Fill your plate with healthy colors that your taste buds will appreciate! Yummy Crate’s BRIGHT & DELIGHTFUL-themed box encouraged young chefs to switch to fruits and veggies by incorporating a fascinating scientific concept. The subject of this box is Phytonutrients – the natural chemicals that give fresh produce their vibrant colors and delectable flavors. It’s another Yummy box to explore!
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Just like our two previous Yummy Crates, this box included not just one but two kid-friendly kitchen tools that kids can use and collect. This time, it’s a collapsible Colander and a Spray Bottle. These items will make it easy for little chefs to wash fruits and vegetables and strain them after!
There’s a folder in the box as well. This is where the grown-up guide, activity & experiment cards, recipe cards, and Yummy Zine are all kept. Everything is neatly tucked inside the pocket folder, keeping them organized!
As for the STEAM activity and experiment, the cards came complete with illustrated instructions that kids can follow. The activity for this box is Word Salad, and it’s a fun and creative way to test your junior chefs’ knowledge of fruits and veggies!
The Produce Power Wash experiment, on the other hand, requires the use of the spray bottle. There’s a recipe on how to make a power wash that can clean fresh produce with just a few sprays away. Mix vinegar, lemon juice, and water, then pour it into the spray bottle. The use of this wash mixture helps get rid of microscopic organisms on fruits and veggies’ skin to keep them stay fresh for longer!
Also, both the activity and experiment cards contain “tasty tidbits” or fascinating trivia.
A Yummy Zine, of course, is always included in the boxes. It is a magazine full of educational information about the science of cooking, and this Zine is particular about the fabulous Phytonutrients. There’s a short story to keep children entertained, plus fun trivia, exciting facts, and info on how red bell peppers grow from a tiny seed to a big part of meals. There’s also a Q&A part at the end to test what kids learned after reading it.
Moving on to the recipe cards, the kids were giddy with anticipation of creating each one. Bibimbap, Savory Skewers, and Rainbow Smoothies all require the use of bright and colorful fruits and vegetables! The tools and ingredients were listed in checklist form, keeping everything in order.
The first dish to make is Bibimbap, and it is a Korean-inspired healthy rice meal. Prep time is 30 minutes, while cooking time takes 25 minutes. This recipe will help little chefs to improve their knife skills, as well as stovetop skills.
My kids helped each other in cooking this delicious dish. It calls for lots of cutting and stir-frying, but they handled everything smoothly. From washing the fresh produce using the provided tool to cutting to marinating to cooking to assembling the dish, they’ve managed to create six plates of this tasty Bibimbap!
They used cucumbers, carrots, spinach, beef, and egg as side dishes, but the dish can be also customized depending on what the kids like or what’s currently available. There are more toppings options – zucchini, mushrooms, sprouts, etc. – and it’s up to your young chefs to add as much as toppings they like.
The next recipe to make is Savory Skewers! The kids were very enthusiastic to use different fruits and vegetables in creating this colorful skewer menu. Prep time is 40 minutes and cooking time requires just 10 minutes. Yummy Crate suggested mixing and matching more colors and flavors to make these skewers as unique and tasty as they can be!
We decided to go with salmon, cherry tomatoes, red onions, yellow bell peppers, ad cucumbers for a feast of colors! The first step is to rinse all of the produce before cutting them into bite-sized pieces. My kids also made a soy-honey sauce to drizzle over the skewers. They had a good time stacking the bites in the order they wanted and brushing the sauce on top. Note: Parents’ supervision is needed when poking each ingredient into the skewers and cooking them in the oven.
While waiting for the food to cook in the oven, it’s a great opportunity to discuss phytonutrients and how these natural chemicals give fruits and vegetables their bright colors and delightful flavor.
In plants, phytochemicals do lots of different jobs, from helping the plant grow to keeping it safe from diseases or pests. Different plants have different needs, so every fruit or veggie contains different kinds of phytochemicals to keep them healthy.
The last recipe in the box is Rainbow Smoothies! It is just as colorful as the first two dishes, and my kids were ecstatic to blend a refreshing treat. Prep time is approximately 50 minutes, and they learned how to use a blender with this rainbow drink.
They made it healthy and tasty by using various fruits and veggies in creating each colorful layer. They’ve followed everything the recipe card suggested and created lovely colors! For the bottom layer, they’ve used bananas, raspberries, and yogurt. The next layer is banana mixed with mango, and the third is a mix of banana, mango, and spinach. The last layer is made of bananas and blueberries. The kids skillfully distributed each mixture into our glasses. They made six and everything tastes great!
They put straws in it, and the overall appearance of the rainbow smoothies made them drink it so fast!
For the third time in a row, Yummy Crate sent a box filled with delicious science ideas to create and learn! My kids learned a lot from each one, and this third box is nothing different. They had a great time cooking all of the recipes and enjoyed eating the meals afterward. Rainbow smoothie is their fave recipe from this box! They also made great use of the kitchen tools included and learned about phytonutrients. It’s really a great way for aspiring food scientists to cook and learn at the same time in just one box, and Yummy Crate never failed to do it with this subscription.
Yummy Crate was designed to foster a love for science and cooking in kids ages 6 to 14, with recipes and activities that explore hands-on experimentation in and out of the kitchen. Your monthly crate includes delicious family-friendly recipes that teach kitchen skills and explore the science of cooking.
Yummy Crate explores STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) topics through engaging, hands-on recipes and projects that aim to inspire, celebrate, and build kids’ natural creativity and confidence — in the kitchen! Each crate explores three delicious family-friendly recipes and two fun projects while providing hands-on experimentation and demonstration of scientific, culinary, and creative concepts.
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