School Lunch Prep Made Easy

Posted on September 23, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

Did you know that a poor diet and a lack of nutritious foods can hinder a child’s learning ability and overall school performance? And the opposite is also true. Kids who get the proper nutrition that they need do a lot better in all of their academics. So, it’s important to make sure that they are well-fed each school day, and a great way to ensure that is to pack your kid’s nutritious lunches and snacks.

Getting our kids to eat healthy is a group activity

But waking up early to prepare lunches on top of having to get yourself and your kids ready to leave can be a little stressful. So, nutritionist Jessica D’Argenio Waller suggests following this simple formula for creating healthy lunches every day.

1 high- protein meal + 1-2 Fruits + 1 Veggie + 1 Dairy Product + 1 Crunchy Snack + 1 Small, Sweet Treat

Leaving the formula open-ended like that allows you to pick one from each category according to what you have on hand, your kids’ dietary needs, etc. Just make sure that your choices from each category are healthy and nutritious!

Here are a few examples of each you might consider:

High-Protein Meals:

  • Hummus and dippers such as pita chips, carrots, or cucumbers
  • Rolled-up meat slices such as ham, turkey, or chicken breast
  • Grilled chicken nuggets
  • Steak bites
  • Hard-boiled eggs
  • Ham or turkey sandwiches on whole-grain bread
  • Chicken pasta salad
  • Tuna salad sandwiches on whole-grain bread

 

Fruits:

  • Apple slices
  • A banana
  • Mandarin oranges
  • Melon cubes
  • Pear slices
  • Sliced strawberries
  • Mixed berries
  • Mango cubes
  • Dried fruits such as apples, apricots, cranberries, etc

Veggies:

  • Carrot sticks
  • Celery sticks
  • Broccoli pieces
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Edamame beans
  • Cucumber slices

Dairy Products:

  • Little milk cartons
  • Greek yogurt with granola on the side
  • Cheese sticks

Crunchy Snacks:

  • Rice cakes
  • Popcorn chips
  • Tortilla chips
  • Pretzels
  • Veggie straws
  • Crackers
  • Popcorn
  • Dry cereal

 

Small, Sweet, Treats:

  • Granola bars
  • Yogurt or chocolate-covered pretzels
  • Fruit leather
  • Fruit gummies
  • Mini cookies
  • Graham crackers

Next time that you’re preparing school lunches, try using this formula to create filling, nutritious lunches. Feel free to mix it up each day too, so that your kids are getting an array of nutrients!

 

P.S. Arizona agriculture produces lots of healthy foods that are perfect for including in school lunches. Check out the Fill Your Plate website for more on Arizona-grown products!

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Easy, Quick, and Healthy Back-To-School Dinners – Chilaquiles

Posted on September 20, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

Another super quick and easy dinner that we had a lot on busy nights was a Mexican dish called chilaquiles. It’s basically fried tortilla pieces topped with a red sauce and eggs. But, my mom came up with a quicker and healthier alternative to having to fry tortilla pieces by letting them dry on the counter and then pan-frying them in just a touch of oil. Salsa with tortilla chips and chilli peppers.Concept

Ingredients:

  • ½ a package of corn tortillas
  • 1 can of El Pato hot sauce
  • 6-8 eggs
  • ½ of a yellow or white onion diced up
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic pressed
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • Salt
  • Canola oil for the skillet

 

Directions:

Cut up the corn tortillas into little 1-inch squares and loosely spread them out on a baking sheet and cover with a towel and leave them to air dry. (This first step is best done an hour or so ahead of time so that the tortillas have longer to dry, but it works either way.)

Put a large skillet over medium-high heat and drizzle generously with canola oil. Once hot, add the tortilla pieces and crisp them up till they’re golden brown. Remove and set to side.

While the pan is still hot, add a little more oil and sauté the diced onion and garlic.

In a bowl, crack the eggs and beat them well with some salt and a teaspoon of cumin. Add them to the pan with the sautéed onion and garlic and scramble the eggs.

Once the eggs are scrambled, turn the heat to low and add the tortilla pieces back and mix it all together. Pour the can of El Pato over it all and mix well.

Serve it hot, either all by itself or with beans and cheese if desired.

 

A pro tip: This recipe is even better when you use fresh eggs produced by farmers right here in Arizona!

 

There are more easy dinner recipes coming soon! Keep an eye out on the Fill Your Plate blog!

 

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Easy, Quick, and Healthy Back-To-School Dinners – Barbecue Loaded Potatoes

Posted on September 16, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

Welcome back to another quick and easy weeknight dinner recipe! This one is for another one of our favorites that we still make to this day, and they’re barbecue-loaded baked potatoes. This one is just like it sounds. A baked potato loaded up with smoky barbecue flavored meat, smothered in barbecue sauce, with a little cheese on top.

potatoes

Be sure to try one of these delicious ways to use potatoes to fill your family’s plate (photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com)

A little disclaimer, this recipe does take a little longer due to having to bake the potatoes, but if you have an automatic-off oven, you cut back on the time by popping them in the oven while you go do something else, letting them bake, and forgetting about them until you’re ready to fill them!

