Healthy fast food

"I don't like it," is a favourite children's comment about food. Food is a subject that parents and children tend to hold very different opinions on. Children often refuse to eat meals that make their parents' mouths water. And if the kids had their way, pizza, pasta and fast foods would be on the menu every day. That's why you should pick out recipes with your children before you start cooking with them.

It's actually quite easy to make fast food dishes healthy. All it takes is a little imagination.

- Children love foods that they can eat with their hands. That's why you should offer them fruit and vegetables in handy sizes so  they can eat them straight away. For example, you can put them on a wooden skewer or make a fruit necklace.

- You can add to the nutritional value of pizza if you use wholemeal dough. Use fresh tomatoes and vegetables in addition to salami and ham for the topping. Children love pizzas with toppings that have been artistically arranged into a face.

- Wholemeal products are also perfect in pasta dishes. And its easy to conjure up delicious pasta sauces with fresh ingredients, herbs and Kikkoman seasoning sauces.

- Hamburgers don't have to be like the ones you get in a fast food restaurant. Home-made ones taste much better. And the best thing is that everyone can put their own favourite toppings of home-made relish, gherkin, fried onions, cucumber and tomato slices and lettuce on their hamburger so that it's just the way they like it. By the way, a hamburger also tastes delicious in a fresh wholemeal bun.