thumbs up!

Rachel and I have now attended two of the Kids Can Cook series through the Center for Healthy Living at OSF. Last month was summer snacks, this month was lunch crunch--to help with healthy choices for lunches. These classes are great!! The kids dice and assemble the food themselves but parents get to sample, too. Not only do we get new ideas to try at home, the dietician talks the kids through the food pyramid and why good nutrition is so important (somehow this is more effective than Mom just saying, "Eat your vegetables, please!") Lots of ideas are given to pack more nutrition into the snacks and meals we are already enjoying. Rachel has now tried things like spinach leaves, refried beans, and pita bread...and liked them! We've found a few things we don't like but came up with adjustments we could make to the recipes to make them anyway. Great classes, worth the price; I'd highly recommend them!!! Here are a few sample recipes from last night's class:

Mandarin Ham and Pineapple Pita
1/3 c. light Miracle Whip
1/3. cup plain non-fat yogurt
2 c. hame, cooked and diced
1 can (8 0z.) pineapple tidbits in lite syrup, drained
1 can (8 oz.) mandarin oranges in lite syrup, drained

In a bowl, stir the Miracle Whip and yogurt together. Add remaining ingredients and fold until well blended. Chill until serving time. Stuff mixture into pita. 4 servings.

Rachel didn't care for the Miracle Whip, but we agreed this would most likely be fabulous if we substituted vanilla yogurt instead of the first two ingredients. We could easily play around with the fruits as well!

Southwest Pinwheel Meal
1 6-8 inch soft shell tortilla, whole wheat if desired
1 T. fat-free refried beans
2 T. prepared salsa
2 oz. thin shaved sliced turkey breast
2 T. grated cheddar cheese
4 spinach leaves, torn

Spread refried beans on top of the tortilla. Next, spread salsa on top. Lay the turkey on top of the salsa. Take the spinach leaves and tear them into little pieces on top of turkey. Sprinkle with cheese. Roll the soft shell up, cut pinwheel style, and enjoy.

Fruit Salsa Quesadilla
Salsa:
2 medium strawberries, diced
5 red grapes
1/2 small banana, diced
(feel free to substitute any fruit you have on hand)
Quesadilla:
1 6-8 inch whole grain soft shell tortilla
2 T. cream cheese or peanut butter
2 T. all fruit jam
1 T. dark chocolate chips (used for the antioxidants!)

Wash and prepare fruit. Mix fruit together in a bowl. On a clean flat surface, spread cream cheese or peanut butter and then the jam on the soft shell. Top with fruit salsa mixture. Sprinkle with dark chocolate chips. Fold in half and enjoy!