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Kids' Best Meals of the Week
| Meet the Blogger | More Posts by Paige Brady
As regulars of this blog know, we have a popular feature called Best Meals of the Week where readers and team members share our culinary creations. In honor of the kids in our families heading back to school - now or soon, depending on your state! - we thought it'd be fun and helpful to share our Kids' Best Meals.
We've included a few from team members below, and we would really love to hear what your kids eat for breakfast, pack in their lunchbox or gobble down for dinner after a long day of learning!
Since I work with the team that creates recipes for our website, we test a lot of our website recipes at my house. My 6th grade daughter's current faves are Stove-Top Macaroni and Cheese and Carnitas (Pork) Tacos. She's been requesting the carnitas tacos and I'll probably make it for the first week of school. The pork is simple and you can pick up prepared pico de gallo and tortillas to save time on this recipe. Lots of leftovers that heat up simply on busy school nights!
Breakfast idea from Dee Dee:
My son is starting 8th grade and is very active with hockey and baseball. Here's his favorite breakfast smoothie:
- 1 cup 365 organic orange juice
- 365 organic frozen strawberries (small handful)
- 1 organic banana
- Scoop of Vega berry protein (or any other protein powder you like)
Lunch from Ieva:
My 3rd grader, Linnea, likes throwing pots on the wheel and thinking up new robots. Her favorite lunch is: Stonyfield Farm Organic Raspberry yoghurt, a poppyseed bagel toasted and cut into wedges and one or more of the following fruits: mangos, strawberries, raspberries, and/or watermelon. My 6th grader, Kendra, likes writing and exploring the natural world. Her lunch consists of Rudi's Organic Multi-Grain Oat bread, sliced provolone cheese and one or more of the following fruits: strawberries, apricots, plums. Fruit choices, of course, change with what is in season.Dinner from Ari, 6th grade daughter of Bill:
My family loves Spicy Tempeh Nori Rolls. This simple, delicious meal is very easy to make. It includes fresh vegetables and a mix of tempeh, vegan mayonnaise and chili pepper oil. Each roll is quickly made to each person's preferences, and it is gluten-free, casein-free and vegan. We like to make a lot of rolls and serve with sesame noodles.
Dinner or Lunch from Jeremiah:
My 3 1/2 year old has entered the picky "I don't want anything but carbs and cheese" phase. This after the first 3 years of her life were spent devouring large plates of vegetables, tofu and brown rice. So here is my quick alternative to meet her "needs" (read preference) and still get her full of nutrition.
"Cheese" Quesadilla
2 365™ Whole Wheat tortillas
3 rice cheese slices (American Flavor)
light coating of Organic Earth Balance spread
Spread each tortilla with Earth Balance then put the Rice slices inside and gently pan fry on medium heat until both sides are lightly browned. It is a nice alternative to the dairy version and sometimes we sneak in some help with seeds for extra nutrition. The Quesadilla is accompanied by the:
Mega-Chocolate Smoothie Milk Shake
(The super secret parent tip is that this is CHOCK full of veggies, but don't tell the 3 year old!)
5-6 pieces of organic frozen broccoli
1 cup organic spinach
1 cup 365™ frozen berries
1 cup rice milk
1/2 dropper liquid Stevia (to sweeten)
2 Tablespoons Vanilla Rice Protein (or Hemp or Soy, anything for a little added protein)
1 Tablespoon organic unsweetened cocoa (for chocolatey flavor)
Honestly, each time this shake is a little different except for the veggies... Again, whatever it takes to get them in her and she LOVES this special smoothie!
Okay, now it's your turn. What are your kids' best meals?
30 Comments
Comments
My family loves smoothies. Here is my best smoothie trick: peel bananas, break them in half and freeze them. When you add a frozen banana to a smoothie, the smoothie acquires the texture of a milk shake . . . with no dairy. Yes, frozen berries also add a nice texture but we drink dairy-freeze smoothies. You can add whole bananas, instead of halves, of course, but I have diabetes and need to count my carbs. A protein powder shake, with half a frozen bananas, all the frozen berries I want and water . . . a healthy (for my diabetes) breakfast. I remind everyone that they can add all kinds of other nutrition: such as psylium husk. Diabetics need fiber, just like everyone else, but most fiber is accompanied by carbs that will spike blood sugar. You can also add green powders but I love a pretty blue or pretty pink shake.
08/23/2009 3:45:41 PM CDT
There is a great book called What?! No Meat?! What to do When Your Kid Becomes a Vegetarian and it has a whole section on packing healthy vegetarian lunches. My kids love the recipes!!
08/23/2009 10:18:45 PM CDT
I have a 6 year old grandaughter, and she is eating too many processed foods, as both parents work, and she is in first grade, no time at night to fix dinners, please help, how can they fix healthy foods for her? We eat all whole foods hormone free, no antibiotics at my house, I raised her on organic baby food, but now that she is older, it is difficult.
I started her on Spectrums Strawberry-Banana Fish oil capsules and she loves them, help her in school.
Worried Grandma
08/24/2009 2:05:36 PM CDT
My 7-year-old daughter gets stuck in ruts for lunch - she wanted PB&J and baby carrots (no dip) every day for lunch last school year, we use the great whole grain bread and the sugarless Peanut Butter, and she will only eat Cascadian Farm's Concord Grape fruit spread. I could send various things like yogurt, Veggie Booty or pretzels, but she didn't want any fruit. Then she went to a peanut-free summer camp. We got very creative and she enjoyed helping me make a big salad every day with her choice of garden-fresh veggies and herbs, fresh fruits (yea!), and always with Balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Plus she wanted yogurt every day. She generally wants the same thing over and over for months, then we have to figure out what the new phase will be. Probably be back on PB&J for the school year.
She loves chicken legs (among many other things, thankfully) for dinner, and a great, fat-free way to cook them is to put a quarter- to a half-inch of water in a pan, bring to a boil, then fit in as many chicken legs as will lie flat, completely cover them each with a dash of hot sauce (not Tobasco - something with some flavor), fresh chopped or sliced garlic, and lots of fresh basil leaves (Any fresh herb or combination will do, as long as it is covered well. If you use herbs with small leaves, you may want to roll the chicken legs in them). Cover, steam for 20-25 minutes, tah-dah! The flavor is amazing! (My dog likes the leftover juice poured over her food.) A friend introduced me to this method of cooking using turkey thighs. It works great on a pork loin - the basil leaves keep in the moisture.
Thanks, enjoy!
08/25/2009 8:49:22 AM CDT
Uhhhh....McDonalds. That's only if we are lucky enough to afford it! Looking for cheap healthy meals to make! I have varius helth issues such as ph imbalances and I eat a ton of fage yogurt. I am looking for recipies with minimal meat and dairy as I also have acid reflux. I have decided after my health problems inccluding cronic fatigue syndrome that I need to teach my kids better then my mom taught me! She pretty much raised me on frozen pizzas, fast food on a daily basis, ice cream, cookies, and taught me to LOAD up on the mayo! I must not let my kids carry these habbits into thier adulthood and blame me! My non always smoked around us as well and smoked even while she was pregnant! My 3 toddlers and I could use all the help we can get! Thank You in advance!
09/28/2009 1:44:07 AM CDT