If you ask parents what are their top concerns for raising children, one of those on the top 10 list will be "How do I get my kid to eat more veggies? How can I get them to eat healthier?" I know this because I am a parent of course. On my mind constantly is what have my boys eaten today? And which of those things were healthy? Last weekend I, along with several Macaroni Kid families, had the opportunity to explore healthy eating with our children by making 3 different recipes from the Happy Family Cookbook and by sampling their snacks designed for toddlers and preschoolers.
From Babies to Preschoolers, Happy Families makes snacks for each nutrition stage.
I had the wonderful privilege of hosting the Cooking Party in my home and we had a houseful of parents and little chefs! Children made Sunflower Butter Wraps, Fruit, Cheese, and Turkey Kabobs, and Quinoa chocolate chip muffins. They did the cutting, spreading, mixing and I just did the heating or baking. But it was great to see children through this cooking party try new foods (healthy foods), strengthen small motor skills as they prepare their own snacks, gain new vocabulary as they talk about ingredients, and socialize with new children. The book that we used for our cooking party is the Happy Family Organic Cookbook for Babies and Toddlers. Everything we tried, we loved. The Quinoa Muffins were THE BEST! What I loved the most about the recipes were how exchangeable the ingredients could be. You don't need to go out and buy a $7 tub of Sunflower butter, you can use peanut butter for your wraps instead or if you prefer a gluten-free recipe just swap out the flour for a gluten-free option. The point is to cook as healthy as you can and with ingredients you have. If your budget allows for you to add new foods to your pantry, then definitely go for it.
Check out the Cookbook here.
Both the cookbook recipes and the sampled snacks from Happy Families have a focus on all natural and nutrient rich ingredients with vitamins to support a child's brain and physical growth. Children do not eat large portions and as we know young children especially tend to have days when they don't want to eat much of anything. So we want to make sure that when they do eat, what little they eat is jam packed with the stuff that's good for them. Which is why these snacks and recipes were absolutely great. One Stockton mom loved the apple granola bars by Happy Family, she commented on Facebook that even her picky eater loved them. And yes, everything we tried was not only good for you but delicious. Double whammy!
Fruit, Cheese, and Turkey Kabobs
My favorite part of the whole cooking party was watching the children mixing, counting, slicing, mashing, chatting, and eating. They were truly the chefs of the day. Children are more inclined to try new foods when they have a part in preparing it. Maybe not ALL of the time, but most of the time. And we definitely saw this at the cooking party. And they were so proud of themselves as they tasted their final products! It was a party worth having and Happy Families makes foods and recipes worth trying.
Mashing Bananas for the Chocolate Chip Quinoa Muffins
*This is a sponsored article. I was compensated for my time and given Happy Families Snacks to sample in exchange for writing this review but all thoughts and opinions are my 100% own.*
