Healthy Kids Expo

Archive for September, 2011

Making healthy dinners doesn’t have to be a big chore. We all know how important eating healthy is for our families and ourselves. But what can we do to make sure we are eating properly without a lot of time and effort. It starts with knowing what your body needs and how to select the right foods to ensure you’re getting enough nutrients to support your physical and health needs.

The Time Crunch

Everyone is working to the max these days, so finding the time for food shopping is sometimes difficult enough not to mention the time to get meals ready at home. Supermarkets are getting larger, and it’s taking more time to shop than ever before. Given the time crunch we are under, little wonder that fast food chains and restaurants are popping up on every street corner. The result is the ever increasing waistline of the North American people. So, the quest has to be finding healthy dinner recipes that are quick and easy.

Save Money and Eat Healthier

We’ve all seen those menus in restaurants showing pictures of meal choices that make your month water. They may look good, but are they really good for you? Most restaurants cook with way too much fat in their preparations along with too many simple carbohydrate foods like white rice, potatoes, breads and pastas. These foods cause your blood sugar to spike giving you the feel good feeling, but they don’t give your body the best quality for a healthy dinner choice. Nor, do they necessarily save you time. Dinner time line-ups along with wait times for meal service can sometimes take longer than if you were to cook at home. When the bill comes you end up spending more of your hard earned money than buying the groceries on the way home. There are plenty of healthy dinner recipes that you can easily prepare at home.

Pick Healthy Dinner Foods

Dinner recipes that have fresh vegetables like salads or steamed vegetables with whole grains and lean meats or fish are healthy dinner choices. Foods that are closer to being picked or cured are the freshest and contain the most food value for your money and your body. Organic foods are of course the best, because they have the highest nutrients and are grown without chemical pesticides. These are the foods you’ll want to order when eating out, or have at home when making dinner. If you don’t have time, or it’s not convenient to stop at the supermarket on your way home, why not try a home delivery service. There are several organic food delivery services, so check to see who delivers in your area. The secret is having the right food items on hand when preparing healthy dinners at home. It’s always best to make a shopping list to match your dinner recipes. No one needs the stress of having to rush out the door at the last minute to pick up missing ingredients.

Healthy Dinner Choices that are Quick & Easy

What could be easier than salads? Sure, they have to be washed and cut, but doesn’t your body and health deserve it? There are lots of great cook books available with heart healthy dinner recipes that are quick and easy to prepare. However, if you simply can’t find the time to prepare foods at home, supermarkets now have a good supply of pre-washed ready to eat lettuce and mixed salads in packages. Food markets may often have fresh roasted or BBQ chicken as well and are good choices as long as you discard the skin to reduce the fat intake. These foods may not be right off the farm, but they are far better than the processed ones.

OK, there are all to often those hectic, pull your hair out days at work, followed by the aggravating bumper to bumper drive home. Why not look at preparing dinner not only as a healthy thing to do for your family but something you can enjoy. Cooking can be an easy and creative time to share with a partner or children. The time you take preparing food and eating it may be the only quality time you have with your family all day. Not only can it be a way to de-stress from your work day, it can add a healthy family fun opportunity to connect with the ones you love.

There are many chicken with shiitake mushrooms recipes in the web but today this is my very own recipe that I learned from my mum. This is one of my all-time favourite dishes. I used to help my mum to prepare for dinner but the work I was asked to do was only washing the vegetables and may be some cutting work. One fine day, mum gave me a chance to do some cooking, I was delighted when I heard that. While I was cooking, she would stand by my side and supervised me. When I went to college and shared a flat with some friends, I cooked this dish several times and the results turned out to be good, I guess all the hard work I did paid off. Some tips when you are cooking the mushrooms, you can also just cook the whole mushroom after you cleaned it but it takes longer to cook, maybe another 15-25 mins, it also depends on how big are the mushrooms. The full-sized mushrooms are more juicy. Shiitake mushroom is good for health, as it boosts up your immune system and it also has antioxidants that’s great for fighting free radicals in the air (which fights aging in a way).

Servings: 2 *Note that the suggested serving here is for 2 persons, with the assumption that this dish is served along with rice. You may tweak the amount of ingredients used, according to your personal preferences. For example, you can use 3 chicken thighs and more mushroom if you intend to consume this dish with no side serving.

Ingredients:

4 Dried Shiitake Mushrooms or Chinese mushrooms 2 Chicken Thighs 3 cloves of garlic, chopped them to small pieces 1 tablespoon oil 1 teaspoon of soy sauce, you can use 1 teaspoon of salt if you do not have soy sauce, adjust to suit your own taste 1/4 cup of water 1 or 2 spring onions to garnish (optional)

Cooking Instructions:
1. Place mushrooms in a small bowl, add enough hot water to cover them and soak for 15 minutes. This is to make sure the dirt in the mushrooms are clean away. Drain the hot water, wash the mushrooms and cut into shredded pieces.
2. Take the chicken thighs’ skin off and cut the meat into bite-sized pieces.Heat the oil in a medium saucepan or wok over medium-high heat. Stir-fry the garlic for 30 seconds, then put in the mushrooms and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.Then add the chicken and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes on each side until lightly brown.
3. Add the water, reduce heat to medium and then simmer for 10 minutes. Add the water, reduce heat to medium and then simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Finally, add soy sauce or salt and stir-fry for another 1 minute and serve the dish with some spring onions on top as garnish. As you can see, this is an easy simple dish that anyone can easily and quickly prepare at the comfort of your home. Cooking can never be any simpler.

Healthy family recipes can be hard to find but this is one that everybody will love! Ground turkey soup is a healthy recipe for kids and adults that I found in a cookbook for slow cookers called Fix It and Forget It Lightly (I highly recommend it for healthy slow cooker recipes). In the original recipe they called for hamburger but I use ground turkey and I find that it is even better! My kids absolutely love it and yours will too. Two other added benefits to this recipe is that it’s easy on the waist line and the budget! I like to fix this when I’m real busy because it only takes 10 minutes at the most to throw it together first thing in the morning and it’s one of those healthy recipes for kids the whole family will love!

Besides the following ingredients you are going to need a slow cooker for this recipe!

Ground Turkey Soup

1 lb Ground Turkey or Extra Lean Hamburger* (see note)
1/4 Tsp. Black Pepper
1/4 Tsp. Dried Oregano
1/4 Tsp. Seasoned Salt
1 Envelope Dry Onion Soup Mix
3 Cups of Hot Water
8 oz. Tomato Sauce
1 Tbsp. Low-sodium Soy sauce
1 Cup Carrots, Sliced
1 Cup Celery, Sliced
1 Cup Macaroni, cooked
1/4 Cup grated Parmesan Cheese

1. Combine all ingredients except macaroni and parmesan cheese
in a slow cooker.
2. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
3. Cook the macaroni as per the directions and then turn the slow cooker to high and add the cooked macaroni and parmesan cheese.
4. Cook for another 15-20 minutes.
5. Serve up and enjoy!

***Note: The ideal size slow cooker for this recipe is a 4 quart one. This recipe makes 6 servings. If you are using extra lean hamburger cook it first and drain off all the grease before you put it in the slow cooker.

Nutritional Information for Ground Turkey Soup

Per Serving: 160 Calories (60 from fat)
6g total fat (2.5g saturated, 0g trans)
25 mg Cholesterol
440mg Sodium
12g Carbohydrates (2g fiber, 4g sugar)
15g Protein

For more quick, easy to prepare healthy recipes for children go to Healthy Eating for Kids. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you can get Free recipes delivered to your email in-box.