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!

Feeding A to Z

Baby Adrian enjoying freshly made organic prunes

Picky eating. *sigh* When Adrian and Zahavah were just babies, they ate everything. And I really mean EVERYTHING. I made all of A's baby purees myself and had him try everything I found (yes, I did make some fresh passion fruit juice, deer stew and parsnip compote). Heck, he even "taught" me how to prepare certain foods and how to pick a ripe melon! Now I'm not writing this because I miss making these concoctions but rather because I miss when meal planning was easy. I miss being able to bring a dish to A's nose without the latter turning up on it. I miss when there was no food battle, no bribing, no "threatening" and no fuss. 

German Baker's Little Mouse Bread

I still consider that Adrian eats better than the average kid and may be slightly less picky than most but until he eats most of what I eat, I'll probably still think of him as picky. What got me to write this piece (besides the venting opportunity of course) is the lunchtime interrogation mark. I'm a huge soup fan and occasionally, I'll have a sandwich instead. Of course, toddlers and preschoolers are not huge fans of either. Don't get me wrong...Z will eat nearly everything (except for tomatoes, broccoli and sometimes other random stuff) but A...Oh my! 

Z "Vulturing around" her grandpa for some banana toast

So what do we do for lunch? Well, I'll shamefully admit that I've been relying on Gerber Toddler and Preschooler Meals. Yup. I did look them up and overall, they weren't bad, especially since both the kids ate their veggies (which otherwise, they wouldn't) and the portions are good. Even better? They are ready-meals! I've tried several times to take these away and replace them with more "proper" food but A missed them and pushed away what I prepared. Well, the tables are now turning. A is starting to push away his Gerber meals (he gets "only" 3 a week by the way) saying he doesn't want them! Argh! Help! Help!, I thought. 

Trying my strawberry gelato under the envious eyes of baby sister Z

What do kids eat? I always thought mine would eat what I eat but...hahaha. I must have missed that baby class where they said kids don't like "mommy foods". I've been wanting to switch him entirely to real foods but was totally uninspired and now...well I had just better be! So what do kids eat? What do your kids eat at lunchtime? I figured since I'm home, I can actually make a warm meal but I have no intention of preparing a "dinner" for "lunch" either. Upon checking what kids eat for lunch on other blogs, websites and books, I find myself saying "he wouldn't eat that", or "Really?" So from now on, I'll be brainstorming homeschool classes AND lunch menus for our homeschool. Maybe it's time to franchise... LOL