In this episode of Healthy Family Project, we talk to Sally Sampson, Founder ChopChop Magazine. Sally shared her tips for getting kids to prepare their own snacks and spend more time in the kitchen. Amanda and Sally cover how parents can encourage independence in their kiddos and encourage them to get creative in the kitchen.

Besides being a fun cooking magazine for families, ChopChop was named 2013 Publication of the Year by the James Beard Foundation and is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

ChopChop Family’s mission is to inspire and teach kids to cook and eat real food with their families. ChopChop Family believes that cooking and eating together as a family is a vital step in resolving the obesity and hunger epidemics. 

Sally is the author and co-author of 23 cookbooks, including ChopChop: The Kids Guide to Cooking Real Food with Your Family, The Olives Table (with Chef Todd English), The Fifty Dollar Dinner Party and Souped Up!

She is a contributor to the New York Times’ Motherlode Blog with her Picky Eater Project. She has contributed to Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, The Boston Globe and Cooks Illustrated, among others and previously owned From the Night Kitchen, a café in Brookline Village, Massachusetts.

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Want to skip straight to a hot topic? See time stamps below. But of course, we recommend listening all the way through!

  • 3:58 Meet Sally
  • 5:02 Sally’s journey to healthy eating & ChopChop
  • 10:46 How to empower kids to make their own snacks
  • 15:12 Picky Eater Project
  • 23:27 How to encourage independence & get kids in the kitchen
  • 29:47 Snacks for different age groups
  • 38:50 How to get kids to clean up after themselves
  • 43:20 What does a healthy family mean to you?

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Healthy Family Project Podcast

Conversations covering hot topics in the world of health, food and family with a dose of fun. Helping families ease their way into a new fresh and healthy world.

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If you are interested in being a guest on the Healthy Family Project podcast, contact amanda@healthyfamilyproject.com with your topic idea for consideration.

Transcript for Episode 60

This transcript was produced by Otter.Ai. Please forgive any misspellings and grammatical errors.

00:09
Welcome to the healthy family project by produce for kids covering the hot topics in the world of health,
food and family with a dose of fun. Happy Thanksgiving week everybody we are full force holiday mode. I
hope you are all finding ways to find joy during this weird year we’re having and remember the small little
PSA, you are not alone. And however your feeling is acceptable because we need to feel our feelings
right and kind of take those and and figure them out and move forward. I hope the podcast and the
guests we have over the coming months, weeks and months will fill some of your time with tips and ideas
for healthy happier life. And also a few laughs because you know we like to laugh. And then new holiday
content is live on our site healthy family project.com You definitely need to check out the fun
Thanksgiving snack board that the girls and I created it is live on the site and perfect for your
Thanksgiving snacking, or even Thanksgiving week snacking. Because you know, we’re talking snacks
today. So it’s all snacks all the time. So many of you know, I’ve been on a snack board kick and truly I’m
showing no signs of slowing down. So if you’re looking for snack funds snack boards, you can find them
on our website. While you’re on the site. Be sure to sign up for our E newsletter which bundles all of our
new weekly content into one email. And don’t forget about the healthy family Project Facebook group.
We are continuing the conversations from the podcasts over there and we have some other fun things
being shared especially now around the holidays. You can grab some tips or share what’s working for
you. I’ve admired chop chop magazine from afar for several years and I’m extremely excited to speak to
the founder today Sally Sampson on the podcast. Besides being a fun cooking magazine for families
chop chop was named 2013 publication of the Year by the James Beard Foundation, and is also
endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Chop chop family’s mission is to inspire and teach
kids to cook and eat real food with their families. Chop chop family believes that cooking and eating
together as a family is a vital step in resolving the obesity and hunger epidemics. So Sally is the author
of many cookbooks 23 to be exact. So those include chop chop the kid’s Guide to Cooking real food with
your family, the olives table, which she did with Chef Todd English, the $50 dinner party and souped up
and she is a contributor to the New York Times Motherload blog with her picky eater project. She has
contributed to Bon Appetit food and wine, the Boston Globe and cooks illustrated among other outlets
and previously owned from the Night Kitchen, a cafe in Brookline Village, Massachusetts. So I’m a little
star struck to say the least, to have such an accomplished and passionate woman like Sally on with us
today truly, truly excited to get to know her better and figure out the best way to get these kiddos creating
their own snacks. Welcome to the show, Sally. It’s wonderful to have you here today. We’ve been
longtime readers of chop chop magazine, I can tell you that over here at healthy family project and really
admire all you do to get kids in the kitchen at a young age. So we’re glad to have you on today we’re
going to talk about getting kids to prepare their own healthy snacks. Such a hot topic now that we’re we
have a lot of snacking going on at this time. So you know and I know snacking. It’s not just about the
kiddos. I’m here at my home, you know, working from home, so we’ll cover off on that too. But before we
jump in, can you tell listeners a little about yourself and chop chop?
03:57
Sure. Well, first, let me just say I’m so thrilled to be here. I am a big fan of your work. And yes, just really
exciting to be on your podcast. So a little bit about chop, chop. Chop chop is a cooking magazine for
families we launched 10 years ago. It’s a quarterly 48 page magazine. And our point of view is that you
can really learn anything through cooking. So we basically use cooking as a lens to teach cultural
literacy, math, science. It’s all about the fun of cooking getting in the kitchen. Like being with an adult or
not being with adult adult depending upon your age. But our main messages cooking is fun.

