Children's Healthy Summer Eating - Barbecue and Picnic Recipes
We all assume that we eat more fruit and vegetables in the summer as they are riper, more appealing and we hope cheaper as many of them are in season.
However, during the hazy days of lazy barbecues and beach picnics (we live in hope) it can be easy to lose sight of what our children are actually eating. Do they really enjoy and eat plentiful amounts of salads laden with dressings, roast vegetables and vegetable couscous that we adults enjoy?
Some children invariably do, but most don't. Children have very different tastes when it comes to fruit and vegetables than we do, so here are a few tips and ideas for both barbecues and picnics. A lot of food that is prepared for a barbeque can be eaten cold the next day for a picnic, and we're all guilty of over cooking for a barbecue.
As with any time of the year, try to picture the Food Pyramid when deciding what your child should eat each day. A child friendly poster of the Food Pyramid is available from www.healthinfo.ie. Simply print it out and stick on fridge or on kitchen wall at home.
Here are a few tips and ideas from the team at Bia Kid that should set you and your family up for a long and healthy summer!
1. Corn on the Cob
Children love the sweet taste and crunchy texture of corn on the cob. They can be put off by whole cobs though as they are too big for their little hands to handle. Using fresh rather than Frozen Corn on the Cob split each cob in half before rolling it lightly in melted butter or olive oil and cook it straight on the barbecue. Don't over cook or burn the corn as this will make it too soft. Children are very driven by texture. Make sure it is cooled down before you hand the corn to children and let them eat the corn with clean hands rather than those little corn forks, as they are too awkward for them to use.
2. Crunchy Salad
If you put 6 children around a bowl of salad, they will each like or not like different combinations of vegetables, so when preparing a salad for children it is best to keep each group of vegetables separate.
Again, texture and colour are key here to attract children's attention. A typical salad plate should consist of separate groups of the following:
- 1 yellow, 1 red and 1 orange pepper, decored, deseeded and cut into thin strips (green peppers are more difficult for children to digest)
- Sticks of cucumber
- Sticks of carrot
- Halved cherry tomatoes
- Small pile of rocket or other salad leaves
To add more Omega 3 to children's diets, put a small bowl of crushed mixed sees e.g. Linwoods on the side so that children can sprinkle these on their salad, in the same way they would sprinkle parmesan cheese on pasta.
- A colourful tricolore salad of sliced mozzarella, ripe vine tomatoes and small basil leaves drizzled with olive oil and spread in layers around a plate can prove very appealing to children.
3. Salad dips
There are very few salad dressings or dips that children actually like. The one that seems to win hands down is houmous. This is an ideal dip for children to dip their salad vegetable into, but unless you have very well disciplined children, you don't want them dipping in half eaten sticks into the houmous, so it is best to put the houmous onto their individual plates or give the children a little bowl of it each at a picnic.
4. Soups
Smooth textured mixed vegetable soups are one of the best ways of ensuring that our children eat a wide variety of vegetables. Although the last thing you may feel like on a warm day is stirring a pot of soup over a hot stove, have a batch of frozen home made soup in the freezer or look out for low salt varieties in the supermarkets that you can simply microwave and serve. The Bia Kid "We Love Soup" range is ideal for children with no added salt and 2 ½ portions of mixed vegetable in each 500 gramme pot. Choose from either Garden Vegetable or Chicken & Vegetable made with 100% Irish Chicken. On the continent and countries like Brazil children are fed soup on the beaches, particularly when they are traveling, as this is the time when they tend to go off vegetables. Serve with wholemeal toast soldiers or mini pitta breads to encourage you child to eat more.
Again, in order to enhance the Omega 3 content of the soups, stir a couple of desert spoonfuls of crushed mixed seeds into the soup pot before serving.
