Melanie Potock is no stranger to the Momma Braga audience as we have featured her and her amazing books a few times and we just love her!
Therefore, I am delighted to say that Melanie is back but with a new and exciting book called Adventures in Veggieland. This new book is designed to help your kids learn to love vegetables with 100 easy activities and recipes.
We were excited for this book ever since we got a sneak peek of it!
Now I get to introduce all of you to this great book! Adventures in Veggieland takes us on a trip to healthy eating and it is done in such a colourful and fun way.
The book is divided into four parts: Winter Vegetables, Spring Vegetables, Summer Vegetables and Autumn Vegetables. This was very creative and makes the book flow nicely.
Throughout the book, Melanie gives parents a great resource and tool to be successful in making vegetables part of your family meal. Melanie states to just follow the “Three E’s”:
- Expose your child to new vegetables with sensory, hands-on, educational activities. Such as create Beet Tattoos and play Cabbage Bingo!
- Explore the characteristics of each veggie (texture, taste, temperature, and more) with delectable but oh-so-easy recipes such as Parsnip-Carrot Mac’n’Cheese and Pepper Shish Kebabs!
- Expand your family’s repertoire with more inventive vegetable dishes – including a “sweet treat” in ever chapter. Enjoy Pears and Parsnips in Puff Pastry and Tropical Carrot Confetti Cookies!
Even though this book is around getting your children to enjoy vegetables, it is also great for us as adults too. Recently, we have started to make better eating choices for ourselves so the timing of this book was perfect!
Now we couldn’t do a review on an activity and recipe book without trying any of them. So we did! We of course are ready for Spring and Summer weather so we picked Asparagus (Spring) and Bell Peppers (Summer) to try out.
We first tried the Asparagus Logs which were a lot of fun to do. The beauty of each activity and recipe is the wealth of skills that each one provides to you and your little one. For example in the Asparagus Logs provides a description, benefits and how to use the vegetable. Then you have your list of what you need and instructions on how to complete the activity and it is neatly divided on who’s responsibility it falls under (love that!). Then there are some tips and there is a brief description of how your child benefits from this activity – genius!
Nikki and I loved this activity and Nikki loved the feel and texture of the asparagus as she was building. It was a great activity to introduce her to this new vegetable.
“Always celebrate each tiny step and focus on the fun.” – Melanie Potock
The next one we tried involved one of our favorite vegetables, Bell Peppers! So we combined that with another love of ours which is kebabs. This one was a recipe and so simple to follow. Nikki loved helping put the bell peppers onto the skewers and it was delish!
I am sure we will be trying a lot more in the days, weeks and months to come. It is a great addition to our kitchen and our health thanks Melanie Potock for putting together another great resource for families to thrive.
So what do we give Adventures in Veggieland? We give it 5 veggies out of 5! It truly makes veggies fun and not so scary after all. If you would like to purchase this lovely book, please click here.
“Melanie Potock truly takes us on a taste bud adventure with this book! She offers amazing tips, activities, and recipes to make eating vegetables so much more fun for the entire family. A great resource for all parents.”
—Melanie Braga, owner of Momma Braga, 2017 Blogger of the Year, and assignment editor at The Baby Spot
Until next time…Happy Parenting!
-Momma Braga
