Encouraging Your Kids to Eat Healthy

Getting kids to eat healthy is similar to trying to herd cats. There are so many reasons that kids can give as to why they don’t want to, should not and quite possibly will kill over if they even take a single bite of this “good” food. Spanning from not tasting good – even though they have never tried it – to the fact they think they may be allergic to the food in question, kids are masters at dodging the proverbial ball of health food. There are, however, a few ways to get your kids to try new foods. After all, they have an arsenal of reasons why not to eat it, why not keep your own stockpile of weaponry to get them to eat the food they don’t want to.

Be a Role Model

Being a role model and continually trying new foods in front of and with your child can help to shape their ideas about trying new things. It is important to let your kids see that it is ok, and even fun, to try new things from time to time. Demonstrating the adventure and intrigue of trying new foods will stick in your child’s memory for the rest of their life.

Meal Plan Together

Kids are more apt to eat something they made, or at least planned to make. Letting your kids design the weekly meal, and even help cook the meals increases the chance they will try and like foods you are preparing.

Children are stimulated and become completely engrossed when they have the opportunity to get into a hands-on position. By allowing them to help plan the meals and to prepare and cook the food, children see exactly what goes in to the pot and there are fewer surprises for them to come up with the excuse they don’t like what is in it.

Keep Healthy Options

Nothing is worse than watching your kid look for a snack, finding nothing healthy and heading right for the ice cream with chocolate sauce and whip cream. Children learn from, and rely heavily on the ability to make their own decisions, whether it is on what clothes they want to wear to the types of foods they want to eat. It is important to offer a wide variety of choices to your kids. Just remember to respect their likes and dislikes and change the different options up frequently so they don’t get bored.

Conclusion

Getting your children to eat healthy is as simple as letting them get involved. Interacting with all of their senses, suddenly trying new foods becomes fun and intriguing. Allowing children to help out in preparing the meal builds a sense of pride and accomplishment. If all else fails, throw some new fruits and veggies in the blender with a little honey and they will never know the delicious smoothie they are drinking is actually good for them. Hiding the foods they don’t like, inside of foods they love, is a great fail-safe weapon to keep locked and loaded.

What is worse than the dreaded question, “What’s for dinner mom”? In the summer, it’s the thought of turning on the stove or oven to make dinner. I thought it would be good to share some great summertime dinners, everyone in your family will love. Not only do they not require any cooking, but they are healthy and delicious as well.

In the summer many families enjoy some wonderful salads. Here are a few of favorites. Of course you can incorporate whatever ingredients your family prefers.

Not your traditional tossed salad: A traditional tossed salad is awesome and easy to make, but sometimes as a standalone meal, it may not fully satisfy those hungry appetites at dinner. To enhance a traditional tossed salad try adding some of the following ingredients for extra flavor and protein:

Chunks of cubed cheddar cheese
Slices of like turkey, chicken breast or ham
Leftover chicken breast
Zucchini squash slices
Yellow squash slices
Crumble some leftover taco meat, tortilla chips and Catalina dressing for a taco salad

Chef’s salad: Basically a chef’s salad is an upgraded tossed salad. Just add hardboiled eggs, chunks of cheese and sliced ham, turkey, chicken breast and roast beef and voila, you have a chef’s salad. Hearty and yummy!

Spinach salad: Made with yummy spinach leaves or baby spinach leaves, a spinach salad is cool, refreshing and yummy! I like to add shredded cheese, slices of ham, turkey and roast beef, cucumbers, pickles, black olives and for added zest some jalapenos! I top mine with an Italian dressing or balsamic vinaigrette.

Sandwiches: Another great meal idea you can create without cooking is sandwiches. Yes, sandwiches for dinner. When it’s too hot to cook, some cool sandwiches are the ticket. Not only are they easy and heat free, but they are also less filling than a big huge dinner! Some great summer sandwiches are:

Chicken salad: I love chicken salad and love to have a batch made up for last minute, easy on the go meals. Serve some on a pita or flat bread, in a tortilla or in a croissant to change things up a bit.

Deli style sandwiches: I love to sink my teeth into a yummy, thick sandwich filled with all of the fixings of a deli. Pile on the meats, cheeses, and veggies! Some of my favorites are:

Ham
Turkey
Roast Beef
Chicken Breast
Corned Beef
Salami
Pepperoni
Bacon
Alfalfa or Bean Sprouts
Cucumbers
Pickles
Tomatoes
Romaine or leaf lettuce
Green Peppers

Serve on thick bread with brown mustard, if you like, and mayonnaise.

Dinner doesn’t always have to be a huge 3 or 4 course cooked or baked meal. A hearty salad or sandwich will satisfy your kids, hubby and guests, while keeping you cool at the same time.

More Salad recipes

More Sandwich recipes

The fall of the year brings cooler weather and shorter days. It also brings the harvest of pumpkins. We usually only think of the colossal orange wonders during September through November, but a good pumpkin parent can keep them alive and edible for much longer.

Pumpkins are featured in many recipes during the autumn and winter months but are a wholesome addition to meals all year round. If you can’t find fresh pumpkin, canned will work just fine.

