Afternoon snack.
This was Bella’s afternoon snack today - she toasted the waffle (organic vegan), spread the peanut butter and chose the fruit to make the face. Would love to hear some fun and creative ideas for feeding kids good, nutritious whole food (or natural/organic based premade). How do you make healthy eating fun in your family?
We have those same plates - Ikea, right?
I have taken to buying bulk buckwheat pancake mix. It works just like regular pancake mix, only it’s whole grain. I often add blueberries (usually frozen organic) and make them small so Andrew can dip them in no-sugar-added naturally sweetened syrup. We’ve also been eating a lot of PB and J sandwiches on whole wheat, and using cookie cutters to cut different shapes. He gets a kick out of biting the heads off the gingerbread man and teddy bear shapes. Will come back later with more ideas when I think of them. It’s naptime right now and I’m supposed to be cleaning my house. No wonder I’m procrastinating by checking everyone’s blogs!
Comment by Jen H. — 06.08.06 @ 6:21:29
Adorable. I have to do that. Feeding toddlers is so tough. They want the same stuff over and over. I resort to bribing — you can have a sticker if you eat your green beans!
Comment by Beth — 06.08.06 @ 9:27:31
Mia’s fave is grass sandwhiches: whole wheat bagel smeared with cream cheese or soft goat cheese and a ton of sprouts which she considers edible grass (guess it is). Broccoli (raw or lightly steamed/sauted) dipped in romano cheese or Annie’s Dressing. Rice cakes with almond butter and blueberry smiley face. SMoothies…lately she loves smoothies. I just throw in whatever fruit (some frozen a must), a chunk of silken tofu, yogurt, maybe some honey if she’s lucky and some flax/fish oil blend. Starwberries n Cream (strawberries dipped in vanilla yogurt. Yum. Hard to find things that aren’t sugar based with kids…but i guess they need sugar from fruit to keep going. Frozen Peas. Both my girls love a bowl of frozen peas.
happy eating!
Comment by marybeth — 06.09.06 @ 12:30:50
Girl, you know this is my topic! Since I don’t want to repeat myself, I’ll add a few new favorites…
Satch is finally into edamame, peeling and eating it is half the fun. Like Marybeth I do whole wheat bagels with cc and veggies - thinly sliced cucumbers and sprouts mostly. Satchel also loves steamed broccoli in a tahini dressing I make (tahini, water, garlic, lemon, tamari in the blender). Lately I’ve been making him real popcorn - again the prepping is half the fun! But I bag up the leftovers and he eats that for a day or two. I also take nut butter and mix it with a little honey to soften and this makes a good “dip” for apple slices.
Again, though I know I repeat myself on this one, I have to vote for the raw food snack platter. When Satch isn’t in school, I make a “raw food” plate that he can nibble on all day. Clean sturdy lettuce leaves - any sort: butter, romaine, red leaf - and leave them stacked together in a “nest.” Then, prepare hummus, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, pepitas, radishes, lightly steamed broccoli, asparagus, etc…Bella can then make her own “burritos” by slathering on hummus as the glue and filling her lettuce wrap with whatever she likes. The tray sits in the fridge and Satch can help himself. It is a bit messy, but I think it teaches them how to “cook” and be creative with their food plus independent.
I’ll be checking back here to find out what other good tips abound!
Comment by Brooke — 06.09.06 @ 1:34:16
Forgot the toddler pizza:
Whole Wheat pita bread - sometimes even the mini ones, about the size of an orange rather than those the size of a corn tortilla (whole foods has them) - slathered with tomato sauce or pesto topped with whatever cheese in the fridge plus veggies or leftover chicken (do you eat meat?) Put on a cookie sheet and heat until cheese melts. They are so small, there is no waste and they cook quickly.
Comment by Brooke — 06.09.06 @ 1:39:06
I can’t wait until Kaia actually wants to eat again. She’s been on an eating strike…argh! While she’s not even one yet, some of her favs are veggie nuggets, pineapples, mandarin oranges, and pieces of spinach/ricotta stuffed pasta.
