January 9th 2006 Dine Without Whine's Weekly Newsletter
An Extension of our Menu Planning Service
www.dinewithoutwhine.com Publisher ~ Christine Steendahl
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This Issue:
A Personal Note
Sponsors
Easy Chicken Enchiladas Recipe
8 Fun Ideas To Get Your Kids To Eat Their Veggies
Personal
Note
Greetings! I guess it is already Monday! This weekend we made the
hour trek to Costco and a few other favorite stores. We do that once every
couple of months. I am now working 15 hours a week at the preschool at our
church until Matt lands a full-time job. Between that, the kiddo's and
Dine Without Whine I have been keeping plenty busy. Well, this is a quick
note as I need to run to the grocery store before dinner time! At least I
have my menu and grocery list all set to go as a result of my
menu planner! Have a great
week!
Christine
This Weeks Top Five Referring Sites
www.photobugbabyboutique.com
www.charmedchildren.net
www.boutiquebargains.com
www.bercotchildrenswear.com
www.diaperjungle.com
Recipe of the Week
Exerted from this week's family friendly menu plan
and convenient grocery shopping list.
Try our Menu Planning Service at no charge for the
first week.
For more information visit
www.dinewithoutwhine.com
Easy Chicken Enchiladas
Makes 6 servings
Prep: Cook Chicken ahead of time (I usually just throw it in a pot of boiling
water for awhile until it is done - You can also buy canned chicken if you
prefer.)
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 4-ounce can diced green chilies (optional)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
2 cups cubed boneless skinless chicken breast halves cooked
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese divided
6 flour tortillas 12 inch
1/4 cup milk
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish.
2.) In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the green
onion until tender (about 3 to 4 minutes).
3.) Add the garlic powder, then stir in the green chiles, cream of mushroom soup
and sour cream. Mix well.
4.) Reserve 3/4 of this sauce and set aside.
5.) To the remaining 1/4 of the sauce in the saucepan, add the chicken and 1 cup
of shredded Cheddar cheese. Stir together.
6.) Fill each flour tortilla with the chicken mixture and roll up. Place seam
side down in the prepared baking dish.
7.) In a small bowl combine the reserved 3/4 of the sauce with the milk. Spoon
this mixture over the rolled tortillas and top with the remaining 1 cup of
shredded Cheddar cheese.
8.) Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.
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Kitchen and Cooking Tips
8 Fun Ideas To Get Your Kids To Eat Their
Veggies
Do you have trouble getting your kids to eat
their veggies? I sure do.
My daughter used to be great about trying and
eating just about anything…and then she turned 2 ½. Now it is pretty much
impossible to get her to eat anything other than corn when it comes to
vegetables. So I had to come up with some fun and sometimes sneaky ways to get
some veggies in her. Here are a few of my favorites.
1) Make big pot
of vegetable soup, and then add some fun noodle shapes. You can use alphabet
noodles or look for some fun novelty shapes. You may be able to find some
cartoon characters, toy and sports shapes etc. I have even seen pumpkin and
Christmas tree shapes. With a little luck your kids will be too busy spelling
words, or identifying the shape to notice all the veggies they are eating in the
soup.
2) If you can’t
make them eat it, make them drink it. Pour some vegetable juice over ice and add
a straw, a cocktail umbrella or a stick of celery and watch them drink it up.
Your kids may not get as much fiber as eating the entire vegetable, but getting
them to drink their vegetables is better than not getting any vegetables in
their system.
3) Have you
tried offering them some raw vegetables with some ranch dressing to dip them in?
Many kids who don’t care much for cooked vegetables will eat them up if they can
dip them. Just grab a bag of baby carrots and cut up some red and yellow peppers
and some cucumber. Arrange them on a plate with a little bit of ranch dressing
or your favorite vegetable dip on the side.
4) Take it even
a step further and let them create artwork out of their vegetables. Offer raw
vegetables in different colors and shapes and encourage them to make a vegetable
collage on their plate. You can easily make a face using slices of cucumber as
eyes, a baby carrot as nose and a slice of red pepper as a mouth. You can use
watercress or shredded carrots or even some cheese as hair. Before you know it,
you’ll find them sampling their “art supplies”.
5) To get them
to eat more vegetables at dinnertime try a little salad bar. Put out some
lettuce, some sliced or chopped tomato, slices of cucumber, shredded carrot,
slices of red and yellow peppers, small broccoli flowerets and anything else you
can think of. You may also want to offer them some choices when it comes to
salad dressing. Favorites in our house are Ranch, Italian, Catalina, and French.
To top it all of set out some croutons and shredded cheese.
6) Get the kids
together and make a cold vegetable pizza. Start out with a can of crescent
rolls. Unroll the dough, but don’t pull the triangle shapes apart. Instead push
the seams together and bake on a baking sheet according to the package
directions. Let the sheet of dough cool completely, then spread with some crème
cheese (we like a vegetable or herb flavored one) and top with some thinly
sliced raw veggies. Cut into squares and serve.
7) Get them
involved in the kitchen especially when it comes to cooking. Ask them to wash
the vegetables, if they are old enough let them cut veggies (under your
supervision of course), let them help you stir, or anything else you can think
of that would be age appropriate. You’ll be amazed at how proud they will be of
their finished product. Believe me, they’ll try just about anything if they made
it.
8) If everything
else fails, hide the vegetables in other food. My mom used to make us some
special orange mashed potatoes. We thought it was very fancy, but all she did
was to cook some carrots with the potatoes and mashed them right in there. You
can also cover broccoli with tomato sauce or cheese. Think of a dish your child
really enjoys and sneak a little bit of vegetable in there.
Give a few of these ideas a try and see which
ones work best for your children. Keep at it and sooner or later they will start
to develop a taste for vegetables.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Susanne Myers, together with Christine
Steendahl, owns and publishes the Healthy Menu Mailer.
www.healthymenumailer.com
* Do you have a question you would like answered in this area?
If so, send me a note and I will try to get to it in the coming weeks.
christine@dinewithoutwhine.com
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