All too often when I post a recipe on here or facebook, I get asked the question...sounds great but what are your kids going to eat. I LOVE that question. My reply is always the same...why what we had of course!
But, let me digress. I am not one of those parents that force my kids to eat something against their will and I never understand parents who do. As a child, I was forced to eat the most atrocious things even though I had a genuine dislike of them. I have all too horrid of memories of getting off the school bus that let me off at the end of my very long driveway (we lived in the country on five acres) and being able to smell that odorous smell of cooking liver and onions. My steps would slow...my head would hang...and my stomach would turn. There was no refusing dinner at my table and there is nothing worse tasting than liver and onions. It is not like I was picky. There were any number of things I really liked and, as I would discover later, a whole world of food that was full of incredible flavors that I would not get the opportunity to taste until I moved out.
I made the decision when I was younger to allow my children to develop their own tastes. Why is it ok for us, as adults, to have our particular likes and dislikes but not our children. What we cook, they must eat! I still, to this day, hate fish. I HATE IT! I have tried it every which way and many different kinds of fish and I just hate it. Should I be forced to eat it??
OK, so the next response would be...but you don't know what it's like to have kids who will not eat anything. My first response is...OH YEAH I DO!! My daughter refused to eat anything but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chicken nuggets for YEARS!! YEARS I am telling you. I recognized something in reflection of that time. Her dislike of foods could be tracked to when she was just a baby. Being my first baby, and me not having a mother or any friends who have gone through baby rearing yet, I just had to wing it. I decided to go on the Gerber plan...I started her on cereal (you know that rice cereal stuff) and than the jarred baby food, step 1...then step 2....then step 3...and than she became a Gerber Graduate...literally...I bought her the Gerber Graduates food. By the time I got around to trying to get her to eat "real" food, she was already a 1 1/2 year old and she became sensitive to textures and anything with any real flavor. Her introduction to "real" food became a daily battle. I tried so hard to get her to eat.
Another mistake I made was I labeled her and put the expectation of being a picky eater on her. I am now very much against putting expectations or labels on my kids (but that is another post). After fighting for so long, I finally had to let it go. I got her to eat peanut butter sandwiches....eventually she would eat chicken nuggets....and then cheeseburgers (from McDonalds only). I would cry at Thanksgiving when I would make a meal for....well....Matt and I and she would have PB&J.
After a while of me stopping trying to force the issue, she began to come around. It started with a salad. She very sweetly approached me in the kitchen and said, I think I would like to try a salad. She was 5 1/2. I stopped everything I was doing and made her up a salad. She sat at the table and I watched (while trying to look like I was not watching) as she took her fork and examined the lettuce. She tentatively put it in her mouth and her eyes widened. SCORE!! She loved it. This opened the door for her trying many more things and finding out what she really liked and really didn't.
So, I released the battle over the food. I think that often times it is more a battle of wills versus the battle of food itself. However, in the course of expanding her palate, I had to look good and hard at what I was fixing her (and us) to eat. Maybe, just maybe, it's not the food you prepare but how you cook it. I got so offended once when someone asked me (when i was complaining about her) are you making it taste good. WHAT!?!!! How could they ask ME that??
Over the years, though, I have learned things. I have experimented with different cooking styles (best way to cook chicken...best way to cook veggies). I have experimented with different flavors, brands, blends, etc. As I have worked with expanding her palate...I have, in a sense, learned to cook. There is rarely a meal that she will turn her nose up, now, and say "no thank you". Even the sub-par meals are good for her. Here's the trick...she does not like "kid" food. She'd rather starve than eat Chef Boyardee...or Tyson chicken nuggets....or hot dogs...etc. Give her a greek salad loaded with feta, artichokes, roasted red pepper, hummus, spinach, etc and she is ALL OVER IT!! She USED to be picky....now she gets labeled as picky because she goes to friend's houses where "kid" food is always on the menu and she won't eat...and vice versa when her friends come here and see what we are eating. Parents have dumbed down food for their kids.
I would say...give them a chance to eat the more flavorful foods and really examine how it is you prepare such foods. My kids used to hate zucchini until I figured out that I was cooking it a tad too long! Now, when I even utter that I am making something with zucchini in it, they become like Pavlov's dogs...drooling all over the floor!! And allow them to have foods that they simply do not like. Sierra does not like rice, eggs, bacon and beans...I am not fond of rice so that one is easy...eggs are a breakfast thing, so that is easy....bacon can be difficult, but I try to add it to a meal AFTER I have gotten her portion out...and beans, I will pick them out for her.