04:53
I love it. Well, like I said we definitely admire all that you do. And what just the like kind of a side
question, what inspired you to start chop, chop?
05:04
So it’s sort of funny. I was thinking about that this morning. And not just I was thinking about this
conversation, and what is relevant to your audience? So actually, when I was 14, I became a vegetarian.
And, you know, this was a long time ago, when vegetarianism was not commonplace. In fact, I didn’t
know any vegetarians. Nobody talked about vegetarians. I just had a friend who said, I want to be
vegetarian. And I was like, Oh, I’ll do it with you. Right? Really nothing behind it. And my mother who
worked said to me, Well, I guess you’d better learn how to cook. Mine. And she said it in the best way.
Yeah, I don’t mean, she said, with hostility. But right. Like, if you want to eat that way, you better learn
because I’m not doing anything special for you. And I think that, you know, so first of all, I learned how to
cook when I was 14, my mother was making, you know, kind of a very classic traditional meal, which was
like a chunk of meat, of starch and a vegetable, I would eat the vegetable and the starch. But also, I
learned how to cook my own vegetables. So number one, I started to cook and really love it, and really
learn a lot. So I had that in my back. And then when I had my own children, I have a child who has a
chronic illness, and she was not supposed to eat high fat. And so I started to learn how to cook very low
fat. And in the process of learning about low fat cooking, it kind of went right up against the obesity
epidemic. So I began to think, Oh, and by the way, I was a cookbook writer, and so became a cookbook
writer. That’s what I did for a living. So I started to really study obesity. And I began to see that I could
use my skills as a cookbook writer to address obesity. So the original idea of chop chop was to get
pediatricians to prescribe cooking during well child visits. So you brought your kid in, and the to the
doctor and the dot, the idea was that the doctor would talk to you or your child about how much fun
cooking was, and then get all the benefits as a result of that. But when we launched 10 years ago, what
happened was, it was just pediatrician focused. And then very quickly, when people found out about us,
they were like, oh, I want Chop, chop, too. So schools reached out after schools, snap offices, WIC
offices, government. So we expanded the vision of chop chop, to include basically wherever kids were.
So I would say the inspiration for chop chop was actually both my mother and my daughter.
08:06
I love it. I knew there was a backstory there. I had a feeling it just didn’t come to you in a dream one
night? No.
08:15
You know, it was sort of like how do I use my skills to do something important and that could and
meaningful in the world. Rather, I started to feel like a lot of the stuff that I did was not meaningful. And
this, you know, even though we’re not focused on obesity at all anymore, really just focused on an
unhealth. But, again, in a fun way, it’s right you know, we don’t have a lot of finger wagging, or even
messaging around health. It’s really like, this is really fun. And you can learn all these great things in the
process,
08:53
right? And feel great to see exactly, you know, when you see the end result, or it’s like, oh, wow, I really
feel good when writing these things. So Right. I love it. And we have a program that we started, think it
was my timeframe, my time, my life timeline is a little off so probably like a year and a half ago, and
we’ve been fine tuning it, but it’s actually called Food RX. And so we have a dietician that does videos for
us and you know, talks about food as medicine. And we’re, like I said, we’ve we’re fine tuning it. So I’m
excited for the future of those videos, because I think that, you know, we sometimes quickly turned to
medication, not to say medication isn’t needed in some instances, but I think that there’s a lot that we can
change and that I’ve changed over the years little things that I’ve changed and like I said, you just feel so
much better. So
09:56
I mean, I am of you know, even before the word The phrase food is medicine was coined. I think that
there were a lot of people, probably you will certainly us who were operating that way. I mean, I think that
you can make such small tweaks in your diet and feel really different. So it’s exciting actually, because it
also, it gives people control.

