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Healthy Kids Cooking Ideas

Cooking healthy food for kids involves specific cooking methods and preparation techniques. It's also vital that you use the right fats and oils when cooking healthy meals for kids. Avoid cooking with lard or other hydrogenated oils. Instead, cook with extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil or grape seed oil. Use real butter instead of margarine or other imitation butter products.

  1. Organic Strawberry Pancakes

    • Buy organic pancake mix and one box of organic strawberries. Wash the strawberries thoroughly and cut the fruit into bite-size pieces. Mix the strawberries into the pancake batter. Cook the pancakes on a skillet with 2 tbsp. of grape seed oil, coconut oil or real butter until golden brown. Top with organic maple syrup and serve. Shred the pancakes and supervise children eating this dish who are 2 years old or younger.

    Almond and Whole Wheat Flour Baked Chicken Strips

    • Rather than deep frying chicken strips for your kids, make them something more healthful such as almond and whole wheat flour chicken strips. "Eating Well" magazine says this dish has half the fat as traditional breaded chicken tenders. Buy slivered almonds and chop them into even smaller pieces manually or with a blender. Mix the almonds in a bowl with whole wheat flour. Use a pastry brush to apply a thin coat of olive oil to fresh or thawed chicken breast strips. Roll the chicken into the almond and flour mixture until it is totally covered. Sprinkle more mixture on top if you like. Bake the chicken strips until the food is golden brown and well done. Open the middle of the chicken to make sure it's fully cooked before serving. Do not serve this dish to children under the age of 2 because of choking hazards.

    Chicken Wrap

    • Make your child a healthy garlic chicken wrap for lunch. Cook the chicken in a pan with 4 tbsp. of olive oil until it's golden brown. Add one clove of chopped garlic to the chicken as it's cooking, if your child likes garlic. Allow the chicken to cool and chop it into bite-size pieces. Shred the chicken if you are feeding children under age 2. Mix the chicken in a bowl with shredded carrots, cucumbers and romaine lettuce. Wrap up the chicken and vegetable mixture in a spinach-enriched tortilla wrap.

    Steamed Broccoli with Low-Fat White Cheddar Cheese

    • Use a pastry brush to apply a thin coat of butter on washed broccoli. Cook the broccoli in a steamer until it's moist and tender. Place the broccoli on a plate and shred low-fat white cheddar cheese on top. Choose white cheddar because it is free of the additives and yellow dye traditional cheddar has. White cheddar has the same taste without the extra stuff that kids don't need. They can still get calcium and protein from white cheddar. Broccoli is also high in vitamin A, iron, calcium and other minerals.

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