Macaroni and Cheese, the king of kid food. It's quick, easy, creamy, and cheesey. And you KNOW your kid will eat it. The problem is, if you check the food label of the traditional box mac and cheese, you'll find lots of unwanted ingredients and unnecessary sodium (580 mg per cup to be exact!). But making this favorite food from scratch can be time consuming, so I have a great alternative to both dilemmas!
My sister and her friend introduced me to a great company called Wildtree. I have a plan for further introducing Wildtree to you, but first I just want to give you a "taste." They are a company that specializes in all natural food products and healthy grapeseed oils. They offer solutions for the question, "What's for dinner?" When my pantry is stocked with a variety of Wildtree products, I can go in at 5pm with that very question and always come out with a great dinner by 6pm.
So here's your first taste: Wildtree Kids Cheez Blend
What's so great about it?
Here's the comparison between this mac n' cheese (made with whole grain pasta and skim milk) vs Kraft (per serving):
Wildtree Kraft
Calories 264 400
Fat 6g 3.5g
Sodium 149mg 580mg
Carbohydrate 39g 47g
Protein 14g 10g
Cost $0.67 $0.18
**These are ESTIMATES based on the published labels and serving sizes provided for each of the foods!
Now let's look at the ingredients:
Wildtree: Cheddar Cheese Powder made from pasteurized milk, salt, cheese culture and enzymes, lactic acid and natural flavors, plus buttermilk powder. When made with whole grain pasta, the pasta is made from things like semolina, grain and legume flour blend (like lentils, chickpeas, flaxseed, barley, spelt, oats), egg whites, durum flour, and some additives at the bottom of the list: niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflain, folic acid.
Kraft: Copied straight from their website...
ENRICHED MACARONI PRODUCT (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE [IRON], THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), CHEESE SAUCE MIX (WHEY, MILKFAT, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SALT, SODIUM TRIPOLYPHOSPHATE, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF CITRIC ACID, LACTIC ACID, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, YELLOW 5, YELLOW 6, ENZYMES, CHEESE CULTURE).
The difference? A meal full of whole food ingredients vs a meal full of food additives--some made from food, some NOT. It's worth the extra 50 cents a serving to give my daughter whole ingredients!
There's lots you can do to Wildtree Kids Cheez Blend. Try adding some of these to boost your child's veggie intake!
-Sweet corn
-Peas
-Broccoli florets
-Diced carrots
Frozen vegetables are great for this. Just take out the amount you want and keep the rest in the freezer. No need to thaw separately, just heat with the pasta!
For more information about Wildtree:
www.wildtree.com
No comments:
Post a Comment