Mommy Extraordinaire Kia Robertson Talks Cooking, Blogs, and Rainbows

We were delighted that social media maven and mommy extraordinaire Kia Robertson agreed to join our panel of judges (along with Michael Eckford and Chef David Roberston) for this year's second annual Hands-On Cook-Off Contest. Founder of Today I Ate A Rainbow, Kia is a woman on a mission to make eating fun and healthy. Indeed, her enthusiasm online is contagious! She’s got a massive following—thousands on FB & Twitter—and has partnered up with the likes of Disney and Dr. Alan Greene. Here we reach Kia at her home in the Okanagan to get personal with this mommy on a mission!

BT: Tell us a little bit about your background and how Today I Ate a Rainbow came about.

KR: My background is actually in relaxation massage believe it or not! So this product came from the mind of a mom looking to set healthy eating habits in a fun way. Being a mom and a nanny for many years I knew that if you want to get kids onboard with something, no matter what it is, the secret to success is to make it fun. By turning any chore or activity into a fun challenge it gets kids excited to participate. The other necessary element is hands-on learning: kids learn by watching and doing—so I knew that we needed to create a tool that was fun and interactive! After we created our first rainbow chart, we found it so helpful and successful, we knew we wanted to make it available for other families as a way to help them set healthy eating habits.

BT: You are known to be prolific online and seem to have fostered a thriving community around you. Were you an early adopter of Twitter? What motivates and excites you to share your passion on social media platforms?

KR: I will be the first to admit that I am slightly obsessed with Twitter! It just makes so much sense to me! Twitter is such an incredible tool for making connections; I can trace back almost all of our successes at Today I Ate A Rainbow to Twitter, from being featured in Disney Family Fun magazine to meeting one of my heroes, Dr. Alan Greene. That is pretty powerful especially considering I've been on Twitter for less than two years! Being a small company with an equally small budget I knew that I could spread our rainbow-eating message via social media and all it would cost is my time. I think that is one of the keys with social media...being willing and wanting to put in time and energy. You get back what you give!

BT: Can you share some of your favourite blogs and websites?

KR: How much space do you have!? There are so many incredible blogs and sites out there. Off the top of my head these are some of my favourites:

• Healthy Child Healthy World  
• Dr. Greene 
• Weelicious 
• What's Cooking With Kids 
• In The Kitchen With Audrey 
• The Kid Can Cook 
• The Family Dinner 
• Green Halloween 
• Feed Our Families 
• PBS Parents (The Parent Show and Kitchen Explorers) 
• Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution 

BT: At home, what are your favourite meals to cook with your daughter Hannah?

KR: I love spending time in the kitchen with Hannah. She's been helping since she was a toddler! We love making bran muffins, granola, smoothies, casseroles and pretty much anything else we can think of! Cooking together is such a great way to spend time with our kids!

BT: Can you describe a week in the life of Kia?

KR: A week in the life of Kia? Well it changes quite a bit week to week. I wear many hats with Today I Ate A Rainbow so I can be found doing things like sending out rainbow kits, blogging, working on our new video series, In The Rainbow Kitchen, writing more books in my Rainbow Bunch series, replying to emails, tweets and Facebook messages. I also own a web design firm with my husband so I can also be found keeping the creative department running smoothly! But by far the best part of every day of the week is spending time with my husband, my daughter and our pets! Like so many others I do my best to find balance between my work and family life.

BT: Can you please share one of your favourite go-to recipes?

KR: We are currently crazy about Kale Chips!!! I find raw Kale to be a bit too bitter for my liking; however I know how good it is for us...so when we started making Kale Chips it was the perfect way for me to eat kale and a lot of it. We loved it so much we made our first In The Rainbow Kitchen episode all about Kale Chips! You can watch the video and get the recipe here! My only warning about this recipe is that they are so good, Kale Chips won't last long ; )

Kia, thanks for the interview and for being on our panel of judges for this year’s Hands-On Cook-Off Contest! We can’t wait to see this year’s entries! People, the contest is on now so check out full contest details here!