Top Ten Tips for Feeding Fussy Eaters

I wouldn’t say T. is extremely fussy. He does eat a wide variety of foods, loves his fruit and will try new foods (even though 99% of the time the reaction is YUCK!). But, like many parents, we do have our challenges in trying to get him to eat the right things.

These are just a few ideas that I try to live by. They are just a guide as to what works in our house.

1. The most obvious – Cook with your child. Introduce them to new ingredients as you are cooking. Children are much more likely to eat something that they have helped prepare. Not to mention the self esteem boost that comes from watching others consume the foods they have cooked.

2. Make the most of every mouthful – ultimately you have the control over what goes into your (young) child’s mouth. Where you can, add grated veges to dinners, cook fruit muffins instead of chocolate ones, make savoury muffins for lunches and afternoon snacks.

3. Place small amounts of new foods on your child’s plate along with foods they are familiar with and enjoy. Encourage them to just taste the food. Try not to pressure them to eat the whole lot – a taste is a success!

4. Children need to be offered a new food at least 10 times before their palate begins to enjoy it so don’t give up. Keep offering them the foods and encouraging just a taste.

5. Give choices – offer a choice of 2 new foods so you child has some control over what they are eating eg a piece of broccoli and a piece of tomato on the plate – ask them which they would like to try and take the other away.

6. Use a reward system / star chart for trying new foods. Choose a reward that isn’t food related like going to the park or playing a favourite game.

7. Be a good role model and make healthy food choices yourself.

8. Eat meals together as a family so your children see you eating the same food as them.

9. Try offering foods in different ways eg shapes, pictures on the plate eg Grape and Cucumber Wands

10. Take the pressure off – both yourself and your child. Don’t make mealtimes a battleground.

Good Luck!

Millones Man

I know, I know I’ve been VERY quiet lately! I’m finding it difficult to blog now as Thomas no longer has a day sleep and by the time he goes to bed I can’t think any longer! My brain (and body) is dead and just wants to zone out.

My little man is 4 now. He is still as busy as ever and so curious about everything! You know, things the average 4 year old wants to know like how does the water come out of the tap, where does it come from, how does the rain fall from the sky, how did he get out of my tummy, what does that sign say, what does that word mean… The list goes on and on – and so do the questions!

Did you know the average 4 year old asks between 430 – 450 questions each day??? I think Thomas asks that before breakfast!

Anyway, we have still been cooking although, until recently not as much. I don’t think the mixing and measuring was quite challenging enough for him!

Last week he decided he wanted to help me cook a real meal. So together we cooked broccoli and chicken pasta. Just as we were about to serve it, Thomas decided he wanted to set the dining room up as Millones – his favourite restaurant! He made a sign up and set up some tea light candles (battery operated) and set the table. It was very cute and took our cooking to a whole new level. It also made him a lot more interested in sitting at the table!

He has since decided that he is going to have his own restaurant when he grows up that serves garlic bread and lemonade!

What have you been cooking lately with your kids?

Christmas Dessert Table

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here. Mainly because my little man no longer has a daytime sleep and my days are much busier as a result.

I thought I would share a few photos of the Christmas Dessert table that I did this Christmas. The photos are fairly self explanatory but if you want any instructions or how too’s, please feel free to ask!

Our dessert table consisted of:

* Gingerbread house

* Hot chocolate Santa leg cupcakes ( you can find the recipe here). They were delicious! I made the santa legs from fondant.

* Marshmallows dipped in white chocolate and crushed candy canes

* Rudolph Oreo Pops

* Gingerbread cupcakes with eggnog and baileys buttercream frosting. Adults only and DELICIOUS! (recipe here) Thanks to my sister in law for the recipe!

* Red and white jelly beans .

The kids loved it and it was worth all the hard work!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families and I wish you health, happiness and love in 2013 xx.

Grape and Cucumber Wands

Thomas has always loved his fruit. I’ve never had any trouble getting him to eat it. Vegetables on the other hand have become quite an issue. He has started to become hungry and asking for food at around 5pm (we eat at 6). I was happy for him to have some fruit at this time until I realised that he was having about 4 servings of fruit a day – not that there’s anything wrong with this but I decided if he was really hungry at this time then I would offer him some vegetables to eat. This wouldn’t interfere with his dinner (as he was eating vegies anyway) and also was a way of introducing some new foods.

We did have some success with cucumber a while ago and teamed with a favourite fruit, this was a real success. When trying to get children to try new foods, I always find it helpful to offer something they are familiar with on the plate as well, that way it’s not quite as daunting.

