Tips & Recipes
Back to school means back to school lunches It can be hard to make sure that kids are eating healthy, especially if they are fussy eaters, so we ve put together some tips that will hopefully help ensure that your kids stay fit and healthy! GET THEM INVOLVED teach your kids about the foods they eat but keep the message clear: CARBS MAKE YOU GO Potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, quinoa, buckwheat, bulgar, oats and cereal. Portion size: same as your child s fist. PROTEIN MAKES YOU GROW Meat, poultry, fish, dairy and pulses. Portion size: palm of your child s hand. FATS MAKES YOU GLOW Healthy fats include avocado, nuts (not salted!), seeds, oily fish and olive oil - play an important role in keeping the heart and blood healthy. Portion size: two thumb nibs. FRUIT AND VEG PROTECT YOU Protect the body from the inside out! Portion size: cupped hand 5 times a day.
Four simple Lunch ideas To help keep your kids fit and healthy
Ham, Carrot and Houmous Rolls A great and tasty alternative to bread and easy to eat 50g carrots, grated 1 tbsp reduced fat houmous 4 slices lean ham I large handful of rocket leaves Pinch of sea salt Freshly ground black pepper Place the carrots and rocket leaves in a bowl, season with sea salt and black pepper and mix well. Spread each slice of ham with some houmous, add a dessert spoon of the carrot mixture in to the middle of the slice of ham, then wrap around the filling Source: Idependent.ie and Tesco Ireland to make a roll. Secure with a cocktail stick or simply pop straight into their segmented lunchbox.
Fruit kebabs big on colour and on fun too A packet of wooden skewers Slices of fresh fruit: raspberries, grapes and blueberries are easy to thread Prepare a bowl of fruit pieces, asking your little helper to select the sequence of threading onto each skewer. Why not try some Source: Idependent.ie and Tesco Ireland ham slices too?
Wholemeal chicken wraps a great lunchbox filler and an even better tummy filler 4 Wholemeal tortilla wraps 240g Tesco Every Day Value Sliced Cooked Chicken 1 yellow or orange pepper, deseeded, thinly sliced 100g low-fat cheese, grated 2 tbsp half-fat sour cream or low-fat sour cream and chive dip 125g cherry tomatoes, halved Place each tortilla onto a plate, cover with cling film and warm through in the microwave for 10 seconds. Spread each tortilla with a little sour cream or sour cream and chive dip (you can swap sour cream for salsa or houmous, or even serve them plain), top with the sliced chicken, sliced peppers, grated cheese Source: Idependent.ie and Tesco Ireland and sliced cherry tomatoes. Fold over the end facing you and then fold in the sides over each other. Wrap in foil and chill until ready to serve.
Whole wheat banana muffins an easy snack for kids that you can get them to help you make 1 cup wholewheat flour 1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil (melted) or olive oil 2 eggs 2 large ripe bananas mashed with a fork 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey Source: www.sweetashoney.co simple clean eating recipes 1. Preheat oven to 180C (355F) 2. Grease a 12-holes mini muffins tray with coconut oil. Set aside. 3. In a large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients in this order whole wheat flour, extra virgin coconut oil, eggs, mashed bananas, baking soda, maple syrup. If you are using a food processor it will not take more than 1 minute to prepare the batter 4. Blend until combined and smooth. It s ok if you still have bits of bananas as it adds lots of moisture to those muffins. 5. Spoon the batter into the muffin tray and bake for 10-15 minutes max or until a chopstick inserted of the centre of the muffins comes out clean. 6. Flip over the tray onto a cooling rack and cool at room temperature before eating. 7. You can froze those whole wheat banana muffins in zip bags and defrost them 3-4 hours before eating. 8. Store in the pantry up to 5 days in a airtight container. 9. This recipe makes about 20-24 mini muffins.