Rainbow Blog

Cooking for Kids- with their Help

posted by: Kia

Here’s another fantastic guest post for you to enjoy!

Eating a wide variety of tasty foods is something that people of all ages are happy to do. Children, though, without some prodding will sometimes get stuck in a food rut and want the same things over and over. Keep your kids happy, fit, healthy, and strong by presenting lots of variety in their meals.
Young kids usually love to help out in the kitchen, and it is a great way to get them to try some new foods also. If they help to cook it, they will want to try out the finished product for sure. Why not designate one day each week as their turn to help, and pick some diverse foods from different cultures so they are exposed to lots of variety? Additional kid’s cooking days can be added if there is more than one little angel in your home.

Little Bites
Little ones like smaller pieces of food, so getting them to try new things is sometimes as easy as cutting their sandwiches into quarters or making muffin-sized meatloaves just for them. Let them help cut the sandwiches, mix the ingredients, or mold the small loaves. Give them a large cookie cutter for sandwiches, and use molds to make kid-friendly pancakes. Of course, let them round up the ingredients you need, and help stir the pancake batter if they are not old enough to be close to the stove yet.

Foods that serve as appetizers for adults can make a full meal for kids. Quesadillas, boneless chicken wings, nacho chips with meat, miniature pizzas, and the small “slider” size burgers are often enough to fill up a little one’s tummy. Add a soup or a salad to round out their meal. Kids will love to assemble the foods with you. Let them help put the sauce on little pieces and add their toppings, or fill a bowl with tortilla chips and add cheese, veggies, and beans.

Healthy Foods First
Today’s kids are more sedentary than just a generation before; today’s TV programming, added to computers and video games, keeps them inside instead of playing outside and getting exercise. This has created a childhood obesity problem that is becoming an epidemic, as more kids are becoming diabetic at a very young age. Ensuring that our children eat healthier is the best way of fighting these diseases.

When cooking for your kids, and especially when they are helping, it is vital that the meals you make are healthy, and use healthier techniques. If you teach them the proper way to do these things, it will serve them throughout their lives.

Cooking leaner is a matter of employing alternate techniques when possible, and eliminating unhealthy fats. Most vegetables are perfect for steaming, which also keeps most of the nutrients intact. Baking meats or cooking them in a slow cooker reduces calories when used instead of frying. Try to use natural spices when possible to make sauces and dressings to enhance food flavors.

Kids usually love smoothies, so let them help blend them up. Use fruits and yogurt, and even get them to try adding some carrot or celery pieces too. Smoothies are healthy and delicious; kids will often love them and will ask to make them more often, so they can be an easy win for Moms.

When shopping, buy whole foods, and opt for organic when possible. It means that no fertilizers or pesticides were used in growing the foods, and that no growth enhancers were given to the animals as they were raised. With no chemical residue, they certainly are safer for kids. Also choose whole foods when preparing meals, including those times when the little folks are helping. This means leave the processed, frozen, and dehydrated stuff in the pantry, and pull out the fresh meats, veggies, fruits, and dairy products that do not have any added ingredients. Aside from losing some of their nutritional value, the process of refining food may also make use of ingredients and additives that are not healthy.

Eating healthy, and learning to prepare healthy foods, are the best gifts we can give our children. It will keep them healthy and diseases free, and the best time to learn these things are when they are young. Using quality nonstick stainless steel cookware also helps you get without added fats and oils.

Denise Gabbard
Online Marketing Professional
http://writeandgetpaid.wordpress.com