What you need:

Grapes (red or green – red is good for contrast)

Cucumber cut into slices about 1cm thick

Toothpicks

Stickers (optional)

Small star cutter

Natural yoghurt

To make these grape and cucumber wands, I cut some star shapes out of cucumber slices and cut each grape in half. To the toothpicks I added some ‘Thomas’ stickers. I stacked about 3 slices of the leftover cucumber in the middle of the plate and filled the star cut out in the cucumber slices with some natural yoghurt (this didn’t get eaten but it was there as an option).

It is a little bit of trouble to go to but if it gets some extra vegetables into your kids then I’m happy to spend the extra couple of minutes!

Chocolate Cereal Bars

I have been looking for a yummy muesli bar type recipe for a while now. I came across this one on taste.com.au and it is delicious. It’s not super healthy but it’s not all bad. Full of yummy seeds, dried and fresh fruit and a little bit of chocolate it’s a winner! It’s also nut and egg free so great for lunch boxes. These are quite easy to make with kids although an adult needs to prepare the honey mixture on the stove, but other than that there’s lots of measuring, pouring and mixing.

Thomas enjoyed tasting each of the types of seeds and talked about the different colours while we were cooking. He thought the dried fruit mix tasted like lollies! Maybe next time he asks for lollies I will give him some dried fruit . Worth a try!

They went down a treat for morning tea and Daddy took some in his lunch box today as well. Although it is difficult to stop at one! Consider yourself warned! It is quite sweet so I don’t think leaving out the choc chips or reducing the measurement would be a problem if you wanted them a little less sweet.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup dried fruit medley, chopped
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 60g reduced-fat margarine spread
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 medium red apple, peeled, coarsely grated

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170°C/150°C fan-forced. Lightly grease a 3cm-deep, 17.5cm x 27cm (base) slice pan. Line with baking paper, allowing 2cm overhang at long ends.
2. Combine sunflower seeds, pumpkin and chocolate chips in a large bowl.
3. Place spread and honey in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes or until melted. Bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until slightly thickened.
4. Add spread mixture and apple to seed mixture. Stir to combine. Spoon into prepared pan. Using the back of a spoon, press mixture evenly into pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden. Cool in pan completely. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Cut into bars. Serve.

Oreo Pops

We were at Thomas’ cousin’s birthday party today. I made these Oreo Pops to take along. I saw them online a while ago and have been wanting to make them for a while. I think they were a bigger hit with the adults than the kids but the overall impression was a resounding thumbs up. We will definitely be making these again!

They are a bit fiddly but once you know the trick to them they really are quite easy to make. Don’t worry, I’m happy to share my secrets with you .

You will need some lollipop sticks. I bought mine from ebay but you can pick them up from cake decorating shops as well.

Ingredients:

Oreo biscuits (I used 2 packets to get 18 pops – I had a few breakages)

400g white chocolate chips

Edible confetti or sprinkles

Method:

First you need to separate the Oreo’s. I did this by sliding a butter knife carefully between one side of the biscuits and the icing. I did break some of the biscuits but I worked out that if they aren’t too badly broken you can put them back together with the next step.

Ok, this is the secret… Melt about 100g of the chocolate and put a dollop on one half of each of the biscuits (see picture). Put a lollipop stick on top of the chocolate and sandwich with the top biscuit. Allow these to set completely.

Next, melt the rest of the chocolate, allow it to cool slightly then dip each of the pops into the chocolate. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper to set.

Sprinkle with your choice of decorations. I refrigerated these for a couple of minutes so they set a little quicker and the chocolate didn’t run off them completely.

You will be sure to please with these! My boys are enjoying the leftovers right now.

Choc Dipped Rainbow Marshmallows

It’s my niece’s birthday party this weekend. I always like to take something along for the kids, plus it’s nice to make little girly treats…

I saw a version of these marshmallows online a while ago. They are really simple (a little bit fiddly) and look great.

My niece is a Littlest Pet Shop fan so I found some  little pictures online and printed them to attach to a toothpick to make the little sticks. It’s amazing what a toothpick with a picture on it can do to food for kids. Just makes it all that little bit more enticing. Her face when she saw them was priceless .

Ingredients to make 20 marshmallows:

20 x Marshmallows

150g White chocolate chips

100′s & 1000′s

Method:

Over a saucepan of boiling water (take off heat first), melt chocolate stirring constantly with a spoon.

Let chocolate cool and harden slightly until it is workable (you want it to not be too runny so it stays on the marshmallow).

Dip marshmallow to half way in melted chocolate and then dip in 100′s & 1000′s.

Stick toothpicks in and allow to set.

You could do these to fit with any colour scheme for your party and also use milk chocolate. They were a hit with the kids!