10:23
I was just gonna say it empowers you, right? You feel like I can I have control of this. So awesome. Well,
alright, so let’s, let’s move on. We’re going to talk about snacking today. So with so many of us working
and learning from home, and just spending more time at home in general, how do you feel we can
empower our kids to take control of creating their own snacks?
10:46
Well, I think
10:50
you know, that is sort of our whole philosophy is get kids in the kitchen. And I again, I was thinking about
this before we talked, I don’t have small children at home anymore, but I think now with parents or adults
at home with children, I think probably the first thing to do is to cut up vegetables and put out dips and
sort of do all that as
11:18
like a good sort of
11:21
show of this is how we’re going to eat but then I think to slowly move away from the parent doing it and
not even make it like oh, you should do this now but like, you know what, I have a call right now can you
just do like can you help me make it not make it very casual? And I think you know, obviously the thing to
do is fill your refrigerator only with the kinds of foods you want your children to eat. Right a lot of parents
talk about oh my kid just eats a lot of x and I would say if you don’t want them to eat it don’t have it in the
house and now start modeling the things that you want and make it so that they’re only choices are
things that you want them to eat
12:09
you know we say that I know that’s true for our house because it’s if I don’t again like you just said I don’t
want them to have something and not that we don’t have any kind of right treats or anything like that but
sometimes there’s two people in my home who have a little bit of a problem with portion control so
picture you know if I bought a bag of chips the bag of chips would go you know it wouldn’t be and then
there’s there’s two others in my family see him being very careful I don’t know who’s listening. You know
who you are though probably where where it’s a little different where the portioning is, you know, is easy
and as much as I try to kind of find ways around it it’s like you know what, there’s just some things that
we’d have to save for you know, one more out and about or a special treat or you know that kind of stuff
so I agree with you it’s hard because they are going to grab what’s easy and I you know even my
younger daughter she will go and grab like my by these dirt packs of their peanut butter crackers and
their portion just tiny packs. And I thought you know what, if she really needs something she can grab
those but I had to set a limit right for a day I said you may have like truly only two packs of these per day
like in the morning if you need you know a mid morning snack if there’s nothing else or I’m busy you can
grab one of these but I felt like setting that setting that up she even yesterday she said mom, it was in the
evening and she was going to do a musical theater small group workshop and she was like can I take
one with me said no find take a banana take something else you’ve you’ve expired your peanut butter
crackers for the day. But I’ve also been you know chopping things ahead and having them help me like
on a Sunday chopping up celery and carrots and whatever fruits and veggies we might have. And so that
way they really like the grazing board or the staff. Yes, yes. So they will do that all day long. They’ll put
their branch and throw all their stuff on there and some maybe some salami and so they’re really good at
if I’m unavailable they’ll just grab mitt so funny because they grab the little cutting board they do
14:36
great you know it’s funny, I mean, I I’m not a vegetarian anymore, but he I tons of vegetables, but I still
find that if I cut up carrots and celery or anything else ahead of time in there in the refrigerator, I’m more
likely to eat a carrot then, you know, I mean I like cut up a whole bag at a time. It’s amazing, you know
where I might grab some, if you make it easy, I think people will eat it. And mean that is part of that thing,
which is you grab what’s easy. And one thing we did this project that we call the picky eater project, and
it’s different from what you’re talking about. But I wanted to get the kids who are like my guinea pigs to
eat more vegetables. And so what I did, which I think parents can do is, I bought a bunch of really good
dips that I knew the kids would eat. And I said to them, I just want you to experiment with these dips and
see what you think. And I brought carrots and I cut up broccoli, and I cut up cauliflower, all raw. And I

