Feeding A to Z - Trial # 1

I finally summed up the courage to put into action the menu I've been penning down for over a week. I mean, I've been meticulously decorticating what I should serve my kiddos for lunch, the portion size and how to appeal their little palate. Here, I present to you my first attempt at seizing their likings. It will be lots of trials and errors because let's face it; kids change on a daily basis. Some days they'll like peas, some days they won't (ok...peas are ALWAYS yucky!)  LOL

For my first "sit down" meal, I chose an entree consisting of fish. Fish? What the...? Really? Yes. My kids for some reason like fish. They don't like mac n' cheese, spaghetti and meatballs or chicken nuggets but they like fish. Go figure. Not that it's a bad thing. No complaints on that one. :)

Something Fishy, Something Crunchy and

and Something "Berry" Good

Above is a picture of Adrian's plate before he "attacked it" (he's a hungry boy upon his return from German school). He had a first course of cherry tomato (his favorite vegetable), tossed the salad overboard (I insist on putting it on his plate but it really is just a garnish right now) then he moved on to the dessert (the blueberries and raspberries), had a few bites of couscous and carrots and ended with the salmon making sure to go around "the green". All in all, there were some leftovers but he tried everything (except the romaine) and ate very well. He requested more berries. I tried to make the plate as colorful as possible and make the portion within the norms for a 4 year old. One day, maybe I'll explain how I calculate this. Then again, maybe one day I'll put his veggies in the big hollow part instead of the meat! LOL Just re-learning this one...

Zahavah was served the same dish with a smaller portion. She quickly munched on the romaine. She only eats the "crunchy parts". The rest is quickly rejected. She offered almost all her blueberries and her lonesome tomato to her brother...and then begged for his share of couscous in exchange. She ate all her fish and then asked me for my couscous. :) What about the carrots, you ask? Well, she ate most of them.

So what did we really have for lunch? Was it time consuming? Not at all. The longest part was the pre-heating of the oven and the baking. The actual hands-on time was practically as fast as sneezing.

Ingredients

-1 piece of (preferably fresh wild) salmon

-freshly ground pepper

-sea salt

-herbes de provence (found in the spice section of any grocery store)

-Near East Herbed Chicken Couscous

(plain is great too)

-Del Monte Sliced Carrots with Pull Top

(you can of course make your own but my kids prefer the canned ones...go figure)

-Romaine Lettuce

-Cherry Tomatoes

-Blueberries & Raspberries

Directions

Sprinkle fish with salt, pepper and herbes de provence. Bake for about 18 minutes or until fish is flaky. Oven should have been pre-heated at 200F previously.

Couscous instructions are on the package but all you really do is boil water, empty couscous, cover and wait 5 minutes. Yep. Easy pasta!

Serve with one big glass of fat-free milk!