Recipes: Veggie Pizzas and Pancakes

Like most moms who want their child(ren) to eat vegetables and other healthy foods that aren't always so pleasing to a young palate, I have become a little creative with working veggies into Eli's meals. What I end up doing a lot is adding vegetables to one of two foods that almost all kids like: pizza and pancakes. Both can be made nutritiously and quickly. Here are the "recipes" I use for each:

Veggie Pizzas


Ingredients:
1 whole wheat pita
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup chopped cooked veggies (I like to use spinach, broccoli, or broccoli rabe)
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

This really couldn't be much simpler. I like to use Best Pitas because they are very thin, are 100% whole wheat, and have very few other ingredients, but any brand will do. For tomato sauce, I usually use a very simple sauce I make (which is so easy- canned diced or crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, olive oil, salt, and pepper), but I've also sautéed fresh chopped tomatoes with olive oil if I happen to have some hanging around. You could certainly use a canned or jarred sauce too, but opt for one without a lot of added salt or sugar. You can also use any vegetable. I happen to like the dark green vegetables because they have the most nutrition packed into each serving.

Assemble the pizza, as you imagine you might assemble a pizza. Put it on a cookie sheet, lined with tin foil if you're like me and don't want to have to wash the cookie sheet afterwards, and bake at 375 degrees until the cheese is melted and the pita is getting a little browned around the edges. It usually takes 5 minutes or so.

Veggie Pancakes

Ingredients:
1/4 cup white whole wheat flour (I like King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour)
1 egg
1/4 cup 1% milk
1 cup cooked, finely chopped or shredded vegetables
1 oz. strongly flavored cheese (I like Cabot Extra Light Sharp Cheddar), finely diced or shredded
Salt, pepper to taste
1/2 tbs canola oil or oil spray

Whisk the flour, egg, milk, salt, and pepper together. Stir in cheese, veggies, salt and pepper. Cook in a frying pan coated with oil spray or canola oil, like you would pancakes. A few minutes on each side on medium-high heat should do it. This recipe is very versatile because you can use virtually any vegetable. I can see this working well with shredded zucchini, carrots, sweet potato, cabbage, or mashed cauliflower. I've also added cooked chicken breast. You could add herbs or spices, and experiment with different kinds of cheeses. You can be really creative!


Here are some broccoli/cheese pancakes I made:

 
And these are some I made with broccoli slaw, which I sautéed for a few minutes to soften before adding to the pancake batter:

 

 

 

And Eli enjoying them (okay so he's actually eating a tomato here, but he did eat the pancake!)

 

 


















I want to qualify this post with an admission: there are times when Eli just doesn't want to eat whatever culinary masterpiece I've created, no matter how masterfully I've worked the veggies in with flavors he likes. This is bound to happen with toddlers. I don't get upset about it. I just try again another time. And usually, the next time he devours them!

Just because a child doesn't eat something one day, doesn't mean he or she won't eat it the next. Don't get discouraged. Keep offering healthy foods, even if they get turned down from time to time (or all the time!). It can take many, many exposures for kids to develop a taste for foods that aren't intrinsically hyperpalatable, like chicken nuggets or French fries.

Follow-up: what to do after the stomach bug

In my post about gastroenteritis, I discussed what to do when you're sick and how to prevent spreading your germs, but I neglected a very important point: what to do after you've recovered. To many, the notion that there is anything at all to do besides go back to normal living is probably foreign. What I'm talking about is probiotics.

I am not one to promote dietary supplements willy nilly. For the most part, I think people who do have an agenda and are usually out to profit from others' naive trust and willingness to pay for products that some self-professed "expert" recommends. As the title of my blog suggests, I only ever recommend supplements that have substantial scientific evidence supporting their efficacy. I also don't sell any such supplements or receive any funds whatsoever (unfortunately) from anyone who does.

Now that I've gotten that disclosure out of the way, here's the point I'm getting to: after a bout of diarrhea, whether it is from food poisoning, a virus, a course of antibiotics, or even radiation therapy, the "good" bacteria in your gut are lost along with any pathogens. It is important to replace these beneficial microbes in order to maintain a healthy gut immune system. Doing so may help you get back to feeling normal more quickly.

The following are examples of possible beneficial effects of probiotic supplements, as suggested by research studies:

- decrease the incidence, severity, or duration of infectious diarrhea in children

- prevent or treat diarrhea caused by E.coli, Shigella, and Salmonella (main causes of travelers' diarrhea)

- reduce risk of contracting rotavirus infection in children

- prevent and treat radiation-induced diarrhea in cancer patients

- protect against C.diff-associated diarrhea

- improve symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome; specifically, bloating, abdominal pain, and flatulence

I take a probiotic supplement daily, in hopes of preventing GI infections in the first place. But whether or not you care enough to add probiotics to your daily regimen, you should most definitely consider them when traveling, taking antibiotics, or recovering from an illness.

Once you've decided to take probiotics, however, you will undoubtedly be overwhelmed with the choices you have. Here are some guidelines for choosing a probiotic supplement*:

- A large selection of probiotics can be found at natural foods stores (e.g. Whole Foods Market or small local stores)

- Choose a product that is in the refrigerated section

- Look for a high number of "organisms" or "CFU" per capsule; I aim for at least 1 billion.

- Look for products that contain multiple strains of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus

- The number of organisms or "potency" should be guaranteed through the expiration date rather than "at date of manufacture." You will notice a statement about this on the bottle or package.

*These tips are based on my own opinion, not on systematic research

Reference

Collado MC, Isolauri E, Salminen S, Sanz Y. The impact of probiotic on gut health. Curr Drug Metab. 2009; 10:68-78