Wednesday

How to Help Your Kids Eat Healthy Meals

It seems to be a universal problem – getting kids to eat healthy foods and fewer high sugar, high-fat snacks. How many children do you know who would choose a plate of vegetables over a plate of fries for instance? It can seem like the more you try to get them eating nutritious food, the more they resist, even claiming not to like meals they have eaten in the past.
Instead of getting more healthy food into them, you can start to feel like they’re eating fewer and fewer nutritious foodstuffs. Is it possible to change this pattern, and how can you make your kids enthusiastic about eating their greens?

Know your child nutrition

Before you start worrying about your child’s diet, make sure you know what the recommendations are for kids at each stage of their development. For instance, young children need full-fat milk rather than skimmed, and higher rates of certain vitamins and minerals. It’s essential to know what is best for your child nutritionally, so you can manage their nutrient intake and ensure they receive the most appropriate diet for their age.

Hiding the veggies

If your kids don’t know what they’re eating, you can increase their vegetable intake without them even knowing. One of the easiest ways to do this is to add chopped or pureed vegetables to pasta sauce. The redness of the tomatoes hides the color of many vegetables, although leafy greens would darken the sauce and are strong enough in flavor and smell to overwhelm the tomato. Carrots, swede, cauliflower, and peas are particularly good for blending into sauces.

Using the right veggies

Kids tend to prefer sweet flavors, so if you serve a portion of vegetables, use ones that are naturally sweet, like carrots, peas or petit pois, mange tout, tomatoes, and sweetcorn. You can also try some exotic or unusual fruits and vegetables to see if the kids find something they like. Your son may loathe apples and bananas perhaps, but love the taste of Kiwi fruits.

Food art

Younger kids and toddlers often find food that’s been arranged to make a picture is more appealing. For instance, cutting dinosaur shapes from a sandwich, or making a smiley face in a bowl of oatmeal with berries and banana slices.

Getting kids involved in cooking

It can be a messy endeavor, but cooking with kids is a great way to get them connected to their food. If you choose fairly simple recipes to start with and make the process fun and exciting, the kids will enjoy cooking and want to do more. They’re also more likely to want to eat what they’ve made themselves.

Transform fast food ideas into healthy meals

Fast food and takeouts are notorious for their high levels of fat and excess calories, but their appeal to kids is undeniable. Home-made versions can be made with fewer unhealthy ingredients and are usually far better for your kids than bought meals. There are some excellent kids cookbooks available, or you could browse through kid-friendly recipes online. You’ll get some helpful tips on incorporating healthy foods into less healthy sounding meals, for example making home-made burgers or pizza.

Get kids to grow their own food

Growing vegetables and fruits can be a rewarding and enjoyable activity, with the bonus of the being able to harvest the freshest, tastiest produce you can get a few months down the line. Start your kids off with simple, fast-growing crops like salads, peas, carrots, beans, and strawberries to begin with, so the tasks don’t seem arduous and results don’t take too long to achieve. Watching a bean plant grow in a jar of water is a time-honored way of enabling kids to see how a seed develops into a plant, and it’s a lot of fun too.

Go on a foraging walk

The fields and hedgerows are full of fruits and edible plants that can be harvested and added to home-cooked meals, and having a family outing to find and pick them can be a good idea for a fun day out. You must be sure you know what is safe to eat and what isn’t, and if you aren’t sure, join an organized foraging experience so you can ensure no-one eats anything harmful.

Budgeting for healthier living

Parents who are on a budget often worry that healthy foods are more expensive, but this isn’t necessarily the case, so don’t assume healthy equals expensive. There’s no better investment than spending money on health and wellbeing, so buying cooking equipment, gardening tools and seeds, or paying for a cookery class or field trip are excellent ways to invest in your family’s future. If money is tight, look for a financial advice service or credit brokerage that helps you manage your income and borrowings so that you have a few extra dollars to spend on your family’s health.

