Healthy Meals and Snacks Kids Can Prepare For Themselves

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When your family is in a rush, and you need the kids to help prepare their own snacks or meal, it’s tempting to have prepared foods for them that are quick to eat, but don’t have as much nutritional value as you would like.

Instead of stocking up on expensive pre-packaged snacks (with unsuitable ingredients) that they can quickly grab, this is a good opportunity to teach your kids to prepare quick, healthy foods for themself. The times your kids are busy is precisely when they need the most nutrients. If they’re old enough to use a stove on their own, they can learn to prepare healthy foods that will keep going them going a lot longer than a bag of chips or a handful of cookies.

Here are some quick healthy meals and snacks kids can prepare for themselves, or for the whole family.

Scrambled Eggs

Scrambled eggs are a good choice for breakfast, hot lunch or dinner, or even an afterschool snack. Eggs are a health food that supply high quality protein and other nutrients kids need.

3 eggs

3 tablespoons of milk or water

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons butter

Break eggs into a small bowl. Add the milk, salt and pepper. Mix everything well with a fork. Make sure the egg yolks are broken up and the yolks and eggs are well mixed.

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, then tilt the skillet so the melted butter coats the bottom.

Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and cook over low heat. Stir continuously to keep the eggs "scrambled." Cook until the eggs look firm.

Whole Grain French Toast

French toast is another quick healthy snack or meal. Your kids can eat it topped with pure maple syrup (not the fake stuff!), fruit syrup, or even peanut butter.

1 egg

¼ cup of milk

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon butter

4 slices whole grain bread

Break the egg into a small bowl. Add the milk and salt and mix well with a fork. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.

Dip both sides of the bread into the egg mixture until they’re well soaked. Then place the bread in the skillet and cook until the bottom turns brown. Flip the bread over with a pancake turner and brown the other side too.

Skillet Whole Grain Spaghetti

Instead of putting a couple of frozen pizzas in the oven, the kids can make a quick spaghetti supper on their own. This is a meal the whole family can share before rushing out the door on a busy night.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

½ cup chopped onion

1 pound ground beef (preferably grass fed)

3 cans (8 ounces each) tomato sauce

1 ¾ cups water

1½ teaspoons sea salt

½ teaspoon dried parsley

½ teaspoon dried basil

1/8 teaspoon pepper

8 ounces uncooked whole grain spaghetti

Heat the vegetable oil in a large heavy skillet. Cook the chopped onion and ground beef in the oil until brown. Stir and mash the meat with a fork to break up lumps.

Stir in the tomato sauce, water, salt, parsley, basil and pepper. Heat to boiling.

Break the spaghetti in half the stir it into the sauce gradually. Stir the spaghetti to keep it separated.

Once the spaghetti’s in, cover the skillet with a tight fitting lid. Lower the hit and let it simmer for 25 minutes.

Find more whole foods recipes for the whole family at Free Whole Foods Recipes. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter and grab your FREE menu planning guide!

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Best Turkey Stuffing to Rock Your World

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Zucchini, Red Onion, Garlic, Basil and Pesto Pizza
Image by Merelymel13 via Flickr

Overview

No event is complete without turkey being served. Thanksgiving, Christmas and even simple family gatherings become a one of a kind celebration with a sumptuous turkey gracing the dining table. If one is preparing for an occasion or quiet time with family and friends and would like to know how to prepare the best turkey in town, one has to realize that it starts with knowing what the best turkey stuffing is.

The best stuffing really depends on what kind of ingredients would tickle one’s fancy. While many perceive the best turkey stuffing to be exactly like the turkey they had for Christmas or Thanksgiving, many try to innovate and add new things to make the dish tastier.

Traditional Best Turkey Stuffing

When we speak of the traditional kind of turkey stuffing, we require three kinds of herbs in addition to everything else. These three herbs are marjoram, sage and thyme and these can be in either dry form or fresh. Chop celery, garlic and onions and fry these using butter in a large frying pan until it gives out a pleasant aroma. Add a dash of salt and pepper to lock in the flavors and throw in vegetables of choice. Many use diced carrots and peas but one can certainly throw in there vegetables that one feels would make the turkey taste much better. Add the herbs.

