Quick Beef & Broccoli Grain Bowls are a new favorite meal at our house, and they’re a good source of iron, zinc, and B vitamins – oh, and of course protein!
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Teaching my kids how to pack their own lunch a few years back was a game-changer for weekday mornings. And it’s now a skill that has made it easy for my kids to prepare their own lunches at home while our school system remains virtual. Use my formula to teach your kids, and it’s easy to get them started packing or making their own lunch!
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Earlier, I shared a video on the supplements that we’re taking — both pre-COVID and now that we have a positive COVID case in the house. The interest to it has been huge, I’m sharing my full list!
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Coronavirus is keeping our kids at home and that means quick, healthy lunch options are must! Check out these SIX healthy lunch ideas that parents are guaranteed to love as well!
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Millennials are now parents, so will their buying power help to trigger some big changes in kid’s menus? In my latest article for cookinglight.com, I’m sharing why 2020 may be the year more kids’ menus start to get a healthier makeover - largely due to this new generation of parents - and what to expect.
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I love cooking and coming up with new recipes, but even I get a little burned out when it comes to cooking dinner every night. I think it’s because once you have kids, cooking dinner becomes more of a daily task on your “to-do” list. Click here to find my approach to the “chore” dinner dilemma!
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There’s another aspect to your kid’s lunchbox that might not have crossed your mind: The Teacher’s Perspective. And last year, I polled teachers asking what they WISHED they could tell parents about packed lunches. The feedback from teachers was overwhelming but pretty consistent across the board, and I’m sharing a quick abbreviated version on FIVE things that teachers wish parents wouldn’t pack in their kids’ lunches.
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I’ve regularly described healthier foods that I wanted my kids to eat as things that would make them stronger, faster, or smarter, but turns out this may not have been the best wording to use. In fact, I might should have just said nothing at all! Sure, would love to rewind a few years to when Madeline and Griffin were 6 and 3 to try this out.
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It’s hard to stay on a schedule before a holiday, but regular meals can help and serving more of a snack-like dinner is one trick I’ve had success with. Click here to find some tips on how reduce the stress of holiday snacking by pulling together quick, health meals that kids are sure to eat - WITHOUT complaining!
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Did you know that a full-size candy bar may have different ingredients compared to its snack-size version? AND, did you know that flavors of the same candy may have very different ingredients? Click here to find some great resources to help you find out the facts on food allergens!
Read MoreThere’s another aspect to your kid’s lunchbox that might not have crossed your mind: The Teacher’s Perspective. Teachers play a major role in opening packages and getting kids to eat. Honestly, I’d never thought about this until I happened to see a former teacher’s social media post where she gave some candid feedback about what worked, what didn’t, and what typically got thrown away. Seeing this intrigued me, so I decided to reach out to some elementary school teachers to get their feedback.
Read MoreRecently Cooking Light asked me to compile a list of “essentials” that all kids moving out on their own need. As you read, remember that these are just the basics. If your child is looking to do more than reheating like I did, you might want to get a few more things! Check out my list here!
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What if you took one of your million morning responsibilities - like packing lunches - and re-assigned them to your kids? No, you’re not totally off the hook because you’ve still got to have foods to pack available in the house and there is a teaching curve… and, yes, it depends on their age and abilities. But hear me out, training my kids to take on this responsibility has had a really positive impact on the entire family. Find out more from my recent feature with Cooking Light.
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There’s no way to sugar-coat it: the dinner hour is a test of parenting strength. For those who were as naïve as I was and thought it stopped after the toddler years, it doesn’t! It actually gets more challenging. Tired of being frustrated and dreading the dinner hour, I decided to step up my game - with some parenting mind games of course! Find out more here!
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After my son ate a slice of neon-colored birthday cake, I started doing research on the connection between ADHD and artificial coloring. Here's what I found.
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Did you know that when parents focus on their teen’s weight or encourage their teen to diet it actually leads to weight GAIN, not weight LOSS? I honestly didn’t realize how big the correlation was until I dug into the latest research about healthy approaches for parents to talk teens about weight. Whether you’re in this spot personally, professionally or both, I hope to help you by breaking down what the research suggests are the most effective things parents can do when talking to their teens about weight.
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Y'all might remember my post on social media recently that showed a picture of the cereal boxes my children convinced their grandparents to buy while I was out of town for a work conference. Needless to say, I was inspired to create a blog post on what they best cereal options were these day, what to look for, and what to avoid - something that I hadn't visited in awhile and wanted to know myself!
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As a dietitian, I had big plans about creating a healthy family lifestyle while pregnant with my daughter Madeline. I quickly learned that my "ideal" wasn't the most realistic. So, after 11 years of critical reading and many parenting failures with my own kids, I have compiled a few approaches and thoughts I’ve found that have actually been practical and helpful.
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Imagine your infant child, having dozens of seizures a day, and the medications just aren’t working. You feel helpless and hopeless. Trust me. Then we found the ketogenic diet and our hope was restored.
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