"Ugh! There's Nothing to Eat!" – How to Feed Teenagers on Holiday

The "Beloved Son" woke up at 2:00 PM (naturally, the righteous soul had prayed the dawn prayer at sunrise). Now, moments after he figured out his own name (Ephraim) and why he only just woke up (it's summer break and he was up with friends until Shacharit), he's yelling from the kitchen that there's really nothing to eat. It hardly matters that your fridge is stocked with a wealth of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. The complaint persists. The reason is that the kids aren't actually opening the fridge, but the freezer, looking for processed food. What to do?

Kids Cooking: In some homes, there's a myth that the most creative thing kids can make are chocolate balls. You know what? The talented ones can make a biscuit cake too. It's high time to realize that kids are capable of a lot more than you think. Choose with your kids meals that will be healthy, tasty, and easy to prepare. You'd be surprised, there are many options. Kids can prepare a shopping list and a holiday schedule that states what dishes are eaten each day. If the kids are young, you can cook with them. Personally, there's no greater joy than a whole family cooking together in the kitchen. If it's older kids, suggest that they treat you to a meal when you return from work. Why not? You do it for them all year round. Just don't forget this important thing: it’s not about work or a chore, it’s about a bonding experience and fun.

Breakfast: You won't fall off your chair if I say here that this is the most important but also the most neglected meal of the day. So, if during the school year, kids at best eat cereal in a bowl of milk despite fasting since dinner, now they have the chance to eat a "king's breakfast." Therefore, they can prepare a vegetable omelet with spinach that will give them strength for the day, or an omelet with tomatoes for the antioxidant lycopene and Vitamin C beside a slice of whole wheat bread garnished with vegetables dreamed up by their imaginations.

(photo: shutterstock)

Lunch: It takes exactly five minutes. All you need to do is leave a tray of chicken breasts sliced into schnitzels in the fridge, and an electric grill that can be placed on the stove. When the kids are hungry, all they need to do is season the schnitzels with paprika, cumin, turmeric, a little black pepper, and olive oil. Place the schnitzels on the grill, and that's it. They can put the schnitzels in whole wheat pitas with vegetable salad and a full tahini sauce, which the kids can easily and quickly prepare as well.

Dinner: Café-style salad. The most complicated thing here (and it’s not really complicated) is baking croutons from whole bread. Take slices of whole bread while they're frozen, as it allows for easy cutting into squares. Mix with olive oil and bake in the oven for ten minutes. Prepare personal bowls for each family member. Cut up lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Season with olive oil and a little salt. Sprinkle mozzarella, olives, and avocado cubes on top of the salad. With an ice cream scoop, take a ball of tuna and place it in one corner of the bowl and in another, place a lemon wedge.

Want to learn more? Purchase the course series"Growing Healthy", taught by naturopath Sarah Bar Asher. It is available for purchase onthe Jewish Campuson the Hidabroot website.

Sarah Bar Asher, the naturopath, is a journalist, food plant critic, lecturer at the Wingate Institute's complementary medicine college, and a speaker on the "Bearing Fruit" subject