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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Fun Breakfast Foods

I am having trouble getting my toddler to eat breakfast again. She simply just tosses food across the room. My five year old is not much better. There is lots of crying and frowning and refusing to eat.
In my endless quest to make eating fun again I asked the other mommies I knew for recipes that my help the little tykes swallow their food down for once.
Here are some of the recipes that they offered.
Apple Toast
This recipe fools my kids into thinking they are eating apple pie instead of something nutritious for them.
Peel and slice up an apple. Butter a slice of bread and place apple slices on top. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Sometimes I put some blueberries or a cherry on top to make it even more appealing.
Bake on cookie sheet for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.
Banana Split Cereal
This recipe fools my kids into thinking they are eating a fountain dessert. Of course what they are really getting is a healthy dose of protein.
Spoon 1/4 cup of yogurt in a mound in the center of 6 cereal bowls. Sprinkle 1/3 cup cheerios (or other low-fat cereal) on top of the yogurt in each bowl. Slice 3 small bananas lengthwise, then cut in half crosswise. Arrange two banana quarters on either side of the yogurt and sprinkle the top with blueberries or other fruit.
The next recipe is a bit of trouble but the novelty of it impresses kids so much they just start eating away. The great thing too is that you can use any filling that you want.
‘Toast cups.
Flatten the slice of bread with a rolling pin or your hands and spread both sided with softened butter. Press each slice into a muffin tin section to form a cup shape. Toast in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until cups are crisp and brown. Fill with jam, peanut butter & pop back into oven for a minute or two.
My most successful variation of this is to fill them with tuna and cheese. My kids love it and they get all of their protein.
Another good trick when it comes to toast is to use cookie cutters to cut shapes into the bread. This adds an amusing component that helps your kids maintain their focus on what they are eating. Of course sometimes they don't eat it. They just play with it.

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