don’t think that I even brought crackers. And the kids were so excited about the dips, that they almost
didn’t notice that they were eating raw vegetables. And these kids were four at the time. And they were
kind of anti raw vegetable. So I think there are also things like that where you combine something that
your child isn’t excited about, with something that they are excited about and pair them. And you do that
at first, and then they begin to see like, oh, like roll cauliflower is like way to get the
16:19
dip. Right? Yeah, I
16:22
think and you said something there that I think is also really important. But tell me what you think. So I’ve
just actually started doing this with my younger daughter. She tends to be a little, you know, more on the
picky side, I guess, or selective side. But I have found with her and I should have known this way before
she’s about to be 10. I should have known this a long time ago with her personality, and how not bossy
but in charge. She is one of those. I think saying tell me I want to know what you think. Like, tell me what
you think. And last week we had butternut squash ravioli. And I mean, I thought there’s no way she’s
gonna eat this. And I said, Hey, you know, I picked this up at the store today. And I really want I can’t wait
to hear what you think. Yeah, yeah. So when I said that she instantly was like, yes, you want to know
how I feel like you want my review of this. And she took a bite. And I and I also thought she’ll take, she’ll
take a bite, but I don’t know if she’ll buy into it. But then she said, Oh, I like this. Wow, I think I could eat
this next week. And I thought, Oh, how did I not recognize that she just needed to be empowered to be
the one saying what she thought?
17:40
Exactly. I mean, I think if you think about it, you know, there’s so much stuff that’s out of kids control that
they have to do in particularly now. I mean, there’s so much stuff they can’t do. So they can weigh in on,
you know, butternut, squash ravioli or whatever. And, again, if it’s a choice between two good things, Oh,
you like this good thing better than that good thing. I think it’s very important. And I think kids really need
that sense of control.
18:14
I agree. And getting yourself like you said, getting yourself set up at the beginning of the week, whether
you know, and I think sometimes people think oh my gosh, you want me to meal prep that sounds like
such a task. But I mean, cutting vegetables just to shave off or, you know, cutting fruit just to shave off
those couple of minutes that it takes, you know, when you’re, you’re in a time crunch, and that the kids
can just grab and create something, I think makes a huge difference.
18:40
It makes a huge difference. And also, I think it works for anybody. I mean, I had a pineapple the other
day, my daughter is 26. But she was over and I said how about if I cut this up and give you half of it, she
doesn’t live with me. And I cut it up gave her half have the other half for me. And if the pineapple had
been sitting in my refrigerator,
19:03
you know, an uncut,
19:07
you know, my laziness would have overtaken me just like everybody else’s, and I probably wouldn’t have
eaten it. And so I think also if you can sort of get in the groove of well, I’m going to prep the carrots and
I’m going to prep the pineapple and I’m you know, whatever those things are, I think that is really great.
And also it’s kids love that sort of thing being a participant in it. So you know teaching your child to cut
stuff up you know if they’re not old enough to use a knife to have them peel the carrot or any of those
things.
19:41
Well and just something else as we’re talking that I thought about my older daughter. She has got got
into this flatbread kind of craze. And so what I do is I just buy there like a two pack at the grocery store
two flat breads or like you can buy like a I guess like a non read if you want to do that, but she loves she
will rummage through the fridge and see what she can find and see what she can put on it. And like I
said, she’s 14 So she can easily preheat the oven, put the flatbread in there it takes, you know, just a few

minutes, depending what you put on, on top of it. And then she has her lunch. So she’s been doing since
the pandemic. And her being at home. I just, I buy those two flatbread at the beginning of the week. And
she makes those I think yesterday, I was so impressed. And then she often brings them to me at my
desk so bad, but she made she did. I had prosciutto, but she, which is I don’t always have produto. But I
had prosciutto and she had, there was some goat cheese, and spinach. And I want to say she put apple
slices Wow on there too. And I thought, Oh, this is amazing. This is so good. And then I you know, praise
her on the combination, too. So I think she enjoys seeing what kind of combination she can throw
together on a flatbread. So, so fun.
21:08
I love that. I mean, it’s funny, because I’m actually working on our fall 2021 issue of chop, chop. And one
of the things that I just wrote out was sandwich architecture, which is just what you’re talking about with
her, I’d actually love to talk to her because I think this idea of you No, not as missing, look in the
refrigerator and see what else, you know, what she’s doing is she’s sort of getting the salty, the sweet,
the, you know, all those different things, which makes it a much more interesting sandwich. And she has
so much ownership and when she gives it to you.
21:48
It’s sort of that, like the artwork on
21:53
the refrigerator, which is what we really want to encourage with kids, we find that when they’re making it
themselves, they’re so much more invested. And you can get a kid to eat things, eat combinations that
they wouldn’t normally eat. And also with your daughter, she’s also getting all so many colors in there.
Right? Which, you know, we talk about rainbow sandwiches, you know, put as many colors as you can
into the sandwich. So I think what she’s doing, she’s just sort of doing naturally. But that’s what we really
want to encourage.
22:33
Yeah, I love it. I’m, I’m glad that she’s Of course, I’m glad because I get to reap the benefits because I get
I get lunch and you can tell that she’s excited, you know, and she’s just like waiting to see what you think.
Yeah, think about it. So, okay, well, here. Here’s a question for you. Okay, so what if you’re a parent that
has been creating all the snacks and creating all the you know, so you haven’t really gone down the path
of having kids in the kitchen? Often? How do you get off that train? You know, how do you get the kids to
take charge? And not just say, all right, you’re not gonna make me something. I’m going to go find a
marsh and find the marshmallows. Because this is what my kids do, because we make s’mores every
now and then. So they’ll find the marshmallows.
23:19
Oh, I see. Um, I mean, at first, I was gonna say don’t have marshmallows in the house.
23:28
But I guess. I mean, I think
23:32
you should have marshmallows in the house. And that’s a thing you like to make together?
23:37
Yeah, um,
23:40
I think you, it’s just really saying Help me, you know, whether you’re making a salad and it’s like, Hey, can
you just shake up the dressing for me? Like, can you just add 10 cherry tomatoes into the salad. And I
think that, you know, like, you look at your daughter, how she’s embraced it, and maybe she was oriented
that way. But I think it’s like, really, it’s sort of like when there’s a snowstorm and you say to the kids, help
me shovel. And you know, this is your house to you know, all the ways in which you can get your kids to
participate. I think it’s the same thing. And I think that
24:21