Discipline and reward

Some parents decide the best approach is a Draconian one – the child eats their dinner or goes hungry.
Variations on this approach are to say your child can’t have dessert if they don’t eat all their main course; or that if they eat all their food, they can have a treat. There are doubts as to whether these strategies are the best ways to tackle the problem because your child could develop an unhealthy relationship with their food that leads to a range of eating disorders as they grow older.
You know there isn’t going to be a single, fool-proof way of getting your kids to want healthy meals; if there were, it would be national news! There are however some strategies you can try that could help. You might need to persevere before achieving results, and you might need to try different ideas or combined strategies before you find one that works for you, and you may even have to use different approaches with different kids. Above all, don’t get overstressed yourself, just do the best you can!

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Friday

5 Ways to Spruce Up Your Favorite Desserts Using Flavored Syrup

There is something very pleasurable about eating sweet food after a meal. Craving for sweets after a large meal happens because the sugar helps in digesting the food. Desserts that are made of fruit are an even more recommended food to choose in the menu. In addition, desserts help to lighten up the mood after a heavy meal.


There are ways to make your dessert more attractive and more appetizing. You can add more colors with toppings such as sprinkles, chocolate chips, and marshmallows. A flavored syrup also makes changes in every dessert it touches. Traditional flavors, like the maple syrup and chocolate syrup, are the usual flavors you can see. However, the available flavors in the market keep growing, such as French vanilla flavor, to frosted mint, and even soda-based flavorings. 

Here are five ways to make your favorite desserts more appetizing.

1. Coffee (and other beverages)

Flavored syrup is being used by a lot of individuals for their coffee. It doesn't only improve the flavor the coffee, the syrup also enhances the aesthetics of the morning beverage. The usual usage of flavored syrup in the coffee is to transform a cup into a flavored latte. Flavors such as almond, hazelnut, vanilla, peppermint, caramel, and cinnamon are the usual ones being used. On the aesthetic side, a leaf or a flower is usually drawn as designs.

Coffee syrups can also be mixed on a different level to make different kinds of coffee variants. A creamy coffee is called a latte while the cappuccino is a strong coffee but with the creaminess of milk.

2. Fruit Salad

When it comes to fruit salad, mixing and complementing flavors are quite hard. There are fruits that are not meant to be mixed together. One technique being used to ensure the harmony of taste and texture is to mix the similar fruits in one bowl. Berries are mixed with other berries and melons are mixed with other melons. The same thing goes to other kinds of fruits.

To enhance the flavor, and for additional aromatic appeal, a complimentary flavored syrup can be used. An example of a delicious fruit salad with syrup is a recipe from Natasha's Kitchen. Strawberries, grapes, blueberries, and bananas are drizzled with honey and lemon syrup to finish things up.

3. Glaze

You can use the flavored syrup to put a shiny glaze on a lot of pastry dishes, to add more sweetness, and to make the end product more attractive. One such famous example is doughnuts with sugar syrup glaze. These are doughnuts that are usually glazed with milk, water, vanilla, and sugar. Glazing with flavored syrup is an easier alternative, especially if you want to have more flavor options.

4. Toppings

This is one of the most common ways to make your food interesting. Flavored syrup can make your pancake or waffle more interesting with a little touch of fruit and your favorite flavored syrup. Although there is the traditional maple syrup, a change once in a while is welcome for the adventurous.
You can also add custom designs in a cake using flavored syrup. In addition, the flavored syrup is often used on cakes to keep it moist. Bakers often use flavored syrup in their cakes to make more detailed designs and to write messages. Just remember that if you want to add buttercream or other frostings, make sure that the syrup was totally absorbed by the cake. If this is not done right, your frostings will not stick to the cake.

5. Hot Fudge

Although flavored syrup is usually less viscous than fudge sauce, there are other ways to make a hot fudge out of your flavored syrup. A recipe from the Brown Eyed Baker site used heavy cream, dark brown sugar, cocoa powder, ounces of chocolate, unsalted butter, vanilla extract, and syrup to make a hot cocoa fudge sauce. The sauce was then drizzled in an ice cream topped with a cherry. It is also simple to make as all the ingredients are just mixed and boiled five minutes.

