Healthy Eating Recipes For Your Toddler
Healthy eating and physical activity are essential for growth and development in childhood. Young children need to eat five or six times a day. For help coming up with healthy meal times, check our suggestions for toddlers age 1 to 5.
Our nursery parents are always asking us for ideas and suggestions as they don’t want to fall victim to unhealthy convenience food when preparing dishes for their toddlers.
Here are some great ideas and recipes our nursery chef Naomi would like to share with you.
If any parents would like to share and see their own recipes here, please sent them in via email or bring them to the office. Ready, Steady, Let’s Cook..
Bean & Potato Bake
You will need:
- Baked beans
- Potato
- Butter
- Grated cheese
Method
Boil potato until cooked. Drain potato; add a knob of butter and mash.
Empty the beans into a dish, top with mash. Sprinkle grated cheese over the mash and place in oven and cook on Gas Mark 6 or 220 until golden brown.
Fish Pie for 4
You will need:
- Boiled Potato
- Milk ~1 pint
- Butter ~ 50g
- Plain flour ~ 4 tablespoon
- Variety of vegetables; carrots, cauliflower, peas etc.
- White fish ~ 4 fillets
- Vegetable stock powder ~ 1 teaspoon
Method for Sauce
- To make the sauce add butter to a sauce pan and let it melt, once melted add flour to it gradually until it comes together into a ball.
- Add milk little at a time, letting the flour and mixture down until the white sauce is of the correct consistency.
- Add vegetable stock powder for flavour.
Method for Fish
- Place the fish in an oven proof dish and add either with water or milk to cover. Place foil over dish and bake between 20-25 minutes until cooked.
- Part cook or steam the selected vegetables.
- Drain fish, add vegetables and white sauce.
- Add butter to boiled potato and mash.
- Cover fish with mashed potato and sprinkle cheese (optional).
- Bake oven Gas 5 or 200 until browned.
SUGGESTION:
(If using milk to poach fish keep after draining and can be used in white sauce to retain the flovours. This sauce also works well with most fish, especially salmon, smoked fish and prawns).
Lasagne
You will need:
- Minced meat of choice ~ 500g
- Large onion, carrots, peppers, any other fresh vegetables (all diced)
- Tinned chopped tomatoes or bolognaise sauce ~ 1 jar
- Garlic and tomatoes puree ~ 1 teaspoon OF EACH
- Worcestershire sauce ~ 1 tablespoon
- Milk ~ 1 ½ pint
- Butter 75 g
- Plain Flour ~ 5 tablespoon
- Vegetable stock powder ~ 1 tablespoon
- Lasagne sheets
Method for sauce
- Add butter to saucepan and let it melt
- Gradually add flour to the butter until it comes together.
- Add milk a little at a time, letting the flour and mixture down.
- Continue to do this until white sauce is the right consistency.
- Add vegetable stock powder for flavour.
Method for Lasagne
- Fry off mince until cooked, drain any access of fat away. Remove from pan into a dish.
- Add all fresh vegetables to the pan and cook in a little olive oil for 5 minutes.
- Place the mince back into the pan with the vegetables; add a splash of worcestershire sauce, garlic and tomato puree.
- Stir in the chopped tomatoes/or bolognaise sauce and allow to cook on a low heat for 15-20 minutes.
- Assemble cooked ingredients in an oven proof dish by starting with the meat, sauce and lasagna sheets. Top with grated cheese and cook on Gas Mark 5 or 200 for about 30 minutes or until you can easily pierce the lasagna sheets with a knife.
SUGGESTIONS:
(Sun dried tomatoes, herbs and seasoning can be also used)
