Healthy Southern Comforts » Children

The Lunch Bunch

healthysoutherncomforts — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:03:11 +0000

School is just around the corner and plenty of parents are struggling with the question of how to feed their children at lunch time. Should they allow their children to eat school lunches that are often saturated with fat and sugar instead of protein and carbohydrates? Last spring a school principal in Illinois banned homemade lunches because she said that often parents were sending their children to school with junk foods such as chips and sugary drinks.

Recently, another news story warned of the bacteria that can be found when the lunches are out of the ice box for too long. Most schools and daycares don’t offer refrigeration for lunches, which may sit out for hours before they are served. This could be a recipe for disaster if the lunches are loaded with meat or cheese because bacteria can grow, causing illness and sometimes even food poisoning.

My own five children always complain about lunches served at school and have called them “nasty”. More often than not, those lunches consist of pizzas and fried foods, not fruits and salads. I always tell them to make good food choices, like the sandwich above. This isn’t brain surgery. Children need mid day meals that are energy boosters and this doesn’t always mean meat.

They can sufficiently dine on sandwiches filled with sprouts, avocados, whole grained bread or just fruits, vegetables or granola bars. Young children especially like to dip foods like carrots or celery into dressings. The choice is theirs. One thing is certain. Children never go hungry by choice. In fact sometimes, I feel that we give them too many choices when we shouldn’t.

When I was a child, my parents insisted that we ate whatever they served us and we learned to appreciate good, wholesome food that was always fresh. My mother never shopped in supermarkets, but rather farmer’s markets and at the butcher who gave us the highest quality food. As often as I can, even though it’s more expensive, I do this for my own family.

So, engage your children in preparing their food from a young age, which will broaden their taste buds. Expose them to nutritious, healthy foods that cover the full spectrum. Most important, teach them the connection between eating well and feeling well. In doing this, you’ll help them to develop a healthy palate that can encourage a better quality of life for them when they become adults.

Making fruit bars at home

healthysoutherncomforts — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:20:11 +0000

The quickest way to cool off in the hot city when you don’t have access to swimming is to eat a fruit bar or a popsicle. But people who prefer natural products with less sugar will find that natural fruit bars can be very expensive. I’ve seen some that are twice as expensive as the regular ice pops in the supermarket. So here’s a suggestion – make your own. And get the children to help.

This time of year, you’ll find every type of fruit imaginable at its peak. The other day I bit into a nectarine that was simply heavenly. Next, a mango that was so sweet it made me want to eat 10 more.

Making ice pops is simple:

1. Get some popsicle molds.

2. Cut up some fruit.

3. Put fruit into the molds and pour in some juice.

4. Freeze.

And stay cool.

A ready-to-go breakfast of pancakes

healthysoutherncomforts — Thu, 12 May 2011 17:34:20 +0000

I was making pancakes for breakfast and thinking about how my children take way too long getting to the table to eat when I had what I believe to be a brilliant idea: Load their pancakes with fruit and then roll them so my children can walk out the door with a ready-to-go breakfast.

Now mind you, I hate for my children to eat on the run. I think it’s rude, crude and probably not too good for their digestive tracks. However, I’d much rather hand them food to walk with than to have them not eat at all. I also know that other people are already doing this.

So the next time I make pancakes, I will glaze them with a fresh fruit compote mixed with a little syrup and butter, and roll them tight. That way my children can still get a hot meal into their bellies before they begin their school day.

I’ll feel better as their mother, and they’ll be able to put on their thinking caps fueled by a full belly.

Fresh Fruit Compote Stuffed Pancakes

Use whatever pancake mix you like or make the pancakes from scratch.

For the compote, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over a low flame.

When it’s completely liquid, add your favorite berries – blueberries, strawberries or blackberries – plus 1 tablespoon of sugar, and simmer together until the fruit opens.

Turn off heat and cover.

Make a large pancake, put the compote in the middle and roll tightly.

An apple a day

healthysoutherncomforts — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:24:19 +0000

Look outside of any big urban school and chances are you’ll find candy wrappers, empty bags of chips and soda cans littering the schoolyard. Many children buy these snacks on their way to school because no one is making them meals at home.

Some mothers are even relieved when they don’t have to pack school lunches every day because their children qualify for free, federally funded meals, which by the way are usually horrible.

The other day I interviewed a young rapper who’s about to graduate from college on my radio show “The Real Deal With Fatimah Ali,” which is heard on 900 AM WURD in Philadelphia. He told me that he often eats jelly beans for breakfast. Although this young man loves to cook, eating junk food on the run has become a habit for him and he says he’d rather eat candy than nothing. Unfortunately, like so many young people, he grew up with two working parents who fed him but didn’t always have the time to make good, nourishing food. And we are seeing this trend more and more.