Pumpkin has found the greatest popularity in desserts. What about pumpkin pie? Pumpkin pie filling can also be used for mini tarts. The filling can also be cooked in small ramekin dishes and topped with whipped cream for a crustless treat.

Don’t limit your pumpkin to pies, though. Pumpkin bread tastes nothing like pumpkin for those who are like me and haven’t particularly taken a shine to pumpkin pie. The more pumpkin added to the recipe, the moister the bread will be. Serve with butter or a dollop of cream alongside your favorite hot beverage.

Pumpkin bars remind some of pumpkin bread but they are denser than the bread. Pumpkin bars make sweet but not too sweet treats for kids and the pumpkin provides vitamin A and phytonutrients.

Any recipe that calls for sweet potatoes can be readjusted to accommodate pumpkin.

Pumpkin can also be sliced up and used in stir fry recipes with other gourds like zucchini and squash. Served over rice or as a side dish for meats, guests will be eating pumpkin and won’t even know it.

The pumpkin in your recipe doesn’t have to be the main ingredient. A hollowed out pumpkin can be used much like a bread bowl. It can hold stews, soups, and chili that contain pumpkin, or not. The outer rind will stand up to the temperature and may even cook any remnants of pumpkin inside and add to the flavor.

What are you doing with those pumpkins this year? Add them to your favorite recipe and taste the difference.

Recipes Featuring Pumpkin:

• Pumpkin bites
• Pumpkin spread
• Autumn harvest muffins
• Gluten free pumpkin pie
• Pumpkin pecan muffins
• Cranberry pumpkin bread
• Natural homemade pumpkin puree
• Pumpkin pie
• Pumpkin pudding
• Pumpkin yogurt smoothie
• Vegetable stuffed pumpkin shells
• Pumpkin bisque
• Toasted pumpkin seeds

Shop Pumpkin:

Organic Raw Pumpkin Seed Butter
Pumpkin Quickbread Mix
Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend
Nature’s Path Organic Granola Bars in Pumpkin Flax
Dr. Kracker Snacker, Pumpkin Seed Cheddar

When your family is in a rush, and you need the kids to help prepare their own snacks or meal, it’s tempting to have prepared foods for them that are quick to eat, but don’t have as much nutritional value as you would like.

Instead of stocking up on expensive pre-packaged snacks (with unsuitable ingredients) that they can quickly grab, this is a good opportunity to teach your kids to prepare quick, healthy foods for themselves. The times your kids are busy is precisely when they need the most nutrients. If they’re old enough to use a stove on their own, they can learn to prepare healthy foods that will keep going them going a lot longer than a bag of chips or a handful of cookies.

Here are some quick healthy meals and snacks kids can prepare for themselves, or for the whole family.

Scrambled Eggs

Scrambled eggs are a good choice for breakfast, hot lunch or dinner, or even an afterschool snack. Eggs are a health food that supply high quality protein and other nutrients kids need.

3 eggs

3 tablespoons of milk or water

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons butter

Break eggs into a small bowl. Add the milk, salt and pepper. Mix everything well with a fork. Make sure the egg yolks are broken up and the yolks and eggs are well mixed.

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, then tilt the skillet so the melted butter coats the bottom.

Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and cook over low heat. Stir continuously to keep the eggs “scrambled.” Cook until the eggs look firm.

Whole Grain French Toast

French toast is another quick healthy snack or meal. Your kids can eat it topped with pure maple syrup (not the fake stuff!), fruit syrup, or even peanut butter.

1 egg

¼ cup of milk

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon butter

4 slices whole grain bread

Break the egg into a small bowl. Add the milk and salt and mix well with a fork. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.

Dip both sides of the bread into the egg mixture until they’re well soaked. Then place the bread in the skillet and cook until the bottom turns brown. Flip the bread over with a pancake turner and brown the other side too.

Skillet Whole Grain Spaghetti

Instead of putting a couple of frozen pizzas in the oven, the kids can make a quick spaghetti supper on their own. This is a meal the whole family can share before rushing out the door on a busy night.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

½ cup chopped onion

1 pound ground beef (preferably grass fed)

3 cans (8 ounces each) tomato sauce

1 ¾ cups water

1½ teaspoons sea salt

½ teaspoon dried parsley

½ teaspoon dried basil

1/8 teaspoon pepper

8 ounces uncooked whole grain spaghetti

Heat the vegetable oil in a large heavy skillet. Cook the chopped onion and ground beef in the oil until brown. Stir and mash the meat with a fork to break up lumps.

Stir in the tomato sauce, water, salt, parsley, basil and pepper. Heat to boiling.

Break the spaghetti in half the stir it into the sauce gradually. Stir the spaghetti to keep it separated.

Once the spaghetti’s in, cover the skillet with a tight fitting lid. Lower the heat and let it simmer for 25 minutes.

We know how much you want to protect your family’s health with good nutrition. Our promise to you is that you will only find nutritous, tasty, family friendly meals here… from our kitchen to yours.

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