48 THE QUEENS COURIER • WELLNESS • MARCH 21, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
wellness
Sneaky ways to get your kids eating healthier
Every parent knows it can be a challenge
to get kids to eat healthy foods.
Serving piles of vegetables, whole grains
and lean proteins might be our goal, but
it might not guarantee that children will
actually eat them.
Registered dietitian Dawn Jackson
Blatner off ers tips for upping the nutrients
in family meals without your kids
suspecting a thing.
Pack the meatloaf with vegetables. If
meatloaf is a family favorite, you’re in
luck. It’s easy to add fi nely grated vegetables
like carrots into your meatloaf
mix without anyone being the wiser.
Carrots are loaded with nutrients such
as fi ber, potassium and beta-carotene.
Or try adding minced celery, green peppers
or spinach to meatloaf (or meatballs!)
for a nutrition boost. You can also
combine cooked lentils with your ground
beef for a leaner meatloaf without sacrifi
cing fl avor.
Italian favorites with added veggies.
When cooking Italian dishes like lasagna,
adding chopped broccoli or spinach
to one of your layers is an easy way to
increase its nutritional value. Boost nutrition
of jarred pasta sauce for any Italian
dish by pureeing in your favorite cooked
veggies like broccoli, carrots, squash or
peppers without anyone noticing. Th is
powered-up sauce is great for making
homemade superfood pizza, too.
Asian stir fry at home. Instead of relying
on Asian takeout meals, make stir fry
at home. It’s quick and easy, and you can
buy pre-cut chicken or beef to speed up
your prep time. Get fresh or frozen veggies
like sugar snap peas, grated carrots,
broccoli fl orets and peppers and stir fry
with soy sauce and a bit of ginger and
garlic powder. It’s a high-veggie, craveable
meal loaded with vitamins and fi ber.
Serve with brown rice instead of white for
even more nutrition.
Use the best ingredients. Choosing your
ingredients with care makes a huge diff erence
in nutritional value. Blatner says that
using Eggland’s Best eggs makes any recipe
more nutritious, as they contain more
than double the vitamin B12 when compared
with ordinary eggs. “Vitamin B12
transforms food to energy that kids need
to play and grow,” says Blatner. Th ey also
contain more vitamin D, which helps
a child’s body absorb calcium, a mineral
that bones need to stay strong and
grow properly, according to the National
Institutes of Health. Compared to ordinary
eggs, they have 25 percent less saturated
fat, plus contain more than double
the omega-3s and 10 times more vitamin
E.
To celebrate National Nutrition
Month this March, Eggland’s Best and
Life Time 60day are challenging families
across America to Plus It Up when
it comes to their overall nutrition and
wellness routine. For the chance to win
prizes such as free product coupons, gift
cards, fi tness trackers, cooking equipment
and more, enter the Eggland’s Best
“Plus It Up” Instant Win Sweepstakes at
EBPlusItUpSweepstakes.com. One grand
prize winner will receive $5,000 to plus up
their family’s fi tness routine!
Try this family favorite recipe:
Baked Chicken Nuggets
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Recipe by: TermiNatetor Family
Kitchen
Ingredients
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
(roughly 1 pound total), cut into 1-inch
pieces
• 1 cup breadcrumbs (Panko works too!)*
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup all-purpose fl our*
• 3 Eggland’s Best eggs (large)
• Cooking spray
Preparation
Preheat oven to 450 F.
In a shallow bowl, whisk together
breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper
and seasonings.
In two separate bowls, add the fl our in
one and whisk the eggs in the other.
Set a wire rack on a rimmed baking
sheet and lightly coat rack with cooking
spray.
In batches, coat the chicken in the fl our,
shaking off excess, then in the egg wash,
then in the bread crumb mixture, pressing
to adhere.
Place on rack.
Bake until chicken is fully cooked, about
12-15 minutes, fl ipping halfway through.
*Dawn’s Healthy Swap: Use whole
grain instead of regular bread crumbs
and all-purpose fl our!
Courtesy BPT
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/EBPlusItUpSweepstakes.com
