Showing posts with label Food Ideas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food Ideas. Show all posts

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Feeding Kids Salads



Give kids a chance to like fresh, living foods. Beyond the regular finger foods of carrot and celery sticks, expose them to tasty salads. It's ok. Let them play with their food. The other night I served my 6-year-old some rice pasta and marinara sauce along with a small bowel of cabbage, carrot, and cilantro salad (no dressing). After only 2 bites of the pasta, she literally pushed her bowl aside and grabbed her bowl of salad. Gobbled it down and had 2 more helpings! This is now one of her favorites! "I could sing my mouth is so happy!" she told me.

So how do you get kids to like living salads?
  • Expose them to the salad at high-hungry times (after physical activities, snack times, before meals). So what if they fill up before dinner... it's the best thing they can eat!
  • Eat living salads yourself, and often (do as I do, not as I say)
  • Make games of it: "Are you a rabbit?? Here's your munchy, crunchy meal!"
  • Ask them intriguing questions: "Can you tell the difference between the red and green cabbage?"
  • Constant exposure pays off. It may take 1 or 250 times before they'll try it, but persistence pays off, especially when they are hungry. It becomes a "known factor" to them. So keep it visible!
  • Be Creative and let them gravitate towards their natural instincts to eat living food.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Healthy Lunch Ideas

Here are some great ideas for your child's lunch box for nut-free schools.

Main Entree



Sides of Fruit & Veggies


Other Sides

Bagel – Whole Grain, with Sun Butter or Cream Cheese

Beans – Black, Chickpeas, Kidney, Lima, Pinto…

Black Bean & Corn Salad in Lettuce Wrap

Cheese Sticks or Slices (Dairy, Rice, or Soy)

Chicken, Meat, or Tofu Bites

Chicken Salad with Celery, Lettuce & Tomatoes

Cold Fish

Cool Quinoa Salad (with Beans and/or Veggies)

Cool Rice Salad (with Beans and/or Veggies)

Egg, hard boiled (shelled)

Left-Overs (can make great lunches)

Lettuce Burritos/Wraps (Filled with Dates, Julienned Veggies or Fruit like Mango or Carrots)

Meat or Veggie Loaf, Slice (Warm or Cold)

Oatmeal with Sesame Seeds in Thermos

Pasta & Sauce Warmed and in a Thermos

Pasta Salad – with Whole Grain Pasta, Rice Pasta, or Quinoa with Veggies and/or Beans

Pizza – melt cheese on pita or tortilla with some small chopped veggies of choice, cut to triangles, pack chilled.

Quesadillas – Wheat, Rice, or Corn tortilla w/ cheese, chilled

Rice & Beans – Warmed in a Thermos

Rice Cakes with Sun Butter

Salads – as creative as you want to be (just be nut-free)!

Sandwiches – Make them on Whole Grain Bread, Rice Bread, Sprouted Bread, Pita Pockets, Tortillas, or in Lettuce Wraps

Avocado & Cheese or Sprouts

Avocado & Tomato

Cheese/Rice Cheese

Cheese & Lettuce

Deli Meat/Tofu, Lettuce, Cheese

Deli ‘Meat’, Lettuce, Tomatoes & Sprouts

Egg (omelet-style), cheese

Hummus and Bell Pepper

Hummus and Veggies

Hummus, Sprouts, Bell Peppers

Left-Over Meat, Tofu, or Veggies

Sun Butter, Sun Butter & Banana, Sun Butter and Jelly/Jam

Sun Butter & Agave or Honey

Stir-Fry – Left-Over, Cold or Warmed in Thermos

Slice of Quiche with Veggies (optional, in tortilla triangles)

Soups or Stews in Soup Thermos

Spaghetti Squash & Marinara Sauce - warmed in thermos

Tofu – cubes, strips, wedges

Tortilla Spiral Sandwiches (Wheat, Corn or Rice Tortillas)

Vegetable Salad with their Favorites Sliced Up

Yogurt in a Cup


Apple Sauce

Apples Slices

Apricots

Asparagus Spears

Avocados (Halves, Sliced, Diced)

Bananas (Fresh or Dried Chips)

Beets – steamed, raw

Bell Pepper Slices – Any Color!

