As parents most of us will be familiar with the regular meal time situation where your child simply refuses to eat the vegetables on their plate for an array of reasons. It is important to start healthy eating habits and a love of fresh fruit and vegetables when your children are young. One of the easiest ways to get your children eating the healthy options is to get them involved in their food and making it a fun activity.
Children love to bake cookies and cakes so why not let them assist in creating their meals? Not only does this get children involved in the food they are eating it also helps teach them essential food preparation skills which of course should prevent them from heading to the convenience food once they are older! With a rising number of students claiming they do not know how to make simple foods such as a boiled egg or beans on toast it is more important than ever that the parents take control and teach their children such important and essential skills.
You have lots of options available to you when it comes to creating healthy meals with recipes for children. You can either adapt generally healthy foods such as stuffed peppers and make them child friendly or take your children’s favourite foods such as pizza and adapt them, creating a healthier option which lots of veggies!
Pizza is a great starting point as it is relatively simple to create and teaching your children how to make and then knead the pizza dough will be fun! After adding the tomato puree to the base, give your child a selection of fruit and vegetables that they can add to the pizza by themselves. Examples of such include pineapple, pizza, onions, broccoli, tomatoes and so on. Encourage creativity such as making shapes and pictures on the pizza with the toppings. Not only will it taste great, your child will be proud of their creation it’s a healthier option which your child will be more likely to eat because they played a part in creating it!
Another example would be stuffed peppers, children’s cheese brand Dairylea recently posted a recipe on their Facebook page for stuffed peppers which were shaped like a boat. This remarkably simple recipe involves half a pepper on its side, stuffed with a filling of your choice (in this case it was tuna, Dairylea cheese and sweetcorn). Finally for the sail of the boat add a triangle piece of paper to a cocktail stick and place it on the pepper. The choice of fillings and creativity allowed in the preparation of this will be a hit! Spreadable cheese, chopped vegetables, rice cakes and breadsticks can also be put together for a mid morning sugar free snack!
Healthy kebabs are easily created, chop meat or fish and fruit and veg into cubes and encourage your child to make their own kebabs combining their favourite fruits and vegetables. This is a fun and easy creative meal which can be served with rice. Perfect for the whole family.
The possibilities food new foods and fun and educational opportunities for your kids are endless.
By Sarah
