I was just telling my husband yesterday that I need to go to the grocery store AGAIN because we are going through produce like crazy. He said it was a good sign we are eating healthy. Good Point!
When I load my grocery cart with tons of fresh vegetables and fruit, I prepare healthier meals and snacks for my family at home. Moms are the gatekeepers of their family’s nutrition. What we buy is what our families will eat. Better yet, have your kids help pick out produce and they are likely to eat it.
This is a sponsored post for Florida Tomato Committee.
Yum! Florida Tomatoes
There is nothing as satisfying as a ripe, red tomato. Is there?! I put them on my kids’ sandwiches for school, adding a nice does of Vitamin C and Vitamin A to their lunches nearly every day.
Honestly, we use tomatoes all the time – diced for fresh salsa and on tacos, quartered for salads, sliced thin for sandwiches (hamburgers to BLT), sliced thick for mozzarella and tomato Caprese, pureed for soups, crushed for home-made spaghetti sauce – the list goes on and on.
I choose the reddest and ripest tomatoes, which are always Florida tomatoes. Just check out the label, the red and juicy tomatoes are always from Florida. That is because Florida knows how to grow tomatoes – from how they take care of the fields to hand picking them. Florida grows tomatoes right, no wonder they are the World’s Best!
The Florida Tomato Committee has produced several fun alligator themed videos that showcase why the Florida Tomato is best. My kids want to visit the Everglades sometime soon so they can see alligators in the wild. My husband and I went when we were first married and had a great time – it’s thrilling to see such a beast sunning himself in the Florida sun! I’ve never seen on eating a tomato but I’m sure it happens! 🙂
It’s no wonder there are so many alligators in Florida, they love fresh, ripe tomatoes too. 😉
How to Add Florida Tomatoes to Kid Friendly Food
I always have at least 6 Florida Tomatoes in my produce drawer, it is an easy way to add something fresh and healthy to any meal.
You can add tomatoes to meals, even if you have picky eaters. Try adding Florida Tomatoes to their diet with these easy ways.
- Make fresh spaghetti sauce – kids love spaghetti!
- Add chopped tomatoes to scrambled eggs and omelets.
- Add slices to cheesy ravioli.
- Add slices to grilled cheese sandwiches – and any other sandwich!
- Add as a pizza topping.
- Add to mac and cheese (adding spinach and peas is delicious too).
Why add Florida Tomatoes to your diet?
Florida Tomatoes are:
- high in vitamin C
- good source of Vitamin A
- fat-free
- contains one gram of fiber (1 medium tomato)
- meets 10 percent of your daily potassium needs. (1 medium tomato)
- most widely available source of lycopene – a natural antioxidant.
Have you ever sliced open a tomato that was flavorless, not-quite ripe, and blah? You might as well not even eat it as the nutritional value is so low. You don’t even need to check the label on the tomatoes, if you reach for the red, ripe tomatoes, they are always from Florida.
In Florida, they know how to grow tomatoes by taking care of the earth with sustainable farming practices. They even integrate drip and micro-irrigation to minimize the use of water in their family run farms – yes, Florida Tomatoes are Field-Grown! Using drip irrigation, farmers reduce water usage by 70%.
Here’s how they integrate drip irrigation.
Florida Tomatoes are field grown and hand-picked too. Although alligators are known to help with this process (at least in videos), the real heroes are Florida growers and their employees. Florida growers pride themselves in caring for their employees by providing safe and positive working environments.
Florida Tomato Farmers also support community charitable organizations including dental care for over 500 pregnant mothers, donations to charter schools for farm worker children, child care and early childhood education for farm workers, and more. Florida takes care of farm workers who hand-pick the World’s Best Tomatoes.
Once Florida tomatoes are hand-picked from the field, they are shipped from Florida to you by the regulated Federal Marketing Order that ensure grade, size, quality, and maturity of every tomato. These are the toughest standards in the world, ensuring you the best.
I’ve learned a lot about Florida tomatoes by preparing for this post. It isn’t by chance that Florida tomatoes are the reddest, ripest, and most nutritious and delicious tomatoes. Their sustainable farming practices and care results in the World’s Best Tomato.
Learn more about Florida Tomatoes with the full collection of YouTube Videos, on Facebook, and Twitter.