actually now
24:24
the adults in the house really do need the kids to chip in. They really do and you know, so it’s like I’m on
a call right now you want a snack? Can you just whip something up and this actually sort of goes against
a little bit what I was saying, but
24:42
I might not be
24:47
too crazed about isn’t the perfect, healthy thing to start. Just get them to think that this is a fun thing to do
that feeding themselves is is powerful and It’s fun to make creations and then mate, like you said your
daughter put prosciutto in her sandwich? Well, you don’t want her eating prosciutto every day. Right? It’s
totally fine to do that sometime. So I think I would really focus on getting them to think this is fun. And,
you know, what can you make that’s really colorful, a little bit of a challenge in there. So the combination
of, let’s have fun together, I need you to take some responsibility. And make it I’m not big on contests. I
know that people really are. And so I’m not going to say don’t, but even like to say to your two daughters,
like,
25:44
not like, because I don’t like pitting them
25:50
against each other, but sort of like, let’s try to get as many colors into this sandwich. Let’s try to get and
then they open up the refrigerator and sort of add things on. So it’s not always about you telling you what
to do. I know giving like a million different messages here. No, no, it’s great. I mean, I guess I think there
are many doors to get into this, if that makes sense.
26:16
Yeah, I yeah, I think so too. And I think you’re right, starting out with not saying, You need to go make
your own snack today and make sure it’s healthy, you know, it’s okay, you need go into the kitchen, you
know what to do I have faith, I have full confidence in that you can make a snack for yourself, exactly.
Kind of go into it. Go into to it that way, you know, something else that I’ve done with both of my girls is I
will go on to Pinterest, and I’ll either pull it up on their computer or their iPad, and say, like, note or pin,
you know, cuz they know how to pin. But you know, look at what you think you’d like. And I’ll search like
healthy snacks, you know, so say that’s what they’re and so then they can kind of go through it. And then
when it come and I’ll say write down, you know, write down your ingredients, what do you need. And then
when we go to the grocery store, weekend, we’ll get what we need to make those snacks. And so I do
that with Pinterest, or like on our healthy family project website. We have different categories for recipes.
And so I’ll say go through there. And because then I can also take pictures, you know, so that’s no, that’s
always a good thing, too. But yeah, so I think that allowing them to kind of pick out and plan and then
that you know, is a double win, because then you’re also building your grocery list.
27:43
Exactly. And I also think sort of, I love that. But also the opposite of that which is in the grocery store, if
they’re with you is say, Okay, you pick something out that you don’t you’re not super familiar with or pick
something out that you are familiar with. So like, Okay, you one daughter picks out cauliflower, the other
one picks out oranges, and then you go home with those and say, Now let’s figure out what we can make
with this. Or, you know, so to get more experimental about
28:16
something new.
28:19
Yeah, I like that. It’s it’s golf, I feel like it all just goes back to empowering them to be able to feel
confident, right? That’s so many things in life, it’s like, once you once you achieve a confidence level, in
anything, it’s just a whole new world. True for you. So even if you’re not great at it, you know, I’m not a
chef by any stretch of the imagination, but my confidence level, I didn’t grow up, you know, in the queue,
spending all my time in the kitchen or things like that. But as these past nine years have that I’ve been in

