Celebrate RD Day – United States of MyPlates Challenge

Ready for a fun challenge that will help you be intentional with healthy meals for your family? It’s National Nutrition Month and today is National Registered Dietitian (RD) Day!  A day to celebrate nutrition experts – Registered Dietitians.  In honor of that, I have been inspired to create a challenge. What is it?  Well, first, let me ask you a few questions:

• Are you looking for delicious meals that will have the family running to the table (and the kitchen to help you cook them)?
• Are you looking for easy meals with kid-appeal?
• Are you looking for meals that feature fresh foods, especially fruits and vegetables?
• Are you looking for inspiration to create a meal idea with a balance of MyPlate?
• What about winning recipes that are tested to work for you?

Well, I have a challenge that will inspire you, educate you, and allow you to teach your kids about food and nutrition all at the same time.  I think we will all learn something along the way.  I’m calling it the United States of MyPlates Challenge.  What will happen?  At the beginning of each week, I will feature a blog post dedicated to a recipe from The White House Healthy Lunchtime Challenge Cookbook.

This event was held in 2012, hosted by Mrs. Obama at The White House to challenge kids through age 12 years old to create a healthy recipe.  Over 1200 recipes were submitted and winners were chosen from each state, plus the U.S. Territories and D.C. (a total of 54).  Those winners were invited to The White House (would be a dream come true for me!) to dine with the First Lady and tour The White House garden.  I was inspired by this challenge last year and wanted to inspire you through a simple step of tackling one new recipe a week.

Each weekly blog post will contain:

• The recipe I prepare along with photos.
• Supermarket shopping tips for the ingredients.
• Tips on getting your kids in the kitchen with you.
• Ideas to share with your family about the foods that are featured along with state facts. (Great teaching opportunities)
• Quick sides to make each recipe a MyPlate meal

What’s in it for you?

• 54 winning recipes created by really cool kids
• Opportunities to have fun and make memories together in the kitchen as a family
• Ideas to teach your kids about nutrition, food and the United States
• Not to mention, these are all healthy recipe ideas to help you create a healthier family!
• And, you have the opportunity to win a spot to guest post on my blog with your family’s favorite healthy recipe!  I will be featuring one guest blogger a month.  Will it be you?

Show me your interest in this challenge by taking answering the question below.  And send me your contact information via my Contact page if you would like to be a future featured guest blogger!

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United States of MyPlates

Happy Registered Dietitian Day to all my RD colleagues and happy National Nutrition Month!