Comment by Leigh — 06.09.06 @ 7:07:36
Seconding Brooke’s pizza idea - we did this for lunch today, only I usually use whole wheat English muffins, halved. Then top with tomato sauce (with extra veggies snuck in there) and grated mozzarella cheese and broil for 2 minutes. Older kids, like Bella’s age, could likely dress their own pizzas and have a bit of fun that way.
We do smoothies too, with frozen fruit, plain yogurt, OJ and a banana in the blender. I stick it into a cup with a lid and a straw and Andrew loves it. Once I even snuck in a handful of raw organic baby spinach leaves and the blender worked its magic - you couldn’t see it or taste it, but I knew it was there!
Comment by Jen H. — 06.09.06 @ 6:17:58
I have a question for you guys … what brand(s) whole wheat bagels do you buy?? Would love to buy them for myself and Aidan, but find they’re often full of stuff like “enriched” this that or the other, and all kinds of other stuff I can’t pronounce! =P
Comment by Rebekah — 06.10.06 @ 3:54:30
WOMAN! You’re asking for ideas? You’re obviously the queen. I mean, look at that. Very, very cute.
With school out and going to the pool every day (yes, literally: EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.), we had been eating like crap. I finally put a stop to it by making the hugest fruit salad you’ve ever seen in your life. There really aren’t that many healthy meals kids will eat, are there? At least my kids. They like stuff like grilled cheese sandwiches, mac ‘n cheese, etc. Thankfully, they LOVE fruit and carrots, tomatoes, etc. I think that’s our saving grace.
Comment by Ninotchka — 06.10.06 @ 1:55:18
Have you seen the Vegan Lunchbox Blog?
http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/
Comment by Darshani — 06.11.06 @ 6:59:22
I made the smiley fruit on peanut butter on wheat toast and the kids got such a kick out of it. Thanks for sharing. Connor said, “thanks for the special snack mom!”
Comment by Beth — 06.11.06 @ 9:42:42
I have a friend whos son is VERY texture sensitive, he litraly only eats grild cheese, pizza, chicken nugets, frenchies, and maybe if they are lucky some apple sauce, he used to heat yogurt but after findng a fruit chunk in a bite he will no longer touch the stuff, he is a very small kid and at almost 3 only weights about 20 pounds…do any of you have ideas on how to get him to eat more…and healthy???
Comment by Lynn — 06.11.06 @ 10:10:38
Holy crap. Based on this post I would say you don’t need any ideas. You probably already think my child eats nothing but Crazy Bugs pasta
I have found that kids eat more of the healthy stuff if they “take ownership” in the food. Hey, I used to work in advertising - I’ve got to use that knowledge somewhere. We have used the pita pizza idea, I set out all the vegetables and let her decorate her own pizza. Most of it usually disappears. I let her help me dredge some black bean cakes in cornmeal the other day and she ate a whole one after they were cooked. Coming up with creative names for familiar foods helps too. I often give Adri steamed broccoli with a small bowl of finely grated parmesan cheese, tell her to dip the floret. The cheese sticks to the top of the floret and then we call it “trees in the snow.” (Not that she’s ever seen snow - but you get the idea.)
Comment by Melinda — 06.13.06 @ 4:22:46
We don’t really do ‘fun’ food here. I am a big fan of using cookie cutters in sandwiches. The first time I did that, you would have thought Will had won the crown!
Will loves roll ups. We get whole wheat or spinach tortillas. I spread hummus over it, then add diced veggies. Roll it up, and yum!
Another favorite is mashed black beans for a ‘frijole-dilla’. Since Will cannot have dairy, I just use black beans instead of cheese in a quesadilla. Then I top it with some pico de gallo.
We do a lot of whole wheat pasta salads with different dressings. Newman’s Own Light Balsamic is very yummy. I do a thai peanut sauce some days. Heck, my kids are happy with butter and salt on it.
I cannot really complain. Both my kids eat about anything. Meara eats well, just not a lot.
Comment by Anna — 06.15.06 @ 2:53:57
I’m jealous of every single one of you. My child wouldn’t eat fruit or veggies if they hopped around and sang Doodlebops tunes. I’ve tried every kind of “fun toddler foods” suggestion I could get my hands on and they all failed miserably. If it weren’t for Greens Plus for Kids mixed with yogurt, my DD would have scurvy.
Comment by Piglet68 — 07.17.06 @ 5:27:29