the food world have gone on, you know, now I just say, alright, I’m not going to the store, what do we
have in the place? What can we pull together today for dinner? Because I’m not going out? And, you
know, now with, you know, not wanting to spend a ton of time of course, heading to the grocery store
seven times. Right? You know, you kind of have to think and be creative in that way. Yeah, so what do
you think about and maybe, maybe this there aren’t snacks for different ages? But do you think that
there? Do you recommend different ideas for different ages? I mean, we have some on our website that
say like different ages and stages, for you know what kids can do in the kitchen to help out but do you
have any ideas on like, what snacks might be suitable for each age?
29:40
Well, I don’t. I think that there’s no reason that a four year old can’t eat with 14 year old eats. I mean, my
son was eating spicy food at a very young age. And I think that he actually sort of felt like, oh grownups
don’t think children like spicy food. So I’m going to prove that like I’m an adult. And I think that it is
important to expose children to as many foods as possible. And I think as adults, we think, Oh, kids don’t
like this. And kids don’t like that. But there’s not a particular reason that a young kid wouldn’t like blue
cheese, or, you know, we just did this. This was incredible. We have a new product coming out. It’s called
the eatable alphabet, it’s a learning deck for two plus, and each card is It’s A to Z. And the F card is it’s F
is for fish. And we did to what we, so the quarter is really tuna. But we did classes to find out like if our
ideas were good, so we did a whole bunch of classes with sort of two to six year olds. And when we did
F is for fish. We did this in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics. And they said, Oh,
fish, like, oh, no, kids are not going to like that. And in the class, we had kids eating, anchovies, sardines,
tuna, like no attitude. And the parents were like, Oh, yeah. And literally, the parents were like, holding
their noses. And the kids had no idea of like, oh, fishy, stinky or, or that’s weird to eat a Saturday, nothing.
So all those things really come from parents saying, you think about how many times parents are saying
to their kids, I don’t think you’ll like this, or you won’t like this, or kids don’t like this, I would forget all that.
And just be your kids what you eat.
31:48
Yes. And that’s I’ve kind of always that’s been my, my path. You know, of course, you get tripped up
sometimes when you’re out and about, and you’re gonna fall into these ruts of chicken nuggets, or
whatever it might be. But I’m with you, I think that we don’t give our kids enough. I don’t know if enough
credit is the right way to phrase that. But to let them taste some of these things. And and sometimes, you
know, a parent might be the kind of roadblock if you’re exactly picky eater, or you haven’t explored many
foods yourself, then kind of just cycle that down to your kids. So maybe maybe it’s time for parents also
to get out there and say, Hey, let’s try this new thing together.
32:35
I think that’s great. I mean, and you’re right, you know, you have a parent sitting at the table saying, I’m
not going to eat this. Yeah. And then the kid is you’re just modeling that. And yeah, I think that it’s really
important. And you know, the other thing, I mean, this gets to picky eating. But I also think everybody
should be allowed not to like certain foods, it’s not necessarily picky eating. I mean, I don’t like peanut
butter, you can’t get me to eat peanut butter. And I feel like if I were a child, but I should be entitled not to
like it. Right. And I also, this is, again, back to picky eating for a minute. I personally don’t believe that
you should make children tastings, I think you your job as a parent is to offer the food. And the child’s job
is to decide if they want to eat it or not. And if they don’t want to eat it, let it go.
33:31
I know that’s a hard that’s a tough one.
33:35
I think stop but that is what I believe I can do.
33:38
No, and I feel like in the long run that it you know it, it’ll come around because I have one my older and
listeners on the podcast. No, my, my older daughter eats and really anything you put in front of her. She
also has a major sweet tooth. And then my younger daughter is more selective and doesn’t have a sweet
tooth. So she’s not looking like she doesn’t eat bad things. She just her range is smaller. You know, right?
She, she wants you know, on the every week she says I want to have salmon at least once a week. She
loves salmon. Salmon is a great salmon is her thing. And she loves raw like raw carrots, celery, things
like that. Of course. She she’s a carb person too. So she was six. Did you say she Oh, she’s 10 Oh, yes.

