Recipes For Picky Eaters

The 4 P’s Of Successful Family Meals

It’s 4:30p.m. You stand in front of the refrigerator scanning its contents to see what you can throw together for dinner. You look at the clock. You have half an hour before you have to run out to pick up your daughter from dance class. There’s not enough time to make a decent meal. “Besides”, you think, “the kids probably won’t eat what I make anyway.” So you decide to just pick up some take out. You daughter is famished after class and eats her meal in the car. When you get home, you make yourself a salad and eat it standing at the counter. Your husband heats something up for himself when he comes home later.

Sound familiar? It seems like the family meal has become a relic of the past. Many of today’s families struggle with the challenge of getting everyone together for a meal and with the challenge of finding the time to actually cook the meal.

Before you throw in the kitchen towel and head for the drive-thru, there are a few things you should know about family meals.

Importance of family meals

Research has shown, however, that it’s worth the effort. Studies have shown family meal times to be an important element in cohesive, well-functioning family life and in healthy child development. Children who frequently eat meals with their families have been found to have better eating habits, better academic success, better mental health, and less risk for both obesity and substance abuse.

How to do it

Making healthy family meals can be a challenge, but it can be done. Consider the 4 “P’s” in pulling it all together.

1. Planning

If you can look ahead at your schedule a week in advance, you can get a jump on planning meals. When you know ahead of time that you’ll be too busy in the pre-dinner hour to cook that night, you can plan for a slow-cooker meal. Another possibility is to have a supply of previously frozen meals that you can defrost on those days with no time to cook. If you get in the habit of doubling recipes and then freezing meals, you’ll have meals on hand for those nights when things get too crazy. Planning in advance also saves you unnecessary trips to the grocery store. When you plan your meals and shopping lists in advance, you can save time with just one or two grocery shopping trips per week.

2. Prioritizing

Sometimes it can be difficult to take a
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step back and examine your schedule. Many activities that keep our families away from the table are necessary (like work) and many are important (like lessons and sports for our kids). Only you can decide the priorities for your family. If you feel like your family’s schedule is out of control and creating unnecessary stress, maybe it’s time to make changes. As a parent, you have the authority and responsibility to set limits and make priorities when considering the family schedule.

3. Putting together a support system

You don’t have to do this completely on your own. If your kids are older, enlist their help in meal preparation. If your kids are younger, you can find ways for them to help. Young children can’t really save you time, but today’s helper can be tomorrow’s cook. Outside your immediate family, you can seek assistance from local extended family members, friends, and neighbors. Some families have successfully coordinated meal sharing in a variety of ways. Consider arranging to double a recipe and cook for both your own and a friend’s family one night each week while your friend does the same for you on another night. Or, organize a group of mothers from your child’s preschool and assign each a meal to prepare for everyone. You can then gather together and exchange prepared meals to bring home to your own freezers. Be creative: think of people with whom you can form support systems.

4. Preparation techniques

You’ll be able to make more effective meal plans if you have a variety of preparation techniques at your fingertips. Many meals can be assembled quickly and some can be prepared in advance, at least partially. You might not have time to cook right before dinner time, but you might have time at other points in your day. Early morning, your child’s naptime, later in the evening, and weekends are all possible times to do some meal preparation, whether it’s chopping some vegetables or preparing a casserole. Slow-cooker crock-pots also provide many opportunities for home-cooked meals without actually cooking at dinner time.

What to do when the family is at the table

In the ideal world, you’ve done all your planning, prioritizing, and preparing, and the whole family is sitting down together for a family meal. Everything should go smoothly from there, right? Maybe not. Often, picky eaters, unruly behavior, and lack of conversation can seem to ruin all your good efforts in getting everyone there in the first place. Changing the behavior of picky eaters is a complex topic beyond the scope of this article, but in general, the quality of the time spent together at the table is something that can be improved with some creativity and planning. Games and activities that incorporate teaching manners and promoting positive conversations are available.

Taking charge of your family meals can be exciting and rewarding, but a few caveats are important. First, don’t expect perfection. Having everyone in the family present for every evening meal is not realistic for most families. If you currently eat together once a week, any increase should be considered a valuable improvement. Be flexible in considering which meals your family eats together. Maybe breakfast is a more realistic option than dinner for your family. There may not be any simple formula, but you have the power to make healthy, enjoyable meals for your family.

By: Kathleen Cuneo, Ph.D.

Article Directory: www.dinnertogether.com) which provides in-home and phone consultations to families on meal-related issues as well as expertise to parents about how to raise successful eaters. Sign up for a free newsle
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tter at www.dinnertogether.com and follow www.dinnertogether.blogspot.com for recipes, cooking tips, and ideas for making mealtimes positive.