 

Ingredients:

  • 6 potatoes scrubbed clean
  • 1 lb of ground pork or ground beef
  • ½ a chopped yellow onion
  • 1 clove of garlic pressed
  • Canola oil for rubbing potatoes
  • Butter for inside the potatoes
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Garlic powder
  • Shredded cheese of choice
  • Barbecue sauce of choice

 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Rub the clean potatoes in some canola oil, poke the tops a couple of times with a fork, sprinkle with salt, and place them on a baking sheet. Toss them into the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Brown the ground beef or pork in a skillet and drain off the grease. Add the garlic and onion, and season it with some salt and pepper.

Once the potatoes are done, cut them in half and squeeze the ends to open them. Add a little butter to the insides and fill each potato with some of the ground meat. Sprinkle the tops with the desired cheese and then put under a low broiler to melt the cheese. Once the cheese is melted, drizzle the tops with the barbecue sauce of your choice.

The best part about this meal is that the meat is seasoned very simply, so it allows each person to choose their cheese and sauce if desired. Because if your family is anything like mine, everyone has their own favorite combination. It’s also nice because it’s a hearty meal that is pretty easy to whip up.

One way you might make it even better is to use fresh ground meat and dairy products produced by Arizona farmers! Look for Arizona-produced products when you go out ingredient shopping!

For more recipes and health-related articles, check out the Fill Your Plate blog!

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Easy, Quick, and Healthy Back-To-School Dinners – Italian Rice Bowls

Posted on September 13, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

School has begun, which means quick, easy, and still nutritious dinners are back on the menu! Growing up, my mom was the queen of meals like this. Even though my brothers and I were homeschooled, quick and easy dinners were still a must. So, over the next few weeks keep an eye out for articles of nothing but yummy, healthy, and quick recipes that are all tried and true by my family while growing up!

The first recipe never really had a name but was basically an Italian rice bowl. Also, my mom never measured her ingredients, she always added them as she saw fit. While I did include measurements below, feel free to add or take away as you like!

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb ground pork or beef
  • 2 cups of cooked rice (either brown or white works)
  • 1 can of artichoke hearts drained and chopped
  • 1 cup of thawed frozen spinach chopped
  • ½-1 can of sliced black olives (add more or less to taste)
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic pressed
  • Olive oil to coat the pan before cooking
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • An Italian herb blend to taste

 

Directions:

If not already cooked, cook the rice.

In a large skillet, brown the meat and drain off the drippings. Take out of the pan and set to the side.

Chop up all the artichokes, spinach, olives, and garlic. Set to side.

Drizzle the skillet with olive oil over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot add the rice to crisp it up a bit. Once it’s almost done, add the chopped veggies and meat and cook all together.

Season with salt, pepper, and Italian herbs.

That is literally it! Feel free to add other toppings such as parmesan cheese or an Italian dressing of some kind.

Depending on if your rice is precooked or not, this recipe can take you as little as 30 minutes to prepare from start to finish!

Stay on the lookout for more easy and healthy recipes for busy school nights!

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Prickly Pear Cactus are Hydrating and Nutritious

Posted on September 9, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

One of my favorite plants of all time is cactus. Luckily for me, they grow abundantly here in Arizona! All of the different varieties and the unique shapes, sizes, and colors that they offer are always so cool to look at! But besides being visually pleasing, some varieties, prickly pear in particular, are actually edible and very nutritious too! Edible Food Prickly Pears

According to Hope Wilson, a dietician and nutritionist from the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension both the prickly pear fruits and the pads are edible and nutritious.

When it comes to the fruit of the prickly pear, peeling back the spiny outer skin reveals a soft, watermelon-flavored flesh that can be scooped out and used for jams or jellies, eaten plain, and more. These fruits are full of vitamin C, fiber, and other minerals, and are low in sodium, fat, and have zero cholesterol.

Wilson also says that the pads, on the other hand, are very hydrating, and taste sort of like a mix of green beans and okra. Tender pads harvested in the spring are the best, and can be grilled whole, or diced and sauteed, after the spines have been removed, of course! My grandma loves to cook Nopales, which is a Mexican dish comprised of diced prickly pear pads, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and chiles all stewed together and eaten in corn tortillas.

While eating cactus might not be your thing, it’s still interesting that this spiny desert plant can offer so much nutrition! If you want to read some more about prickly pear cactus, check out this article from Fill Your Plate!

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