HEALTHY AND EASY DINNER IDEA WITH SLOW COOKER

One of my favourite easy dinner options is to use a slow cooker. A slow cooker is an absolute life saver when you have a busy evening and you know you won’t have time to cook. You prep ahead and dinner is ready when you step in the door.

Here's how I use my healthy and easy slow cooker dinner to make sure that everyone in my large family (including the picky eaters) has something that they can eat!

Related: Healthy and Easy Dinner Idea with Crepes

Healthy Dinner Idea 1

This slow cooker dhal is amazingly delicious. The only chopping is an onion, some garlic and ginger. I managed to put it on whilst my twins were finishing their breakfast. They aren’t very quick in the morning!

Of course, not all my kids like dhal. In fact, the precise words that Dante used were,

“I hate dhal!”

I was tempted to tell him that I hated carbonara every single night but went with,

“Last night we had trout and that’s your favourite."

Lentil Dhal is Full of Plant Protein

The dhal is full of healthy lentils (which lots of kids love as they’re so sweet) and coco nut milk which are great sources of protein. So you could just serve the dhal by itself if you were confident that it would get eaten.

Related: How to Get Your Toddler To Eat More Vegetables

You Can't Please All the Picky Eaters All the Time

But of course, life is not that easy and I'd have several starving kids if I did that!

I only have 3 or 4 meals that all of my kids will eat.

In order to make sure there was something acceptable to everyone I also served:

Healthy Dinner Idea 2

Plain boiled rice.

Not my favourite but the kids love it and I think it’s a great idea to rotate the different carbohydrates that they eat.

Healthy Dinner Idea 3

A jar of chick peas (garbanzo beans).

I rinse them to remove the sugar and salt that they put in which I think is unnecessary.

Chick peas are one of picky eater’s safe foods. They are a fantastic source of vegetable protein and fibre too. Win win!

Related: Easy and Healthy Dinner Idea for a Busy Family Week Night

Allow Kids to Serve Themselves

Sebastian is a particularly anxious eater and I have found that allowing him to serve himself helps him to feel in charge of what goes on his plate. It is a slow process but he likes it.

The others sometimes serve themselves but often we find it quicker for me to do it.

Allow Kids to Serve Themselves An Appropriate Portion

Today Sebastian served himself a giant mountain of rice whilst I was busy doing something else.

We have a rule that you can take “a portion” (think a serving spoonful) and come back for seconds if you’re still hungry.

This is a good way to teach kids about portion sizes and also ensures there’s enough to go around!

Dealing With Challenging Behaviour at the Meal Table

Perhaps I should have allowed him to return the huge portion and start again but I was impatient to get the meal started so I just took half out myself.

Chaos and disaster ensued!

I had to take him out of the room to calm down and then he wanted to sit on his daddy’s lap. (Generally I don’t think it’s a great idea for kids to sit on their parents laps but sometimes we just have to work with what we’ve got!)

Related: How to Deal with Challenging Behaviour at Mealtimes.

What The Kids Ate for Their Healthy Dinner

Galen (9 “reformed picky eater”). He loves dhal and ate some of everything.

Sebastian (5 “picky eater”). Ate lots of chick peas and some rice followed by an apple.

Celeste (5 “normally eats anything but thinks that dhal is “disgusting”!”) rice and chick peas.

Dante (5 “adventurous eater but hates dhal…I wonder if that’s because his brother likes it???”) A bit of everything including a pot of yoghurt to cool it down. (He came in later so the others didn’t know about the yoghurt, otherwise they would have wanted it too!)

Related: Why You Need to Start Healthy Eating Habits NOW!

Healthy And Easy Dinner Ideas

Healthy eating doesn't have to be time consuming or complicated. 

I like to provide lots of vegetables (or even fruit at times) and make sure there is something that everyone is happy to eat on the table. 

What is your favourite healthy and easy dinner idea that keeps your entire family fed?

Healthy Eating Challenge

If you wish your family ate a little more healthily, why not take the "Healthy Eating Challenge"? 

Find small baby changes that you can incorporate into your daily routine and turn them into healthy eating habits!