Involve the kids in making healthy lunches

McClatchy-Tribune

Before school bells start ringing again, parents should consider doing some homework of their own on nutritious lunches to pack for their children. Since kids often want to eat the same types of food every day for lunch, it’s up to parents to take the lead and put new ideas on the table.

Registered dietitian Dena McDowell, M.S., C.D., nutritional expert for TOPS Club Inc. (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), says parents can provide a better range of vitamins and nutrients on a daily basis by following these tips:

• Let kids make the assignments. McDowell explains that a child may feel empowered and more apt to try new food combinations if he or she is part of the planning process.
• Together, find recipes for new sandwiches,...

  Read more

  Posted in Healthy eating, school

  ADD COMMENTS

CK’s kitchen: Green gazpacho

By Chrissy Kadleck, The Chronicle-Telegram

Green gazpacho

• 2½ pounds cucumbers (3 to 4 medium) peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
• 2 cups roughly chopped red leaf lettuce (about 6 leaves)
• 1 small green bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
• 2 scallions, white and green parts, roughly chopped
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
• Cayenne to taste
• 1 small avocado, diced

In a blender, puree cucumbers, lettuce, pepper, scallions, garlic, lime juice, water, oil, salt and cumin in batches until smooth. Season with...

Read more

Meals Matter: It’s meatless meals week

From MealsMatter.org

Of the five food groups, Americans on average only meet, and actually often exceed, the recommended daily servings of the meat, beans and nuts group. This week’s family meal plan and shopping list are designed to help families explore many of the good tasting and healthy options within the meats, beans and nuts group beyond meat itself.

Beans are an inexpensive, nutrient-rich food choice, so it seems only appropriate that this week’s meatless feature meal starts with Jalapeno Red Bean BBQ Burgers. Paired with Sweet Potato Salad and a delicious Yogurt Delight dessert, this meal provides nearly 20 grams of fiber and almost 500 milligrams of calcium. Other meatless recipes this week include...

Read more

Outreach at schools encourages healthy meals

By Janice Denham, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On their way to Maplewood Richmond Heights Early Childhood Center, on the last day of the school year, Alex Ficken told his mom he’s decided to be a chef.

That was like a crown of homegrown strawberries, broccoli and zucchini to Mildred Mattfeldt-Beman, chair of the department of nutrition and dietetics at Saint Louis University. She waited at school that morning to present to Alexander his award in the Recipes from Home contest — basket of foods, cookbooks and other gifts from Schnucks Markets and Dierbergs Markets.

She and her university students work hard alongside the kids in the gardens and kitchens to show students in the Maplewood Richmond Heights School District how to eat healthy from farm to...

Read more

Family Meals Matter: Beat the heat with full-flavor salads

From MealsMatter.org

If you’re like most cooks, the hotter it is outside, the less time you want to spend in the kitchen over a hot stove. Luckily, salads provide a wide variety of palate-pleasing textures full of healthy flavors. In fact, this week’s family meal menu is a no-cook way to beat the heat. Start with refreshing Saladita-Stuffed Cucumbers, a flavorful Lunch Time Salad and Melon Ambrosia for a touch of sweetness. Serve with ice-cold milk and crusty bread for a satisfying meal even on the most sweltering of days.

The salad theme continues throughout the week with diverse salad and side dish options that require little to no cooking. Flavors from all five food groups make Parmesan Penne Salad with Grilled Vegetables, Corn and Red Pepper...

Read more

Dear husband …

Dear Husband,

Can you please stop with the damn “eat your food” tirades at the kids at meal time? We offer them healthy food for the most part and forcing them to clean their plate just makes everyone miserable. They are not going to starve themselves. I promise. They will eventually like vegetables if we keep just putting it in front of them and talking about how yummy they are. You are making family dinner no fun at all for our Silicon Valley family.

I know it’s frustrating when they don’t eat, but the yelling and bribery is not working. Stop putting so much focus on what they eat and I guarantee you will notice a difference. Denying them a glass of milk until they finish their dinner is just silly.

Sacrifice flavor? No need to eat right. Try these ….

By Leslie Garisto Pfaff  FamilyFun magazine

These days, most of us have gotten the message about healthy eating, but we may still be struggling to apply it to the foods we know and love. How do we manage to a) incorporate healthier ingredients, b) cut back on fat, salt, and sugar, and c) still indulge our family’s cravings for the rich flavors of fried foods and sweet treats? After all, as my daughter once put it, can life without fries really be called living?

We put these questions to a panel of food experts, and they came up with answers we think you’ll love. Read on to learn their secrets for creating food that’s healthier than ever, but as tasty as you and your family have come to expect....

Read more

Tips on getting kids to like veggies

By DEAN FOSDICK For The Associated Press

It isn’t always love at first bite when kids and vegetables meet. Children often have to be coaxed into entering this healthy and life-long relationship.

Here’s a matchmaking suggestion: Get things going with a small vegetable garden, even if it’s only in a window box.

“The more you can build interest in getting your children to garden, the more they’ll want to try eating what they grow, including vegetables,” said Jill Le Brasseur, a spokeswoman for the Produce for Better Health Foundation in Wilmington, Del., a non-profit consumer education group. “If they help select the vegetables, plant the seeds and weed, they’ll feel more...

Read more

Day care centers join effort to help children exercise and eat healthy

By Joe Miller McClatchy Newspapers

RALEIGH, N.C. — It may have been the easiest cold call in history.

A few weeks ago, a personal trainer called Creative Kidz Academy in Raleigh, N.C., to pitch a 12-week training program aimed at small fry. Instead of a day-care worker frazzled by trying to keep up with energetic ankle biters, he found a surprisingly receptive ear.

“We get marketing calls every day,” says Christy Lowery, owner of the center, people wanting to sell everything from snack foods to playground equipment. “If he had called a year ago, we wouldn’t even have considered it.”

What’s happened in the past year is that Creative Kidz has...

Read more

Teach kids to live healthier lives at the Children’s Museum.

By request of our customers and partners, The Children’s Museum of Cleveland (CMC) is bringing back one of the most popular CMC-created exhibits, Healthier Ever After.  New for 2008, the exhibit will be combined with an exciting variety of fresh interpretative and educational programming and events developed through a consortium of CMC’s partners including family dance and exercise sessions, weekly drop-in classes with activities featuring nutrition, physical activity, oral hygiene, hand washing habits and more. Family cooking workshops will be available monthly.

Read more