- Luckily winter is orange season to make sure you fill your kids up with freshly cut orange pieces (rather than juice). Kiwi fruit, raw snow peas and celery sticks are great too.
- At dinner time cook vegetables as quickly as possible – the more vibrant the colour the more nutrients the vegetables have maintained. If your kids are anti vegetable then cut them into small pieces and disguise with a drizzle with cheese sauce (butter, flour and low fat milk cooked in a pan).
- Soups are a great way to give kids a winter health boost. Flu-fighting antioxidants such as beta-carotene (found in carrots) and lycopene (in tomatoes and red capsicum) actually increase with cooking. Even unpopular pulses like chickpeas can be added to soups. If you’re nervous your children won’t eat soup, try serving it with crunchy croutons. Cut a breadstick into cubes, toss it in oil, garlic and Italian herbs then bake in an oven at 200C until golden. Toss some croutons in a bowl, ladle over your soup and scatter more on top. The kids will head straight for the croutons which absorb the soup and before you know it the bowl will be empty.
- Winter is the time to make stews and one-pot wonders. Find recipes online that use 50% vegetables and you’re laughing. You could also top meals with fresh garnishes including diced tomatoes, avocado, cheese and crushed-up corn chips (for a treat). They are a magic wand that make entire dinners disappear.
- Vitamin D is plentiful from sunlight in the summer but you may need to top up levels nutritionally in the darker months. Vitamin D is found in oily fish, dairy products and eggs. To give kids a dose of Vitamin D at dinner, combine all these ingredients into a fish pie. Chop hard boiled eggs and mix through a salmon mornay then top with a layer of mashed potato. Add extra veggies to the mash by mixing through cauliflower, parsnip and turnips too.
Source: www.bodyandsoul.com.au – 5 ways to keep kids healthy in winter
