Seven easy dinner ideas for kids following Harvard's guidelines
Although in some forums we still hear talk of the “nutritional pyramid” it has long been discarded, adopting instead the so-called “Harvard plate”in which the distribution of food is organized in a healthier way for our pace of life and our physical activity.
Half of the plate should be occupied by vegetables, a quarter of the rest of the plate should be occupied by carbohydrates, preferably always whole grains, and in the other quarter we should have healthy protein.
Dinner is considered by nutritionists and health experts to be one of the main meals of the day. In terms of the energy it usually provides, it is considered the second most important meal of the day and that is why it should offer “foods that are easy to eat.” digestion” especially when we talk about preparing dinner for children since they “tend to go to bed relatively soon” after dinner, as the pediatrician points out Jorge Martínez Pérez.
Furthermore, when dinner time arrives, it is very likely that we will all already be exhausted from the pace we follow throughout the day, so keep simple recipes on hand For healthy dinners, it is always a huge help.
1. Green beans with potatoes and grilled chicken
For the Spanish Association of Pediatricsa healthy diet for a boy or girl, has to provide proteins, lipids and carbohydrates and must predominate in plant products, greens, vegetables and fruits.
Following this recommendation, a simple recipe like this can be one of those dinner wildcards to end an exhausting day in a delicious way.
- You just have to boil the potatoes and beans cut into pieces and drain everything well when it is cooked.
- We cut a chicken breast into pieces and put it in the pan with a clove of garlic.
- When the breast is done, we add the beans with the potato to the pan and stir a few times so that the flavors come together.
For Juan Llorcaa well-known nutritionist focused especially on child nutrition, when our children eat in the school cafeteria regularly, dinner can be a perfect time to “offer food groups that perhaps are not offered as much at school, such as vegetables and legumes.”
2. Eggplant and feta cheese tart
Savory pies or quiches are always an easy, economical and tasty way to make a family dinner.
In this case, the recipe is found in the profile of Veronica Sanchezbetter known as OhMommyBlue on Instagram where she has thousands of followers who read her posts and recipes like this one.
It is a simple eggplant cake with feta cheese, miso and honey that has the peculiarity of having the ingredients placed upside down, the base is covering all the ingredients while it is cooked and when you unmold it, you just have to turn it over so that everything is in place. your site.
The preparation couldn't be simpler, and she explains it very well in the Instagram video in which she also gives the recipe for this dinner proposal for children and adults, of course.
3. Baked fish with vegetables
The oven is always an ally when it comes to preparing simple and tasty recipes, and even more so at dinner time, when it can be cooking while we are doing other things.
Choose the fish that you like the most at home, normally hake is usually very well received for its mild flavor but salmon or cod, to give just a couple of examples, can be two good options as well.
- First, cut the vegetables that you like the most into slices or cubes: zucchini, asparagus, onion, pepper, etc., place them in a baking dish (you can put them on parchment paper to facilitate cleaning later), add oil. , salt and pepper or the spices that we like the most at home.
- Put them in the oven for a few minutes (15-20) at 180º or depending on the strength of our oven and how we like the vegetables done.
- We take out the dish and put the chosen fish on the vegetables, which we also season with salt and pepper and put in the oven for enough time so that it is well done, depending on the thickness and size, 10 minutes may be enough or we may need a little more time.
Paula Martin ClaresAs a nutritionist, she is completely sure that ending the day with “a healthy dinner will contribute to a good rest and, above all, to avoid present and future problems such as overweight and obesity.”
4. Chicken lollipops with couscous
It is a recipe from the well-known English chef Jamie Oliver which will surely delight the little ones in the house, especially because of the presentation of the dish and which we can copy at home without effort.
The ingredients are simple: couscous, chicken fillets, dried tomatoes in olive oil, natural yogurt, peas, green asparagus, slivered almonds, mint, pepper, olive oil and salt.
- Remove the hardest part of the asparagus with a knife and fry them with a little olive oil.
- In a bowl, add the couscous (the amount will depend on who you are having for dinner) and add the peas, a pinch of salt, lemon zest and a little pepper.
- Add boiling water to the couscous bowl and cover it with a plate for approximately six minutes.
- Cut the chicken fillets into strips and stick them on a skewer before frying them with a little oil.
- When serving, distribute the asparagus at the base of the plate, place the chicken on top and add the couscous garnish on one side of the plate.
- You can make the sauce to accompany the dish with two tablespoons of natural yogurt and dried tomato sauce to taste (this sauce can be prepared at home, blending some dried tomatoes with olive oil in a processor until it has a creamy texture), Add a little lemon juice and mix everything well.
- The flaked almonds are for the final touch of the dish but if the children are small it is better to eliminate them from the recipe.
5. Potato omelette with salad
It is a classic in Spanish cuisine and the best thing is that it can be prepared in advance and have it ready for dinner on the day of the week that best suits us.
There are millions of potato omelette recipes on the internet and everyone agrees that the best is usually their own mother's.
The ideal accompaniment is a good salad complete with the vegetables that you like most at home.
6. Zucchini carpaccio
For the nutritionist Blanca García Orea This dinner proposal is perfect because of how simple, how fast and how nutritious it is.
- You just need to cut a raw zucchini into very thin slices and spread it on a platter or large plate.
- Add a peeled tomato on top of the zucchini and mash it, seasoned with olive oil and salt.
- Crush some walnuts in the mortar to sprinkle on top of the tomato.
- A splash of lemon juice and a little parsley and we have the dish assembled.
7. Sautéed vegetables
A vegetable stir-fry that can be perfectly prepared from the classic bags of frozen vegetables, for example to prepare Russian salad.
It can perfectly be a single dish at dinner time or a garnish for example for a fish or a French omelette, you can also add small cubes of ham or chop a boiled egg and add it at the end to the plate.
- We put a splash of oil to heat in a frying pan.
- We add the amount of vegetables we need for dinner depending on how many diners we are, directly from the bag in which it is frozen.
- We turn it around in the pan, add a little water and let it reduce, we may have to add a little more water until we notice that the vegetables are soft.
- We season and we can also add the spices that we like the most at home.
Dinner can also be a time to enjoy cooking.
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