This post is sponsored by Nuffnang.
My 5 top tips for helping Children Develop a Healthy Relationship with Food
1. Provide a wide range of foods from birth and continue to try and re-try foods that they have previously dismissed
Like us, there are some tastes and textures that will not appeal to children. Or, they'll love it one minute and hate it the next. This is just a part of life but if you continue to provide and offer a wide range of different tastes, textures and styles of food, it is likely your child will become more accustomed to trying new things and giving foods another go. And, if they don't like it, don't push it. Praise them for giving it a go and then try again another time. We have found over time and depending on how things are prepared (and how they look!), our children start to enjoy ingredients that they previously dismissed. A great dish to experiment with different vegetables, meats and flavours is the stirfry.
2. Make healthy food fun and don't ban "junk foods"
When it comes to children and food and eating, I have always had the attitude with my kids that we eat a wide range of foods and I try to encourage that by making good, healthy food fun. Sometimes how something is presented makes a huge difference! We know ourselves that the more appealing something looks, the more we often want to try it. I also don't believe in making certain foods "off limits" so we just try to approach it simply as "sometimes foods" and "everyday foods."
3. Encourage independence and eating for the right reasons
Young children have small stomachs and need to eat smaller amounts more often to distribute their energy needs over the day. One way that we use to encourage independence in this area, as well as teaching children to listen to their bodies and eat for the right reasons, is with our snack box method.
4. Involve children in the process of food, from the ground to our mouths. Gardening and doing the grocery shopping together is a good place to start.
One of the main ways that I've tried to encourage a healthy relationship with food is by involving my children in all the aspects, from the choosing and buying of the food to the preparation and eating of it. Where we can, we also look further into where it has come from and how it is grown. There is just so much to learn!
5. Cook with your children
I find that giving children some ownership over what they are eating and involving them in the processes is useful in encouraging children to give different foods a try. Being part of the cooking also gives them the knowledge that the same foods can taste completely different depending on how it's prepared. Not to mention all the maths, science, fine motor and language skills they are acquiring along the way
Chinese Five Spice & Soy Beef Noodle Stirfry Recipe
One of our favourite mid-week meals is the good old stir fry. The thing we love about making stirfrys is that they're quick, easy, fresh and healthy, making them an "everyday" type of food. And, without too much effort, you can mix it up and change them by altering a few ingredients here and there to ensure you have new and different tastes and combinations to try all the time.
The new range of Maggi Stirfry Creations makes it even easier to get a quick, delicious stirfry out and on the table in no time at all. With a range of five products, including Chinese Five Spice and Soy; Honey, Soy & Garlic; Teriyaki & Sesame; Garlic & Ginger Chicken and Sweet Chilli, Ginger & Lemongrass Chicken, there is sure to be a flavour combination that the whole family will enjoy.
We tried out some of the range and have shared our popular Chinese Five Spice & Soy Beef and Vegetable Noodles recipe below. I'm not sure about your kids but mine LOVE noodles and they happily woofed this dish down. Take your kids shopping for the ingredients and get them to choose and name the different vegetables that you will use.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
·
500g rump steak
·
1 pk of
Maggi Stirfry Creations Chinese Five Spice and Soy Beef
·
1 carrot
·
1 small onion
·
1 small red capsicum
·
Handful of snowpeas
·
1 tbs vegetable oil
·
1 pk of Fresh Chow Mein noodles 350g
Method:
Thinly slice your steak.
Tear apart your Stir fry Creations and in a medium bowl, add the Infusion Paste
to the meat to marinade. Set aside for 2-5 minutes.
While the meat is infusing,
prepare your vegetables by cutting into evenly sized pieces
Heat your wok over high
heat and prepare the noodles according to the directions. Add the oil to your
hot pan and stir fry your meat until browned. Add all the vegetables and stir
fry for a further few minutes.
Giveaway for Australian Readers
Edit: 5/8/13 This Giveaway is now closed.
Congratulations to Oscar Poulton.
You will be sent your Maggi Prize Pack shortly.
Apologies to our international readers but this giveaway is only available to Australian Residents
Thanks to Maggi and Nuffnang, one lucky Aussie, Learn with Play at Home reader will win:
4 Maggi Stir Fry Creations
1 x Scanpan Impact Wok with lid
1 x $100 Coles Myer Gift Card
To enter, simply leave us a comment below telling us Which Maggi Stir Fry Creations flavour would be your family's favourite?
Before entering, please read the terms and conditions.
Good luck and happy cooking,
Debs :)
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My family would love Chinese Five Spice & Soy Beef. That picture is making me hungry! Hannah (paint on the ceiling)
ReplyDeleteMmmmm I would love to try them all but for a favorite I'd guess Teriyaki & Sesame! Yum!
