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Friday, April 29, 2011

Healthy food for the WHOLE family

I find it a struggle sometimes to get my kids to eat 'healthy' food. Maggie LOVES veggies of any kind. But in general they are kids and they love their carbs and that's not exactly on my 'healthy' list. They are always pointing out my different 'diet' food and going 'ewwww.' So tonight I decided to try something different.

One of the kidlets FAVORITE dinners is what they call pasta with bacon...lol. pretty good description. It's carbonara. It's bacon, and noodles and a creamy parm cheese all over. It's super fatty delicious-ness! Again, this is something I haven't made in a while because I pretty much ONLY make it in family size and Adam and I don't eat that way anymore. But I decided to health-y it up a bit and see what they thought, and of course I didn't tell them there was anything different about it :)

I started by using turkey bacon instead of regular bacon. It was a little more difficult to cook without burning because it doesn't naturally make a bunch of grease to cook it in, which is why it's healthier but also why it's easy to burn. Then I also used whole grain wheat pasta. I bought a good brand that didn't look as brown as the last kind I'd bought, which Katie snubbed her nose at based on color alone. Then I pretty much made it as usual. And the kid response? Near standing ovation! They loved it as if it were the same kind I'd always made (none the wiser about the healthier choices involved.) and I was able to enjoy it with them which was so nice :)

I used to think that eating healthier was difficult so I didn't bother. But it's the little changes like not having seconds on the carb portion of the meal, or having a fruit and veggie, or two veggies for side dishes, and especially switching to whole grains...not to be confused with 'whole wheat' there is a big difference. Now that I've gotten used to it, I find it easy to shop for and enjoying the difference it makes on my waistline. I think I do spend slightly more on my groceries each month but it's a negligable amount, less than $50 difference for the whole month, for my large family, that's not bad!

1 comment:

  1. This is great Vera. I'm trying to change it up too. Biggest surprise I've had that the kids LOVE.. homemade mac and cheese. Take out half the pasta and replace with cauliflower. The cauliflower looks like pasta, takes on the consistency, and the kids don't even know it's in there. It cuts the fat cals by 3/4! :) Ah.. the little secrets. (Of course you have to cut the cauliflower up really small.

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