The author of the hot fudge recipe recommends making in batches and store it in the back of the refrigerator. You can use the sauce again when you need it by reheating it. Recommendations, such as using peppermint, orange, and raspberry flavors are also recommended by the author.
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Tuesday

Cranberry-Orange Orzo Salad Recipe

Dinner time! Check out this very colorful & healthy side dish just in time for fall. The sweet and tangy cranberry dressing complements the orange in the recipe. This can be a side dish or an alternative meal option for vegetarians!


Cranberry-Orange Orzo Salad Recipe 

Ingredients

4 oz. orzo
1 navel orange (about 7 oz.)
2 tbsp. cranberry sauce
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Pinch chili flakes
4 cups/4 oz. baby arugula
1/4 cup/1 oz. chopped toasted walnuts
1/4 cup/1 oz. dried cranberries
Directions
  1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
  2. Meanwhile, trim top and bottom ends of orange. Stand fruit on one of the cut ends; remove outer peel, following natural curve of fruit to remove bitter white pith. Working over a bowl to catch juices, cut between membranes to release segments; set aside.
  3. Whisk together cranberry sauce, oil, 2 tbsp orange juice (from segments), vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper and chili flakes; toss with pasta.
  4. Stir in arugula, orange segments, walnuts and dried cranberries.
Tips:
  • If you don’t have a navel orange, use 2 clementine or mandarin oranges.
  • Substitute pecans, pumpkin seeds or almonds for walnuts.
Makes 4 servings. Per serving: 277 calories, 12 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 166 mg sodium, 39 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 13 g sugars, 5 g protein
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Monday

Brussels Sprouts, Dried Cranberries, Caramelized Onion & Sage Penne Pasta Recipe

Fall screams comfort food! So many of us have been waiting for cooler weather to make a batch of our favorite comfort food. Pasta dishes are included in this list. One way to make pasta dishes more for fall is to add in ingredients that go with the season, like cranberries! Embrace the flavors of fall and the up and coming Thanksgiving with our festive penne recipe. It makes a great side dish for Thanksgiving or as the star of the show in a fall weekday dinner or lunch.

Brussels Sprouts, Dried Cranberries, Caramelized Onion & Sage Penne Pasta

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided
4 cups/1 lb. sliced onion
2 Tbsp. sliced sage leaves
¼ cup/½ oz. dried cranberries (preferably no sugar added)
4 oz. penne
2 cups/9 oz. Brussels sprouts, halved

Directions:

  1. Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add 1 TBSP of the oil and all of the onions. Sprinkle with salt.
  2. Slowly cook, stirring from time to time until golden (about 30 minutes). Stir in the sage leaves and cranberries.
  3. While the onions are caramelizing, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the penne according to package directions. Drain and reserve.
  4. Also while the onions are cooking, bring a small saucepan of salted water to a boil and cook the Brussels sprouts until just softened (about 5 minutes). Drain.
  5. Remove the onion mixture from the pan to a bowl. Heat the same pan over medium high heat. Add the remaining 1 TBSP oil and sauté the Brussels sprouts until browned (about 3 minutes). Stir in the penne and the onion mixture.
  6. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.
An exclusive PastaFits.org recipe.

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Wednesday

Get Back To School Ready Tips and To Go Lunch Box Meals!

Back to school time is cray-cray! No matter how much you prepare, things will be crazy in the morning or lunch prep or after school snacking and even at dinner time! Besides food time crazy you are also trying to balance supplies, money, time, schedules and more! Feeling stressed, yet?

Thanks to years of experience and now no longer having little ones to get ready, I can look back and be grateful that we survived all of it! There are so many resources to help you get lunchbox meals planned, meal plans for dinner and even containers to choose from to help you easily do meal prep.

Here are a few recipes from Pasta Fits. You will find a lot of yummy and easy lunch recipes your family will LOVE! I'm also sharing some of my favorite links where I go to for easy meals and meal plans! You can do this!