Still, I was shocked as well as outraged to read a recent news story about a Chicago school forbidding children from bringing their own lunches from home. According to the principal, the school’s lunches were much healthier than the foods kids were bringing in. Although I seriously understand the reasons for taking these drastic measures, I also felt strongly that this was a missed opportunity to educate children and their parents about making positive lifestyle decisions.

Most of us remember the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

When I was growing up in the ’60 and ’70s that apple was a symbol of good health, along with the cartoon character Popeye’s can of spinach, which appeared on billboards all over town. Along with having good manners, eating good food with lots of fruit and vegetables was the standard for every meal. In my parents’ house, as in most of my friends’ homes, we weren’t allowed to have dessert until our plates were clean. And there was no discussion about it. We ate whatever our mother put in front of us and her food was always delicious as well as healthy.

I’ve said this kazillion times: Children actually welcome the opportunity to eat healthy food, particularly when you educate them from a very young age about the need for good nutrition to build strong bodies. So if you have children or grandchildren who are toddlers, start educating them today about the correlation between good food, healthy minds and strong bodies.

You’ll be amazed at how interested they are in eating well and participating in their own growth and development.

Quick and easy lunch rules

Kids love to dip, so invest in tiny plastic containers and/or ziplock bags.

Put their favorite salad dressing and some leftover plain pasta in a plastic container

Chop up broccoli, carrots, celery, apples and any other snack-like foods that they like and pack it in ziplocks

Find a good vegetable chip or make popcorn seasoned with garlic powder and olive oil for snacks

Allow children to help pack their own lunches and choose what they pack

Remember, the more they help, the better they’ll love the food. And next thing you know, their friends will want them to bring healthy lunches for them as well.

Picky Eaters

healthysoutherncomforts — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:23:46 +0000

My youngest child pits against me every chance she gets. At fourteen, she probably isn’t any more tedious than any other teen-aged girls, but with food in particular, mine plucks every last one of my nerves. I find that feeding her as a young child was much easier, because she ate what ever we put in front of her.

These days she’s as recalcitrant as ever and uses food as a weapon, refusing to eat rather than give into my idea of a good, healthy meal. So we battle daily and ultimately I find myself compromising because I honestly do believe that she’d just continue on the junk path. So, the only way she can get what she wants to eat, is to eat twice the amount of healthy food in exchange for one of her choices.

She’d eat chicken tenders every day if I let her and for snacks she usually craves the worst kind of junk like: chips, caramel corn and soda. In fact, she prefers to snack all day instead of eating large meals, so my challenge is to make those snacks be healthy.

And apparently she’s hearing me because, today she surprised me when I asked her for a week-end shopping list which had to include at least three healthy choices. Baby girl chose clementines, other fruits and juice, which is not at all bad for a girl who normally only wants to eat junk.

Now I just have to get her to love a wide variety of fruits as well as vegetables, which she loathes. My rule is to put the foods they don’t like right next to the ones they do like, so I’ve decided to push crudite’s with broccoli, carrots, dressings and hummus to go along side her chicken.

Clemmentines by Ktylerconk

Quick and easy salsa

healthysoutherncomforts — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:52:11 +0000

Most of us bring out the good china for the holiday feasts. This year, I’m especially blessed to have some beautiful china serving dishes, silverplate (which we still have to polish), crystal and beautiful linens – all of which I inherited from Mama Cis, whose parents were caterers.

When Cis died last summer, my cousins Debbie and Cell, her niece and son, remembered my catering and made sure that I inherited these precious belongings.

Cis’ collection is exquisite, and includes a beautiful mahogany dining-room set; hand-stitched trivets, aprons and tablecloths; a sewing machine and cookbooks. She inherited them from her parents Mom and Pop Connors, who primarily catered Main Line weddings and bar mitzvahs. I remember Mom Connor’s triple chocolate cake like it was yesterday.

My cousins saw this as an investment in Healthy Southern Comforts, as well as a productive way to preserve part of their heritage. All of the linens were beautifully laundered. Even the cut-glass was exquisite.

So I’m really excited about my holiday table setting, in particular this one piece that will be perfect for salsa. So often during these types of dinners, the children are excited and they’re usually starving, so I like to let them snack a little bit beforehand. It’s filler, in case you’re running late with the main course, as I usually am.

