Lessons over dinner... Tonight Serona had a great and easy idea for dinner and a lesson. He prepared a "raw foods" dinner of various fruits and vegetables we had to liberate from our refrigerator. We each sat down to eat with a napkin and fork and the common plates on the table. The rules were you had to eat one of each fruit or vegetable before you could have a second one of that type (to ensure the kids would try and eat all the veggies and not fill up on fruit) and everyone had to eat atleast two of each item on the plates and then you could have whatever you wanted (this guaranteed that everyone got atleast two nectarines - the most popular in our house).

We had basic fruit and veggies: Carrots, celery, nectarines, apples, cucumbers and cantaloupe. As we ate dinner we talked about what a "raw foods" meal was and some of the health benefits of such a meal. We discussed how each item was grown, the color, the texture, the taste and whether it was a fruit or vegetable. Each child was asked a question in turn that was age appropriate and we all had alot of fun. Everyone was full when we were done which also made us realize how little we really need to eat to fill our tummies and meet our nutritional needs (it was not a completely raw meal as I encouraged them to drink soy milk which is clearly processed - but good protein) but they understood the lesson without us having to be complete purist in our point.

Our meal cleanup was very easy: a cutting board, a knife, a peeler, 4 forks and cups. I don't think I've ever had an easier night of dishes. Anyway I thought I would share as the kids really enjoyed it and it was a nice family time and an easy meal. I was skeptical that this would be enough food for us - but it was and we even had some left afterwards!

Peace,
Tenn