toddler lunch Archives - Pretty Little Apron

For lunch today my toddler got to try something new… Mozzarella Sticks! He said “What is that?” when I put them on the table but soon enough he realized how delicious they were! I used my Whole Grain Mozzarella Stick recipe that I just posted today and they are awesome. I highly recommend trying them! I also served a “baby orange” aka mandarin orange, whole grain pasta with a tad of butter and freshly grated parmesan cheese, sautéed mushrooms, and ketchup for dipping the mozzarella sticks.

The most note-able thing about this meal is the ketchup. I think ketchup is something we are so familiar with that we have never actually stopped to check the ingredient list. Almost ALL ketchup contains High Fructose Corn Syrup, a highly refined and likely genetically modified sweetener that is cheap and abundant. We do stay away from any products that contain HFCS, so standard ketchup is not something we purchase. Our bodies are not capable of processing HFCS the way we do regular sugar and it has been linked to obesity, depression, heart disease, diabetes and many other health issues. Dr. Mark Hyman has been leading the crusade against the use of HFCS in processed foods, and here is a link to his website further explaining the dangers of HFCS. I have linked this before and cannot stress enough how important it is to avoid this ingredient! We do limit ketchup consumption as it is still a processed item, but we buy an organic brand that does not contain HFCS. I hate to use this word because people are sick of hearing it, but it is all about moderation with the ketchup!

For lunch today my toddler had mostly leftovers from last night’s dinner. I made my 5 minute flounder recipe last night because my oldest son had a baseball game and it was one of those rush around evenings. I love that my kids are involved with sports but it can put a damper on eating a healthy meal together as a family. I knew I could quickly make the fish and throw in an extra piece for lunch today. When you are continually cooking healthy and unprocessed dinners, it can make other meals easier! I also served oven fries (from last night as well), carrots with homemade sour cream and onion dip, and a trail mix of coconut/chocolate popcorn (recipe coming soon!), almonds, and raisins.

I think the most important part of this meal is the dip. I use this in place of ranch dressing for the kids to dip veggies into. It is a better alternative to bottled ranch dressings because the truth it, most of the ingredients in bottled ranch are not ingredients anyone has sitting in their pantry. Here are the ingredients in Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing:

Soybean Oil, Water, Egg Yolk, Sugar, Salt, Cultured Nonfat Buttermilk, Natural Flavors (S0Y), Spices, Less Than 1% Of: Dried Garlic, Dried Onion, Vinegar, Phosphoric Acid, Xanthan Gum, Modified Food Starch, Monosodium Glutamate, Artificial Flavors, Disodium Phosphate, Sorbic Acid And Calcium Disodium EDTA As Preservatives, Disodium Inosinate And Disodium Guanylate.

If you have never looked at this ingredient list before it is a real eye opener at how much crap they can shove into one bottle. Here are the red flags:

First ingredient highly processed and refined soybean oil. Unhealthy, cheap, genetically modified.
Monosodium Glutamate: MSG, the chemical that excites your brain cells so much that your brain tells you that you want more.
Artificial flavors: Unknown chemicals.
Calcium Disodium EDTA: Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid are we in chemistry class now? Yeah, didn’t think so. Anything abbreviated on an ingredient list means you should be questioning why you are eating it.

The rest of the ingredients are flavor enhancers and thickeners because well, soybean oil doesn’t taste like anything and isn’t dairy-like. Essentially this is another example of using soybean oil as a main ingredient and then adding a ton of extra stuff to make it seem like something else. I guess Hidden Valley took a page out of the Campbell’s soup book!