Shake It Up : Simple & Healthy Meals For Kids
This week’s recipe of the week is brough to us by Heather Wolf, ACE-certified trainer, founder of JuggleFit LLC and creator of the Shake a Snack app for iPhone and iPod touch.
Kids love to see what recipe comes up when they play with the “Shake a Snack” app on mom or dad’s iPhone. Shaking the phone spins reels filled with cute food images and then lands on a healthy recipe containing three ingredients. Here are two ‘Shake a Snack’ app-inspired, simple and healthy meal ideas for your kids.
- Ingredient 1: 1 cup cooked and cooled pasta in a fun shape like bowties, fusilli, shells
- Ingredient 2 (choose one): Cubed cheese, chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, cubed chicken, baked tofu
- Ingredient 3: Vinaigrette dressing
Bean Salad
- Ingredient 1: Half a cup canned protein-rich beans, drained & rinsed (examples are chickpeas, black beans, white beans, kidney beans, etc.)
- Ingredient 2 (choose one): Diced tomatoes, black olives, artichoke hearts, walnuts, almonds, corn, red or green peppers
- Ingredient 3: Vinaigrette dressing
Feel free to substitute or add additional ingredients such as veggies, parmesan cheese, seasonings or other healthy foods that your child enjoys. There are endless options!
For extra fun, let your kids choose ingredient #2 for their pasta or bean salad. If you have an iPhone, lock in pasta or beans for the energy-packed base ingredient, then let your child shake for the additional ingredients. If not, write ingredient options on small pieces of paper, place them in a hat or jar, and have your child pick one.
Place all ingredients in a sealed food container and have your child “shake it up” before eating! If packing a school lunch, you might choose to store the dressing in a packet or container for your child to add before shaking and eating.
Additional time and money-saving tips:
– Cook extra pasta when making a pasta dinner. Store some plain cooked pasta in the fridge to use for pasta salads.
– Buy store-brand canned beans – they taste just as good if not better than name-brands!
– Add leftover veggies to pasta or bean salads.
The Shake a Snack app is a great way for kids to discover tasty and healthy ingredients. If you don’t have an iPhone or iPod touch, you can still get Shake a Snack recipes by following ‘shakeasnack’ on Twitter.
This is a guest post by Heather Wolf. Heather is an ACE-certified trainer and creator of the Shake a Snack app for iPhone and iPod touch. Her app was named a ”Top Shape-Up App” by Health magazine and was featured as “App of the Week” by The 33 TV in Dallas. Heather is the founder of JuggleFit LLC and has taught thousands of people to juggle though her Juggle Your Way to Fitness DVDs and live workshops. She has appeared on shows such as Fox & Friends and CBS Atlanta Better Mornings.
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on the beans, i find the store brands (and many name brands) have lots of things other than beans in the can by way of preservatives. so, wash those canned beans first or read the labels!
Love these recipes! Thank you for sharing them.