One thing we do REALLY well is come up with “healthy versions” of kid-favorite foods.
For example we’ve got
- Healthy Nachos with Black Beans and Homemade Cheddar Cheese Sauce
- Fried Rice with Veggies…but the rice is actually made with cauliflower
- Mac & Cheese, but we sneak in veggies and sub out high-fat products for lighter ones
And more!
In fact, today’s lesson with our virtual after-school cooking class is the healthy nachos!
I’ll even give you some tips on how we make it healthy
And you can register if you want to join the remaining 4 lessons at this link here:
Join Here: https://liftenrichment.com/online-after-school
Anyway, here are 4 substitutes to kid-favorite dishes
Healthy Burgers
The “healthiness” of the burgers comes in three key substitutions
The ground beef is high in fat…which is why in-n-out tastes so good. It’s because they use 80% beef to 20% fat.
Instead, choose 90% beef to 10% fat or 93% or 96% beef to fat. I swear your kids won’t be able to tell the difference but love the fact they’re eating a “burger” that has more protein and less calories than a burger you’d eat out.
Then, instead of adding a slice of cheddar cheese (or worse) processed American cheese, use freshly grated low-fat, skim milk mozzarella. You still get that cheesy goodness but it’s a lot lighter.
Last, use low-sugar ketchup mixed with lite mayo for the sauce. And for the bun, you can’t make that any leaner, so just go with smaller buns.
Healthy Nachos
This is an easy one: First of all BAKE your chips. Kids love to bake chips and it’s so easy. Cut up some corn or flour tortillas, spray with a bit of oil and bake for 10-13 minutes, in an oven at 400d F. Season with salt and you’ve cut out a lot of fat from deep-fried chips.
Next, don’t smother with cheese! Use a combo of grated cheddar and skim-milk mozzarella. Again, use a measuring cup so you’re not going crazy.
Add black beans for healthy protein and carbs.
And join our virtual afterschool cooking class!
Healthy Quesadillas
Full recipe coming at you soon!
Healthy Mac & Cheese
I love this recipe, because when you make a besciamella sauce (basically the “cream sauce”) you sub out whole milk with half vegetable broth and half 2% milk. You can still add the cheese.
Also you can add vegetables like cauliflower into the dish and most of the time kids DON’T mind this at all. I love putting cauliflower into foods!
If you like these recipes, reply back with “more healthy versions!” and I’ll take that as a sign to dive deeper into this thread.
And if you want your kids to improve their health, you can join the remaining lessons of a our Virtual After-School Cooking class and make Healthy Nachos LIVE with our Chef Teachers Tuesdays or Wednesday at 3pm. We’ve already got 20 kids in the class so join at the link below
Register here to get your kids cooking “healthy” versions of their favorite-foods
Get Cooking,
Chef Eric