I prefer to get a dinner party started around 4:30 or 5, allow people to snack, then serve dinner around 6:30 or 7. That way, there’s plenty of time to socialize with small talk. There are always those guests who want to help out in the kitchen where you can have those “special” conversations.

Salsa and chips, with cheese and fruit plates and crudites, are always a great start. But don’t offer endless servings. Remind the children that the chips are a starter and not the meal. This will take the edge off them, as well as keep them from running around because they have to be still to balance salsa and chips. They’ll probably be more pleasant at the dinner table after snacking lightly beforehand.

My friend Angie Brown, a Creole chef, taught me how to use prepared salsa as a base and enhance it with fresh ingredients. This is especially important in the winter when fresh tomatoes aren’t as ripe.

I use scooper chips to lessen the spills.

Quick and Easy Salsa

1 huge jar of your favorite brand of chunky salsa (medium spiced)

2 lbs of vine ripe tomatoes (very ripe and chopped)

1 small onion (finely diced)

2 limes (juiced)

1 lemon (juiced)

dash of salt, pepper, onion powder

5 cloves fresh garlic (pressed)

1/4 cup fresh cilantro (washed and diced into flakes)

1/4 cup Italian parsley (washed and diced into flakes)

dash of cayenne pepper

3 tsps honey

Directions:

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Serve at room temperature with chips.

A birthday party for my daughter Rashidah

healthysoutherncomforts — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 21:06:53 +0000

My favorite part of the holidays is dreaming up great menus and recipes to serve those I love. Food to me is one of God’s greatest treasures, and having the ability to make nourishing and delicious meals is a gift that I lovingly share. Like all of the women in my family, I’m interested in food. I love to cook, do well on most days and take food to an entirely new level during the holidays.

Today, one of my four daughters, Rashidah, turns 17 - almost a grown woman and way taller than me. I can hardly believe how fast time flies. Seems like it was just a moment go that she was tugging at my knees and now here she is ordering up her birthday menu.

One of our family traditions is to celebrate each child’s birthday with a feast at a small gathering of their closest friends. Rashidah, who plans to be a chef, especially loves food. But this year, typical of so many teens, she prefers celebrating the day out with her buddies rather than at home with us. As usual, she also wants her cake and eat it, too, and also requested her special family dinner tomorrow. This really works out better for me because as usual, I’m jammed up for time preparing for the holidays. Every year, because I’m always so overextended and Rashidah always thinks she gets jipped, I’ll make sure I do it up tomorrow.

She planned the menu and here are her teen-typical choices:

Rashidah’s Way

Chips and salsa

Cheese, crackers and fruit platter

Bar-B-Que turkey meatballs – mini heroes

Wingettes

Pan-fried mac ‘n cheese, regular and vegan

Curried couscous with yellow raisins

Grilled teriyaki salmon with chutney and mushrooms

Pot of greens with carmelized onions and Yukon garlic potatoes

Salad with arugula, pomegranate seeds, goat cheese, beets and minced red onions

Assorted cupcakes (chocolate-iced, vegan chocolate flourless, carrot, red velvet, cheesecake)

Cider and ginger ale

Spring water

Good and hearty vegetable soup

healthysoutherncomforts — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 13:26:17 +0000

As a writer, and in the shaky state that the media faces, I earn my bread-and-butter working for a homeless newspaper called One Step Away. As the development person there, I’m always looking for ways to raise money. The corporation has a few hundred people working in the building, so I thought why not make soup? I started bringing my soups to work, and for some people they were really a hit.

Had anyone told me when I was a child that soup would become one of my favorite meals, I would have laughed them to the moon. Growing up, childhood soups were limited to cans of Campbell’s, and the variety of flavors was very limited in our house. That’s because my mother made most of our daily meals fresh and from scratch, so there was no need to open a can of anything very often.

But every once and awhile, she’d add soup along with our lunchtime sandwiches, either Cream of Tomato, Chicken Noodle or Cream of Shrimp.

Today, while on a budget that is way more meager than my mom’s, I’ve incorporated soup into my meals as a mainstay instead of an addition. The big difference is that my soups are made from scratch and usually take me hours to prepare. The upside is that more often than not, my soups are hearty enough to be considered a meal. Very often, I freeze them for later.

For me, the key is to make the soups as fresh as possible.

