healthy food – enfantsdazur

Winter Wellness: Fun Ways to Build Healthy Habits with Your Kids

hgrattan — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Winter Wellness: Fun Ways to Build Healthy Habits with Your Kids

By Enfants d'Azur

As the colder months settle in, so do the sniffles, sneezes, and coughs. But what if this season could be about more than fighting off illness? What if it became a time for connection, exploration, and teaching kids about vibrant, healthy choices?

Here’s how you can turn wellness into a family adventure—starting right in your kitchen!

Eat the Rainbow: Bright Plates, Bright Smiles
Fresh vegetables and fruits are packed with natural vitamins that help keep little immune systems strong. Plus, their bright colors are a feast for the eyes!

Why not make it a game?

Color Hunt: Head to the supermarket or a local farm and let your kids pick one fruit or vegetable from each color of the rainbow. Can they find something red (tomatoes), orange (carrots), yellow (bananas), green (spinach), blue (blueberries), and purple (eggplant)?

Weigh and Learn: Have them weigh the items, count them, and name the colors—turning grocery shopping into a fun, educational outing.
When you get home, create colorful plates together. Let them arrange the rainbow on their plates—think red bell peppers, orange carrots, yellow corn, green cucumbers, and purple cabbage.

Smoothie-Making Fun
There’s something magical about blending fruits and vegetables into a vibrant smoothie. The whir of the blender, the transformation of ingredients, and the excitement of tasting their creations make this a favorite activity for kids.

Smoothie Ideas to Try:

Berry Blast: Blend yogurt, frozen berries, a banana, and a splash of milk or water.
Green Machine: Blend spinach, pineapple, apple, and coconut water.
Sunshine Smoothie: Blend oranges, carrots, mango, and a pinch of grated ginger for an immune-boosting treat.
Let kids smell, touch, and taste each ingredient before adding it to the blender. Talk about how fruits feel—fuzzy peaches, bumpy oranges, or smooth bananas. It’s a sensory experience that encourages them to explore and try new foods.

Cold Remedies They Can Make
Teaching kids about natural remedies is a wonderful way to empower them. Simple recipes can help them understand how food can support their health.

Lemon-Honey Elixir:

Slice a lemon and let them squeeze the juice into a mug.
Add a teaspoon of honey and pour in warm (not boiling) water.
Stir together and enjoy.
This soothing drink is great for sore throats and a natural way to introduce them to wellness traditions.

Hydration Station
Water is essential for staying healthy, but let’s face it—plain water can feel boring. Spice it up with these ideas:

Add slices of oranges, lemons, or cucumbers to a jug of water and let your kids “design” their flavor.
Let them use a special cup or straw to make drinking water more exciting.

Togetherness in the Kitchen
Cooking together isn’t just about preparing food—it’s about creating memories and teaching valuable life skills. Kids love feeling included, and involving them in small tasks, like washing vegetables or stirring a pot, boosts their confidence.

Simple Vegetable Soup Recipe:

Let them wash and chop vegetables like carrots, celery, leeks, and potatoes.
Heat olive oil in a pot and sauté garlic and onions (with adult supervision).
Add the chopped veggies, some vegetable stock, and let it simmer.
Let them taste-test and add a pinch of salt or herbs.
Make it fun by calling it “Superhero Soup” and explaining how each vegetable is a “power-up” for their bodies.

A Wellness Adventure
Wellness can be a joyful adventure filled with discovery and connection. When you invite your kids to explore colors, textures, and tastes, you’re not just building their health—you’re nurturing their curiosity and sense of adventure.

So, grab your reusable bags and head to the market. Taste a new fruit together. Get messy in the kitchen. Because wellness isn’t just about staying healthy—it’s about creating moments of joy and connection that last a lifetime.

What’s your favorite way to teach your kids about healthy choices?

Share your tips and recipes—we’d love to hear them!

10 Easy & Delicious Child-Friendly Recipes With Hidden Vegetables.

Sue Stokes — Tue, 26 May 2020 22:23:17 +0000

By Guest Blogger Sue Stokes

I am a grandma, I have 2 grown up children and 6 grandchildren.

Like most of you I have experienced the frustration of kids who wont eat vegetables no matter how much they are coaxed or even bribed.

In today's world where we are encouraged to eat less meat to save the planet, this problem is becoming bigger.

My son wouldn't eat any vegetables except tinned sweetcorn until he was a 16 and then only when he visited a girlfriend's house for lunch and wanted to impress.

What he didn't know was that I had already learned to disguise vegetables in regular food that he liked.

It was when my daughter wanted to become a vegetarian and asked me to buy Quorn products that I first started to make things he would never guess contained vegetables.

Later this progressed to adding real vegetables such as grated carrot and liquidised onions to bolognese sauce.

Gradually I became more crafty and mashed up boiled cauliflower into potatoes to top shepherds pie, grated beetroot in chocolate brownies, pureed pumpkin in muffins and various additions to banana milkshake such as spinach or broccoli.

I'd like to share with you 10 of my favourite recipes. Here is the first recipe and I will be posting a new one every week.

I hope you and your families enjoy them!

Sue x

Chocolate Muffins - makes 12

Ingredients:

1 cup peeled, boiled and pureed veg (e.g. pumpkin, sweet potato, beetroot or courgette)

1/2 cup honey 1/3 cup sunflower oil 1/4 cup milk (dairy or plant-based)

2 eggs

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups flour (if you cannot get "fluid" or "pour gateaux" then use basic Type 55 and add 1 tsp baking powder "levure chimique")

NB. You can add chocolate chips for extra camouflage.

Method:

Mix everything together in a bowl, then using an ice-cream scoop fill your muffin cases (one full scoop each) and bake in a pre-heated oven at 165* for 20 minutes.