Encouraging Healthy Eating Habits

I got this idea directly from my second graders class. 

The elementary school my daughters attend have state testing this week.  The school is encouraging healthy eating, good sleep habits and outdoor time to keep the kid's energy levels and the testing scores up.  Beezus came home excited about earning points for the healthy foods in her lunch.  Each kiddo got one point for fruits, vegetables and protein in their lunches.  These points were added up in the individual classrooms.  The total point goal was fifty points per class.  Beezus came home everyday to inform me how many points she earned and how close her class was getting to the goal points.

This is one of the first times that being a "cold lunch" family has proved fun.  I loved seeing Beezus excited about the contents of her lunch each day and noticed she had an increased likelihood to eat the healthier components.  Yeah!  The system is so simple and the encouragement not materialistically based.  Just earning the points was enough to make the second graders excited.

I decided to apply the same technique at home.  Sort of.  I do offer a reward after a certain of relatively obtainable points are achieved; however, I do not offer toys.  My children can now earn points towards a treat at the end of the week if they eat what is in their lunches.  They get one point for each item they eat and two for fruit and vegetables.  I have a daughter that devours fruit and veggies without much prodding and one that takes a little more persuading.

Ramon could not wait to get home and write down what she ate in her lunch.  We wrote it out as an addition problem and ta-da! math and encouraging healthy eating.  Beezus has taken an extra day to share in the routine... but I have high hopes.

If nothing else they are more likely to bring their backpacks in from the car and take out their own old lunches!  I get tired of hauling everything in.  :-)

GF Cooking with Kids

I love recipes that are not meant to be gluten free, but are by nature. GF cook books try so hard to convert recipes, specifically convert breads and baked goods to GF breads and baked goods. Whole cookbooks focus primarily on breads and tricks to make GF cooking taste like gluten. Often times adding more fat to subsitute and enhance taste.

I feel that the GF crowd loses potentially great meals that do not rely on bread and pasta based products at all or new recipes that avoid the baked and pasta goods entirely by substituting with a healthier alternative. An easy example is switching a recipe that calls for a bed of noodles with mashed potatoes or a bed of rice. The concept that all meals have to include some form of gluten baked bread-y/pasta starch is ridiculous and even unhealthy for those without gluten intolerance.

Western culture meals push a need to have excessive amounts of bread, pastry and pasta carbohydrates. I am not a nutritionist; however, according to my research there are many other healthy and even healthier ways to achieve the 250 grams of carbohydrates needed in a 2,000 calorie diet (the nutrition information via FDA is based on a 2,000 calorie diet), like nuts, seeds, legumes, fruits and vegetables.

This is why I always keep an ear open for recipes that do not NEED fake gluten to taste good…

I keep my TV running at home, not all the time and certainly not when my kiddos are home, but definitely when I am home alone and need the noise for company.

While doing the dishes I had on a morning show. I hate to admit that I have no idea which one. My attention was caught when I over heard the host interviewing the author Lisa Lillien. Lillien writes a series of “Hungry Girl” cookbooks. Her gimmick is making nutritious meals that are low calorie. This particular morning she was being interviewed for her newer addition 300 under 300. Lillien is not a gluten-free author by any stretch. Nevertheless on this particular morning she went through a series of fast and easy recipes from her book and one of those recipes was how to make a “healthier” pizza using a portabella mushroom as the bread/base of the pizza. She also suggested using turkey pepperoni instead of beef. Of course this grabs my attention, because this is gluten free and healthy!

This particular recipe is amazing for a few reasons.
1. You can cook it with kids easily.
2. It is fast and uncomplicated to make.
3. It is healthier than regular pizza.
4. Gluten free pizza’s sometimes suck.

My learning this recipe happens to coincide with an article I read last week in the March issue of Parenting magazine about the benefits of cooking with your children in the kitchen. In short, studies conclude that cooking with kids leads to them making healthier food choices and having healthier eating habits in the long run, they learn scientific/mathematical concepts, they are more likely to eat their meal (which I love), they learn how to cook (duh!) and of course it is a great way to bond while getting a dinner done.

For a Beezus particularly, having Celiac Disease, it is imperative that when she leaves home she is well equipped to cook well balanced meals that are gluten free. She will not be able to just wing it like most of us did the first few years of college. It is extra crucial she starts learning to read labels, call manufacturers and cook/feel comfortable in the kitchen.

So we made portabella mushroom pizzas. The girls helped make the tomato sauce. We do tomato sauce from scratch to avoid gluten contamination, because many tomato sauces are gluten free, but many are made on equipment that also makes products with wheat. The girls also helped me fill their mushroom and sprinkle cheese, plus cut up olives. I was leery on how they would turn out. They are fantastic! Beezus had two and she is normally my light eater.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
Portabella Mushrooms
Tomato Sauce
Cheese (mozzarella)
Olives, Pepperoni (other toppings)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the stems off the portabella mushrooms. Wash them off, place on cookies sheet in the oven for ten minutes.

2. Now, take out the mushrooms. They will have “leaked”, soak it up with a paper towel. Spoon the desired amount of tomato sauce on top the mushrooms. Sprinkle with the desired amount of mozzarella cheese, put on whatever topping selection.

3. Place it back in the oven for another 10 minutes still at 400 degrees. Take them out and let them cool. Presto!

Lillien suggested for mozzarella cheese sticks. I used our pre-grated cheese from Sam’s Club to speed the process along.

The kids literally did every step except the soaking up the mushroom juice. It was definitely a great kid recipe, especially a celiac kid recipe!

How we make our quick impromptu tomato sauce.

1 tomato sauce (S&W Organic Tomato Sauce 15oz)
1 can of tomato paste (Contadina 12 oz)
1 can chopped tomatoes (Del Monte Diced Tomatoes 14.5 o)

Your favorite spices – we used Black Pepper, Garlic Salt, Thyme and Basil.

Stir on Medium to Low heat for ten minutes. This is super fast, easy, the kids were able to do everything expect the can opener.

When I do a more elaborate tomato sauce I add in ground beef and chopped spinach (a lot of spinach – it is the veggies in disguise approach with the kids). This makes a super heavy, really healthy sauce that would be too much for pizza. I imagine you could sub in ground turkey for ground beef to minimize calorie intake.

The amount of ingredients make more than enough for the pizzas or one nights worth of pasta, so I save it and make other GF pasta’s/pizza’s through out the week. This constantly saves me a little work later on.