fbpx
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Instagram RSS Feed

Power Pitas for National Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Day

“Power Pitas” with turkey, strawberries, and Dole Chopped Kale-Cabbage Poppyseed Salad #spon

National Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Day is on May 25, but it really should be every day, shouldn’t it? Bright colors, good-for-you nutrients, delicious meals… It’s a day worth celebrating again and again.

National Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Day

To celebrate, Dole and Disney created a multi-year nutrition alliance aimed at helping parents encourage their kids and families to make healthier food choices. For example, the nutrition experts at Dole and the Dole Nutrition Institute worked closely with Disney-Pixar to create original fruit and vegetable recipes inspired by Cars 3 characters. This “Lightning Berry Smoothie,” inspired by Lightening McQueen, contains green tea and blueberries, raspberries, banana, and pineapple.

Lightning Berry Smoothie – photo via Dole

To celebrate National Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Day, we tried to come up with a recipe that our kids would love that would also pack in as many fruits and veggies as possible. That’s how we arrived at this Power Pita, which we’re calling a “powerhouse in a pocket.”

power pitas

This fun and colorful sandwich incorporates both fruits and vegetables, starting with Dole’s Chopped Poppy Seed Salad Kit. The salad comes with with lettuce, kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, carrots, pepitas, cranberries, and yogurt-poppy seed dressing. We added some turkey and a little kick from some (surprise!) strawberry slices.

Power Pitas Recipe

Power Pitas for National Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Day

A powerhouse sandwich with a kale-cabbage salad, turkey, strawberries, and a poppy seed dressing, all stuffed in a whole wheat pita pocket.
Course Lunch
Cuisine American
Author Jeanne Fratello

Ingredients

  • 1 bag Dole Chopped Poppy Seed Salad
  • 2 whole wheat pitas
  • 4 ounces sliced turkey
  • 6 fresh Dole strawberries thinly sliced

Instructions

  1. Assemble the Chopped Poppy Seed salad, mixing the dressing and toppings in with the bagged greens.
  2. Cut the pita pockets in half, then open and stuff each half with fully dressed Chopped Poppy Seed Salad, sliced turkey, and strawberries.

Here’s two things about these Power Pitas: 1) They’re easy enough for a kid to make; and 2) They’re colorful enough to draw a kid’s attention. Exhibit A: We made a stack of these and put them in the fridge. When our 10-year-old opened the fridge looking for something to eat, they caught his eye instantly. “I want that, whatever that is!” he declared.

power pitas

As he chowed down on one, he described why he liked them so much: “There are all of these different tastes in there. You think because it’s a sandwich it’s going to be kind of salty, but then all of a sudden you get a sweet surprise with one of the strawberries or cranberries, and it tastes really good.”  With an endorsement like that, we are totally going to keep making these Power Pitas.

Like this sandwich? Here’s another tip: The Dole salad mixes are really good in just about any sandwich. If you have a hard time getting your kids to eat their greens, this is a tasty way to get in those veggies.

Blogger disclosure: This is a sponsored post on behalf of Dole. As always, all opinions expressed are my own.

, , , , ,

No comments yet.

Leave a Reply

Recipe Rating