10 Ways to Help Your Family Eat Better

If your family is like most, you have at least one member who seems to have an aversion to anything even slightly nutritious (and this person may not necessarily be in the under-18 age range). But don't despair. There are a few "tricks" you can use to increase the nutritional value of the foods your family already loves to eat. One such trick is to give your food a healthy makeover by packing extra nutrition into everyday food. Even foods that may not seem very nutritious on first glance can actually be quite healthy with a few minor recipe alterations. In many cases, the healthier alternatives involve adding or substituting non-traditional ingredients that boost the nutritional value of the dish without significantly altering the dish's taste or texture. Here are 10 simple ways you can get your family to eat more nutritiously without even changing the menu:

1. Meatloaf and meat balls - Start by using a leaner type of ground beef and mix in some ground turkey. Instead of using white bread crumbs, use whole wheat crumbs or substitute with oatmeal. You can also mix in shredded carrots, peppers, or other vegetables or even chopped apple to add fiber and increase the nutritional value.

2. Pizza and pasta - Make your own sauce or boost the nutritional value of bottled sauces by adding steamed and pureed vegetables such as carrots and spinach. When making pizza at home, use fresh vegetables as toppings then cover the veggies with a bit more cheese to "hide" them.

3. Processed "meats" - Pepperoni, sausage, hot dogs, ground beef, and even chicken nuggets each have readily-available counterparts made from texturized vegetable protein (TVP) or other plant-based foods. Meat substitutes work great as pizza toppings, in tacos, or sloppy Joes. You can mix the meat substitutes with ground beef until your family becomes more accustomed to them.

4. Potatoes - Steam some cauliflower and mash it in with the potatoes. Mix in some Parmesan or top with gravy and the cauliflower will be difficult to detect. If you make French fries at home, try making sweet potato fries. Cut the sweet potatoes into strips, but instead of frying them, coat with a little olive oil and bake at 400°for about 30 minutes, turning once.

5. Tofu - Yes, tofu! (Keep reading.) Tofu has little flavor of its own and is a great way to add low-fat protein to many dishes. Silken tofu can be mixed in with scrambled eggs. Firm tofu can be mashed and mixed with or substituted for ricotta in lasagna or cream cheese in some desserts.

6. Bread - Breakfast breads like pancakes, waffles, and muffins are prime targets for nutritional enhancement. Use slightly less flour and substitute the same amount of oatmeal. Adding applesauce or mashed ripe banana will keep the food moist and add flavor, which means you can reduce the oil in your recipe or even eliminate it entirely. Traditional breads can also benefit from these types of additions. Pumpkin and zucchini breads are very tasty and make great breakfast or snack foods.

7. Snacks and desserts - When serving party snacks, swap cream-based dips with vegetable-based dips like salsa and hummus. Replace ordinary potato chips with vegetable chips or try chips that contain nutritional "extras" such as flax seeds. Another "junk" food that can be made healthier is cookies. If your children love chocolate chip, make oatmeal chocolate chips cookies instead of the traditional kind. Instead of white or chocolate cake, try serving carrot cake. If you have an ice cream maker, you can make this popular dessert healthier by including fruits, berries, and nuts into the mix and topping off with granola.

8. Herbs - When preparing foods, don't forget about herbs. Prepackaged dried herbs tend to lose much of their nutritional value in processing and shipping, and while sitting on the shelf in the store or in your home. Fresh herbs, on the other hand, contain more vitamins and anti-oxidants, so use whenever possible. Herbs can be added to any number of savory foods to improve the flavor and nutrient content. If your family is not used to herbs, go easy at first since many herbs have strong flavors.

9. Olive oil - While not suitable for deep fat frying, olive oil can be substituted for butter or vegetable oil in many savory recipes and can be used for pan frying if not at a high temperature. Instead of serving butter or margarine with bread, pour a small amount of extra virgin olive oil into a saucer and top with a few fresh chopped herbs and a grind of black pepper. Olive oil does have its own flavor, so keep that in mind when using in place of other oils.

10. Beverages - When looking for places to sneak in a bit of extra nutrition, don't forget beverages! If your children like to drink fruit juice, you can slip in a small amount of vegetable juice into the drink. Use the low sodium variety and add just a spoonful at first. This works particularly well with grape juice and fruit punches as these have strong flavors that help mask the vegetable flavor. You can also serve fruit and yogurt smoothies as nutritious substitutes for milkshakes. Even something as ordinary as iced tea can be made healthier. Tea drinkers in your family can benefit from green teas and herbal teas like rooibos. Since other kinds of teas may taste much different than the popular pekoe tea blend typically found in the ordinary grocery-store variety tea bag, you may want to mix the two types at first. When making a pitcher of tea, try a 1-to-3 tea bag ratio or even 1-to-4 if the herbal or green tea has a very strong taste.

Be open-minded when trying new recipes and be creative. Search cookbooks and the web for recipes that have an interesting healthy-sounding twist (like tomato soup cake, for example) and be willing to try them. Enter the word "healthy," the name of the food, and "recipe" into a search engine and chances are someone has already crafted a delicious and healthier alternative and saved you the guesswork from trying figuring it out yourself. Soon, you may find your picky eaters are not only eating their vegetables, but they're unknowingly asking for seconds!