Making Food Healthy and Fun!

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I’m super lucky that my twins are far from picky eaters, but they are still toddlers and therefore have opinions- strong ones, so I’m always trying to get creative to make food healthy and fun.  I recently read an article on CNN.com titled, “10 Nutrition Powerhouses for Kids”.  You should too!  I found it so interesting- it listed 10 fabulous powerhouse foods and explained WHY they were so good for our kids and ways to get them into our kids’ diets.   Great ideas!

Here are some things I’ve tried lately spice up our meals:

-use cookie cutters to make the girls sandwiches into fun shapes.  (Or LunchPunch sandwich cutters are fabulous- there are animal shapes and even shapes like puzzle pieces!)  They LOVE it.

- My girls love to dip!  Anything into anything, basically. :)  veggies in hummus, fruit in yogurt, toast in peanut butter, chicken in ketchup.  If they can dip it, they will eat it!

-And for a fun summer treat, I’ve been making popsicles!  I got popsicle molds for $1 at Michaels (also seen them at Target and Walmart), and used sugar free, fat free Jello pudding (after following directions on the box) and popped them into the freezer.  Easy and delicious!  Another idea- blend fruit and milk, pour in, and freeze.

What are YOUR healthy and fun food ideas/tips??

Related posts:

  1. Making Baby Food
  2. Foodie Friday: Eating healthy foods
  3. Food Fight
  4. Homemade Baby Food
  5. Foodie Friday: Holidays and food allergies

7 thoughts on “Making Food Healthy and Fun!”

  1. We love dips, too, especially ranch dressing and barbeque sauce. My girls also like to make their own biscuit pizzas, which opens the door to tons of healthy toppings. Last week, I blogged about my fantastic find at Kohl’s. They’ve got the Deceptively Delicious cookbook for $5!!! It’s in the area near the cash registers where they sell the stuffed animals with coordinating books.

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  2. My girls are pretty good eaters but we’re vegetarian so I’m always trying to find ways to get more protein into our diets. I love experimenting with this so here are a few of our favorites:

    Egg faces: Basically eggs cooked to look like an unfolded omlette. We make faces with raisins, sliced fruit and veggies,and condiments. The hair can be made with shredded cheese or broccoli. The options are endless!

    Parfaits: I take clear juice glasses and let my older daughter layer in yogurt, fruit, granola. Basically, whatever we have so it’s very versatile!

    With a terrible french accent, I’ve served “hors d’oeuvres” on a tray to my daughter. The novelty of it makes my daughter try anything. Some of the treats are fresh mozzarella with a dab of pesto and half a cherry tomato, fruit kabobs, PB on celery with raisins, or rolled up lettuce leaves with hummus, peppers, and olives.

    Pancakes– I can turn pretty much anything into a pancake and they are so easy to pack as snacks. Lately, we’re really into whole wheat, banana, and blueberry pancakes or zucchini, corn, and feta.

    Baby quiches- I take a mini muffin tin and fill it with diced veggies (usually leftovers) and some shredded cheese. I pour an egg/milk mixture over it and I have easy, portable quiches!

    Lastly, I just made the raw beet salad featured in the NY Times about a week ago. It was delicious and my 4 year-old and 16 month old twins couldn’t get enough of it. It’s basically shredded beats and an orange juice/lemon juice dressing– so simple! It’s messy though so be prepared!

    Can’t wait to hear others’ ideas!

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  3. We make homeade yogourt, ice cream and sorbet, which is basically frozen fruit. They all make great summer treats. I also make mini muffins which are just the right size for little hands.

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  4. I mix a lot of veggies into meatloaf when I make it. Last night it was an onion, a handful or two of baby-cut carrots, and a few handfuls of spinach. Chop in food processor until fine and mix into a meatloaf. Yum!

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  5. I make jello out of the V8 fruit/veggie juices. It’s a fun treat, you can cut it into shapes, and it’s full of fruit and veggie goodness! It’s really easy, the recipe is on the back of the Knox box, but it’s pretty much:
    1/2 cup of cold juice
    1.5 cups juice heated to boiling
    Sprinkle 2 packets of gelatin on cold juice, let sit for 1 minute. Stir in boiling juice for a few minutes, until gelatin is dissolved. Pour into a 8×8 pan and refrigerate until set, about 3 hours.

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  7. Burgers made of chopped chicken, grated apple, grated zucchini and egg whites are super-moist as well as healthy. Make sure to squeeze the liquid out of the zucchini!

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