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Low fat turkey burgers go as well on the grill as they do fried in a skillet.

When cooking low fat turkey burgers in a skillet they can be fried in olive oil. Olive oil is a major component of the Mediterranean diet, which has been shown to have health benefits.

Best Weight Loss Plan

Some of the best weight loss plans may include ground turkey recipes.

The healthy benefits of ground turkey dishes include being a source of lean protein. Your body needs protein for many of its daily functions. Everything from muscle regeneration to being used in the vital phase II functions of the liver’s detoxification process demand a steady supply of high quality protein from your diet.

Turkey also offers nutrients such as selenium and some of the B vitamins. Like the olive oil it can be cooked in, turkey should be consumed on a regular basis. However, the typical American diet does not include enough of either of these excellent foods.

You should work on changing that situation and reap the benefits these simple foods have to offer.

Well Balanced With Raw Vegetable Recipes

When low fat turkey burgers are combined with raw vegetable diet components the result is a highly nutritious meal. It is an easy meal to assure a balanced diet. These food items may also be included in weight reduction plans.

Such healthy diet plans often lead to some great weight loss success stories.

The ability to eat a healthy diet plan while enjoying comfort foods you are familiar with is an excellent idea. These are great options to make healthy kids meals and foods teens will love.

Consuming familiar yet healthy foods may be one of the best diets for overweight teens. Teens and kids can be notoriously picky eaters. A raw vegetable recipe can be served with low fat turkey burgers to satisfy the pickiest eaters you have at your table.

This meal will offer you an opportunity to serve teenagers and kids good healthy food that has a sophisticated taste to satisfy you. It is a great beginning to formulating healthy diets for overweight teens.

That’s a good thing!

Try this simple low fat turkey burger recipe.

Low Fat Turkey Burger With Whole Grains

1 lb. Ground turkey burger

1 egg

1/2 cup uncooked oats

1/8 cup diced sweet onion

1/8 cup finely diced bell pepper (green, red, or both)

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together. Form into burgers and grill or fry in olive oil until the juice runs clear. These burgers can be served on a whole grain roll or on a plate without bread.

Condiments And Accoutrements Make The Burger

The recipe above is a great tasting dish. However, the fact remains that low fat turkey burgers are rather bland by themselves. It may be fairer to say they have a delicate flavor.

Regardless of how you describe it there is not much flavor from the ground turkey meat itself.

That’s OK.

Fat is often the ingredient that gives various foods their flavor. By virtue of their composition low fat turkey burgers are low in fat and therefore lack in any strong flavor. Since the low fat content is one of the reasons we eat them we can’t complain too much.

On the other hand, delicate flavored meat allows us to be creative with condiments and other accoutrements. The flavors of whatever you put on your burgers really stand out without interference from strongly flavored meat.

This is where you can allow your imagination to run wild!

Strong Imagination Equals Great Taste

There’s a whole new world of taste sensations beyond the ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise condiments traditionally heaped upon turkey burgers.

Let’s try to stimulate your creative thinking with a few suggestions for turkey burger toppings.

Have you ever considered mixing 3/4 mayonnaise, 1/4 olive oil, and horseradish to taste? This makes a wild yet tasty burger condiment. Let’s explore the nutritional side to this condiment.

The olive oil reduces the amount of mayonnaise you use which is a good thing because most mayonnaise contains trans-fats. In addition to reducing your trans-fats intake, the olive oil offers many healthy benefits. It is an important component of any heart smart diet.

Some food manufacturers have mayonnaise with olive oil added. It is available in many grocery stores. This is very convenient for you so give it a try.

Two fantastic accoutrements to top your low fat turkey burgers with are low-fat cheddar cheese and jalapeno pepper slices. They go well together or separately.

Low Fat Turkey Burger Parmesan

This is a great dish. It should be considered as a staple on your family’s healthy diet menu.

After cooking your turkey burger, ladle marinara sauce (sauce from a jar is fine) that has been heated in a saucepan. Sprinkle low-fat mozzarella cheese over the sauce covered turkey burger. The cheese will melt slightly from the heat rising from the marinara sauce.

You can make the burger recipe offered at the beginning of this article then top it with marinara sauce and low-fat mozzarella cheese. This will give you a tasty burger that is made that much better by the addition of the sauce and cheese. It’s a divine entrée!

Try serving your low fat turkey burger Parmesan with a huge salad of leafy greens, julienne carrots, and grape tomatoes to ensure you are getting your raw food enzymes.

These natural health foods transform a simple burger into a real meal.

To add a touch of elegance serve it with crusty whole grain bread and a hearty red wine. Your guests will be very impressed.

Low fat turkey burgers are good to eat and they’re a very good health food.

Serve them often.

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