Family makes dinner a game

How do you get iceberg lettuce to taste like something? Stir-fry it. How can a mom make kale cool? Try making it worth a lot of points.

Sometimes it’s tough to figure out what to make for a family dinner.

That can get further complicated by long days at work and by busy schedules as we drive kids to and from activities.

And some of us have to contend with picky eaters, too.

How can we possibly put together a meal that’s quick, easy, inexpensive and healthy, and one that tastes good, too? That’s a job for a superhero, isn’t it?

Not quite. But it’s a job for a mom who’s had to contend with all of these issues, who manages to make it all fun, even educational.

Jennifer Tyler Lee turned dinner into a game.

“Crunch a Color: The Healthy Eating Game” gives players an opportunity to earn points for eating fruits, vegetables, proteins and grains. There are bonus points awarded for trying new foods and even for helping to set the table and using good manners.

‘The premise was simple,’ says Lee; “more colorful vegetables and fruits meant a healthier meal. The more challening the food, the more points you could earn: 5 for apples, 10 for broccoli, and 15 for kale .... Kale becomes cool when it’s worth 15 points, and the race for bonus points suddenly had my kids begging for new foods to try.”

Lee has now published a cookbook, “The 52 New Foods Challenge,” that complements the game.

Each week of the year, children can pick a new food to sample, whether at the store or at the farmers market.

Now that gardening season is imminent, they can help to pick which vegetables they might want to grow, encouraging them to feel invested in the food they eat and in meal preparation while learning