pistachio pasta

in
 Yesterday Nate told me he made up something new to eat.
“You did?!” I gasped as if he had learned to fly.  
“I put a banana on top of a pistachio.”
 “YUM! You put those two things together?: I tried to be cool.
 “No!” he said “I put the banana ON TOP of the pistachio.
 “Oh that’s cool. Like you mix cheese and pasta.”
“Or banana and pasta,” he suggested.
“Hmmm. Or tomatoes and bread!”
“Or banana and pasta.”
“What about pistachio and pasta?”
“Hmm… he thought about it. “Or banana and pasta. “

Eight hours later when it was time for dinner, I announced with great excitement “Pistachio and pasta for dinner”! Okay, he said. Nate shelled and crushed the nuts so he felt like he was helping. We made a joint decision to add some parmesan cheese. In the end it was almost a pistachio pesto—crushed nuts, cheese and olive oil…very sophisticated and yet childlike.

Of course, Nate refused to eat it and started picking out the bits of nut. I realized then that I should have left them whole. That when Nate said banana ON TOP of pistachio he meant NOT MIXED TOGETHER.


This is a good lesson for me. But wait isn’t it me who is supposed to be giving the lessons…clearly we are still on the wrong path.  

smart moms

in , ,

My first column for The Pickiest Eaters on Brooklyn Based inspired some great ideas from local moms:
 

  1. Christy:  I mix in an egg yolk (not the whole egg because he notices the white part) into the shredded cheese for extra protein in cheese quesadillas.  
  2. Every once in a while for a special treat, I’ll mix a box of devil’s food cake mix with a can of pureed pumpkin and bake at 400 for 20 minutes (cake or muffins).  
  3.  I make and store these purees in the freezer (http://www.thesneakychef.com/free_recipe_white_puree.php), orange puree (http://www.thesneakychef.com/free_recipe_orange_puree.php) and purple puree (http://www.thesneakychef.com/free_recipe_purple_puree.php) and add them when I think I can get away with it.  
  4.  I add Superfood Kidz (chocolate) to Max’s oatmeal.  He calls it Chocolate Oatmeal and thinks it is a treat.
  5. Pureed tofu in anything I can get away with...
  6. we have "green mac & cheese" and "pink mac & cheese". The green one is spinach and cream, and the pink one is yam and cream. The point is to make sure it has a smooth solid, zero small pieces, texture. It's really reallyyummy! We also cook only the brown rice pasta. they have it in all different shapes. 
  7. From The Science of Picky Eaters "Biologists have discovered that, out of the thousands of genes in our D.N.A., there's one that determines if we like the taste of some healthy greens or if we can't stand them. BUT.....  It turns out, over time, that our sense of smell changes, and that affects our sense of taste, no matter what kind of genes we have. .....So next time you get frustrated with your picky eater, take a moment to relax and remember, their genes may be influencing their food choices just as much as you are."
  8. http://www.pereg-spices.com/about.asp

two ingredient pizza

in ,

A few months ago Kirsten, babysitter extraordinaire who works for Remi's family, told me about a recipe she had found online. Pizza dough made from 1 cup yogurt and 1 cup flour. That's it!! I was skeptical but she swore by it. I  first tried it out at my inlaws and it was a hit, even with the adults. The dough was crispy and soft and full of flavor.

Since then I make it frequently, always including the kids in the process because it's so super simple and I like the idea of them learning to cook or at least appreciate cooking. But the other day when I suggested we make yogurt pizza for dinner, Nate said he wasn't interested.

"What if I make the dough and you guys do toppings?" I suggested

"Yeah Sure." His new response to everything.

This actually worked much better because it was faster and not nearly as messy without the kids throwing flour all over the floor and rubbing yogurt in their hair. 

Two-Ingredient Pizza

  • 1 cup plain whole yogurt (I use Fage)
  • 1 cup self-rising flour (or add 1 tsp baking powder  and 1/4 tsp salt to all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 450.

Mix in large bowl and then knead (I do this in the bowl to save cleanup) for 5 minutes, adding flour if needed, until it's tacky but not sticky. At this point I cheat a bit and add a few drops of olive oil to the dough, but you don't have to. Roll the dough out thin and place either on a board (if you're transferring to a hot pizza stone) or on the oiled underside of a sheet pan. Then hand it over to the kids with a bowl of tomato sauce (canned) and a bowl of shredded Mozzarella. You can put the pan right in the oven or slide the masterpiece onto your stone.

Bake about 10-12 minutes until cheese is bubbly and crust is starting to brown.

It's not about nutrition

in

t's Not About the Broccoli is a really important book which offers a few important and feasible rules for parents of picky eaters. The first is to institute schedules: specific hours for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, bedtime snack. If he doesn't want to eat at these times, he has to wait until the next block. For example, Breakfast is 6-7:30; Snack 10-10:30; Lunch 12-2; Snack 4-4:30 (veggies and dip available before dinner if hungry); Dinner 6-7:30, includes dessert if good effort made. 

