HOW IT GROWS
Bell peppers grow on plants that grow about knee-height high. Farmers fertilize (nourish) the land up to three years before planting bell peppers on it. Peppers are handpicked and finish ripening on their way to the grocery store. While peppers grow best in warm climates, a touch of cold weather sweetens it.

Watch to learn more about How it Grows! 

DID YOU KNOW

• All bell peppers start as green
• Red peppers are ripe green peppers
• It takes up to 3 years to fertilize the ground to produce large peppers
• Bell peppers are technically berries! ​

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HOW TO EAT IT
Bell peppers are delicious sliced and eaten raw. You can sautée peppers and add to stirfries, pasta, and more. Bell peppers are also cut up and added to salsas and sauces. Try cutting out the top and stuffing the pepper with rice and other vegetables, and baking it. ​

Or try our Colorful Bell Pepper Nachos recipe.

These Colorful Bell Pepper Nachos are an easy, veggie-packed meal that the whole family can enjoy! Simply set out all your cut peppers and topping options and let your kids have at it. This recipe is extremely customizable and a quick option in a pinch. ​

Serves: 2 people 

Ingredients:
3-4 bell peppers of any color
10oz of cooked shredded or ground meat (sub for beans if vegetarian)
1/2 cup of shredded mexican-style cheese
1 tomato, diced
1/2 cup of shredded lettuce
2 green onions, sliced
Other optional toppings: salsa, guacamole, pickled jalapenos, plain greek yogurt or sour cream, etc.

Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Cut bell peppers into wedge-shaped "chips" and arrange on the lined baking sheet.
3. Top your "chips" with cooked meat, cheese and tomato. Place in the oven for 10-12 minutes until completely heated through.
4. Remove the nachos from the oven and top with shredded lettuce, green onion, and any other additional toppings of your choosing!

Tips:

• Season your meat or beans with a basic taco seasoning for some extra flavor!
• To brown your nachos a bit more, after they have baked for 10-12 minutes turn on the broiler and let them broil for another 2-3 minutes -- but make sure to keep an eye on them so they don't burn!

Don't forget to make it with your little ones so they are more interested to try it. Learn more about bell peppers here. 

​Get more facts like this on the Snackster Sam app.

​Snackster Sam provides fun and educational content about food that grows. Join the adventure. Get it where you get apps!

DID YOU KNOW

• Pears ripen after it is picked off the tree
• Every pear in the United States is picked by hand!
• The cells on the skin of pear are called "stone cell" (you can feel that in its gritty texture)
• Pears are part of the rose family
• Pears used to be called "Butter Fruit" for its buttery-texture

HOW TO EAT IT
Pears can be enjoyed raw, canned, and baked! ​

DID YOU KNOW

• Tomatoes turn red from the inside out
• The ripest tomatoes of a crop are used to make sauce
• Tomatoes are native to the Andes in South America
• Tomatoes became popularized in Italy
• Tomatoes come in many colors and sizes, including yellow, green, orange, purple, and of course, red. 

HOW TO EAT IT
Eat tomatoes fresh, chop it and add to salads, salsa, bread and more! Cook it and add it to soups or make sauces. Or freeze it to cook it later. ​

Kale is delicious, but it can be intimidating for littles to try. A great way to introduce new vegetables is to mix it with something kids do like, like a smoothie! A smoothie bowl has a consistency like ice cream, so you can enjoy this as a sweet treat! 

Don't forget to make it with your little ones so they are more interested to try it. Learn more about kale here. 

Makes 1 large bowl or 2 small bowls

INGREDIENTS

• 1 packed cup kale leaves
• 1 frozen banana
• 2 tablespoons almond butter, peanut butter, or sunflower seed butter
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 to 4 tablespoons milk (any kind)
• Fruit and toppings such as strawberries, blueberries, seeds, and chopped nuts

​
INSTRUCTIONS

1. Rip up kale leaves (be sure to remove any tough stem) and add to a blender with the frozen banana, nut/seed butter, and vanilla. Add 2 tablespoons of your milk of choice, but don’t add too much or the smoothie won’t be thick.
2. Blend until smooth, adding more milk if needed. Smoothie melted or not thick enough? Blend in ice until the desired consistency is reached.
3. Spoon smoothie “ice cream” into bowls and create a flat surface with the back of a spoon. Decorate with toppings. Enjoy!

​
*To make the chocolate version, add 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder or cacao powder to the blender with the other ingredients.

​Get more facts like this on the Snackster Sam app.

​Snackster Sam provides fun and educational content about food that grows. Join the adventure. Get it where you get apps!

Apples are the apple of our eye! One of Snackster Sam's first discoveries on the Blue Planet was apples. They grow on trees and come in thousands of varieties. 