Fatimah’s Garden Vegetable Soup

One huge soup pot

3 large zucchinis, quartered and sliced

3 large yellow squash, quartered and sliced

1 large red onion, finely chopped

2 yellow peppers, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1/2 pound string beans, halved

5 sweet potatoes, quartered and cut into wedges

3 large Yukon gold potatoes, cubed

2 jars large jars of vegetarian spaghetti sauce

1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced

3 lbs vine-ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced

1/4 cup light olive oil

1 head fresh garlic, finely diced

1/4 cup of fresh parsley, finely diced

1/8 cup fresh cilantro, finely diced

2 cups pot liquor or vegetable broth

1 small bag of baby carrots

Directions

Heat light olive oil on medium heat and saute onions, peppers, garlic until soft.

Add mushrooms and then the rest of the vegetables, adding the tomatoes and then the fresh herbs last.

Cover and simmer on low heat, while stirring now and then, until the vegetables cook down (about 1 1/2 hours).

Add vegetable broth and continue simmering on low heat until all of the vegetables are soft.

Turn off heat and allow pot to rest for 15 minutes.

Serve with cornbread, muffins or garlic bread.

Apples a day

healthysoutherncomforts — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:22:23 +0000

There’s noting like coming home to the sweet smells of fresh applesauce and other side treats coming out of the kitchen. Especially after a long day at school.

Since I’m no longer a stay-at-home mom who can have the smell of fresh-baked cookies wafting through the house when the kids come through the door from school, I now have to plan ahead every morsel of food that they eat. Making my teenaged girls healthy snacks, in particular, takes some creativity. Besides, they’re old enough to manage their own.

But if I left my youngest in charge of her diet, she’d be in the hospital from malnutrition.

Baby girl hates to eat just about anything healthy. Her preference is to eat fried chicken and pasta every day. Snacks are the worst to plan for her because she hates fruit and is some-timey about salads. Don’t even talk about getting her to eat vegetables. The best way to get her to eat anything green is to hide it in pasta. She does like applesauce, though. But I’m always hesitant to buy it packaged because so much pre-packaged food includes sugar and preservatives.

Determined to help her expand her mind about food, I decided to introduce her to my applesauce, which is much different than store brands.

I also tricked her and added pears in an effort to get her to eat other fruits. Applesauce is simple to make, and she loves it next to cinnamon toast, which she can make herself.

Not Your Grandmother’s Applesauce (Serves

Ingredients:

12 mixed apples:

3 Gala

3 Granny Smith

2 Red Delicious

4 Macintosh

5 Pears (mixed)

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon apple cider

Directions:

Skin and core apples and pears. Cut into halves and poach covered until soft. Blend with seasonings and cider. Serve warm with buttered toast.

Garnish with: black walnuts, shredded coconut, and/or currants

Stuffed chicken breasts

healthysoutherncomforts — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 23:54:12 +0000

Probably one of my favorite times of year is the fall because it means the children go back to school. And after a long hot summer, back to school is a welcome relief for most parents. No more cries of “I’m bored” after their activities end. And no more restless nights because the children want to talk on the phone or stay up on the computer and keep the adults up.

Best of all in my house is the fact that I get my kitchen back.

My children, like so many teens, seem to think that money and food grow on trees. No matter how much food shopping I do, there never seems to be enough food because – no matter what I say – they eat up everything in sight. So now that they’re back in school, there will be no all-day snacking like they did this summer. Since I’m now working full time, that means cooking and planning meals ahead of time so I don’t have to start from scratch after a long day’s work.

These days, I prefer making simple one-pot dinners that I only need to pop into the oven when I get in.

Recently, I fell in love with the concept of stuffed chicken breasts. They aren’t new, but they’re new to me and they are the best. Best yet, you can slice them up and take them for lunch the next day. They’re also a great way to sneak in vegetables for those picky eaters.

Chicken breast stuffed with spinach and asparagus (Feeds

Pre-heat oven to 450.

Ingredients

4 whole chicken breast halved and pounded completely flat

32 tiny baby asparagus, ends cut off and blanched for one minute

1 cup of baby spinach, rinsed and drained

½ cup goat cheese, softened

½ cup finely diced black pitted olives

1 cup roasted yellow and peppers, thinly sliced and then halved

1 cup bread crumbs

¼ cup light virgin olive oil

Pam cooking spray

Directions

Spray a baking sheet with Pam.

Rinse and pat chicken breast dry and lay flat on pan.

Spread thin coating of goat cheese on each breast.

Line each breast with 4 asparagus and a handful of spinach.

Roll breast tightly and coat with bread crumbs, with the seam face down on the pan

Drizzle each breast with olive oil and brown at 450 degrees for 10 minutes until browned, then reduce heat to 325 and bake until meat is white (about 10 minutes).

Let the meat rest before slicing each breast in half.

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce (chipolte’, sweet and sour, teriyaki, salsa).