And so you ask...what about Daniel. I learned my lesson after Sierra. He was on baby food for a matter of weeks...I'm talking 2 or 3 weeks. I had a pediatrician that encouraged me to feed him table food and that is what I did. At lunch I would prepare myself a salad and he would crawl over and pick the black beans and diced tomatoes off my salad and gum them. By his first birthday, he was eating just about anything we would eat. By 3 or 4, instead of the customary chicken nuggets or cheeseburgers at restaurants, he would opt for a side salad. I put no pressure on him nor did I label him ("if he's a toddler, he will be picky"). His list of food he doesn't like is limited to one...he does not like green beans. Ok. I can live with that.
They are always interested in what we are having for dinner. Today I said...I am making something that I came up with in my head...it involves chicken, orzo, parmesan cheese and zucchini. They both said "that sounds wonderful" and Daniel piped in, "some of the best things you cook come from your head". lol
I would say, don't assume that your kids will not like veggies...let them explore which ones they like and don't like and really examine how it is you cook them. Also, don't assume that everything needs to be covered in ranch. Sierra's salads started with ranch, but I evolved her to a lighter olive oil and vinegar based dressing and she can appreciate the taste of the veggies more. Don't assume all food needs to be bland. Don't fall into the "kid food trap". Oh, if your kids like hot dogs, than serve hot dogs....but introduce them, slowly at first, to the other world of food. Sierra and I went to a restaurant once on a date and ordered pasta with goat cheese and some grilled asparagus. She was 11 years old. She and I both just melted as we ate bite after bite of the wonderful meal and still talk about it to this day. This was her first time eating asparagus and both of our first time with goat cheese. Without forcing them or battling them, let them slowly expand their palate and it is an almost guarantee they will not turn back. My kids HATE hot dogs....which has it's own set of problems!!
We have recently been discussing the menu for Thanksgiving. Last year, we decided to buck tradition and to put a bunch of nationalities in a hat to pick what to have on the next several Thanksgivings. No more turkey!! So, this Thanksgiving we are having Greek food. As we discussed what we would have, my kids started drooling as we talking of gyros with lamb, taziki sauce and feta, greek salad, raw veggies and hummus, etc. Next year is Mexican!!
But, let me digress. I am not one of those parents that force my kids to eat something against their will and I never understand parents who do. As a child, I was forced to eat the most atrocious things even though I had a genuine dislike of them. I have all too horrid of memories of getting off the school bus that let me off at the end of my very long driveway (we lived in the country on five acres) and being able to smell that odorous smell of cooking liver and onions. My steps would slow...my head would hang...and my stomach would turn. There was no refusing dinner at my table and there is nothing worse tasting than liver and onions. It is not like I was picky. There were any number of things I really liked and, as I would discover later, a whole world of food that was full of incredible flavors that I would not get the opportunity to taste until I moved out.
I made the decision when I was younger to allow my children to develop their own tastes. Why is it ok for us, as adults, to have our particular likes and dislikes but not our children. What we cook, they must eat! I still, to this day, hate fish. I HATE IT! I have tried it every which way and many different kinds of fish and I just hate it. Should I be forced to eat it??
OK, so the next response would be...but you don't know what it's like to have kids who will not eat anything. My first response is...OH YEAH I DO!! My daughter refused to eat anything but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chicken nuggets for YEARS!! YEARS I am telling you. I recognized something in reflection of that time. Her dislike of foods could be tracked to when she was just a baby. Being my first baby, and me not having a mother or any friends who have gone through baby rearing yet, I just had to wing it. I decided to go on the Gerber plan...I started her on cereal (you know that rice cereal stuff) and than the jarred baby food, step 1...then step 2....then step 3...and than she became a Gerber Graduate...literally...I bought her the Gerber Graduates food. By the time I got around to trying to get her to eat "real" food, she was already a 1 1/2 year old and she became sensitive to textures and anything with any real flavor. Her introduction to "real" food became a daily battle. I tried so hard to get her to eat.
Another mistake I made was I labeled her and put the expectation of being a picky eater on her. I am now very much against putting expectations or labels on my kids (but that is another post). After fighting for so long, I finally had to let it go. I got her to eat peanut butter sandwiches....eventually she would eat chicken nuggets....and then cheeseburgers (from McDonalds only). I would cry at Thanksgiving when I would make a meal for....well....Matt and I and she would have PB&J.
