Monday, August 10, 2009

Two Super Easy, Super Healthy AND Inexpensive Side Dishes My Kids LOVE

We have one main rule around our house when it comes to dinner time – You must try one bite, and if you truly don’t like it, you don’t have to eat any more of it. So my goal is always to give the kids healthy side dish options with every meal so I know they are atleast partially filling up on nutrient packed food. Here are two of our favorite veggie side dishes:


Sautéed Spinach

In a medium skillet, add 2 teaspoons Grape Seed Oil and 3 Cloves fresh crushed garlic over medium heat. Sauté just until the garlic browns. Fill skillet with fresh washed spinach leaves (mounding), spinach will condense quickly so don’t worry about how high it is. As the Spinach begins to soften, gently stir to allow it to cook evenly. It should take less than 10 minutes, depending on your preferences for the spinach.

Once it is done, transfer to serving dish and lightly drizzle with Olive oil (or any oil you prefer, we have used grape seed as well as peanut oil, the peanut oil adds a wonderful nutty flavor). Drizzle balsamic vinegar and top with freshly shredded parmesan cheese (or feta works well also).

Enjoy!


Steamed Fresh Broccoli

This one is about as easy as it gets and is a very easy way to pack in the veggies without the kids feeling like they are eating too much healthy food! I’ve gotten in to the habit of making the main course and creating a couple veggie packed side dishes. This encourages the kids to fill-up on some of the healthier foods instead of the carbohydrate rich pastas.

In veggie steamer, add 3 cups of fresh broccoli (it needs to be fresh to keep it tasting yummy!). Steam for approximately 25 minutes (again, this depends on how tender your prefer veggies).

Remove from steamer and serve directly on to plates. I normally drizzle with Ranch dressing. Easy as that!

3 comments:

JLC August 10, 2009 at 2:49 PM  

MorningStar Farms makes veggie bites. These are the only veggies (Besides carrots) that my munchkins will eat. They prefer the artichoke/spinach bites. Have you tried nutmeg with cooked spinach? It tastes good with kale too.

Katie August 10, 2009 at 2:55 PM  

I'm going to have to grab the MorningStar Farms veggies next time. Sounds yummy!

I'm actually pretty lucky cause Kyle has extreme veggie tendancies and Brett is working on it, but wants to like veggies. The one bite rule works pretty well. I just work to be sure the one bite is a good tasting one! :)

I got Brett to eat sweet red peppers the other day because he assumed they were tomatoes and I simply didn't correct him until after he declared how yummy they were! LOL.

Julie August 16, 2010 at 5:53 PM  

Healthy, inexpensive AND my boys will eat it? Sign me up!
Julie :)

Post a Comment

Related Posts with Thumbnails

About This Blog

Photobucket

Blog Archive

Blog Directory & Search engine Personal Blogs - Blog Rankings Family Affairs Blogs - Blog Catalog Blog Directory

  © Blogger template Blue Surfing by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP