Pesto is for Kids Too

Pesto might sound like it is for pasta lovers who love gourmet but kids really love its salty taste.   If you have kids that won't eat greens try sneaking some pesto into their diet either on pasta or in some eggs.  You can also try making pesto lasagna or pesto pizza, which my kid calls 'Green Pizza' 

So just what is pesto?  It is a sauce made out of fresh basil leaves, cheese (either Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino), pine nuts or walnuts, garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper. Recipes for it vary from cook to cook. The fun thing about pesto is deciding on the proportion with which you want to combine the ingredients. 

Pine nuts are actually the seeds produced by certain varieties of pine tree; they are found on the pine cones, where they are covered by a hard shell. However it is the olive oil that makes pesto so healthy. Olive oil is the only vegetable oil that can be consumed as it is – freshly pressed from the fruit. You can't beat pesto in terms of nutrition.  The basil in it contains iron, calcium, Vitamin A, dietary fiber, magnesium, Vitamin A and calcium.

The flavenoids in Basil are antioxidants that protect human cells against disease and pollution. Basil also contain antibacterial agents that protect against bacteria so your child is less likely to pick up a bug at school. 

The garlic, also known has Russian penicillin is a potent source of antiviral and antibacterial agents. The cheese in pesto is also a high source of calcium so your kid can grow strong bones and teeth. 

If you really want to make it gourmet then you might want to try to add bacon, mushrooms and finely chopped shallots to the pesto recipe. Another great combination is to add cream cheese and broccoli to the pesto mix. If your kids like red tomato sauce it is also really easy to add tomatoes to a pesto pasta sauce so that they don't know that they are eating anything green at all!

You can also sneak that pesto into your kid's lunchbox.  Pesto and cream cheese sandwiches are delicious.  You can also mix it into an omelette for a different, yet tasty type of breakfast. If you are the ambitious type you can make your own pesto and even involve your kids in the entire exercise by growing basil plants. Your child can help you harvest the basil leaves and mash them with a mortar and pestle. 

Once picked you have to use basil immediately. Basil doesn’t keep well in the fridge. If you must refrigerate it, put the stems of fresh-picked basil in a glass of water, and cover with a plastic bag; it will keep for about a week Raw pine nuts should be stored in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator where they will keep for up to one month.

In the freezer, pine nuts will keep for up to three months. Different types of Parmesan, Mozzarella and Romano cheeses can give your pesto a unique flavor. Don't be afraid to experiment with combinations to find the mix of cheeses that your kids will find irresistible.

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Are Eggs Good For Kids?

I know some moms that are hesitant to give their kids too many eggs. I am not one of them because I think they are nature's perfect food. However some people fear that they will be priming their child's arteries with too much cholesterol at an early age or set them up for bad eating habits later.

 Wondering if these moms have a point I decided to look up some dietary guidelines about the matter.  General dietary recommendations from the American Heart Association are that adults eat no more than 3-4 eggs yolks each week.  Of course that is for adults. Surprise! Surprise! There aren’t any formal recommendations for children. However these doctors do recommend that children limit their intake of cholesterol to 300mg each day.

Since an egg contains about 213mg of cholesterol then it seems that you should give your child no more than one egg a day. However eggs are rich in everything that your kid needs to grow. I think it is okay to give a child one egg seven days a week.  Avoiding them altogether would be a terrible mistake. In addition to being high in cholesterol, eggs also have a lot of benefits, including being high in protein, iron, biotin, minerals and B vitamins. 

I also looked up what the American Food Pyramid has to say about eggs. In the U.S. and Canadian pyramids, eggs are a part of the Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans and Nuts food group. Younger children, aged 2-6, should get two servings from this food group each day, while older children can have 2-3 servings. Of course if you are worried about cholesterol the key is to look at where your child might be getting cholesterol from other food groups. For instance if your kid is eating a ton of cheese, ice cream or even avocadoes then that one egg a day in the diet might be overkill.  However if your child's diet is low in saturated fats and he routinely eats a lot of foods with fiber then eating an egg every day is probably just fine. 

Eggs are still one of the most economical and healthy sources of protein a mother can buy so I just can't find it within myself to advise anyone to limit them from a kid's diet. Some nutritionists count your egg intake as being part of foods that also contain eggs. For instance if your kid has a slice of cake that was made with eggs then you are supposed to count the eggs used to make the cake as part of the daily egg consumption.  The logic is that if it took eight eggs to make the cake and your kid has one slice then that would be his egg quota for the day! This is too complicated for me.  I think it goes without saying that if your child is eating a lot of custard or that kind of thing that he or she should be limited in terms of how many eggs that are eaten a week. Like anything this is all about balance!

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