While traveling out East, I couldn’t figure out how to feed our kids. Because restaurants that catered to families offered burgers, hotdogs and fries on their kids’ menu. Which I couldn’t understand. Because we teach our children basic life skills like how to read and how to swim. Why don’t we teach them how to eat?

Healthy snacks like apples, nuts and raisins we label choking hazards. Yet we don’t label hazards like dyes, especially Red 3, a known carcinogen which goes into some fruit roll-ups.

We tried stopping at grocery stores to stock our hotel room mini fridges, but there is only so much pasta salad a person can eat hunched over. And so I gave in and swore once I returned home I’d never feed our kids fried food again.

Yeah. Anyway.

When I got back, I was excited to dig into our CSA box from Hog’s Back Farm: crispy sweet corn we boiled that first night, a ripe tomato, white onions, spearmint for mojitos to celebrate a friend’s 40th this weekend.

And green beans, which we’ve bundled in bacon and placed in an airtight container in our refrigerator to roast tomorrow night.

Green Bean Bundles, adapted from Paula Deen at The Food Network:

• 1 pound fresh green beans
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon garlic
• 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Bacon

Mix olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese in a mixing bowl.

Wash green beans and trim tips. Blanch (place in boiling water) for 3 minutes. Then place in cold water for 6 minutes to stop the cooking process.

Toss green beans in mixture. Wrap 5 stalks per piece of bacon.

Bake at 350 for 10 to 15 minutes, until bacon is cooked.

How do you feed your kids on vacation?

This post is a part of Real Food Wednesday. Even though it’s Friday.

*Enter on my blog to win a fabulous giveaway, including Bertolli frozen foods, St. Supery wine, and a KitchenAid Countertop Oven, thanks to Bertolli and Ogilvy PR.

Yesterday, our 4.5-year-old dribbled an invisible basketball across our wood floor. He refused to pass it, and so our 2.5-year-old sat down and cried.

“Here’s one for you,” I said to our 2.5-year-old, pretending to pass him a ball.

“That’s not an invisible basketball,” he cried, because, for him, an invisible basketball only exists if his brother says it does. Ah, the power of the first born.

“Please pass it to him,” I said, feeling a bit silly. But I was slowly losing it listening to the crying.

“But I had it first,” our 4.5-year-old said.

Really? It’s invisible, people! (Admittedly, at that point, even I could see the basketball.)

Things went downhill from there.

So for dinner I made Tabbouleh using quinoa. It’s a quick, easy recipe, that tastes a lot better than you’d expect, considering the minimal effort you put into it. And it’s a great way to use up the leftover veggies in your fridge. Plus, you can make it ahead and store it in your refrigerator.

Tabbouleh with quinoa, adapted from The Food Network:

• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup quinoa (or bulghur)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup red onions
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 cup diced veggies (carrots, cucumber, broccoli, tomatoes, whatever!)
• 2 tablespoons fresh mint (optional)
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 cup pine nuts (optional)
• salt, to taste

Boil two cups of water, turn the heat to a simmer, and then pour the quinoa in.  Stir occasionally. When it absorbs the moisture, let it cool in a serving dish.

Then, add all of the rest of the ingredients, stir, and refrigerate.

This post is a part of Real Food Wednesday.