School is one of the most energy consuming tasks in a child’s life, and when they come home eating and replenishing that energy is paramount. These snacks should be filling but also tasty, a combination that seems to elude many. These meals don’t always have to take so much time to make, either. Time is rapidly eaten up when making a meal, and many don’t have that much to expend in the first place. For many busy parents, making these meals is hard enough, but here are a few easy tips and tricks for making them healthy as well.

One of the most important aspects of healthy meals for kids is the building blocks of nutrition – the food pyramid. Eating vegetables is a sadly neglected area of food, as the pyramid so evidently shows. The ratio of healthy meals for kids with vegetables in them is about three to one. This helps a child’s intake of both vitamins and minerals to be balanced. In order to craft more appetizing versions of vegetables, there are a few simple steps one can take. The tender taste buds of kids will enjoy just a bit of honey on warm carrots, as it sweetens them. Putting honey on other vegetables, such as beets, brings out the hidden under tones of sweetness in them. The bitter taste of vegetables can be a dire point of dislike for most children. Butter acts as a natural coating that can soften the bitter taste. Large amounts of butter should always be avoided. On dry vegetables as well, butter does a lot to enhance flavor.

An easy way to make baked goods both more moist and richer tasting is by using beet pulp. Pureeing the beets and adding them to items such as banana bread is a wonderful combination. Surprisingly, spinach acts in almost the same way. When using spinach, one must be careful to add more sugar in proportion. The bitter taste of most vegetables can be disguised by using vegetables that soak up the taste of other food items. Healthy meals for kids must have some kind of hearty serving of vegetables in order to be considered truly healthy.

Meals that have nut oils or butters are more nutritionally potent. Nut butters such as almond butter are an essential source of omega fatty acids. Omega fatty acids are both rare and required by many functions of the body. Eye, liver, and kidney health are all directly related to this nutrient. It is a nutrient that is very easily absorbed by the body as well. Replacing peanut butter for almond butter is a sure way to add more of this nutrient into your child’s life. The high percent of oils in this butter may alarm some, but rest assured that these oils are the kind that helps the heart instead of hinders it. Because a healthy brain development is so crucial to children’s learning, eating these nut butters that aid in brain function is certain to help.