ABC (Apple, Broccoli, Cheddar) Alphabet Pasta Salad

With all the flavors that kids love, this simple salad is definitely a lunch and
dinner lifesaver.

Makes: 6 servings
Categories: Kid Friendly, Vegetarian
Type of Dish: Lunch, Dinner
Total Time (Prep + Cook): 20 minutes
Season: Any Season

Ingredients:
4 oz alphabet pasta
4 cups small broccoli florets
1/4 cup light ranch dressing
1 apple, cored and diced
1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat mild Cheddar cheese
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives

Directions:
1. In large pot of boiling water, cook pasta according to package
directions, adding broccoli in the last 3 minutes of cooking. Rinse with
cold water; drain.
2. Toss together pasta, broccoli and dressing. Stir in apple, Cheddar and
chives.
Tip: Add chopped almonds and raisins for added texture.

Nutrition Facts
Per 1/6 recipe
Calories 150
Fat 4g
Saturated Fat 1.5g
Cholesterol 10mg
Sodium 210mg
Carbohydrate 23g
Fiber 3g
Sugars 5g
Protein 6g
Meets Pasta Fits nutrition guidelines.


Power Crunch Pasta Salad

Makes: 6 servings
Categories: Kid Friendly, Vegetarian
Type of Dish: Lunch, Dinner
Total Time (Prep + Cook): 20 minutes
Season: Any Season

Ingredients:
8 oz whole wheat penne
2 cups/1 1/4 oz. shredded kale, ribs removed
2 cups/4 oz. thinly sliced red cabbage
1 red apple, cored and finely sliced
1 carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1/4 cup/1 oz. dried cranberries
1/4 cup/1 oz. natural sliced almonds
2 tbsp. pumpkin seeds
1 tbsp. chia seeds

Creamy Yogurt-Herb Dressing:
1/2 cup low-fat plain Greek yogurt
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp. chopped fresh chives
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. each salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Cook penne according to package directions. Rinse in cold water
and drain.
2. Toss together pasta, kale, cabbage, apple, carrot and
cranberries.
3. Creamy Yogurt-Herb Dressing: Whisk together yogurt, olive oil,
parsley, chives, vinegar, garlic, mustard, salt and pepper.
4. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss well to coat. Sprinkle
almonds, pumpkin seeds and chia seeds over salad before
serving.
Tips:
Add crumbled goat cheese if desired.
For added protein, add tofu, cooked shredded chicken or tuna.

Nutrition Facts
Per 1/8 recipe
Calories 250
Fat 9g
Saturated Fat 1g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 115mg
Carbohydrate 34g
Fiber 5g
Sugars 8g
Protein 7g

With a mix of healthy carbs and protein, these unique egg muffins are the ideal solution to busy mornings, afternoon snack cravings, or for spicing up a boring lunch. Make them ahead of time and then grab a few when you’re on the go!
Makes: 6 servings
Categories: Kid Friendly, Vegetarian
Type of Dish: Lunch, Dinner
Total Time (Prep + Cook): 20 minutes
Season: Any Season

Ingredients:

3 oz. tubetti*
1 ½ cups/6 oz. zucchini, small dice
1 ½ cups/6 oz. red pepper, small dice
12 eggs, lightly beaten
¾ cup/¾ oz. shredded basil
1 ½ cups/6 oz. shredded cheddar
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Bring a medium pot of salted water to the boil. Cook the tubetti according to package directions. Drain and reserve.
  2. Distribute the zucchini, red pepper and tubetti evenly between the cups of a non-stick muffin pan.
  3. Season the eggs with salt and pepper. Pour the eggs over the vegetables then sprinkle with basil and cheddar.
  4. Bake for 10 minutes or until cooked through. Cool then wrap for lunch!
*This recipe can be made gluten-free simply by substituting gluten-free tubetti.
Makes 12 muffins. 
Per muffin: 161 calories, 10 g total fat, 5 g saturated fat, 7 g carbohydrate, 11 g protein, 1 g dietary fiber, 1 gm sugar, 160 mg sodium, 201 mg cholesterol.

