Encourage Good Nutrition By Involving Kids

“Discover Nutrition Anytime, Anywhere.” This year’s National Nutrition Month slogan emphasizes that good eating habits do not require special circumstances.

That’s a valuable message being shared in schools this month, a message worth reinforcing with our children.

Good food is all around us and readily available. It’s a simple matter of choice.

It’s possible to eat smart at a fast-food stop for an after-school snack. It’s equally possible to choose good nutrition for a leisurely dinner at a five-star restaurant, a brown-bag lunch, a supper at home or a quick breakfast on the way out the door.

One valuable healthy-eating guide is easy to remember: Select fruits, vegetables and grain products more often than other foods. They provide fiber and a variety of important nutrients, and many are low in fat.

For breakfast, choose English muffins and bagels instead of muffins and pastries. At snack time, a bunch of grapes or a banana is just as quick as - and much more wholesome than - a handful of chips.

Skip the fatty cookies and butter. Instead, tame that carbohydrate craving with a bowl of cereal and nonfat milk, or a bagel or whole-grain toast topped with a little jam or honey.

For beverages, select water and low-fat milk more often; high caffeine, fat and sugar drinks such as milkshakes, soft drinks and coffee less often.

But healthful eating suggestions don’t help if your child won’t eat the food.

Children are more likely to eat foods they have selected or helped prepare. Pat Baird, registered dietitian and author of “Pyramid Cookbook: Pleasures of the Food Guide Pyramid” (Henry Holt) suggests letting kids create their own vegetable mixtures, recipe stir-ins or toppings to encourage experimentation.

Here are some quick and easy, kid-friendly tips, inspired by Baird, to help get vegetables on the menu and help your children build lifelong, positive eating habits:

Toss a serving of fun-shaped pasta, such as bow ties, dinosaurs or wagon wheels, with a cup of thawed frozen vegetables. Have your child choose from among mixed Italian vegetables, peas and chopped broccoli.

Take your children to the supermarket and let them select the vegetables they would like to eat during the next week. Be sure to include one new vegetable, and don’t forget to check out the fresh, canned and frozen selections.

Baked potatoes are high in fiber, potassium and vitamin C. Stretch their nutritional value with vegetable toppings, such as chopped spinach and plain yogurt, butternut squash with a dash of cinnamon or chopped broccoli and a sprinkle of grated Cheddar cheese.

Encourage children to help prepare dinner. Along with setting the table, let them thaw frozen vegetables in a bowl of warm tap water or microwave a frozen vegetable dish. At snack time, they can fill celery sticks with peanut butter and add a raisin garnish.

Go international! Take your kids around the world in a week by introducing them to a new ethnic vegetable mixture each night. Let them decorate the table to fit the evening’s vegetable selection. For example, use chopsticks and serve hot tea for Chinese vegetable night.

Soup up your soups and salads with vegetable stir-ins. Corn, cut green beans and sliced carrots are great additions to your kids’ favorite soups and salads.

Put pizazz in pizza by letting your children design their own pie. Top pita breads with pizza sauce and low-fat cheese. Each person decorates their own with a choice of chopped broccoli, sliced mushrooms, sliced bell peppers and sliced carrots. Use ready-sliced fresh or frozen vegetables for added convenience.

Get more vegetable variety through mix and mash. Stir butternut squash, pureed turnips, mashed sweet potatoes or creamed spinach into mashed potatoes. All of these can be found in the frozen food section or made from fresh vegetables.

Let your children select their own toppings for vegetables. Some suggestions include seasoned bread crumbs, grated low-fat cheeses such as Parmesan and Cheddar, chopped nuts, croutons, plain yogurt or tomato sauce.

Select a good basic or children’s cookbook with colorful photos of the recipes. Let the kids look through the book to choose recipes, then help with the preparation.

Colorful recipes, such as this one from Betty Crocker’s “Light and Easy Cooking,” may appeal to children.

Steamed Vegetables

Yogurt sauce (see recipe)

1/2 small cauliflower, separated into florets

2 medium zucchini, cut crosswise into 1-inch slices

1 medium red or green pepper, cut into 1/4-inch strips

1/2 lemon

Prepare yogurt sauce; chill at least 2 hours.

Place a steamer basket in 1/2 inch water in saucepan or skillet (water should not touch bottom of basket). Place cauliflower, zucchini and pepper in basket. Cover tightly and heat to boiling; reduce heat. Steam until vegetables are tender-crisp, about 6 minutes. Arrange vegetables on plate; squeeze lemon over vegetables. Serve with yogurt sauce.

To microwave: Place vegetables, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 cup water in a 2-quart microwave-safe casserole. Cover tightly and microwave on HIGH (100 percent) power 4 minutes; stir. Cover and microwave until tender-crisp, about 3 to 5 minutes longer. Drain. Continue as above.

Yield: 6 servings (about 1 cup vegetables and 2 tablespoons sauce each); 70 calories.

Yogurt Sauce

3/4 cup plain yogurt

1 teaspoon honey

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon leaves

1 clove garlic, crushed

Pinch dried dill weed

Combine all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours but no longer than 24 hours.

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