Agar Aquariums

Last week the Bean found an intriguing project in a workbook of learning activities: Edible Aquariums. Fun and unusual desserts and snacks are a great way to ease kids off of refined sugars while helping them to appreciate fruit-based desserts. With a few modifications, we were able to make these aquariums a little more realistic-looking and healthier.

The main ingredient in this concoction is agar. Agar is a jelling agent much like gelatin, only it stays jelled at room temperature (very handy for kid-cooking and pretty tasty, too). Plus, unlike gelatin, it is not a by-product of pig skin, but derived from a sea vegetable named agar-agar (the same one used to make some marshmallows) and is therefore a healthful alternative to gelatin.

Recipe: Agar Aquariums

Ingredients

Sandy Bottom:
2 cups organic apple juice
2 cups spring or filtered water
1/2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
2 cups organic whole-wheat cous-cous
1 1/2 teaspoons organic vanilla
zest of 1 organic lemon

Blue-Green Water:
2 cups white grape or white cranberry juice
2 cups water
1/8 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
3 heaping tablespoons agar flakes (found in the oriental section of most health food markets)
blue food coloring
1 organic carrot, slilced on the diagonal and then cut with kitchen shears into goldfish shapes

Directions
Bring apple juice, water, and sea salt to a boil. Add cous-cous and return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Mix in vanilla and lemon zest. Spoon cous-cous into the bottom of clear glass or plastic cups, forming a 1-1 1/2 inch layer of 'sand.' Cool.

Place grape juice, water, salt, and agar in a pot, stir, and let sit for 10 minutes. Slowly bring mixture to a simmer. Cover pot and simmer for 15 minutes or until agar is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Add just enough food coloring th turn the mixture a light blue-green (too much will make a cloudy aquarium). Pour 6-8 ounces of 'aquarium water' into each cup. Allow to cool slightly.

Place 1-2 carrot fish in each aquarium, propping up with toothpicks (see picture). Fish (and any other visible elements you care to add) should be placed at the perimeter of the cups for good visibility!

Cool completely at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Remove the toothpicks when completely gelled and serve!

Variation: For a more adult (but equally kid-friendly) variation, layer cous-cous cake on the bottom of an 8x8 inch pan. Smooth with the back of a wet wooden spoon. Top cake with a layer of berries. Pour agar over the top. Set aside to cool/gel. Serve.

Variation: Get creative - cut strawberry tips or raspberries in half to make coral reef bottoms. Nori sheets can be cut into strips to serve as sea plants. This project is a great accompaniment to ocean crafts and learning experiences.

What did we leave out of the original recipe and why?

The original recipe was composed of sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, and food coloring. Simple carbohydrates (including cane sugar, corn syrup, and white flour) flood body cells with glocuse so quickly that the oxygen necessary for effectively burning and metabolizing the sugar is not available. They are also lacking in the iron and sodium necessary for the blood to take up sufficient oxygen.

What are the effects of a high glucose, low oxygen environment in the body's blood?
1) The incomplete burning of glucose produces an acidic environment.
2) As acid levels increase, general drowsiness, fatigue, and in some cases depression occurs (after the initial 'sugar spike,' of course).
3) The blood MUST and WILL maintain an alkaline environment at all costs. To do so, it will immediately draw calcium from the nearest source - your bones.
4) Over time a body continually battling an acid environment will develop osteoporosis, regardless of calcium consumption (it is much easier for your body to remove calcium from the bones than to replace it).

As my husband says, be suspicious of all highly refined powdery white substances - and read labels!! ;)

Dandelion Spaghetti

'Eat Your Greens!' As a child 'greens' were the bane of my dining experience. I had a distinct dislike to broccoli, even smothered in lovely Velveeta, and my mother claimed that lettuce didn't count (come to find out, she's right). Of course, as far as I was concerned collards, mustard greens, and cabbage were out, too, and I had become very suspicious of her signature green smoothies.

Now that I have a child of my own and am equally determined to get the greens down, I have learned a few tricks.

1) Familiarity Breeds Content - Rarely will a child eat something he or she has never seen before. In fact, in bygone days that might have been considered down-right unwise. To familiarize your child with the new food present it weekly, cooked into different dishes and presented in slightly different ways (Dandelion Spaghetti one week, Dinosaur Kale another). After a few weeks or months your child will start trying, then requesting his or her favorite dishes highlighting the food. (It still amazes me that the Bean will request a handful of blanched kale in her lunch box - I only introduced it 4 months ago and it's a tough, leafy green for goodness sake!).

2) This brings us to Patience - the less attached you are to your child's eating habits, the more likely your child is to try new things. For example, if you routinely present 3 dishes per meal, let one of them be new. The other two should be familiar and well-liked so your little one doesn't feel his or her favorites are being threatened by the new dish. If your child takes one bite and refuses to eat any more (or won't even take the first bite), that's fine - Let him or her watch you eat it. That's enough for now and it establishes a habit (more familiarity) of introducing new foods into his or her repertoire.

3) Play with the Timing - As your child becomes used to a food and begins to take a couple bites of it per meal, begin serving it first and the other dishes five minutes later. He or she will 'snack' on it, consume more, and establish a habit of eating larger quantities of the dish.

4) That's My Food - As food become increasingly familiar, help your child take ownership. My teacher encouraged her little girl to call herself a 'Green Machine' and would proudly talk about how she loved her greens and would pack her own lunch full of Pressed Salad (a type of Asian slaw). I skeptically tested this concept on my own little one and to my surprise, it worked! She is proud that she eats her greens, a feat she recognizes isn't always easy and she will proudly tell you that 'greens clean your body.'

Dandelion Spaghetti is an ideal first dish to introduce greens to the whole family for the following reasons: 1) It is a very flavorful dish appreciated by adults and children alike, 2) It is Dr. Seuss' answer to healthy fettucine alfredo, 3) Dandelion greens are mild-tasting, but highly nutritious greens, 4) It's called Dandelion Spaghetti!! Don't underestimate the power of a name - my daughter regularly requests this dish simply because she loves the idea of eating her favorite flower. If your child is more interested in dinosaurs, try renaming it Dinosaur Spaghetti in honor of its brilliant green hue.

Recipe: Dandelion Spaghetti

Ingredients
1/2 bunch organic dandelion greens
8 oz organic udon noodles
1 tablespoon organic almond butter
1 teaspoon kuzu*, diluted in 2 tbsp water
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
10 leaves organic basil, minced
1 tablespoon fresh organic oregano, minced
1 clove organic garlic, minced
11/4 cup unsweetened organic soy milk, separated

Directions
Cook udon noodles according to package directions. Rinse with cool water, drain, and set aside.

Combine almond butter, kuzu, soy sauce, sea salt, basil, oregano, garlic, and 3/4 cup soy milk in a jar and shake well.

Place dandelion greens and 1/2 soymilk in a food processor or blender and pulse until well combined.

Place cooked noodles in a saucepan or large saute pan. Turn heat to medium-low. Pour almond butter sauce over noodles and gently toss noodles to cover with sauce. Simmer, stirring gently, until sauce begins to thicken (about 8 minutes). Add dandelion green mixture and cook 2 minutes more or until sauce is coats noodles.

Serve garnished with sesame seeds or carrot flowers (cut long vertical strips from a carrot, then slice horizontally into rounds to create flowers).

*Kuzu is a thickener like cornstarch or arrowroot, except that kuzu is highly nutritive. It is found in the Asian section of many grocery stores. Use cornstarch or arrowroot if kuzu cannot be found.

Timing: Noodles can be cooked and tahini sauce made ahead of time and placed in separate covered containers in the refrigerator up to a day in advance.

Variation: Dinosaur Spaghetti - Substitute dinosaur kale for dandelion greens and play up the dinosaur theme - you may even poke broccoli florets (sauteed until crisp then sprinkled with soy sauce and removed from heat) standing upright in the noodles and call them Dinosaur Trees.

What is a Bean Bite?

The real question is, "What is a Bean?" Aurielle (pictured at left) is The Bean. She was bestowed this unusual nickname as a newborn because 1) she is a Being (which sounds like 'bean') and she looked like a bean (the edible type) when curled 'burrito-style' in her swaddling blanket, i.e. a Bean Burrito ;)

This site is a collaboration between the Bean and I. We hope to create new, exciting, healthy, and super-yummy dishes for little people and the big people they love.

Some dishes are created for (and at times by) children - dishes that little people can make with an adult assistant. Others are a little more complicated, but well-loved by children. Also, look out for tips and tricks to encourage children to try new things, participate in the cooking process, or transition from one life stage to another (infant to toddler or child to 'big kid').

The process of eating healthier involves new textures, flavors, and colors. If a child has never been exposed to a new food reactions will vary widely. Some foods will elicit a scrunched up face and *$?#*spitting noises*#%*, others a "Wow - What is this?" To ease the progression from Yuck! to Yeah!, our recipes will outline the transition between The Standard American Diet (what most of us are accustomed to) and a Macrobiotic Lifestyle (an open and all-inclusive set of eating habits that helps us to teach ourselves and our children how to choose and love healthy foods).

Eating, sharing, and enjoying food is an ever-changing adventure highlighted by new experiences and unexpected growth, so please, eat up, have fun, and share your experiences!