Many of you who know me know that I am a huge advocate for introducing new foods to kids, not just by offering them the actual food, but through books, games, movies, play, etc.

My daughter received a great game for Christmas that definitely qualifies as a unique way to expose kids to different foods. The game is made by eeBoo and is called The Picnic Game. The Picnic Game is played by spinning a wheel and collecting categories of food (main course, drink, vegetable, fruit, dessert). The first person to collect one food from each of the categories on their “plate” is the winner.

It’s a really fun and simple game and has been enjoyed by both my 6-year-old daughter and my 3-year-old son. We were playing the game the other day in fact and I was very surprised to see that my son chose the snap peas when the spinner landed on the vegetable category. My son, whose favorite thing to say is, “Carrots? Ewww, no my like carrots” (replace the word ‘carrots’ with almost any other type of food in the entire world and you wouldn’t be wrong!), was choosing snap peas? Well, maybe it was just a game, but I can’t help but think that those sorts of experiences carry over into real life. Maybe if we play the game enough and I make those same kinds of peas and I associate them with the game, he’ll actually give them a try. I like to think that this is the case anyway and I’m not giving up on that theory.

So, if you’re interested in helping your child on the path to becoming a great, adventurous eater, try out The Picnic Game. eeBoo also makes a similar game called Tea Party Game if tea parties are more your style.

And while you’re at it, here are some of my other favorite products to help get your picky eater more comfortable with the idea of new foods:

Board Books:

• Let’s Nosh
• Yum Yum Dim Sum
• Mangia Mangia!
• First Book of Sushi
• Hola Jalapeño
• A Little Bit of Soul Food
• Chaat and Sweets
• Jamberry
• Eating the Alphabet

Books for Toddlers:

• Lunch
• Green Eggs and Ham

Books for Older Kids:

• The Ugly Vegetables (a favorite in my house)
• Dim Sum for Everyone!
• Bread, Bread, Bread
• Pancakes, Pancakes!
• Growing Vegetable Soup
• Everybody Eats Lunch

Other:

• Ratatouille
• Family Fun Time Beginner Dinner Games

A couple of weeks ago I went to an event for Earth’s Best baby food. The event was meant to highlight some of the company’s new products and so some bloggers and other press people were invited to come and see what was new in the hopes that they would later write something favorable and help spread the word.

I have a been a huge fan of Earth’s Best since my now 6-year-old daughter started eating solid foods back in 2004. At the time, all of those lovely organic frozen baby foods that are now on the market didn’t really exist and so if you wanted something to feed your child in a super-quick hurry and you didn’t want to make it yourself, you went to a jar (I know, it seems so old-school, doesn’t it?). My local natural foods store carried Earth’s Best products and so I bought a few and quickly started to supplement my homemade baby foods with Earth’s Best jars, cereals and snacks.

Since Earth’s Best has been my go-to organic baby food product for the past 5 1/2 years, you can imagine my surprise when, after asking at the event if the cans for some of their new products contained BPA, I was told that yes, they did. I kind of figured that, in this day and age, any new product that comes in a can and is geared toward children would not contain BPA. But when I asked why this was the case, I was told by Shauna Burke, Director of Public Affairs for The Hain Celestial Group (owner of Earth’s Best), that she did not have an answer but would get back to me.

Today I received an email from Ms. Burke and I’ve reprinted below, with her permission, some of what she said:

“What I learned is that all canned products that contain foods with any amount of acidity are canned in the traditional format –i.e. a can with a thin interior coating which contains BPA. You had mentioned that a different brand now uses a BPA free method of canning and uses baked on oleoresinous within their steel cans. Baked oleoresinous may only be used when canning non-acidic products such as beans. If you look at the label on canned soups by this other brand, they are not canned using the same method as their beans.  Any food product containing acidity may corrode baked on oleoresinous and thus it is not a viable option.

Currently, there are no commercial canning alternatives available on the market. At Earth’s Best we continue to research suitable methods of canning as they become available.”

I am pleased that Earth’s Best got back to me with an answer, and I still think they have great products. But I am not an expert in BPA, nor canning processes. If anyone has information and cares to comment, please do so below.

Image by Muffet

The other night I had a craving for cauliflower, which I love, and decided to make it pureed. It was one of the first chilly evenings of the new fall season, so I planned a menu of a whole, roasted chicken, pureed cauliflower and broccoli.

