A Wonderful Contest from Uncle Bens and Healthy Cooking Tips!!

Today I have a fun writing opportunity from Social Moms and a great contest!! If someone has not heard of Uncle Ben's, I don't know where they have been:) Uncle Ben's is the most well known rice company and I love using their products!! They have a contest going on right now called Ben's Beginners. This is all about teaching your children to cook together. Do your children help you when you cook? Do they even have recipes of their own that they can make? If they do, check out this contest!

So, below I am giving some tips on healthy cooking for your family. Do you know that what you start with them as a child will often lead them into habits as an adult? What better habits to start than eating healthy!! I am determined that my children will grow up eating good for you foods and getting plenty of exercise.

1.Start Healthy.
Many times we start out with an unhealthy food and then build on it. If you can begin with a veggie or a rice, that makes the meal so much better! I personally like to start with a salad or a brown rice. A salad is good to have before you even have your main course as it fills you up with good veggies that are great for you! Put in plenty of broccoli, peppers, onion, snap peas, etc. And if you have rice on the side or as the base dish this fills them up as well.

2.Substitute for Better Foods.
Instead of eating white rice, opt for the healthier brown rice. I also personally like to use white cheese instead of yellow cheese. It just makes me wonder about the dyes that are put in this stuff. Maybe you can change the 2% milk to a skim milk? Some people I know can't change that much but it helps if you can. Another one I like to exchange is burger. I like to use turkey instead of beef. This is much healthier than beef.

3.Get The Children Involved.
I know this isn't really healthier but in a way it can be. Get the children involved in the cooking and let them pick out some of your veggies. Let them choose a new veggie or fruit every week to try. And have the whole family try it, not just the adults. If they don't like it, then pick a new one. But you never know when you will find a delicious vegetable that the family will enjoy:) Having them up helping you also gets them away from the computer games and television. Get them moving in the kitchen!!

So, do you have any habits you wnat to change? Or maybe some tips that you think would be good for this list? Leave them below in a comment!!

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Uncle Ben’s blogging program, for 6,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points. For more information on how you can participate, click here.