After a while of me stopping trying to force the issue, she began to come around. It started with a salad. She very sweetly approached me in the kitchen and said, I think I would like to try a salad. She was 5 1/2. I stopped everything I was doing and made her up a salad. She sat at the table and I watched (while trying to look like I was not watching) as she took her fork and examined the lettuce. She tentatively put it in her mouth and her eyes widened. SCORE!! She loved it. This opened the door for her trying many more things and finding out what she really liked and really didn't.
So, I released the battle over the food. I think that often times it is more a battle of wills versus the battle of food itself. However, in the course of expanding her palate, I had to look good and hard at what I was fixing her (and us) to eat. Maybe, just maybe, it's not the food you prepare but how you cook it. I got so offended once when someone asked me (when i was complaining about her) are you making it taste good. WHAT!?!!! How could they ask ME that??
Over the years, though, I have learned things. I have experimented with different cooking styles (best way to cook chicken...best way to cook veggies). I have experimented with different flavors, brands, blends, etc. As I have worked with expanding her palate...I have, in a sense, learned to cook. There is rarely a meal that she will turn her nose up, now, and say "no thank you". Even the sub-par meals are good for her. Here's the trick...she does not like "kid" food. She'd rather starve than eat Chef Boyardee...or Tyson chicken nuggets....or hot dogs...etc. Give her a greek salad loaded with feta, artichokes, roasted red pepper, hummus, spinach, etc and she is ALL OVER IT!! She USED to be picky....now she gets labeled as picky because she goes to friend's houses where "kid" food is always on the menu and she won't eat...and vice versa when her friends come here and see what we are eating. Parents have dumbed down food for their kids.
I would say...give them a chance to eat the more flavorful foods and really examine how it is you prepare such foods. My kids used to hate zucchini until I figured out that I was cooking it a tad too long! Now, when I even utter that I am making something with zucchini in it, they become like Pavlov's dogs...drooling all over the floor!! And allow them to have foods that they simply do not like. Sierra does not like rice, eggs, bacon and beans...I am not fond of rice so that one is easy...eggs are a breakfast thing, so that is easy....bacon can be difficult, but I try to add it to a meal AFTER I have gotten her portion out...and beans, I will pick them out for her.
And so you ask...what about Daniel. I learned my lesson after Sierra. He was on baby food for a matter of weeks...I'm talking 2 or 3 weeks. I had a pediatrician that encouraged me to feed him table food and that is what I did. At lunch I would prepare myself a salad and he would crawl over and pick the black beans and diced tomatoes off my salad and gum them. By his first birthday, he was eating just about anything we would eat. By 3 or 4, instead of the customary chicken nuggets or cheeseburgers at restaurants, he would opt for a side salad. I put no pressure on him nor did I label him ("if he's a toddler, he will be picky"). His list of food he doesn't like is limited to one...he does not like green beans. Ok. I can live with that.
They are always interested in what we are having for dinner. Today I said...I am making something that I came up with in my head...it involves chicken, orzo, parmesan cheese and zucchini. They both said "that sounds wonderful" and Daniel piped in, "some of the best things you cook come from your head". lol
I would say, don't assume that your kids will not like veggies...let them explore which ones they like and don't like and really examine how it is you cook them. Also, don't assume that everything needs to be covered in ranch. Sierra's salads started with ranch, but I evolved her to a lighter olive oil and vinegar based dressing and she can appreciate the taste of the veggies more. Don't assume all food needs to be bland. Don't fall into the "kid food trap". Oh, if your kids like hot dogs, than serve hot dogs....but introduce them, slowly at first, to the other world of food. Sierra and I went to a restaurant once on a date and ordered pasta with goat cheese and some grilled asparagus. She was 11 years old. She and I both just melted as we ate bite after bite of the wonderful meal and still talk about it to this day. This was her first time eating asparagus and both of our first time with goat cheese. Without forcing them or battling them, let them slowly expand their palate and it is an almost guarantee they will not turn back. My kids HATE hot dogs....which has it's own set of problems!!
We have recently been discussing the menu for Thanksgiving. Last year, we decided to buck tradition and to put a bunch of nationalities in a hat to pick what to have on the next several Thanksgivings. No more turkey!! So, this Thanksgiving we are having Greek food. As we discussed what we would have, my kids started drooling as we talking of gyros with lamb, taziki sauce and feta, greek salad, raw veggies and hummus, etc. Next year is Mexican!!
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