Sample Center MENUS

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

Pb, I do understand the regulation and usually I do a hard boiled egg or yogurt with fruit.

I try to vary my protein throughout the week.

Monday-chicken (grilled on Sunday), rice, green beans, bananas, milk
Tuesday- hm meatballs, pasta in organic sauce, broccoli, grapes, milk
Wednesday- hm cheese pizza, peas, cantaloupe, milk
Thursday-pork soft shell tacos, avocado, corn, bananas, milk
Today's Lunch homemade pretzels, baked beans, broccoli, watermelon, fruit smoothies (bonus item- frozen fruit, yogurt, honey, chia seeds, orange juice), milk

for examples of my meals www.facebook.com/MrsSteinelsHouse
I haven't been posting regularly but look back at last year.

[Heidi]

Good for you!! It is so easy (and CHEAP) to fall into the chicken nugget-fish stick-tater tot habit. I serve TONS of chicken! My kids love it and we make so many meals out of it. For instance, I cook a giant crock pot full of it (in cream of Chicken soup) Sunday night, and Monday we have the chicken with soup on top like gravy (YUMMY) along with two veggies, like sweet potatoes and broccoli and a small slice of 100% whole wheat bread because I'm on the food program.

Then on Tuesday, we may have chicken and cheese quesadillas with whole wheat tortillas, along with apples and green beans.

Wednesday could be chicken salad (chicken, mayo, apples, and celery) on whole wheat bread with carrots and strawberries.

Thursday we could have chicken pizza on a homemade whole wheat crust (I make a huge batch of these crusts ahead of time and freeze them--so easy to pull out and add toppings!) with peas and cauliflower.

Friday may be stir fry day. Chicken and veggies sauteed in a big pot with low-sodium stir fry sauce=easy peasy.

Anyway, that's my solution to balancing healthy and easy. Good luck to you, and I am sure you will draw a huge crowd when you market your healthy program!

Could you please share your pizza crust recipe?

[Heidi]

OP...with that many children, is it possible to join a farm cooperative in your area? I've heard they exist...not around here, though, and I have a small group, so it's wouldn't pay.

[Annalee]

Wee are not allowed to serve mac & cheese unless we serve an additional protein on the side. They say that it's impossible to serve the correct proportion of protein to grain. (It's not. Mine oozes cheese, super good served with broccoli that gets all cheesy then too.)

We can have mac/cheese, but it has to be home made, not from a box. If we use the box, we can add something like hot dogs mixed in....yuck! so we don't do that!

[NoMoreJuice!]

I stole my recipe from Wolfgang Puck...that guy totally knows what he's doing!

http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/recipes/pizza/Whole-Wheat-Pizza-Dough

I make a triple or quadruple recipe, then split up and wrap the dough I don't use really tightly with plastic wrap. When I want to make pizza, I just take it out in the morning and it poofs up and makes a delicious pizza. I have lots of friends who sub some ground flax seed for flour, and I think there are recipes like that somewhere on the internet. I coat fish in ground flax, and the kids think they're eating fish sticks!

[Blackcat31]

My center just opened and I am determined to not give in to the typical child care center menu items (USDA or not, they are NOT my idea of healthy meals for the most part). We are licensed for 70 kids (0-5 years of age only), and will provide breakfast and lunch (and 2 snacks but I have tons of healthy ideas for the snacks:-)

Does anyone have any good resources for healthy sample menus by age? (1-5yo's). Cost is of course an issue so I can't go crazy like organic, but I want the meals to be mostly whole foods with as little processed food as possible other than whole grain breads and such. We have an employee who will serve as the cook but I need to keep the prep time as minimal as I can, because she has other duties as well. So the simpler the better!

Thanks!

We have an entire section of the forum devoted to menus, meals and snacks

https://www.daycare.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=6