Nutrition for the New School Year.
by Sarah Welch and Alicia Rockmore
When your days consist of running from home…to school drop off…to work…to school pick up…to after school activities…to home - it’s really hard to be sure everyone eats, let alone a hot and healthy meal. Get your kids over the age of 8 to help you on hectic days by preparing easy dishes like these:
- Use leftover meat (chicken, fish, beef, etc.) as quesadilla filler with cheese on your busiest days. Before you put it away after your main meal, cut it up so that it will be easier to use as quesadilla filler later (and you’ll have fewer prep steps on busy nights). Buy the smaller tortillas and place the quesadillas two or three on a cookie sheet and bake until the cheese is melted and the tortilla is crunchy, turning once. You can change up the filler, cut them in small pie triangles and let everyone taste test! For fun, hold a family fiesta and vote for the best tasting quesadilla.
- For another quick and easy dinner - pull out the refrigerated croissant rolls and fill a triangle with tuna fish and top with cheese; then place another triangle on top and fork all the edges together, then bake as directed. You have a “hot” meal in no time.
- When making a casserole, if you usually have leftovers, why not make up mini casseroles with that amount before you finish the casserole? Put the amount you usually have left over in separate, serving size dishes and cook as usual. When fully cooled, freeze and you will have a quick meal for those busy nights or when no one wants to eat the same thing.