Monday, August 16, 2010

Make Mealtime Fun – Kids And Healthy Eating

You may be struggling with getting your kids to eat healthy, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Just a few tips and tricks to use during mealtimes, and you’ll both be happy. Food can be healthy and fun at the same time. Let’s look at a few fun ways to serve healthy foods to your family all day long:

Start the Day Right – Give your kids a delicious, healthy breakfast by getting rid of the prepackaged cereals, pastries, and bars. Many of these handy foods contain lots and lots of sugar and ingredients you and I can’t pronounce. And, yes, that includes the so-called healthy breakfast bars.

Replace these sugary foods with healthy foods like a whole-wheat, sun-dried tomato, or spinach tortilla burrito. Fill a tortilla with fruit, or scrambled eggs, cheese, and turkey bacon for a delicious and nutritious breakfast that your kids will have fun eating. Create a grab-and-go breakfast by wrapping the filled tortillas in parchment paper. Another quick and fun breakfast is whole grain pancakes with naturally sweet fruit toppings. To make breakfast time a little easier, make the pancakes the night before and warm them in the microwave in the morning.

Time for a Snack – Kids typically will ask for sweets when they’re looking for a snack. Give them their sweets, but in a healthy way with applesauce and homemade oatmeal cookies. You want to make a batch of your own cookies so you can control the sugar, even substituting honey. Fruit roll ups that are 100% fruit are great ways to give your kids snacks without tons of sugar.

Sugary fruit drinks are easily replaced with fresh fruit juice. You can even cut the cost in half by adding water to the fruit juice and, if served over ice, your kids will think they got quite a fancy drink. Eliminate sodas by serving flavored tonic water with a fresh slice of fruit for garnish. Your kids will enjoy their fancy grown-up drink and never miss the soda.

Time for Lunch – If you’re looking for lunch ideas for school or home, you want foods that are filling, healthy, and fast. Your kids have a busy day and so do you. With a few lunch time tricks, you can have your kids fed quickly and with healthy foods. Examine some of your kids favorite foods and make the same dishes with healthier ingredients.

You can make macaroni and cheese healthier by mixing up your own batch at home using whole wheat pasta, skim milk, and low fat cheese. Make it nice and cheesy and your kids will fall in love with their new favorite mac and cheese with no boxes involved. Chicken nuggets are another favorite lunchtime meal that can be made simply. Just cut up chicken breasts into small pieces, dunk in an egg and milk mixture, then roll in either crushed cornflakes, cornmeal, or a flour and Parmesan cheese mixture, and bake in the oven on a cookie sheet until crispy.

Dinner Time – It’s the end of a busy day and your kids are hungry again. If you make a dinner for grownups like pot roast, mashed potatoes, and carrots, you may not have happy kids around the table. Instead, get your kids involved with the meal planning and they will eat healthier; and happier. Look at the dinnertime menu as a time to find kid-tested dishes that you can make healthy.

A great place to start is with homemade pizza. Choose healthy toppings and let your kids create their own personal pizza. You can even use flattened biscuits or tacos to create individual pizzas so each child can have their own favorite toppings. Tacos are another fun way to let kids get creative. Choose healthy fillings like shredded chicken, low-fat cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and green peppers and let each child fill their own. Normally when kids can make their own meal, they are more likely to eat it; and like it.

The secret to getting kids to eat healthy is in the fun presentation. Arrange an assortment of healthy foods in a fun way on your child’s plate, and you are most likely going to watch that food disappear. It’s not difficult to get kids to eat healthy foods when you use a little extra thought and planning. Start with these simple tips and you may be soon be surprised to see how healthy your child will eat.

Are you a mom who’d rather play than cook? If so, you won’t want to miss FreeQuickRecipes.com where youll find quick snack ideas for mothers and others.

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