For every meal, parents should offer one food he likes, and  one or two new foods. The BACKUP plan should be one safe food, like plain yogurt. The rotation rule is in effect too so you never have same foods two days in a row

Tasting is required. He must try at least one new taste every day. It can be a small bite and he can spit it out if he wants but he must give a yay or nay. Assure him there are no consequences (you won't make him eat whatever he says he likes.) Another idea is to start a chart: each new taste gets a star. 10 stars gets a new toy.

abcdef breakfast

in

Yesterday, while breakfasting on bagels and bacon, Nate pointed out that both items began with the letter "B". Then Michael said we should do a different letter every day for breakfast! Then I was shopping for cantaloupe.

We've only done a few letters but it is proving to be a good way to introduce some new foods (or just get Nate to eat something other than frozen waffles) in the name of the "game".

So far we skipped A (see above) but followed through with...

B: Bagel with Butter and Bacon (accompanied by Bear and Buffalo)

C: Cantaloupe and Cinnamon Cereal with (not shown) Coffee.

D: Danish and Dip (yogurt and honey) with fruit

E: Eggs and English Muffins

F. French toast and Fresh Fruit

transforming kid food

in ,

I actually made these panko-breaded chicken breasts for the kids because I was tired of the frozen kind. I used fresh organic, free-range, local chicken, panko, Parmesan cheese, pasteurized eggs and high quality oil. Neither boy touched them. Nate said they were brown.

So I reinvented them for night two of veggie/healthy/detox week. Reheated in a dry frying pan and topped with a simple, light tomato sauce (recipe below) and served with baked zucchini (375 for 20 minutes) and whole wheat shells (which when covered in Parmesan tasted kind of like pasta. I get why the kids don't eat the whole wheat pasta...but the chicken breasts? they were amazing. why do the kids hate everything I actually make from scratch. why? why?!

Tomato sauce

  • 1 can tomato diced
  • salt, balsamic, lemon juice, garlic.

Bring to a boil and reduce for 20-30 min

veggie wars continued

in

The vegetable wars reared their ugly head again this week. Nate refused to eat his cucumber at dinner which for some reason threw Michael into a tailspin. And he's not wrong-one small piece of peeled cucumber?! Come on. But this is a power struggle for Nate and we wound up taking away all of his toys (they are hiding in the bathtub) and then sending him to bed. Of course lots of crying ensued and we had a sad evening until we all talked and made up. Then just as we were settling in for a happier night night, Mack who had been an angel, threw up all over the wall.

Some nights are just terrible so we all cuddled on Nate's new twin bed and reminisced about how terrible the night was. Then Mack got excited, reached out and punched me in the nose.

The next day Michael and I decided to postpone the vegetable war indefinitely.

to veg...or not to veg

in

Is it okay for your child to eat no vegetables? Like none at all. I guess the answer to that question is probably, no, it’s not alright but my son seems to be living pretty well on a diet of NO VEGETABLES.

For awhile we were on a one-vegetable gig-carrots were the one and only veg he ate but he would eat one or two minis at every meal—or be punished. Really. We once sent him to bed because he wouldn’t finish his carrots and then felt terrible when he actually did go to bed for the night in his clothes. I hate to make this a fight but I’ve tried every other option. See Carrot Mac and Cheese.

Last week, under the forgiving gaze of two adoring grandparents, he refused his one baby carrot. I pushed and pushed and 30 minutes later he was still nibbling through the baby carrot in mini microbites. When he finally finished it, he made a weird gagging noise, came over to me and threw up ONLY CARROT all over me. It wasn’t a lot of vomit-baby carrots are small—but it was the whole baby carrot, the one I made him eat, in regurgitated flecks on my lap. I have to admit it was a brilliant move that Michael and I now refer to as “throwing up the carrot”- when a kid makes it almost impossible to continue making him do something.

Anyway, a few days ago Nate announced that he was through with carrots. Not surprising. He refused cucumbers and snow peas – former favorites—so I was forced to pack an apple in his lunchbox instead of the usual veggie cuts. This went on for awhile until I finally declared my case again at dinner:

Me: “YOU HAVE TO EAT A VEGETABLE.” 

Nate: “I AM! I AM EATING APPLES!”

carrot mac and cheese

in ,

I'm not a big fan of making something with disguised veggies and protein to trick my kids into getting some nutrients. It's certainly not because I've been blessed with great eaters. Nate will eat hot dogs, apples and pasta with butter (he recently threatened to give up apples until I cried for mercy.) Mack is more adventurous and seems to take more enjoyment in food, but he won't eat anything Nate refuses and it's hard for him to sit still long enough to consume a whole meal. 

I've tried Jessica Seinfeld's recipes with little success. The banana-peanut butter-carrot muffins were sort of dense and nobody liked them, all 24 of them. The chocolate cake made with beets tasted like it was made with beets. And after spending a lot of valuable time on these, I sort of gave up and went back to broiling hot dogs. 

The one "kid friendly" recipe that has intrigued me is Melissa Clark's infamous carrot mac and cheese, adapted from her book here. It's simple to make and beloved by many. It has traveled far and wide into foodie circles as well as "kid-foodie" (there should be a term for this.) circles. So yesterday I gave it a try. The trick is that the shredded carrots look similar to the shredded cheddar and the whole wheat elbows so the child will get confused and not realize he is eating carrots. 

Well, not my kids. Neither of them would even touch it which was a real shame since it was pretty damn good. I ate a good portion for dinner and froze chunks of the rest to try again on Mack in a few weeks. (That kid has no memory!)