We are having a bit of a food battle in our house right now. I finally got tired of my children being hungry and refusing everything I offer.
The problem has many faces. Vegetables, for instance. I find it very difficult to fit veggies into breakfast and lunch and we never have enough at dinner to actually meet our daily requirements. Cute Girl doesn't really like any but will eat fresh veggies with dip. She also realizes that at dinner she should take a few bites of whatever we have just because she's supposed to. Handsome Face does not like a single vegetable and he will not eat them. Every now and then he'll randomly eat something - like the salad at dinner two nights ago or six helpings of my dad's green beans in May - but he'll never repeat it. I started making green beans just like my dad in the hopes that something green would cross his lips but it didn't work.
Snacks are also a problem. I'm tired a lot anymore and it's very annoying to have my children balk at every snack suggestion I give them. It usually means they eat too many carbs and dairy because I'm just too cranky to fight them any longer. Raw veggies require too much effort to prepare and Cute Girl requires dip so I don't offer it very often. And they often turn up their noses to fruit even when we have two or three options.
And Handsome Face has to be the most aggravating child on earth. You know the old adage, "They'll eat when they're hungry enough"? Yea, that doesn't apply to this child. If he doesn't like it, he won't eat it. Not even to get something he does like. He can go all day without eating but will make my life miserable because he pesters me about food so much. And it's really frustrating because a lot of the time he refuses foods that I KNOW he likes just because he doesn't want it right now and he wants something else more.
We try and eat really healthy. We grind our own wheat and bake our bread. Most of our food is made by us, from scratch, with whole foods. Corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils are almost nonexistent here. We buy very little processed, packaged foods opting instead to make it ourselves. So the feeling that we're doing all of this and our nutrition is still lacking is very annoying and frustrating.
In an attempt to fix the problem, we've come up with two things to work on. My idea was to work at making breakfast more nutritious. If I can make something (usually an egg dish) that has veggies in it three times a week, I will already have increased Handsome Face's weekly vegetable intake by 300%. That's encouraging! We're also trying to fit in more fruits.
The Rocket Scientist came up with the snack plate idea for Handsome Face. When I make Cute Girl's lunch in the morning, I go ahead and make up a plate of all of his snacks for the day (see picture below). Whenever he's hungry, I refer him to the fridge where his plate is waiting. On this day, he had a string cheese, goldfish and pretzels (the only snack foods we buy so that Cute Girl can have something for the snack recess at school and of course he wants some too), applesauce, grapes, and banana slices. We've done this for two days now and I LOVE it!!!! The first day there was no complaints whatsoever. Today he cried because he was hungry and he didn't want apple slices (which he loves by the way) and that's all that was left. But I got to ignore his 45 minute crying tantrum with a guilt-free conscience because he had food ready and waiting. And because I already had the plan set I didn't get too cranky about it.
Now I should write some great conclusion but I'm tired, I've got to go to Young Womens, and I just don't have one. But does anyone have great ways to get their kids to eat vegetables? My one attempt at veggie-laced breakfast burritos was a disaster. No one ate any of it. So I need lots of ways to get my kids to eat vegetables!
(We're going to try these nuggets from Cheeky Kitchen that my lovely sis-in-law Sheri posted about.)
11 comments:
What a great idea! I get tired, too, of offering an endless variety of snacks, only to have them ALL rejected. I think I'll have to try this out. Good luck to you, too!
See if the Rocket Scientist remembers how to cook Eggplant Torta (its an eggplant dipped in egg, and possibly batter, and sauteed). It's a great breakfast with ketchup, and you don't really know you're eating a veggie.
The basic recipe is: roast/scorch the outside of an eggplant over flame until kind of blackened, dip in egg (or possibly batter & egg--it's been awhile) and then cook in pan/wok until done.
It's not sweet by any means, but its good for protein and veggie goodness.
http://chowtimes.com/2010/06/12/filipino-cuisine-eggplant-torta/
a recipe
I read an article about how some fruits (like strawberries and kiwi) have the same nutrients as veggies and just as many too, so if they will eat those then don't worry too much about the veggie vs. fruit count. Also, you should try sweet potato pancakes. That's a veggie you can fit into breakfast and they are delicious.
I really want to try those chicken nuggets.
Caleb is having the same issues over here with veggies, especially with any of the green ones. One thing I have tried is making a smoothie with veggies hidden inside. Here's a recipe (sounds basic, but it's pretty good): 1 ripe banana, 1 handful of baby spinach, some juice and a few ice cubes. I have a cheap blender, so it's a little chewy, but if you have a vitamix or something better, then it will be like a jamba juice.
Caleb loved his "green juice" for an afternoon snack and I always had some, too.
And I love the snack plate idea. Thanks for the tip.
That is brilliant!
Great post! Love the idea for the chicken nuggets. But what is ground chicken? (It doesn't sound natural-can you do it yourself?) AND love your snack plate idea. What a great mommy you are!
Like everyone else is saying, I love the snack plate idea. One of my friends did that with a relish tray--she would fill all the individual cup thingies with cut-up peppers, olives, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, etc.
As far as veggies at breakfast and lunch, I usually don't worry too much about breakfast; we usually have steel-cut oats with blueberries, so there's fruit. And for lunch, we eat almost exclusively fruits and vegetables; I just prepare a bunch of different ones and add in some kind of carbohydrate (today it was whole-wheat carrot muffins). Usually the kids have either green beans, carrots, or peas for lunch, with apples, peaches, bananas, or plums. Pretty basic and not super-exciting, but they will eat it very happily without any complaining and it's easy to prepare.
My kids actually do really well with vegetables as long as they're plain; it's when I mix them into other things or prepare them differently that they get suspicious (ratatouille, anyone? It's like the kiss of death for my children, which is sad because I adore it).
Oh! One thing I've found is that my kids often prefer the taste of didn't-like-it vegetables when they're grilled. This, for instance, is how we turned our little asparagus-haters into asparagus-lovers.
And some other veggie snack ideas--sugar snap peas and raw green beans. Yum!
PUMPKIN! Pumpkin in my mind is power food! I make pumpkin waffles with natural sweeteners and whole grains (oat and wheat flour). Macey loves it with fruit syrup and spiced applesauce or yogurt on top... I do pumpkin breakfast 2 times a week. Also, will your kids eat quiche? The crust and cheese helps the spinach inside it hide it's flavor.
Oh I so, so, so feel your pain. I try so hard to do the whole healthy food thing, but I swear I have the pickiest kids ever! Ezra would eat plain pasta all day, every day if I let him. Basically, I just insist the kids eat three different things for lunch and dinner. The idea is that while they might not get as many fruit/veggies as I'd like, at least they're not just eating plain pasta, etc. :P
Love the snack idea, I'm thinkin' I'm going to have to steal that one.
I never met a vegetable I didn't like, as long as I can drown it in enough tasty stuff (butter or sugar or cheese or salt or other spices or combination thereof).
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