This week's Kids Cook class was about greens. A great way to talk to kids about healthy eating is to compare foods to a rainbow. What do you like to eat that is red? yellow? green? Eating colorful foods means you are taking in all the vitamins you need. We sang a song about the rainbow and shared our favorite colorful foods.

Kids are not known for enjoying deep leafy greens, so we made two easy and tasty recipes: green monster smoothies and kale chips.

First we tasted kale raw. We pretended we were rabbits because bunnies love leafy greens. Most kids did not love the flavor but they helped me tear off pieces of kale for the kale chips.

While the chips were roasting, we made green monster smoothies. Really just a simple fruit and vegetable smoothie, adding the word 'monster' to anything makes kids enjoy it a little more.

Finally we read the beautifully illustrated engaging book In the Garden: Who's Been Here?.

More Kids Cook classes will be presented throughout the month. Please come join us!

Green Monster Smoothie

1 cup ice

1 cup packed raw spinach

1/2 cup apple cider

1/2 banana

Combine in blender until smooth. Add a little more cider if necessary to facilitate ice crushing. Makes one adult or two kid size portions.

Kale Chips

1 large bunch fresh kale

salt, pepper, olive oil

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Remove the leaves from the stems and wash thoroughly.

Place the kale in a single layer on a cookie sheet drizzled with olive oil.

Put a bit more olive oil on top and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until kale is crispy and a tiny bit browned.