SOME KIDS LOVE EATING VEGETABLES. And, this may totally surprise you, some don’t. But almost all kids love condiments. Sweet, salty, gooey? Check, check and check! For a fast vegetable dish or a nutritious snack, I set out a bunch of organic baby carrots plus three “dipping sauces”. These can be anything. From hummus (homemade or from…
a little shot of spinach, the best way to start dinner!
This is an idea straight from “French Kids Eat Everything“, and I love it. In her amazing memoir about moving to France with two picky eaters then watching the European culture transform their whole family, Karen Le Billon explains that many French households have a baby food maker handy, even if they don’t have a baby….
little things that work: simple Christmas shapes for sandwiches
ALL YOU NEED IS ONE BIG COOKIE CUTTER plus five spare seconds and lunch will be served with an equally large smile. (Save the outside of the bread to make eggs-in-the-hole later in the week. Another smile, coming right up.) I have a gingerbread, a snowflake (a ghost and a pumpkin too) and doing this one…
little things that work: cut cheese into shapes
ALONG WITH OUR UNSTOPPABLE PUMPKIN MINI MUFFINS, Phoebe brought a bit of cheese to school for her go at snack time. To spice things up we used our amazingly affordable vegetable cutters–the ones we made carrot and cucumber flowers and stars with for a suddenly kid-friendly spinach salad–to cut the cheese. Was this necessary? Not…
turkey & cheese roll-ups, an easy lunch or snack idea
PHOEBE IS A MEAT LOVER. I’m not sure why but she even gets excited about saying the word, “meat!” Anyway, I’m using this to my advantage these days–and enjoying easy lunches. Here’s today’s idea: Roll a slice of fresh turkey from the deli around a little rectangle of cheese. Try to use organic and experiment…
how to get toddlers to try seafood
THIS POST COULD’VE been called “how to get a toddler to try seafood” except I have no idea how to do that. Here’s how it worked for us (hint: it involves flavors she already likes.) We’re in Puglia right now (the southern coast of Italy; the heel of the boot) and in this region of…
Let them help cook…and snack along the way
HOW TO GET YOUR TODDLER TO EAT MORE VEGGIES: pull up a chair, stool or other propping device and let her help you prepare dinner. Phoebe particularly likes “organizing” her ingredients so I give her a little bowl and a wooden spoon. Things go in the bowl, things go out of the bowl, things fall…
Raisins: the constipation solution for toddlers
IT AIN’T PRETTY BUT TODAY’S TOPIC is constipation, or rather, how to fix it. As part of my husband Paul’s job with the United Nations here in Rome, we have access to the commissary and one of our staples is, as mentioned above, raisins. At first it was the little red paper box that intrigued…
7 ways to get toddlers to eat more green vegetables
How about eating some veggies? Right. I’M PRETTY SURE THAT getting kids to eat more veggies has been a struggle since the advent of dinner itself. So when Marie submitted her question—I’d love to get my son Lex (2 years, 2 months) to eat more green foods — broccoli, zucchini, peas, maybe even attempt a…
Take a bite together
Got a stubborn eater? Or a non-eater? Sometimes (and I do mean sometimes) Phoebe is more willing to take a bite of something if I do the same. I’ll just say, “let’s take a bite together!” and suddenly the idea of a bite just got better. Sometimes.
Alternate bites
If we’re facing a particularly stubborn moment at the dinner table, sometimes it works to give her a bite of fruit in between each bite of “dinner”. The best bites so far have been sliced bananas or strawberries.