Child Nutrition

Veggies Bowls

Prep time: about 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 green, yellow, or red pepper, washed
• 1 celery stalk, washed
• 1 carrot, washed and peeled
• your favorite salad dressing

Directions:

1. Cut the pepper in half from side to side, and remove seeds.
2. Keep one half to use as bowl; cut the other half into thin slices.
3. Cut the carrot and celery into thin sticks about 4″ long.
4. Put a little salad dressing in the bottom of the pepper bowl, then add celery, carrot, and pepper slices.
5. Enjoy these portable veggie treats by dipping the veggie slices into the dressing, then eating the bowl when you’re done!

Serves: 1

Serving size: 1 veggie bowl

Nutritional analysis (per serving):
93 calories
3 g protein
1 g fat
22 g carbohydrate
4 g fiber
0 mg cholesterol
98 mg sodium
71 mg calcium
0.7 mg iron

Sloppy Joes

Ingredients

• 12 ounces 90%-lean ground beef
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 2 cups finely chopped cremini mushrooms, (about 4 ounces)
• 5 plum tomatoes, diced
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup chili sauce, such as Heinz
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 8 whole-wheat hamburger buns, toasted if desired

Preparation

1. Crumble beef into a large nonstick skillet; cook over medium heat until it starts to sizzle, about 1 minute. Add onion and mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until the vegetables are soft and the moisture has evaporated, 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Add tomatoes and flour; stir to combine. Stir in water, vinegar, chili sauce and ketchup and bring to a simmer, stirring often. Reduce heat to a low simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened and the onion is very tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Serve warm on buns.

Berry Fruit Pizza Recipe

Ingredients:

• 18 oz. Refrigerated Cookie Dough (sugar cookie or chocolate chip are best)
• 8 oz. package Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup Sugar (or the equivalent in Splenda)
• Roughly 4 cups Assorted Fruit (We prefer blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and kiwi for aesthetics and flavor, but try peaches, bananas dipped in lemon juice, apples, or any other fruit you fancy.)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Take cream cheese out of the refrigerator to soften.
3. Place cookie dough on center of baking stone or nonstick cookie sheet (We usually set aside about ¼ of the dough for a future use to help the cookie fit our 14″ baking stone without overflowing.)
4. Flatten with your hand.
5. Roll the dough out, using a lightly floured roller, to almost cover the pan.
6. Bake 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. (Do not over bake.)
7. Wash and Slice fruit while cookie is baking. (Note: The Pampered Chef egg slicer is perfect for slicing strawberries and kiwi.)
8. Cool 10 minutes.
9. Loosen cookie with a long, serrated knife.
10. Cool completely.
11. While cookie is cooling, combine cream cheese and sugar in a small bowl until smooth.
12. Spread mixture on top of the cooled cookie.
13. Arrange fruit slices and pieces in a circular (or any) pattern on top of cream cheese mixture.
14. Slice using a pizza cutter.
15. Enjoy.

Notes: This sugar cookie fruit pizza can be made with Crescent Roll Dough substitute for the Cookie Dough, making it a little less sweet. For theme parties or holidays, try shaping the cookie into something other than a circle. For instance, this is a perfect 4th of July treat , with a rectangular cookie and red, white, and blue fruits to form an American flag. A giant oval Easter egg, a red and white striped candy cane (leave fruit off for the white stripes (let me know if you find a white fruit!) for Christmas, or a holiday wreath can all work beautifully.

Serves 12-16