The chicken was done very simply, the way we usually do it in my house, with salt, pepper, fresh rosemary and olive oil on top and a lemon and onion stuffed inside.

The broccoli was also done simply: boiled until just tender and then tossed in some olive oil and chopped garlic. A little salt thrown on top.

The pureed cauliflower, while also very simple, involved a few more steps than the other dishes, so I’ve included the recipe for you:

Pureed Cauliflower

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 Tbsp. of butter
• Salt and pepper to taste

Cut cauliflower into florets and steam until florets are easily pierced with a fork. In a blender or food processor, puree cauliflower, 1/4 cup of reserved cooking water, milk and butter until you get the desired texture. Feel free to play around with the amounts of cooking water and milk to get the consistency you like. Serve with salt and pepper.

Another option, which I often do, but did not the other night, is to add freshly grated parmesan during the pureeing process. Fresh parmesan makes everything better in my opinion.

*This recipe is also great for young babies who are just starting on solid foods. It’s probably best to leave out the extra salt for young babies and don’t go too heavy on the pepper, but everything else about the recipe can remain the same.

My kids (ages 6 and 3) were very happy to be served chicken and gobbled that up no problem. Broccoli happens to be the only green vegetable my son (the 3-year-old) really likes, and so he ate a bunch of that. Broccoli also happens to be just about the only green vegetable that my daughter (the 6-year-old) really doesn’t like, so she didn’t eat much, if any, of that.

When it came to the cauliflower, I think both of the kids each had a little taste, but that was it. This is one of those times where the ‘Golden Rule’ of feeding, which states that kids need to see a new food 15 – 20 times before they’ll try it, applies. I don’t serve cauliflower too often, let alone pureed cauliflower, so I’ll give them a pass this time (and maybe the next 14 times as well – but no more than that!).

Photo by Princessrica

Yesterday morning I asked Lucie, my five-and-a-half year old daughter, what she wanted for dinner. Her reply: “spaghetti with a little sauce on the top and two meatballs on the side.” Okay so, spaghetti and meatballs. I was fine with that since it was chilly and rainy outside and it’s a quick enough meal to make.

I made dinner pretty quickly by using half store-bought and half homemade foods. The spaghetti was Barilla Plus, one of my favorite brands of pasta. The marinara sauce was from one of the many local Italian pork stores in my Brooklyn neighborhood, Esposito’s. The meatballs were homemade by me using about 90% of my mother-in-law’s recipe. And then I made broccoli on the side (steamed with fresh lemon juice and salt on top).

When I served Lucie she said, “that’s not how I wanted it” and she promptly moved one meatball to one side of her plate and the other meatball to the other side. She clearly had a picture in her mind of exactly what she wanted her dinner to look like when I had asked her that morning. So funny to me, but just goes to show you how particular kids can be about their food…even those who are considered ‘great eaters.’

Anyway, Lucie ate both of her meatballs, a bunch of spaghetti and a couple of pieces of broccoli. Ronan, my two-and-a-half year old son refused any meatballs and ate a bunch of spaghetti and a bunch of broccoli. I don’t really like broccoli. I much prefer broccoli rabe, and cook that often. But one day when I made broccoli I noticed that my son ate it up and particularly liked the tiny florets we dubbed ‘baby broccoli.’ Many of you know that my son is not a great eater. Do a search for “Ronan” on this blog and you will find numerous posts over the course of the first three months of feeding him solid foods when he literally would not taste a thing. So now that I know he enjoys eating broccoli, I am resigned to making it once a week or so.

Here is my “recipe” for meatballs. It may not be exact, but that’s the fun of it!:

• About 1.5 lbs. ground beef and pork mixed
• 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 big handful of fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon of freshly ground fennel seeds (optional)
• Salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix with your hands until well-combined. Form into balls about the size of a golf ball and cook on the stovetop in a little olive oil. Turn the meatballs, browning on approximately three sides before dropping them into your favorite sauce to finish cooking.

I used about half the meatball mixture for last night’s dinner and froze the other half for another time.

For a more exact recipe, I always trust my friend Jennifer Perillo at In Jennie’s Kitchen:

Mama’s Meatballs

I tell all my clients that a great way to get kids interested in food is to read books that celebrate food.