HOW IT GROWS
Apples seem simple enough, but there is a lot more to this fruit than you know! 

Apples grow on trees. Before the apple can grow, the tree fills with blossoms. The flowers are pollinated by bees and then the apple can grow. 

Apples are harvested at the end of summer. 

DID YOU KNOW

• There are more than 8,000 varieties of apples
• It takes 4-5 years for a tree to produce an apple
• The largest apple ever grown was 4 lbs 1 oz!
• Each seed is unique and can grow a new kind of apple
• Apples can be "put to sleep" so they are enjoyed year-round.​

Click on the arrows for the next clue!

You most likely think of a sunflower as a beautiful yellow flower, but did you know you can eat it too? You can even make it into paper! Sunflower has a lot of uses and is more than a pretty face.

HOW IT GROWS
Sunflower starts as a small seed, like the one you're familiar with eating. Planted in the spring, the flower grows over the summer. The stalk grows to be very tall. Some sunflowers only grow 12 inches and some grow to be 16 feet tall! Most flowers grow about 6 feet tall, that's taller than most people!
Like its name, the sunflower seeks the sun, which is called heliotropism. After the flower blooms, the flower faces the sun until the stalk is fully grown, and then the flower faces east.

DID YOU KNOW

• Sunflowers are native to North America (that means they first grew there). In Arizona and New Mexico, there are clues that the sunflower was used around 5,000 years ago. It was an important plant and eaten before corn.
• The world's tallest sunflower grew to 30 feet and 1 inch tall! It was grown in 2014 by Hans-Peter Schiffer in Germany.  
• Sunflowers have been to space! In 2012, US astronaut Don Pettit brought sunflower seeds to space and grew it. 
• You can eat the seeds, the flower buds, use the stalk to make paper (see the Activities to try it), and even use the flower head (with seeds removed) as a scrubbing brush!

1. Prepare Sunflower
Remove flower and leaves from the stalk. Cut the stalks so it can fit in a pot. 
Get a bucket, fill it with water, and add the stalks. Let it soak for 2 hours. 
Find a fire pit and collect the ash from the bottom of the pit. 

2. Boil 
Remove the stalks from the water and hit them with a hammer to break it up. 
Add the stalks to a pot with water and bring to a boil. 
After the stalks are soft, remove from the water and let cool. 

3. Blend
Add the stalks to a blender and blend until thin. Pour mixture into a rectangular tray (if mixture is too clumpy, blend more or add water.)

4. Make Screen
Using an old wooden frame and cut a piece of screen (like for a door). Fasten the screen to the frame. 

5. Flip Goop
Using the screen, dip it flat into the tray. Carefully bring it over to a cloth surface, flip the screen over quickly, and you should see the goop holding its shape. 

5. Wait/Dry
Wait a few days for the paper to dry. Now you can cut it, write on it, and use it to make a card for your loved ones. 


Thank you Wonderopolis for this activity idea!

Did you try it? Tell us in the comments below!

​Snackster Sam provides fun and educational content about food that grows. Join the adventure. Get it where you get apps!

Click on the arrows for the next clue!

​Most watermelons that you find in stores today are seedless, but it wasn't always this way. Ask your parents about spitting watermelon seeds when they were kids. 

HOW IT GROWS
Just like how you crave watermelon on a hot day, watermelon loves the sun, too. The plant grows a vine on the ground. The vine stretches out and can grow up to 20 feet long! Two flowers grow - one for pollinating and the other for growing the watermelon. 

DID YOU KNOW

• 5,000 years ago, watermelon grew wild in Africa and was a small, hard, and bitter fruit.
• To grow seedless watermelon, farmers have to first grow 3 treated crops.
• The best way to know if a watermelon is ripe is to listen to it. Knock on it and listen for a dull, hollow sound. 
• When choosing a watermelon at the store, look for ugly yellow patches (or spots). Surprisingly, this is usually a sweeter, ripe watermelon!​
• Watermelon can grow to have yellow, orange, and pink fruit! The rind (outside skin) can even be yellow! 
• You can grow watermelon in molds or boxes, so it grows to be a cube shape! This is popular in Japan.

Get more facts like this on the Snackster Sam app.

​Snackster Sam provides fun and educational content about food that grows. Join the adventure. Get it where you get apps!

The worst part about dinnertime is when you hear in usually the whiniest voice, "What's for dinner?" When you answer, the response is almost always, "I don't want that!"

You remind your child that they have had this meal before and liked it last time. They dig their heels in further and protest dinner even more.

By the time you have dinner on the table, everyone is frustrated and it's hard to enjoy your dinner.

We've ALL been there. Why does this happen? Are kids jerks? 

