Kiwi Strawberry Pizza
This is a VERY simple recipe that incorporates fresh fruit, dairy, and whole grains to make quick snack. This can easily serve main dish for a school lunch but it’s also sweet enough to be a dessert. I love recipes that serve many purposes. Resist the urge to add sweeteners to your puree. If you have nice sweet strawberries, you should not have to have anything. Note the recipe makes several servings, but you may only need one or two at a time. Baby Food Shortcut: If cut into tiny little peices this...
Read MoreQuick “No Can” Tomato Soup
Over the past 1-2 years I have been reducing our family’s consumption of canned foods. The reason for this is that many canned foods can have detectable amounts of BPA (Bisphenol-A), a common chemical used in many plastics and also linings of cans used for food. The more acidic foods have more detectable BPA there is. There are a host of human health concerns linked to BPA exposure, including neurological problems, hormone disruption and cancer. In the past few years manufactures were mandated to take BPA...
Read MorePasta with Chickpeas and Escarole
I have been looking for more vegetarian recipes as our family is eating more meatless meals. When I’m looking for vegetarian recipes, I try to be mindful that we are including enough protein. This recipe uses chickpeas, which are high in fiber and protein, and I also chose a pasta made with Kamut (an ancient variety of wheat) and quinoa, which also increases the protein by 8gm per serving. I found this recipe in Food Network Magazine, and made a few minor adjustments. A few of my tiny tasters complained...
Read MoreGranola Bars with Cherries and Chocolate Chips
This recipe idea came from weelicious.com which is a great resource for family recipes. I used the same basic proportions but put my own spin on it. If you don’t like chocolate chips and raisins, you can certainly use other chips or dried fruit to put your own spin on it. Even cinnamon and raisins would make a great version. Budget Friendly- I priced a batch of these at about 4 dollars (using organic old-fashioned oats and dried cherries from the bulk bins). The batch makes 20-30 bars (my kids are...
Read MoreLunch Idea – Letter Pancake Sandwiches
This past Sunday I made my homemade pancake recipe (with white whole wheat flour, and flax). I decided to make the kids a surprise by making the pancakes into the first letter of their names. I couldn’t find a squeeze bottle, so I put some of the batter into a zip top bag and cut a small hole from the corner. I then piped out the letters onto the skillet. I found that cooking them on a lower temp made it easier to flip the letters (the tops could cook longer and were less runny). When they saw their...
Read MorePomegranate Jello Made Right in the Lunch Box
I just found pomegranates at the the grocery store this week. My kids love this interesting fruit and love it even more in jello. Now that I have a system with my favorite lunch boxes (from EasyLunchboxes.com) I decided to give the jello another try, but right in the box. This saves a little bit of time and is very cool. Fruit gelatin can be a very easy, healthy and natural side dish for lunch when it’s homemade. It takes the same amount of...
Read MoreA Pediatrician’s Ten Tips for Packing a Nutritious Lunch
As a mother of two young boys I am sympathetic to the challenge of how to pack an interesting, well-balanced lunch that the kids will eat, and how to do this DAY AFTER DAY.In organizing my thoughts on school lunch, I used a new recommendation by the USDA to guide me. Did you know the old “Food Pyramid”, used in health classes for years to teach us how to portion our food, is now extinct? In June, the USDA released a new, simplified icon called “Choose My Plate”. This graphic shows a plate with four...
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