Berries of All Kinds (Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Strawberries…)

Broccoli Florets, Spears

Cantaloupe – Sliced

Carrot Sticks

Cauliflower Florets

Celery Sticks

Cherries

Cherry Tomatoes

Corn (on Cob or Kernels)

Cucumber Rounds or Sticks

Dates (Pitted)

Dried Fruit

Dried Fruit Slices

Fruit Cups (Fresh Is Best)

Green Beans

Kale (try wrapped around a date, really!)

Kiwi

Jicama Slices

Mangoes

Melons – of all kinds, sliced or cubed

Olives

Oranges

Papayas

Peaches

Peas

Pineapple

Pumpkin (slices, steamed)

Raisins

Snap Peas/Sugar Peas

Soy Beans / Edamame

Spinach

Sprouts

Squashes (steamed or raw, rounds, sticks)

Sweet Potatoes (Cooked, Cubed)

Watermelon – Sliced

Yellow Squash – Rounds or Sticks

Zucchini – Rounds or Sticks


Arrowroot Cookies (Mel Del)

Banana Bread

Buckwheat Cereal/Crackers

Carrot Muffins

Crackers (Whole Grain, Rice, Etc.)

Dried Apricots

Dried Apple Chips

Dried Banana Chips

Dried Root Veggie Chips

Freeze-Dried Fruits & Veggies

Glutino Pretzels (Gluten Free)

Granola (Nut-Free)

Guacamole Dip

Hummus Dip

Manna Bread (Nut-Free)

Muffins

Pirate Booty

Pita Bites

Rice Cakes

Rice Crackers

Rice Tortillas, sliced in triangles

Seeds, Sunflower or Pumpkin

Sun Butter Dip

Sun Butter/Agave/Salt Dip

Trail Mix (Nut-Free)

Veggie Booty

Veggie Chips

Whole Grain Breads (Nut-Free)

Whole Grain Cereals

Whole Grain Crackers

Zucchini Bread

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Healthy Treat Ideas For Kids

Kids of all ages love raw vegetables when served with tasty dips. These may include hummus, veggie dips, whole milk yogurt, nut or seed butters, healthy salad dressings and more!

Apples - (wedges, diced or whole)
Asparagus – (spears, steamed)
Bananas - (peeled, whole or sliced)
Bell peppers (all colors - sliced long)
Berries (all kinds!) (fresh or frozen)
Broccoli – (florets, steamed or raw)
Carrots – (sticks or rounds, steamed or raw)
Cauliflower – (florets)
Celery – (sticks with or without nut or seed butter)
Cherry tomatoes – (whole or sliced)
Cucumber – (sticks and rounds)
Green beans – (ends removed, steamed or raw)
Jicama – (slices and sticks)
Mushrooms – (small whole, cube large)
Napa cabbage –(leaves)
Peas (raw, frozen, or steamed)
Radishes – (whole or slice sides, “petals”)
Raisins - (just they way the are)
Sugar snap/Snow peas – (whole, slivers)
Sweet Potatoes/Yams – (sticks, rounds)
Yellow squash – (sticks and rounds)
Zucchini – (sticks and rounds)

Want a fun meal with your kids!
Try healthier pizza!
Use a whole wheat pita bread for the crust. Put fresh tomatoe sauce and veggies to top. Cook like a pizza! To make them smile even more, make the veggies into a face! Olives for the eyes, brocolli hair, red bell pepper for a mouth, a mushroom for the nose. For more veggies, ground up some of their favorites and put that on top of the tomotoe base before making a face. Of course, for those who can tolerate cheese, add that too!