Uncle Ben’s brings us delicious rice and now they are bringing us a national contest with a $20,000 prize! To encourage parents to connect with their kids and cook healthy meals, Uncle Ben’s created Ben’s Beginner’s. Just to get you excited, let’s start with the prizes:
- $20,000 in cash
- an appearance on the Rachel Ray Show
- a school cafeteria makeover (valued at $50,000)
Wow! That is going to be one lucky Uncle Ben’s fan! Okay, okay, so what do you need to do to enter?
Uncle Ben’s is calling for parents with children ages 5-12 to submit a 2-3 minute video of you cooking a rice-based dish with your children. It’s easy – Step one: cook a rice-based healthy meal with your child (ren). Step two: video them, sharing their enthusiasm for cooking and talking about what they learned. Step three: upload the video at the Enter Contest page of the Uncle Ben’s Facebook site.
For more info on the contest, please check out Ben’s Beginners on Facebook!
Here are my favorite tips for serving healthy, family meals:
- Cook together. Children learn so much while cooking. Not only nutritional things about food, but also measuring math skills, vocabulary, geography, and more. Cooking is a great opportunity to play, work, and bond with your kids. And if you have trouble getting your kids to eat healthy foods? If they made it themselves, they are much more likely to eat it! Rosie made fresh salsa with me yesterday. She loves pushing the pulse on the food processor! The tomatoes, lime, and cilantro were a fresh and delicious treat that I know she ate more of because she made it.
- Start on a white canvas. I just learned that studies show when you begin preparing your meal with rice, you end up with a meal that’s better for you. Who knew? After I read this I realized that I love rice mixed with veggies. It does encourage ethnic, rich choices and pairs perfectly with an assortment of vegetables.
- Paint a rainbow. Not only will your meal appeal to your eye as well as your taste buds, you achieve a balance and variety of vitamins and minerals when you have a variety of colors on your plate. Don’t stay with green and brown (meat and a veggie). Go for orange carrots, red peppers, yellow squash, even blueberries. Half of your plate should be fruits and veggies – bring on the color!
What do your kids love to cook?
According to government dietary guidelines, more than one-third of children and more than two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or obese. Yikes! Children age 2-6 should have about 1 1/2 cups of vegetables and 1 cup of fruit everyday. Adding rice to those veggies adds some variety and fun to the meal!
About Uncle Ben’s
Uncle Ben’s®, the number one rice brand in America, is proud to offer a wide range of rice dishes with flavors and textures that will help bring more to your meals, both for convenient side dishes and savory main courses. Uncle Ben’s® offers a wide variety of white, whole grain brown, and flavored rices in cook times ranging from 30 minutes to 90 seconds, as well as rice for food service operations such as restaurants, schools and hospitals. The first mass-produced parboiled rice, Uncle Ben’s® is the top-selling branded rice in the United States and products can be found in more than 100 countries worldwide. Uncle Ben’s® Brand products are manufactured by Mars Food NA, part of Mars, Incorporated.
Uncle Ben’s®, the number one rice brand in America, is proud to offer a wide range of rice dishes with flavors and textures that will help bring more to your meals, both for convenient side dishes and savory main courses. Uncle Ben’s® offers a wide variety of white, whole grain brown, and flavored rices in cook times ranging from 30 minutes to 90 seconds, as well as rice for food service operations such as restaurants, schools and hospitals. The first mass-produced parboiled rice, Uncle Ben’s® is the top-selling branded rice in the United States and products can be found in more than 100 countries worldwide. Uncle Ben’s® Brand products are manufactured by Mars Food NA, part of Mars, Incorporated.
For more information, visit www.UncleBens.com.More info on Uncle Ben’s: http://www.unclebens.com/
Uncle Ben’s on Facebook
Check out recipe ideas from Uncle Ben’s.
Disclosure of Material Connection: “I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Uncle Ben’s blogging program, for My SocialMoms Rewards Points. For more information on how you can participate, click here http://BensBeginners.socialmoms.com/about.
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