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In winter, it is necessary to strengthen the vulnerable children’s immunity by any available means. And for this, you should add as many healthy dishes with a shock portion of vitamins to your daily diet as possible. These are mainly vegetables in all possible variations. They are well baked and stewed, served as a side dish, make soups and even delicious desserts based on them. Our selection of recipes is dedicated to this topic.
Soup classics
Chicken soup with vegetables is the perfect embodiment of a balanced vitamin dish for a child. To prepare it, take 2 chicken thighs, pour 3 liters of water and leave to cook on low heat for half an hour. In the meantime, we will make a ruddy roast in a saucepan from an onion, a carrot and a celery stalk. Just do not overdo the vegetables on the fire. As soon as they soften, pour out 3 potatoes with cubes and fry for another 5 minutes.
Filter the finished broth and pour the contents of the pan. When the potatoes are completely cooked, we lay 50-60 g of egg noodles, salt and pepper the soup to taste, add fresh herbs. The cooled chicken thighs are crushed and also poured into a saucepan. It remains to bring the soup to readiness and let it brew under the lid.
Peppers with a surprise
For the second, offer the child hearty stuffed peppers. First, let’s start with the filling. To do this, we cook 100 g of rice until it is half cooked. While it is quietly boiling in a saucepan, we pass the onion cubes and grated carrots until golden brown. Mix the roast with half-cooked rice and 300 g of any minced meat, which the child likes more. Add a little salt and dry herbs, knead the mass with your hands. We cut off the caps of 4-5 medium-sized Bulgarian peppers, remove the seeds and partitions, fill with minced meat and put it vertically in a wide saucepan.
Now let’s make a fill. Stir in 300 ml of hot water for 3 tablespoons of tomato paste and thick sour cream, put salt and black pepper. Pour the stuffed peppers in a saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer on low heat under the lid for 40-45 minutes. At the end, put the bay leaf and soak the peppers without fire under the lid for a quarter of an hour.
Fish delicacy
In winter, it is especially important to alternate meat in the children’s diet with seafood. Red fish with grilled sauce is just what you need. Grate the lime zest on a fine grater, squeeze the juice out of the fruit and mix everything. Chop 5-6 sprigs of coriander. Cut the onion into a small cube. Mix the citrus juice with the zest, herbs and onions. Lubricate the marinade with 5 portion pieces of salmon, leave for 15 minutes.
It is better to cook such fish in a grill pan to preserve the maximum of useful substances. Fry the salmon on both sides until golden-brown stripes appear. A light yogurt sauce will go perfectly with it. As small as possible, chop 1 tbsp. l. capers, a clove of garlic, 2-3 sprigs of tarragon. Add 100 g of natural yogurt, the juice of half a lemon, season with salt and black pepper. Little gourmets will be satisfied, especially if you serve fish on wooden skewers.
Potatoes with vegetable vitamins
As practice shows, children prefer potatoes to many other vegetables. Therefore, they will not have to be persuaded to eat potatoes baked in the oven for a long time. We wash 4 oblong tubers in water, wipe them dry, grease them with oil and bake them whole with the peel in the oven at 220 °C for 45-50 minutes.
While the root vegetables are getting ready, we will make a salad. Cut 6-8 cherry tomatoes into slices, fresh cucumber-in half circles, red onion-in half rings. Do not forget to pour boiling water over the onion to remove the unpleasant bitterness. Chop 5-6 sprigs of parsley, mix with vegetables, salt to taste, season with Greek yogurt.
We cool the finished potato tubers, cut off the side part and remove part of the core, we will also mix it into the salad. Fill the potato boats with lettuce and decorate with lettuce leaves.
Cottage cheese breakfast
All food for children in the cold season should be useful, and desserts are no exception. In this regard, the traditional cottage cheese casserole is a win-win option for all occasions.
Vigorously beat the egg with 1 tbsp. l. sugar and a pinch of salt. Add 300 g of cottage cheese with a fat content of at least 9 %, 1 tbsp semolina, 0.5 tsp baking powder and a pinch of vanilla. We knead the resulting mass well and leave it for 10-15 minutes to disperse the semolina. If desired, you can put a grated apple, a handful of raisins, banana slices or dried berries here.
Lubricate the ceramic molds with oil, sprinkle with ground breadcrumbs and fill with cottage cheese mass. We put them in the oven at 180 °C for about half an hour. This cottage cheese casserole can be prepared for breakfast. Just let it cool down properly, garnish with mint and serve with sour cream.
Cupcake with an orange mood
Even homemade cakes can be loaded with vitamins and made extremely useful. Spicy carrot cake is just such a case.
In one container, mix 130 g of flour, 1 tsp of baking powder, 70-80 g of sugar, 0.5 tsp of cinnamon and ground ginger, a pinch of vanilla and nutmeg. In another container, beat 2 eggs with 80 ml of vegetable oil, pour out 300 g of grated raw carrots. We combine the dry and liquid bases, carefully knead the dough until a homogeneous consistency.
Fill the greased muffin molds with it and bake in the oven at 180 °C for 40-45 minutes. When the carrot cakes cool down, they will become even tastier. Serve a healthy dessert with whipped cream, and not a crumb will remain from it.
Cocktail for health
Almost all children drink milk with pleasure. Why don’t we make a strawberry and banana milkshake?
We grind 200 g of fresh strawberries in a blender and rub the resulting mass through a sieve to get rid of small bones. We knead a large ripe banana into a thick mush with a fork. Combine strawberry and banana puree, add honey and vanilla sugar to taste, whisk everything until you get a smooth consistency. Pour in 400 ml of milk and continue to beat until a fluffy foam appears. We pour the cocktail into tall glasses, decorate with mint petals and treat the children. Do not forget about the colorful straws. It is much more pleasant to sip a thick, fragrant cocktail through them.
Here is a vitamin menu we offer to prepare for your children. If you need more interesting ideas, take a look at the recipes page from the readers of “Healthy Food Near Me”. And what vitamin dishes do you prepare for the child yourself? Share branded recipes in the comments and tell us what helps you to maintain children’s immunity in the norm.