Our 2010 New Year Pancakes
Do you know that you can stick just about anything into pancake and waffle mix? No, I am serious! I will often keep organic fruity baby food around (especially when it's on sale and I have a coupon) just to add an extra serving of healthy into my children's food!
Recently, I was caught secretly sliding in some pureed veggies (cauliflower) into mac and cheese. I tried telling LaLa that I was putting some wonderful Tinkerbell Fairy Dust into it to make it yummy, but she had totally caught me. I gave in, and I just told her that I was sneaking in some healthy food into our lunch. She said, "Okay, don't put any of that into mine. Put it into daddy's mac & cheese. It will be so funny! We won't even tell him." She thought it was absolutely hilarious! We all still had the sneaky, healthy veggies in our mac and cheese! Fortunately, I can still outsmart the three year old...well, barely!
Recently, I was caught secretly sliding in some pureed veggies (cauliflower) into mac and cheese. I tried telling LaLa that I was putting some wonderful Tinkerbell Fairy Dust into it to make it yummy, but she had totally caught me. I gave in, and I just told her that I was sneaking in some healthy food into our lunch. She said, "Okay, don't put any of that into mine. Put it into daddy's mac & cheese. It will be so funny! We won't even tell him." She thought it was absolutely hilarious! We all still had the sneaky, healthy veggies in our mac and cheese! Fortunately, I can still outsmart the three year old...well, barely!
Save time...and a battle. It can take a great deal of our time to battle with a toddler or a preschooler about eating their food. Try to avoid these time TRAPS and see if any of these ideas will work for your family!
First of all, if you make the food on their plate look fun, they will usually eat it! Tuna fish, PB&J, chicken salad, grilled cheese or any other sandwich will look mighty tasty if it comes out as a cookie cutted (is that a word?) animal! I even tempt mine by adding M&M eyes. You eat the food...you get the eyeballs. Grose, yes, but it amuses a three year old! So, manipulate the food to look like a happy face or something fun! Also, fun and different spoons or eating utensils also help! Even a new color of a plastic fork can be exciting enough to encourage a few bites!
Second, make it a game. Place a sticker on the plate under the peas...eat the peas to see what is there. Make a big deal out of....oooh, I can almost see the fish hiding under there! We have these plates I found at target for a dollar that are divided and have a different picture on each section. They work perfectly! Another game is to race them. My husband does this...and it used to annoy me, but I figured out that it works. Every mama knows you don't mess with what works if no one is getting harmed! You each take a bite and chew, chew, chew in a race to finish! One more game idea...mix the vegies together and have them sort them...or eat all the carrots first, then the peas, etc. Learning and nutrition mixed in one!
Last of all, sneak it! Put veggies in your spaghetti! Put a little bit into whatever you cook. Be creative and experiment! The baby food basics like apples, bananas, pears, sweet potatoes, peas, etc. are great to have to "sneak" into your food!I do this to my husband and children! It's my job to make sure they get all the veggies and fruits in their diet! Sometimes the best way to save time is to be sneaky and avoid it altogether!