Here’s a list of some of my favorite food books to share with your child:

Board books:

• Yum Tummy Tickly!
• Let’s Nosh!
• Yum Yum Dim Sum
• Mangia! Mangia!
• First Book of Sushi
• Hola! Jalapeno
• A Little Bit of Soul Food
• Chaat and Sweets
• Jamberry (this book, in particular, is one of my absolute favorites!)

For toddlers:

• Lunch
• Eating the Alphabet (I credit this book with teaching my then-toddler daughter about such things as artichokes, radicchio and ugly fruit!)
• Green Eggs and Ham

For older children:

• The Ugly Vegetables
• Dim Sum for Everyone!
• Bread, Bread, Bread
• Pancakes, Pancakes!
• Growing Vegetable Soup

Leave your added suggestions in the comments!

My friend requested this recipe from me yesterday and I realized you can only find it in the November 2007 issue of the Small Bites newsletter entitled, oddly enough, Parsnips. Who would have thought?

So here is the recipe reprinted for you. Go forth and bake!

Yummy Pumpkin Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice or 1 tsp. each cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup oil

1 15 oz. can of pumpkin or 1 cup fresh pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1/2 cup chopped nuts and/or 1/2 raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Use muffin liners or spray-on oil to line muffin pans. Blend all ingredients in a bowl and mix at low speed until moistened. Beat at medium speed for two more minutes. Fill muffin pans about 3/4 full and bake 20-25 minutes. Makes two dozen muffins.

*I must give credit where credit is due and tell you that my daughter’s incredible preschool teacher is the one who gave me this recipe about a year and a half ago. Thanks Aleksandra!

Image by Brighterworlds

Here are a few links to some of my favorite recipes as well as recipes I’ve bookmarked but have not yet tried:

Pasta with Tuna and Olives

Summer Minestrone with Fresh Basil - One of my favorites

Lemony Ricotta Pasta with Basil

Lamb ‘Falafel’ with Lemony Tahini Sauce

Sunday evening we had dinner at a friend’s house. While my friend made Jamie Oliver’s Simple Baked Lasagne for the grown-ups (and any of the kids who asked for it), she took my advice from a recent Parenting magazine article, 6 Ways to Encourage Your Child to Eat Fish, and made a quick tuna ragu for the kids.

The ragu was made using a jarred tomato basil sauce and a can of light tuna, drained. That’s it. I tasted it myself and it was delicious. Even my friend’s husband said he would have been happy having that for dinner. Although, don’t get me wrong, the lasagna was incredible!

The ragu was served over mini cheese ravioli. I’m not sure how much of it Lucie (age 5) ate because she was sitting at a separate table from me (although she did request some lasagna and had a lot of Italian bread!). But Ronan (age 2) who, as you may know, is not much of a dinner eater, gobbled it up. He even took some of the sauce with his fork and spread it on his Italian bread and ate it that way.

As I was perusing the Jamie Oliver site for the lasagna recipe, I found his version of a tuna ragu, which is a little more complicated, but not very:

Our Favourite Tuna Pasta

If you’re concerned about feeding tuna fish to your young child, check out KidSafe Seafood for information on how to do it safely.

Image by Woodleywonderworks

Last night I was on my own with the kids and I wasn’t very hungry myself (which is extremely rare, trust me), so I decided to make eggs for dinner. Eggs have gotten a bum rap in the past, but they actually are an amazing source of protein as well as numerous other vitamins and minerals. Many brands of eggs now also come fortified with Omega-3 fatty acids. Because of their health benefits as well as the fact that eggs are so easy to cook and so versatile, we are big egg-eaters in our house!

Last night’s menu included:

Scrambled eggs

Frozen peas cooked with a little butter and salt added

Bilinski’s All-Natural Apricot and Rosemary Chicken Sausage

Lucie ate all of her peas and about the equivalent of one-and-a-half scrambled eggs. She only had about one or two bites of the sausage (which actually surprised me because she is a big meat eater). Ronan ate about two or three scrambled eggs (I had to make him extra), one half of a piece of sausage (I cut them in half lengthwise before I browned them on the stovetop) and maybe a couple of peas.

My verdict: A success!

Small Bites has partnered with Swellbeing to bring you the following two webinars for January 2009:

Feeding Your Baby (6 months – 1 year)
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm ET

Feeding Your Toddler (1 – 3 years)
Thursday, February 26, 2009
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm ET

Please call 212-924-1913 or email info@swellbeing.com to register.