Dr. Valentina Guttadauro
Nutritionist
www.valentinaguttadauro.it
It is not easy to manage in this moment of quarantine the different moods that children can have. For this an easy remedy is to indulge them at the table by offering only what they prefer. But if comfort food is the friend of our state of mind every now and then, it can often become a terrible enemy. In fact, our immune system is strongly influenced by our food choices and often it is these that make it fragile and vulnerable.
So if on the one hand we can be a little more flexible with some snacks based on ice cream, flatbread or pizza or even a sweet, at least in the three main meals, therefore breakfast, lunch and dinner, we should try to combine nourishment and taste in the dish.
How you do it?
Do you have to go crazy in the kitchen?
Absolutely not. We can make simple but fun dishes by also introducing foods that are not usually part of our kitchen. For example, legumes such as peas, chickpeas, beans, broad beans or lentils are very interesting from a nutritional point of view because in addition to carbohydrates they also contain vegetable proteins and mineral salts such as calcium and iron, which are essential for the developmental age.
Cooking them will not take us long, because they can be steamed, in the pressure cooker or by boiling. So let’s indulge in rice and peas, spelled and beans, or farfalle with lentil sauce.
Eggs can also be a valid alternative to meat and eaten in the form of an omelette or simply soft-boiled or boiled. They are an important second dish because they contain all 8 essential amino acids essential for the formation of muscle proteins, as well as calcium and iron, vitamin A, vitamin D and folic acid.
A very simple recipe is egg fritters , where just add a little breadcrumbs to the eggs and the taste will be more particular.
We take advantage of this period to teach our children an appropriate consumption of water and always use fruit at the end of the meal. Small rules that can become precious for a growing body. In fact, the right hydration accompanied by many vitamins and mineral salts is the secret to having a lot of energy and little waste .
Vegetables must also become child friendly by avoiding a restricted choice or meals without consuming them. Fiber plays an important role for our bacteria, so it is recommended to take it with main meals.
The sin of gluttony can be safely put at breakfast, using a few biscuits, a slice of cake and, why not, a slice of bread with dark chocolate rich in antioxidants alongside milk or yogurt, an important source of calcium.
So if you can learn how to cook when you grow up, how to eat can be learned when you are small.
Recipe
Here is the very simple recipe.
You can choose the shape of the pasta, even if the tortiglioni shown in the photo go well with the sauce.
You can use canned lentils, obviously draining and eliminating the storage water, or the dry ones, cooking them on a low flame in plenty of cold water.
The cooking time depends on the variety of lentils chosen, which differ in color, size and flavor.
Once ready, the lentils are sautéed and seasoned in a pan with the tomato sauce for about 20 minutes. And here is your fantastic lentil sauce ready to be poured and mixed with your cooked pasta. Simple isn’t it?