Step Away from the Chicken Nuggets: Ideas to Get Healthy Foods Into Your Kids

• Cut your children’s sandwiches in creative shapes using large cookie cutters.  Try a fish-shaped tuna sandwich with goldfish crackers on the side for an under-the-sea themed meal.

• Experiment with fun dips like hummus, fat-free ranch dressing and even sweet potato spread.  Give your kids pita triangles, carrots, celery and snow peas to dip.
• Get creative with fruits and veggies.  Build a broccoli forest for your outdoor adventurer.  Create a friendly spider using a round slice of cucumber and eight pepper strips for legs.  Stick a bunch of grapes or cherry tomatoes together with dabs of cream cheese for a silly caterpillar.
• Rely on your kids’ favorite characters.  Some marketing genius packaged edamame (soy beans) in Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants packaging, which makes the snack seem much more appealing to a picky child.
• Create a rainbow plate.  Arrange red peppers, orange carrots, yellow peppers, green cucumbers, blueberries and purple grapes to resemble a rainbow and watch how quickly your kids gobble it all up!
• Make a healthy banana split – put a sliced banana in a bowl, cover with yogurt and top with healthy cereal, berries and raisins.
• Have a “mixed up meal” day, where you serve “breakfast” for dinner – kids think it’s hilarious to have scrambled eggs and toast at night.  Try serving healthy veggie pizza for breakfast and your kids will be shocked – and thrilled!

Use a little creativity and your kids will be more willing to experiment with new foods.  And you’ll feel great seeing them eat something other than mac and cheese for a change