The number of overweight children has nearly tripled during the past 20 years, according to the office of the Surgeon General. Getting kids to eat healthy can be a chore, especially if they can't eat their favorites, or feel they have no say in their choices. Make dinner healthy and fun by offering your children an opportunity to participate in the process. Put out healthy foods and let them choose their favorites for an enjoyable family experience each evening.
Pirate Dinner
Seafood is high in protein, low in saturated fat and rich in heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Offer your children a choice of seafood items and decorate the table with sailing-themed items to make the meal more festive. Start with a tuna salad, made with fat-free mayo. Add chunks of celery and carrots to the mixture for more nutrition. Serve in tomato cups or on whole grain crackers as appetizers. Make fish sticks in the oven, rather than deep frying them. Slice salmon fingers and roll them in a whole grain breading, such as corn flakes, and bake on a rack. Let kids peel their own shrimp and dip them in one of several fat-free sauces. De-vein the shrimp before serving to make them more appetizing to children. Put food coloring in sauerkraut to serve "seaweed." Let kids "fish" their shrimp out of a community bowl with small fishing rods you make out of bamboo kabob skewers and string.
Personal Pizzas
Let kids make their own pizzas using English Muffins or Italian bread as the crust. For more fun, make your own dough, and roll out small pie crusts. Use a commercial tomato sauce, or let them help you make your own in your food processor. Try any tomato sauce recipes beforehand to make sure they won't be bitter and the kids will enjoy them. Have children blend two or three different types of cheeses, or make one pizza with one cheese and another with a different type. Use low-fat cheese. Let children choose and dice their own veggies. Since the cooking time on small pizzas will be fairly quick, pre-soften the veggies by heating them in the microwave or sauteeing on the stove. Let the kids make the pizzas for parents, as well.
Cowboy Cookout
Go back to pioneer days, and cook your dinner in your wood-burning fireplace, if you have one. Take time to prepare the area for safety and cleanliness during the cooking process, and research what type of wood will be best for hearth cooking. Fresh, green or wet woods will create smoke and odor, warns the cooking website SpitJack. Let kids make low-fat, turkey hot dogs on long skewers. Make healthy kabobs with cubes of skinless chicken or turkey breast, interspersed with fresh vegetables, such as mushrooms, peppers, carrots and onions. If you can find a stable platform for making hamburgers, use lean ground beef and let kids shape the patties and season them. Serve baked beans, slow-cooked in an iron pot, for low-fat protein. Bake your own rolls or muffins in a Dutch oven, placed near the logs of the fire. Roast marshmallows and make s'mores for dessert using low-fat graham crackers.
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