Once the vegetables are cooked, it is a good idea to put it in an airtight container and leave it in the fridge overnight. However, if one is pressed for time, just let the vegetable mixture cool down before mixing it with bread cubes. The traditional best turkey stuffing is ready to be placed inside the bird.

Innovative Best Turkey Stuffing

For those who are a little more adventurous, aside from the usual ingredients, some add a bit of ground meat to the stuffing and use potato instead of bread. Potato absorbs the taste of the cooked ingredients and this carbohydrate makes up for the bread stuffing. Because the turkey is baked with the stuffing inside, there is no need to cook the potato separately but if one wants it a little mashed, boiling might be necessary.

The best turkey stuffing is best complimented with turkey that is of the right texture and just the right size so that it cooks evenly. Before making the stuffing, one should make sure that the turkey is ready and that it fits in the oven.

Visit these sites if you want more information about best turkey stuffing or using a tube turkey call in particular.

Healthy eaters know that easily the best way to please someone dear to you is to make him a Romantic Dinner. We’ve gone one better and prepared a special collection of Romantic Dinners.

See pictures of delicious recipes and other details at:

Romantic Recipes They Love

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The Best Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe Ever

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Olive Garden
Image via Wikipedia

Thanksgiving is fast approaching in the United States, but it doesn’t have to be Thanksgiving for your to appreciate this Thanksgiving turkey recipe! Make sure you start about 5 hours before dinnertime to have enough time to cook this Thanksgiving turkey recipe!

To make this Thanksgiving Turkey recipe you will need the following ingredients:

  • A 12 pound turkey (will feed about 10 people)
  • A roasting bag
  • 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
  • 1/4 cup organic shallots, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup organic carrots, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup organic celery, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup organic beet, finely chopped
  • 3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 tsp of honey

In general a 12-15 lb turkey will feed 10-12 people, a 15-18 lb turkey will feed 14-16 people and a 18-22 lb turkey will feed 20-22 people. If you want to use a larger Thanksgiving turkey, adjust the ingredients accordingly.

Preheat the oven to 325°.

In a large bowl combine your chopped shallots, carrots, celery, beet and garlic together.

Rub the turkey inside and out with salt and pepper. Tuck the wings under the turkey and place the turkey in a large oven roasting bag. Place your vegetable mixture over and around the turkey and add two teaspoons of honey into the mix. Fold the top of the bag over and place turkey, breast up, into your roasting pan.

This is the secret that will make your Thanksgiving turkey super moist and delicious. Add water to a depth of about 1 inch in the pan.

Roast turkey for 3 to 3 1/2 hours hours. If you want to use a meat thermometer, insert your needle into the thickest part of the leg (but not touching the bone). The temperature should be 165° to 170°.

At this point, you want to carefully remove the Thanksgiving turkey from the bag. Increase the oven temperature to 450° and roast the turkey for 30 minutes longer. Turkey should be a golden brown by now. If it’s not, leave it for another 10-15 minutes.

Carefully remove the turkey from the oven and transfer the turkey to a platter without the juices. Transfer the juices to a separate bowl and let everyone use it as gravy.

Do you want to learn more great recipes and secret recipes from restaurants and chains such as KFC, Applebees, Starbucks, T.G.I. Fridays, Outback Steakhouse, The Cheesecake Factory, The Olive Garden, PF Chang, Red Lobster, Chili’s and much much more?

Download ==> America’s Secret Recipes by Ron Douglas for more great recipes.

Read my full review of America’s Secret Recipe’s by Ron Douglas at my website EBooks In Review.

Healthy eaters know that easily the best way to please someone dear to you is to make him a Romantic Dinner. We’ve gone one better and prepared a special collection of Romantic Dinners.

See pictures of delicious recipes and other details at:

Romantic Recipes They Love

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

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