Simple and Healthy Family Meals

Over the past six months I’ve become the primary cook and meal planner at home and I’ve really enjoyed taking on this new role. I get immense pleasure in meal planning, selecting ingredients, and making delicious and nutritious meals. I’ve also started optimizing the meal choices for speed and nutritional balance. I’m a big fan of healthy fats and lots of vegetables and have found a few great kid friendly meals that are simple and hit the spot every time. Moreover, they are simple to make and take no time at all.

Healthy and enjoyable meals in a beautiful setting!

Here is a dinner I made last night consisting of basmati rice, roasted vegetables (sweet potato, garlic, and carrots), barbecue salmon, and green salad. We don’t buy prepared dressings as we make them daily out of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Dijon mustard. I sliced the vegetables, placed them into an oven dish, drizzled olive oil over them and broiled them for 50 minutes while I made the rice, set the table, and cooked the fish on the barbecue.

Basmati rice, oven roasted vegetables, barbecued salmon, and green salad

Other favourites for my kids include cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumbers and carrots, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, and nuts. I often leave fresh fruit, nuts, and vegetables out on the table while the kids play all day so that they can help themselves when they get hungry.

Simple, fun, and healthy nuts, fruit, carrots!

I enjoy creating healthy and delicious meals and snacks for the family. What I’m also observing is that over time my kids are making healthier choices at restaurants and social events. We also don’t let our kids drink sodas like Coca-Cola or diet soda drinks. In fact, I’m not sure my daughters have ever tasted soda.

My objective is to give them healthy, delicious, and fun meal choices. However, don’t assume they get no treats. From time to time they eat ice cream and drink fruit juices but not to extremes. We make healthy choices a top priority and we make it easy for everyone!