Maybe. The jury is still out on that one.

What we know, or at least child experts and experienced parents tell us, is that kids want to feel like they have control of something. After a long day of playing, school, after-school activities, and having everyone tell them what to do, they want to make a decision. Can you blame them? 

So, here's an easy trick that we created to help kids feel in control. Plus, it helps you create a meal plan for the week so you're less tempted to call for delivery at the end of a long day. (Not that there is ANY shame in doing that, by the way.)

Download our free meal chart and hang it on your fridge. Pro-tip, place the chart in a plastic sleeve (or laminate it if you have access to one) and tape it to the fridge so you don't have to print paper every week.

How to use the chart
The days of the week are listed on the right column, and there are empty lines on the left. Fill in, in no specific order, the meal options for that week. For example, you went to the grocery store and got ingredients to make:

• tacos
• pasta
• stir fry
• roasted veggies
• homemade pizza
• pot roast
• fish

After you write the meal options down in the placeholders, ask your children to decide which day they will have each meal. Ask them to draw a line from the day of the week to the meal option. For example, they might choose Fish on Friday and Stir Fry on Monday. 

Keep your meal plan hanging on the fridge. When they ask what's for dinner, point to the chart. If they complain, too bad! They chose it! 

We tried this in our homes and found there was no complaining and there was even more interest in helping to get dinner on the table. We call that a win-win!

What are your tricks to get everyone to eat together? Share in the comments below!

Snackster Sam is a jam-packed educational app that teaches kids about food that grows. Download the free app on the App Store and Google Play.

INGREDIENTS
1 Watermelon

EQUIPMENT
Blender
Ice cube tray

DIRECTIONS: 
Serves 10 people
Cut up watermelon and remove the rind. (You can also use a spoon and scoop it out.) Set watermelon chunks into a large bowl.
Put the chunks of watermelon into a blender and blend until smooth. Keep the juice at the bottom of the bowl in a container and place in the refrigerator. 
Pour blended watermelon into an ice cube tray and freeze until frozen, or overnight.
Add frozen watermelon cubes to blender. Add watermelon juice and blend until mixed well. Pour into a glass and enjoy!


NOTE: You can keep frozen watermelon longer than you can keep the juice in the refrigerator. Feel free to try different juice, like cherry, apple, or orange. If you want different flavor, add lemon juice or a bit of honey. ​

If you're a typical grandma, you probably want to spoil your grandchildren with sweet treats. That's ok, but after the sugar rush, you'll want to balance out their diet with a nutritious meal. 

Then you second guess that plan... will my grandchildren complain about the food on their plate when I serve them vegetables? 

Probably. 

That's why our certified grandma, Patti Refsland, came up with a solution. She loves to garden, and she created a way to get her grandchildren excited about her garden, too!

First, bring your grandchildren to your garden. Let THEM pick out what they want to eat. It will surprise you. Even if they hate onions, they will pick onions. They will pick pretty much anything they can see.

Instructions

• Have them help prepare the produce (wash and discard any inedible items) and put the food items they picked in tinfoil.
• Cut up vegetables evenly.
• Add sausage, rice, or tofu.
• Depending on your food items, you should also add olive oil or butter.
• Add seasoning if the grandchildren request it.
• Fold up the tinfoil, mark their initials on the foil (so they know they got what they picked out of the garden). 

Cook on the grill for 15-20, or until all vegetables are cooked thoroughly. Serve and watch them devour food they always said they disliked!

Homemade cookies for dessert are also welcome. You are grandma, after all. ; )
​

Did you try it? Share your experience or ideas in the comments below!

​Snackster Sam provides fun and educational content about food that grows. Join the adventure. Get it where you get apps!

In our current climate of distance learning, parents are adjusting to many changes to the normal school environment.

Beyond teaching children and sometimes also working from home, parents now have the added stress to prepare breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all the snack times. For many of us, we look forward to school days and the school lunch programs. 

But now what?

We are here to help. That's why we reached out to the newest member of our team, Patti Refsland. She is here to assist parents and grandparents in encouraging healthy habits that exceed the typical school lunch program!

Patti has a BS in Health Education and is currently finishing her Masters in Middle School Math. More than that, she is a mom of four children and now a grandma to all of her children's children. You could say she has a lot of experience in packing lunches. She has been passionate about healthy lunches before it was cool.

Patti, a teacher herself, is also an exceptional gardener and cook. Keep an eye out for short videos demonstrating ideas on involving children in the process of putting together a lunch that provides not only nutrition, but is knowledge about the best foods and how they grow.

​For more information, download the Snackster Sam app - free on the App Store and Google Play. Snackster Sam is a great resource for parents (and grandparents) to engage kids of all ages.