MORE Back To School Resources!
Recipes



Back To School Tips


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Tuesday

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been making these chocolate chip cookies for 25 years. During our engagement, I opened up a classic church cookbook to find a chocolate chip cookie recipe. While eating the cookies, my soon-to-be husband made comments like, "these need nuts" or "I love a soft cookie" etc. Then when the kiddos came along they made their own comments. The main comment was that the cookies needed more chocolate chips. As time marched on this recipe evolved into one that became a perfect fit for our family. I no longer have a copy of the original recipe but below you will find our family favorite variation!


This recipe easily makes over 10 dozen chocolate chip cookies. You can get a lot less but not too much more that 10 dozen. The amount you get depends on the size of your cookies. I use a small cookie dough scoop which doesn't seem like a lot on the baking sheet but makes a perfect 2-3 bite cookie. Whenever I bake these cookies, I plan on giving them away! The dough can easily be frozen, too. 


Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups Butter Crisco (or 1 cup of soft butter and 1 cup of Butter Crisco...either works depending on what I have on hand)
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
5 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
24-30 oz. of mixed chocolate chips (any combo chocolate, semi sweet, dark chocolate, etc)
2 cups of nuts (any variety)

Directions

1-Get a large bowl and a heavy wooden spoon. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2-Add in butter/Crisco and sugars. Cream together.
3-Add in eggs and vanilla. Stir together.
4-Add in flour, baking soda and salt. Mix until combined.
5-Mix in chips.
6-Use a small cookie scoop and scoop cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet. For larger cookies use other size scoops. 
7-Bake for 10-12 minutes for soft cookies. Bake up to 12-14 minutes if you want a crunchier cookie. 


Make the recipe and turn it into your own family favorite recipe. Simple changes keeping the basic measurements will be the best way to make changes. 


Did you make them? Do you have any questions? 
Follow me and let me know at 



Other Cookie Recipes



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Wednesday

Getting Back Into Work After a Career Break

Our modern society has far higher levels of equality between men and women than it has ever had before, which is a good thing. However, when it comes to child rearing, it’s still predominantly women who take the primary role. It’s often a straightforward economic necessity – if the man earns more, it makes financial sense for him to keep working and his wife to care for the children. It is said, with great wisdom, that raising children is the most important job you’ll ever do, and indeed nurturing the next generation is a crucial role to undertake. Regardless of where you stand personally on women being the primary carers for young families, the fact is that many women do find they have been away from the world of employment for years at a time, and it can be a daunting prospect to get back onto the career ladder.
Revisiting your resume
The first task when starting to look at getting back to a job outside the home, is to review your resume, update it as appropriate, and add any new skills or experience that could be relevant for prospective employers. New skills needn’t have been formally accredited to be worth adding to your resume; it can be anything you’ve mastered since you were last employed, as long as it demonstrates an attribute that will add value. Check on the latest recommendations for resume design and content, as these principles are not set in stone and may have changed over the last few years.
Building up a new career
If you’re fortunate, and can find an employer who is happy to take you on despite your lack of recent experience, you could step back into a similar role to the one you left. However, it’s more likely that you will have to start at a lower level than you were on previously. One smart strategy is to apply to businesses that have good career prospects. For example, if you check out the Dollargeneral com careers pages, you’ll see they have a range of jobs from entry level, through to junior, middle and senior management. You could start at the level you were best suited to, and work your way up in a relatively short time.
Resuming your previous career
If you were in a professional role when you went on your career break, it’s likely to be a subject you have a personal interest in. Therefore, you may well have kept up to date with industry news and developments as part of your continuing professional development. If you’ve kept abreast of what’s been happening, you will find it much easier to resume your career at, or very close to, the level you used to be. For some roles you might need to take various courses to refresh your skills, or to revalidate your qualifications. You can check what you need to do to prepare for work via your professional body, who will be only too happy to help you.
Even if your break has been longer than a few years, if you had the knowledge and skills before you will soon pick them up again, so don’t be afraid of this new chapter in your working life.
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