Photo: Nanaimo Bars / iVillage Made in Canada slideshow

Warning: This is not a healthy post, but I won’t take responsibility for that. Blame Canada. (Heh heh.)
No, I’m not in Canada this week. Truth be told, I haven’t even been bitten by Olympic fever. I’ve been too busy to watch and now, the last week of the games, I’m hanging in New Orleans, one of the most exciting places in this country for regional food. But, who knew—Canada has amazing regional food, too! And if there’s one thing that will finally cause me Olympic fever, it’s good eats.
I don’t much think about regional Canadian food. And I bet you don’t either. (Save for my Canadian readers, why would we?) But three fortuitously timed things happened since the start of the Olympics that have got me thinking about the foods of our friends up North.
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I recently had the honor of interviewing renowned “green” pediatrician Dr. Alan Green for Our365.  I was over the moon when asked to do the interview—I’ve been a fan of Dr. Greene for some time now. I first discovered him while researching advisors for my baby food venture, ChowBaby. Though we never got to the point of approaching him, I continued to follow Dr. Greene closely. Not only does he offer a comparable wealth of info on parenting and child rearing as Dr. Sears and the like (with a more modern twist, if you ask me), but he is also one of the only pediatricians dealing head on with issues related to non-toxic living. As part of that, he takes an unprecedented interest in how parents feed their children. So much so that he wrote a book about it, his latest, Feeding Baby Green.

Dr. Greene is widely recognized as a champion for organic eating (as much as you’re able and can afford), but I love him most for his progressive (and non-American) approach to healthy feeding. From his unconventional idea of when to start solids, to his emphasis on feeding even first time eaters whatever the rest of the family is eating, to his ahead-of-his-time attitude about food allergies, Dr. Greene encourages feeding our children in a way that excites the palate and lays the foundation for healthy eating habits for life.

My conversation with Dr. Greene was beyond validating. I was, literally, quivering with excitement as he put into words more eloquent than mine a family food philosophy that I try to live by and share with you every week. Read the interview for more. And, if you’re interested, read his new book, Feeding Baby. I was not asked to promote the book here. I just read it and loved it. I think you might too, especially if you’re pregnant or a first time mom with a wee little one.

6 Questions for Dr. Alan Greene, by Stacie Billis (via Our365)

Follow Dr. Greene on Twitter (And, hey, while you’re at it, follow me, too, if you don’t already!)

Become a fan of Our365 on Facebook!

Photo: Beverly Hsu, via Swiss Miss

Check out this week’s Food News, Things I Crave, Green Your Eats, Tips, Tools & Techniques, and Weekly Roundtable (a roundup of the most recent ChowMama posts). Plus, for a little while, I’ll follow the Weekly Roundtable with a quick update on my non-resolutions, you know, to keep me honest.
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This week is all about the Best Of ChowMama 2009! To help ensure that you begin 2010 with a recipe box loaded with quick and healthy recipes that your whole family will love, I’ve hand selected my favorites (recipes that I return to over and over again) and the most popular recipes as measured by traffic and comments (ones that worked out well for me and you).
Phew! 2009 was a busy year filled with lots of ChowMama goodness. I hope this week’s picks help kick off a delicious 2010 while we gear up for a new year of recipes, tips and discussions. To end the “best of” extravaganza, I’m highlighting a few posts that fall under the “parenting” header. Instead of highlighting a recipe, these posts focus on a tip that (hopefully) makes cooking for your family easier, a way of thinking that (maybe) sparks a shift towards more inspired eating, or a topic that (with any luck) gets a thoughtful debate started. These are my favorite posts to write. I hope you enjoy them, too. Let me know if you do!
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Brooke’s Homemade Cheese Crackers

This week is all about the Best Of ChowMama 2009! To help ensure that you begin 2010 with a recipe box loaded with quick and healthy recipes that your whole family will love, I’ve hand selected my favorites (recipes that I return to over and over again) and the most popular recipes as measured by traffic and comments (ones that worked out well for me and you).
Today I serve snacks and apps. The list isn’t long, but it’s a handful of keepers. Tomorrow? Healthy sweet treats and desserts.
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I recently wrote a piece on hiding vegetables for Mamapedia. In case you missed it there, here it is.
I’m often asked about how to get kids to eat vegetables. Of course! What parent hasn’t struggled through a kid-imposed ban on veggies? Even the most intrepid little eaters will suddenly decide that vegetables—even ones they happily enjoyed days before—are off the list.
Having spoken to tons of parents and survived toddler picky phases first hand, I appreciate why this is such a common question. Every parent wants to make sure that her kids are eating a well-balanced diet. But, truth be told, I think it’s the wrong question to ask. And so to the inquiries, I offer an unconventional and, for some, uncomfortable answer:
Stop worrying. And, by all means, don’t hide vegetables. Instead, be bold and do just the opposite—serve them frequently and enjoy them openly.
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