ReplyDeleteThe sweet chili ginger and lemongrass sounds fabulous! :) Yummy - yes please!! :)
ReplyDeleteHoney soy and garlic... you had us at honey :) Looks so good (and easy!), as you would expect Maggi to be. xo P
ReplyDeleteWe would love Honey, Soy & Garlic! Great giveaway! Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteThat 5 spice and soy beef looks pretty tasty to me! Those two look so cute in their chef outfits :-)
ReplyDeleteI always cook with honey and soy, so i'd really like to try the chilli, ginger and lemongrass. :)
ReplyDeleteI love 5 spice, such wonderful flavours. Any sort of stir fry for us though, great mid week quick dinner
ReplyDeleteI love 5 spice, such wonderful flavours. Any sort of stir fry for us though, great mid week quick dinner
ReplyDeleteWe actually cook Teriyaki Beef with the Maggi Stir Fry Creations Teriyaki & Sesame all the time. It's one of the few meals that Mr 5 gets really excited about so it's on weekly rotation at our place!
ReplyDeleteThey all sound great! But I think if I HAD to choose, then I'd choose the Teriyaki & Sesame. YUMMO!
ReplyDeleteWith two fussy eaters(my son and my husband)I always look for new dishes that I can cook and get their approval. Honey, Soy & Garlic Chicken Stir fry is the one I think everyone in our family will enjoy including the fussy eaters - who would not like to eat stir fries that are full of flavour and so very delicious.
ReplyDeleteMy kids would love the honey and soy one. Delicious flavours that I feel most kids (certainly mine anyway), would love, while allowing us adults to have a grown up meal as well. What a great idea!!!
ReplyDeleteKim
galwayst@hotmail.com
Oh YUM! I think my family would love to try the Teriyaki & Sesame but all the other favours sound just wonderful. These Maggi packs look really great because I'm not a good cook and I like when things are quick, simple, taste great and look delicious. I think this product ticks all those boxes.
ReplyDeleteMaggi Stir Fry Creations Honey, Soy & Garlic
ReplyDeleteWould be sure to give my stir fry that extra kick!
And I need all the help I can get
To get my children’s fussy needs met!
I'm a big fan of Teriyaki & Sesame! Your dinner looks delish tough!
ReplyDeleteMy girls are fussy eaters too but your suggestions have really helped Debs! I really love the pic of your girls helping with the shopping. The twins come along with me but they don't usually get too much involved (other than screaming to get out of the trolley).
Perhaps it really was time for little N to get a hair cut, haha. He's a boy. :)
DeleteI was actually just thinking of trying a stir fry with the girls as we have some wonderful stir fry vegies growing in the garden at the moment and we could all use a vitamen boost with all this Winter sickness floating around the house!
ReplyDeleteReally liked all your suggestions...getting food into my 2 is often not my favourite task!I think the honey, soy and garlic sauce could be just perfect for their first stir fry introduction!
Love this product idea as quick and easy is what I need right now!Just love, love that first photo of the kids...just too sweet Deb, what helpers you have there x
Honey, soy and garlic sounds divine
ReplyDeleteFor this fussy family of mine
They all have their different likes and tastes
But more often than not, it all goes to waste!
So with this I would hope to create
A yummy meal that gets cleaned off the plate
The falvours sound nice, and would certainly please
A recipe whipped up with simplicity and ease!
Honey, Soy & Garlic is a popular flavour in this household with my boys, so anything cooked with that would be cleaned up pretty quick!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTeriyaki & Sesame would be perfect because our family loves everything Japanese, such as hello kitty, sushi and sukiyaki. Our favourite TV Show is Iron Chef.
ReplyDeleteteriyaki and sesame is the definite winner,
ReplyDeletefor a quick, child friendly stir fry dinner!!
Teriyaki & Sesame Chicken sounds great,
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they would empty their plate,
Just 4 easy steps to delicious,
For a fast dinner that's nutritious,
Maggi makes meals easy to create :)
cant go past sweet chilli ginger and lemongrass, family favourite. Lucky my kids got good taste yummy :)
ReplyDeleteThe Teriyaki and Sesame would be a winner in this household (they all look delicious!).
ReplyDeleteThey look so good and are sure to be yummy,
My kids will eat it up and make me a happy Mummy!
oodles of noodles, you just cant loose...we would love to try teriyaki and sesame just to have a break from soy, i do like the sound of the sweet chilli, ginger and lemongrass for a mom and dad dinner too
ReplyDeleteWe would love Honey, Soy & Garlic! Great giveaway! Thank you :)
ReplyDelete