She’ll be 10 next week. So yeah, so she It’s interesting. It’s very people are very amazed by this, but I
say like, oh yeah, she’s a picky eater. I don’t like to say it too much, especially around her because she
does. You know, they tend to own those. Those titles when you give it to them, they’re like, No, I can’t do
that. I’m picky. So right, right. Yeah, I tried. I tried to say not say that too much around her but people are
always amazed at the things She does eat. But like I said, it’s a very, it’s kind of the list. The list is
smaller, but I think it’s growing. And I think that she’s involved in a lot of, you know, my kids have always
been involved in what I do at work and doing videos, and, you know, with different recipes, but I think
now she’s to the point where she wants to show that she’s eating these things, you know, yes, in the
videos and the videos, I always used to say, please just take one bite, and, you know, we’ll figure it out.
And so no, she is like, I really liked that case of the, you know, I want to have a case to do for lunch
tomorrow. So I think we’re making progress. And it’s, it’s been a long road, but I definitely think that, you
know, in the long run I, I say, you know, she might not eat every every fruit and vegetable, but I can
guarantee you take her to the produce department, and she can name all of them. Wow. And probably
Yeah, yeah. So I felt like, you know what, she might not eat it all. But she, it’s up there in her brain. So
when she’s out on her own someday, I’m hopeful that she’ll, you know, embrace it, maybe. Who knows?
36:12
I think that’s great. I think it’s great.
36:16
Yeah, just introducing, you know, we hear that a lot. Just putting something in front of your child and
them knowing what it is and recognizing it is the first step in just being comfortable and confident. Like,
going back to being confident like, Oh, I know what that is. You know, right. That’s a dragon fruit. It’s
funny. My older daughter hates mushrooms and I and it’s so weird to me because I love mushrooms. I
mean, I love mushrooms so very much. And I don’t have like hide a lot of veggies. Not there’s anything
wrong with it. I think blending gives a lot of flavor sometimes, but she the girl will find a mushroom.
36:57
Seek out a mushroom roasted mushrooms for her.
37:01
I have I’ve done it all. I think she just said I just do not like mushrooms. I’m not a
37:08
giant fan of that either. I mean, I eat some but like I never buy them. Right there. Yeah, that’s funny. I like
your daughter. Yes.
37:17
Yes. Oh, you’ll love her. We’ve actually been talking about getting her on the podcast because she, she
is great. She’s great to have conversation with and she has a lot of ideas about things, although she is

  1. So sometimes I have the dollar back. She gets a little passionate about some some topics, but I’m
    like, Alright, let’s get back on track. So okay, so this has been great. But before we wrap up today, I have
    a personal problem in our house that I have to cover off on with you. So when it comes to snacking,
    especially because we’re home all day, I am, like kind of, you know, by the end of the day, I told my
    family, I kind of get dramatic about it. I actually said, you know, when I’m on my deathbed, and they add
    up how much time I spent on on each thing in my life standing in front of this sink is going to be you
    know, picking up this these plates, and they’re like, Oh, Mom, you’re so dramatic. You know, that’s not
    what’s gonna happen. And, and so I have just been trying to tell them, you know, great, be creative, do
    what you want to do. You know, but you have to clean up after yourself. And I think, especially for my
    older daughter, I can see maybe sometimes that deters her where she’s like, well, I don’t want to clean
    up. So I’m just gonna do like, go grab something easy. So how do I get my kids to clean up their mess?
    38:43
    I mean, I think that they do have to understand that it is part of it. Right. And I think that’s hard. Um ticaret
    38:59
    takeaways, I take away their phone.
    39:02

You know, I mean, I remember when I son is like, honestly, the easiest human. He’s so mellow. And I
remember feeling so I mean, when he was a teenager, and he would leave dishes in the sink. And I just
thought I’m not your maid. And I remember feeling like, I’m just going to take the dishes and I’m going to
stick them in his bed. Obviously, I never did that. Yeah, but it is so frustrating. And I don’t I mean,
because it’s,
39:35
it’s not like
39:36
you can say I’m going to take the keys away to the car. Like if you don’t want them to drive, you take the
keys away, you know, with the dishes. It’s like, well, you can say well, then you can make your own food,
but you want them to spray.
39:54
I know I don’t have a
39:55
really good answer.
39:57
I know and this has been a tough one for me. It’s Especially like I said, with the older one really being so
wonderful in the kitchen. Yeah. And I mean, she does it just ebbs and flows. Like she may clean up, she
may not. And to her, she says, Well, I did clean up, but there’s still like the olive oils there. And there’s
cheese sprinkled in and like, did you really? On those standards of cleanup? Is this because there’s
shredded cheese all over the counter? Yeah. But, you know, I
40:29
have to think about that one. I mean, I think it’s,
40:33
I think it’s a big issue.
40:35
And is it I used to not clean my children’s rooms, like I didn’t make their beds. If their room was
disgusting, I left it, my feeling was, it’s their room. I mean, I’m a pretty strict parent. But I was like, it’s their
room, I, I don’t have to go into it. And I would leave it. And I also didn’t do my kids laundry, starting at like

