Caitríona Redmond: This is my secret weapon recipe to ensure my teen is well fed before exams
Any child or adult who doesn't have fuel on board in the morning is going to struggle to concentrate. Picture: iStock
It’s exam season. How did the year go by so fast? Fellow parents of teenagers will know that getting them to eat breakfast in the morning can be a battle. During exams, it’s nigh-on impossible.
By the time my teen has fallen out of bed (after I have called them 17,000 times), had their shower, managed to wrestle themselves into their uniform and found a matching pair of socks, they will often tell me that they are not that hungry.
Breakfast is probably one of the most important meals of the day. Any child or adult who doesn't have fuel on board in the morning is going to struggle to concentrate, to have the energy to listen in class, or in the office, and to do well in the morning and beyond. So how do you persuade truculent teenagers to eat a meal in the mornings and have enough fuel on board to keep them going until lunch? The secret is in cajoling them to not only eat a breakfast that can be taken in the hand as they dash out the door, but also to prepare their breakfast in advance for the entire week.
Am I a magician? I like to think that waving my wand towards the kitchen once a week and ensuring that there's food made for every breakfast is nothing short of a miracle. Particularly if I can persuade the teenager to clean up after themselves and not leave the kitchen looking like it should have a toxic hazard sign afterwards.
So, what is this breakfast magic? The breakfast “burrito” is my secret weapon. For very little cost, my teenager can lash together five of these breakfast burritos, wrap them in baking parchment, and then tinfoil. Once cool, they are stacked into a box in the freezer. Every morning when he gets up, he unwraps the tinfoil from a frozen burrito and then places it into the microwave for a couple of minutes to heat through. The tortilla wrap becomes a vehicle for all types of goodness that are great for a growing teenager and for any sort of adult.
Every single burrito contains at least two eggs, grated cheese, onions, garlic, peppers, and sometimes even some black beans. You can, if you like, add in some diced tomato, it's just my 14-year-old is not a fan. Overall, this handheld powerhouse of a morning meal is full of protein, good fats, carbohydrates and fibre. I have noticed that on the mornings where a breakfast burrito is consumed, by the time my teenager arrives home from school, they are in tip-top form.
I confess that I struggle with portion size and I'm sure I'm not on my own. As the world turned a bit and society evolved from the 1950s, at some point the average size of a plate became bigger. We started to eat off gigantic dinner plates, larger than an old record (remember those?). The thing is, these big dinner plates are fine, provided you don't fill them with food. Somewhere between our Irish Catholic guilt for starving children in Africa, and the land of plenty that the Celtic Tiger brought us, we started filling these plates with food - in fact, covering every spare inch with food.
Dinner plates are not meant to be filled with food. It is not healthy to eat that much, and you certainly will be eating far too many calories in one meal, unless your dinner plate is filled with celery!
If you cover a large dinner plate with food, this food is going to cost you money, whether you eat it or not. If you eat too much food, you might put on weight and be unhealthy - there is an ultimate cost. If you don't eat everything on a plate, then it's going to end up in the waste chain and again it has cost you money.
Reduce your portion size in a very easy manner by eating off 'tea plates' for main meals and 'side plates' for snacks and lunches. It is a visual reminder that you shouldn't pile your plate with food and yet you should finish what you serve up. Investing in some cheap tea plates will save you money in the long run.
A classic brekkie - wrapped up! Servings Preparation Time Cooking Time Total Time Course Ingredients 1 tbsp sunflower oil 1 medium onion, chopped 2 peppers, chopped 12 eggs 1 tsp paprika 1 tsp garlic granules/powder Salt & pepper 5 soft tortilla wraps 200g grated cheese Method Heat the sunflower oil on a medium heat in a large frying pan. Add the onion and peppers and soft in the heat. Season with salt and pepper. Once the vegetables are soft, crack in the 12 eggs, sprinkle in the paprika and garlic, then stir so that the ingredients are combined. Keep on stirring until the egg mixture is cooked (scrambled egg texture). Turn off the heat. Lay out the tortilla wraps and divide the mixture evenly between them. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top before rolling into burrito parcels. Allow to cool before wrapping in baking parchment and then tinfoil (this insulates the burritos) and freezing. In the morning, remove the tinfoil wrapping and microwave the burrito for 3-4 minutes on medium until piping hot all the way through. Enjoy.Breakfast Burrito
I love this fake takeaway because it feels like a real indulgence but still, you’re eating so many healthy nourishing ingredients! As a Mam to fussy kids this meal is a great gateway to trying and enjoying new flavours. Servings Preparation Time Cooking Time Total Time Course Ingredients Ingredients: 300g premade falafel 2 red peppers, chopped into chunks Mini cucumbers, sliced lengthways 1 red onion, thinly sliced 4 cherry vine tomatoes, chopped Baby Leaf Salad Tortilla Wraps For the dressing: 150ml natural Yoghurt 1 handful fresh mint, chopped 1 clove of minced garlic Salt and pepper to taste Method Preheat a fan oven to 180°C. Place the falafel and chopped red peppers onto a non-stick baking tray. Spray with a little sunflower oil. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Assemble your kebab by filling a tortilla wrap with all your fresh and roasted ingredients. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small dish and stir. Drizzle with the yoghurt dressing to serve.Falafel Kebab
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