava and passion fruit.

The nutrition labels will make you happy - no added sugar, great source of vitamins A and C,  plus rich in folate, iron and fiber.

The smoothies are organic, vegan and gluten free, with no preservatives, artificial colors or flavors. They are sold at sold at FreshDirect.com, some Fairways in New York and all Gourmet Garage stores in NYC.

One oddity; the FDA requires a serving size based on eight ounces, so the bottles technically have 1.3 servings. Really?

Hunting for Veggies in Brooklyn

Kale salad has become shorthand for a certain type of Brooklyn restaurant, with locally sourced ingredients, hand-crafted cocktails and Fedora-wearing patrons.

In fact, at Hunter’s, it was a woman wearing a Fedora. But I will happily accept a parody of hipster-dom – Brooklyn – landia? for another crack at Hunter’s grilled kale salad.

The salad included toasted chickpeas, toasted squash and hard-boiled egg for a hearty fall starter.  Our friends raved about the chicken liver and bacon mousse, a dish that is sure to make any Jewish grandmother plotz. We ate their delicious vegetarian-friendly pickles.

I first encountered Hunter’s at the Brooklyn Exposed cocktail bacchanalia, Brooklyn Shaken & Stirred, where the Hunter’s Paradise shined: Junipero gin, vermouth, Aperol, OJ and a hint of peach jelly. 

There were even better drinks at the restaurant: the Handsome Hound, a Manhattan-like cocktail with local whiskey & barrel-aged bitters and the Rusty Bulleit, with rye, lime and bitters.

We also happened to come on a Sunday, when bottles of wine are half price.  Score!

I will return again to try the farro risotto, with root vegetables and the beet salad with walnuts and feta.

We had the excellent butternut squash agnolotti, scattered with Brussels sprouts leaves and pumpkin seeds and the wild mushroom pot pie, which has a rich sauce and more root veggies.

Both the Nutella bread pudding and ricotta fritters are warm, sweet endings to a great meal.

Peanut Butter & Pickles: veggie lunch

About a year ago, I paid an obscene amount of money for a few jars of Rick’s Picks pickles. I was at a benefit for the Prospect Park Alliance and hey, it was for the kids. For the very Brooklyn playgrounds where my daughters had frolicked.

The great thing about pickles, of course, is that they can be stuffed into the back of the pantry and used throughout the grim winter. Or forgotten about and then found with a happy surprise, which is what happened when I was doing a little Spring cleaning – very little, I should add – and I unearthed a jar of Rick’s hotties.

These pickles on steroids, made with habanero and sriracha, add an incredible kick to veggie burgers and an unusual twist to the peanut butter and pickle sandwich that the New York Times raved about recently.

I usually make the sandwich with Smucker’s natural peanut butter, but with these spicy pickles, I added a schmear of Peanut Butter & Co.’s equally spicy The Heat is On.

It was pretty awesome.

I can’t wait to see what I find next time I dig through the pantry.