  1. And they didn’t like living in a disgusting room. And they didn’t like having dirty clothes. So they were
    motivated to change that. And they’re both adults. And they’re both like, really clean and neat. But it’s
    different, you have a shared kitchen, and you want them to be doing it. So it’s different.
    41:24
    It is an I implemented, which worked for a little while. And I think I’m gonna bring it back with everyone in
    the family, including myself, if you use a dish, or so if you use a dish, you do a dish. That’s right. That’s
    what I and our sink, it became a thing where if there was a dish in the sink, people were like, whose
    dishes that because there’s only one dish in there, everybody’s doing their dishes. So it worked for a
    while. But we kind of fell off, but I might bring it back. But I think just with now with everyone being at
    home so much. I’ve never had this many dishes in my house because we’re usually all gone during the
    day, when we’re I don’t I don’t see that kind of, you know, build up, I guess in the sink. So if anyone out
    there listening really has some good ideas on how to get them to clean up but not discourage them from
    getting in the kitchen. Please, please a comment or or
    42:25
    shoot us a note. So I don’t know. Oh, oh,
    42:29
    are you back? Oh, it’s cutting out a little bit. Let’s give it a second.
    42:35

I mean, I think that’s a really. And, um,
42:43
and they’re not at an age where they’re necessarily going to be like, oh, yeah, sure, mom. That makes
sense.
42:48
Right, exactly. So we’ll get it figured out. Good luck. Thanks. Just one of those other things I’m trying to
tackle here in this pandemic life. All right, so let’s, before we go, I just have a question for you. I ask all of
our first time guests on the podcast, and there’s really no right or wrong answer. But what do you think
being a healthy family means?
43:15
I’m assuming you mean, just around eating?
43:18
I mean, it doesn’t have to be?
43:21
Well, I think that since my arena is cooking, and eating, etc,
43:32
I’ll address that. I think it’s balancing out, you know, not being crazed about everything has to be healthy.
I think being really relaxed about it is best not being rigid, I think. I think that’s what healthy is and
probably healthy, that’s healthy in every area is trying to be relaxed about things and not you have to this
you have to that you can’t, I think you want to be as positive as you can. Like, this is delicious. Not and
this other thing is bad, right? Focus on the positivity and make it fun and make it about being together
and make it about sort of really learning life skills. You know, I think about like your daughters. If one of
them is struggling with math, for instance, get in the kitchen and use cooking as an example or that kind
of thing. Or if they’re learning about money, talk about a recipe. So I think it’s
44:50
I think it’s positivity.
44:53
I love it. I think we could all use some extra positivity right now. So we’re gonna go with it. Well, thank
you so much for joining us today. And, you know, we’ve talked about a lot of things, we’ll definitely share
some links in the show notes. So you can link will link up to some relevant articles from Chop, chop, and
from our website as well. And anything else we’ve talked about here. So before closing out, can you tell
listeners where they can find and connect with you or chop chop? Sure.
45:25
Well, our website is chopped up family.org We actually just relaunched our website. So it’s really
beautiful and fun. And you can find out all our recipes are available. You can subscribe there, we do have
this new product or it’s really, you know, we have magazines, but it’s the first time that we’ve had a
product, which is the eatable alphabets this really fun, kitchen activity deck. So all of that you can find on
Chop, chop family.org. And you can reach me if you want at Sally at Chop Chop family.org. And I will
right back.
46:02
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today. As I mentioned, a couple of
times we truly admire all that you do to get families in the kitchen and and provide resources to them. So
thanks for making the time to talk today. Oh, thank you. This was really fun. What a great conversation
today. I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. If you’re listening to this after Thanksgiving. I
hope you have a great holiday season. If you’re listening to it at some other time. I just hope you have a
great day. So if you like the healthy family project, please tell a friend and leave us a rating it will only
help our visibility so we can continue to create a healthier generation. If you want to tweet direct with me.
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