Making Veggies and Fruits Easy to Eat

One of the biggest challenges for me has always been to make vegetables and fruits more attractive for kids to eat.
One of my more successful recipes is actually out of a really old Betty Crocker cookbook for kids called 'Ants on a Log'

Ants on a Log
Fill celery with peanut butter and stick raisins along the top. Can use cheese, cottage cheese, tuna, or egg salad as filler.
Then there are apple cookies. There is no dough in this recipe and this is one of those recipes that can help keep a fat kid's weight down.

Apple Cookies
Core whole apple and slice in circles. Fill core hole, or frost apple cookies, with peanut butter and raisins.
Of course the more food does not look like food the more appealing to akid it is as well. This is another Betty Crocker from the sixties type dish for kids.

Candle Salad
Tear and arrange lettuce on a plate. Top with a pineapple ring. Place banana (cut off ends) in the hole of the pineapple so it stands like a candle. Add a cherry or carrot curl for a flame
My kids love everything that is bad for them including French fries and cheesies. This dish is like a combination of both worlds and it is a lot healthier for them than junk food.

Cheesy Potato Sticks
Wash 1 1/2 lbs. potatoes thoroughly; do not peel. Cut lengthwise into quarters and then cut each quarter into thirds. Coat potatoes with 2 tbsp. melted margarine. Combine 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs, 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, 1/4 tsp. paprika, and 1/4 tsp. garlic powder. Roll potatoes in mixture. Place potatoes in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until crispy on the outside. Divide into six 1/2 cup portions and serve immediately.
One way I get my kids to consume potassium, which is good for their nerves and brain, is to serve them bananas in this tasty, fast and easy to prepare pudding.

Instant Banana Pudding
Mash 3 small ripe bananas completely (little ones don’t like lumps) with a fork in a small bowl or in a blender. Add 1 1/2 cups of applesauce. Stir in 2 tbsp. of vanilla yogurt. Place in small paper cups.

Yogurt Sundae
Place a tablespoon of vanilla yogurt into each of 6 clear plastic cups. Cover with a layer of Cheerios (or other low-fat cereal). Then cover with a layer off sliced bananas and strawberries. Repeat the layers until the ingredients are used up. Children can build their own parfaits.
I admit that the above recipe is more like a breakfast dish but it can do double duty as a desert too.

 


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