Feeding the whole family can be a challenge. It’s a balancing act of figuring out what each member needs at different stages of their lives. It can also be difficult to prepare meals if you’ve welcomed a new addition to your family and you’re feeling tired. If you’re overwhelmed, don’t worry – We know that nutrition analysis can be difficult.
Here are a few diet friendly recipes to help you get started to keep nutritional values up and minimize the bad calories.
For breakfast, we recommend a delicious smoothie.
Here’s a nutritious and healthy starter to boost your day:
- 1 apple
- 1 banana
- 1 handful of pineapple or mango pieces
- 2 carrots
- 1 generous handful of spinach, kale or Swiss chard
- 1 pitted avocado
Instructions: Blend fruits and veggies with milk or water until smooth. Pour into cups and add ice.
If this smoothie doesn’t do the trick for you, don’t be afraid to try a variety of combinations until you find one that does.
Tip:
Use your blender to create those first foods for babies and toddlers. Fruit can be blended as is, while hard veggies should be cooked first and then blended. Any extras can easily be stored in the fridge or even freeze it into ice cubes, ready to pop out and be reheated at every meal!
Lunches can be difficult to maintain a healthy diet, especially if you have school age kids that don’t like leftovers or are picky eaters
Here’s a great veggie bowl that can please the whole family. It can also be great for leftovers by freshening up the lettuce.
- 1 cup uncooked rice or quinoa
- 3 cups chopped Romaine lettuce
- 1 can whole kernel corn, drained
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup salsa
- 2 Roma tomatoes,
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 avocado, pitted & chopped
Instructions: Cook grain of choice according to the directions on the package. Toss all veggies, beans, and salsa in a large bowl. Serve in individual bowls, grain in the bottom, veggie mix on top and drizzle with a sauce of your choice. A chipotle cream sauce is delicious for this dish!
Dinner can be the only meal of the day in which the whole family gathers around the table to eat together.
Give this pasta a try:
- ½ Cup fresh basil leaves
- 2 Cup fresh spinach leaves
- 1 Cup fresh cherry tomatoes
- 1 Cup fresh broccoli, chopped
- Diced garlic
- Shaved parmesan or bits of feta cheese
- Rotini noodles
- 1 jar basil pesto
Instructions: Cook rotini noodles according to package directions. In a frying pan heat veggies and garlic, then add spoonful’s of basil pesto until veggies are lightly covered. Once the pasta is done, top it with heated veggies and add shaved parmesan or broken pieces of feta cheese on top.
Tip:
Lunches and dinners for the smallest members of your family can include easy to mash foods like beans, or pieces of corn or pasta so that they can practice their fine motor skills. A side of blended vegetables is a wonderful way to promote a healthy diet and very nutritious creating a great well-rounded meal.
We at MenuSano know that you want to provide the same healthy eating habits when you’re dining out as you do at home. That’s why we feel it’s important to provide our restaurant nutritional label software which is loaded with nutrition and recipe analysis. It’s an easy and simple way for them to arm you with all of the information you need about the menu to make the best food choices possible.