5. Chicken kebabs
Chicken kebabs can be very popular and made more nutritious by adding layers of different coloured vegetables. For 8 generous kebabs use the following:
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 each of red, yellow and orange peppers
- 16 Cherry tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon of honey
- 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
Cut the chicken into small strips. Cut the de-cored and deseeded peppers into squares. Coat them in the honey and sunflower oil. Layer the vegetables and chicken with a cherry tomato at either end of the skewer. Although it's tempting to, and unless your children really like them try to avoid adding herbs to the marinade, as this will just put the children off or they will spend their time picking the herbs off!
6. Home made burgers
Who can resist the smell of grilling burgers on a hot summer's day! I like to make my own, but there are no several fresh, well made varieties available in butcher shops and in deli counters in the supermarkets. For 12 burgers:
- 500 grammes lean minced beef
- 50 grammes breadcrumbs (use a grater or food processor)
- 1 beaten egg
- 1 tablespoon very finely chopped parsley
- 1 small very finely chopped onion, or better still chop it with the herbs in a food processor
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Sautee the onion and herbs in the olive oil until the onion is just beginning to brown.
Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl. If you have a plastic burger maker, use this to mould the burgers, or split the mixture into 12, roll each portion into a bowl and flatten it with you hands. Use a griddle to cook the burgers on the barbecue to prevent them falling through the grills!
7. Mini pitta breads
These are now widely available and a much healthier alternative to burger buns! They can also be filled with the crunchy vegetable salad and houmous. They're also ideal for the beach with any fillings and a good way to avoid "sand sandwiches"
8. Fish
Just because it's the summer, don't forget that children need Omega 3 for good brain development. Try filling mini pitta breads with tuna or cold grilled salmon and their favourite salad vegetables, or for a real treat use the barbecue to make a delicious, nutritious, real tuna nicoise (Serves 6 - 8):
- 800g Fresh Tuna Loin Steaks
- Boiled and sautéed mini potatoes
- 500g French Green Beans lightly boiled or steamed
- 300g halved cherry tomatoes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Black pepper to taste
Shake the olive oil, lemon juice and black pepper together and use to marinade the Tuna Steaks. Put the tuna steaks in a griddle and barbecue until browned and well cooked through. In a large bowl add a layer of potatoes, cooked green beans and cherry tomatoes and top with the tuna steaks. For the grown ups you can also add a few fresh or tinned anchovies and pitted black olives.
9. Deserts
Ice Cream and sorbets
Ice cream is a big favourite at barbecues and the beach. But given that it is so plentiful and beautifully ripe during the summer, always serve ice cream with lots of chopped fruit using as many different colours and textures as possible. The rule in our house is "no fruit, no ice cream!" Try to steer clear of sugary ice creams with lost of additive and stick to plainer varieties, or for the more adventurous, invest in an ice cream maker and make your own! Children often like sorbets also, so don't over look these. Mango sorbet and lemon sorbets are the big hits in our house.
Fruit salads
As babies, our children loved tropical fruits as they are sweet and juicy and brightly coloured. Use a combination of chopped mangoes, papayas, pineapple and kiwis with apples, pears, bananas and grapes and chill in the fridge for an hour or two before serving for a lovely refreshing desert (that way the ice cream accompaniment won't melt so quickly either!)
10. Smoothies
Smoothies are a great way to get a variety of fruit and calcium into children. Here are a couple of the favourites in our house
Mango Smoothie
- 1 ripe mango
- 1 ripe banana
- 200ml orange juice
- 2 * 200ml orange probiotic yoghurt drinks or 4 tablespoons low fat probiotic natural yoghurt
Simply add all of the ingredients into a blender and whisk for 2 - 3 minutes. Serve with ice and a brightly coloured straw!
Mixed Berry Smoothie
- 200 grammes mixed seasonal berries (or frozen when out of season)
- 1 ripe banana
- 200ml apple juice
- 2 * 200ml strawberry probiotic yoghurt drinks or 4 tablespoons low fat probiotic strawberry yoghurt
Same method as above.
If your children don't like the taste or texture of smoothies, it is worth investing in an ice lolly maker and simply pour the smoothie into the ice lolly cups and freeze for a few hours before use.