Balance!!: When it Comes to Feeding Your Children

As a mother and a teacher,  I have often been disappointed and almost depressed by some of the snacks/lunches parents send to school.  With my own children and my class, I have tried to teach them the difference between a healthy snack (fruits, vegetables, yogurt) and a “treat” (granola bars, cookies, chips).  Healthy snacks we can have every day and more than once a day.  Treats, we only eat sometimes.   During our day at school, the first snack of the day is always either a fruit or a vegetable.

At home, tricks I use to get more fruits and vegetables into my children are: smoothies,  homemade tomato sauce and additions to our ground beef.  Smoothies are pretty obvious.  Mix in a blender some frozen vanilla yogurt and add your child’s favourite fruits.  You can even sneak in some new fruits.  Call it a milkshake if that helps to get your child to drink it.

 Keep the blender out to make the special pasta sauce.  You may use either  diced tomatoes, actual tomatoes or take your favourite pasta sauce.  I have used all of the above and then blended veggies in to it.  I have added everything from carrots, peppers, celery, broccoli, cauliflower and even spinach.  The spinach  turns the sauce a green/brown colour so I always have a can of inexpensive tomato sauce on hand to mix in.  This will get your sauce back to its proper red hue.  Cook on low in a crock pot (lid off) in order to thicken it up a bit.  When making this sauce I have even added vegetables I normally wouldn’t eat on their own.  You can bring up the sweetness by adding more carrots or red peppers.  Use this sauce on spaghetti with meat sauce.  To get even more veggies into your meal, grate carrot and add it to the ground beef after it is cooked.  With the sauce on it your child won’t even know the extra carrots are in there.  I have even used the grated carrots in hamburgers and meatloaf.

By no means am I the healthiest person in the world.  There are always “treats” in our cupboard but I try to balance everything, TV vs. physical activity, healthy food vs. treats.  Nowadays I find there is a real imbalance.  I hope these ideas give you a new way to balance your families healthy eating.  Enjoy, bon appétit!