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!).

Image by VirtualErn

My husband was not home for dinner last night and so I wanted to make something quick and easy. Lucie asked for pasta and meatballs, which I did not feel like having, so I settled on pasta and sausage instead.

There is a dish I make fairly regularly that basically consists of Farfalle (bowtie) pasta, chicken sausage, peas and mushrooms. When I went to the store for the sausage, they did not have any mushrooms, so I decided (in the interest of time and convenience) I would leave them out. When I got home, I realized that my last onion had gone bad and my neighbor wasn’t home to lend me one, so I had to ditch that part of the recipe as well. This was turning into a pretty boring pasta dish!

I rummaged through my fridge to see what else I had and found some organic baby carrots. I decided I would add those. What I ended up with was pasta with chicken sausage, peas and carrots…and it was actually pretty tasty. I have to admit though, seeing the peas and carrots mixed together made me feel like I had been transported back to the 1950’s.

Here’s the recipe:

• 1/2 lb. Farfalle pasta
• 3/4 lb. of chicken sausage, cooked and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/2 bag of frozen peas
• 1 cup of organic baby carrots, cut into small pieces
• 8 oz. of chicken broth*
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Freshly grated parmesan cheese, to taste

Put water on for pasta. While water is beginning to boil, cook the chicken sausage in a little olive oil on the stovetop until cooked through and set aside. Put the carrots in the pan and saute until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, cut sausage into 1/2 inch pieces. Put sausage back into the pan with the carrots and add the chicken broth. Keep the sausage, carrots and broth on simmer while pasta is cooking. When pasta has about 5 minutes left, add the frozen peas to the broth mixture and continue to simmer until pasta is cooked. Drain pasta and add all ingredients together.

Serve in shallow bowls with freshly grated parmesan and black pepper on top.

Very kid-friendly and fast dinner!

*I buy Pacific Natural Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth in 8-ounce packages and use one of those when I make a recipe like this.

Image by Another Pint Please

On Sunday night, my husband grilled a T-bone steak we had recently bought on sale at Fairway. I had some broccoli rabe in the fridge that I had bought a couple of days earlier and I decided to get some corn on the cob since my son, Ronan (2.5), seems to love it (and he doesn’t eat much of anything). I also had been craving a leek-tomato quinoa salad that I made a few times in the past, so I added that to the menu as well.

The steak was grilled to about medium-rare with maybe just salt and pepper on it. I boiled the broccoli rabe for about five minutes and then sauteed in some garlic and olive oil for another five minutes or so. Corn on the cob (very good, from Florida) was boiled for ten minutes and then served with butter and salt (is there any other way?). And the quinoa salad was made almost exactly as the recipe calls for minus the scallions (I didn’t have any and didn’t feel like going to get some).

Both kids (ages 5.5 and 2.5) seemed to love the dinner. My daughter, Lucie, mainly ate the meat – she is a huge carnivore. But she did eat about half an ear of corn and maybe a bite each of the broccoli rabe and quinoa salad. Ronan, who normally doesn’t eat much dinner, ate a bunch of quinoa, a whole ear of corn, a few pieces of steak and maybe a bite of broccoli rabe.

I thought the meal was delicious, but mostly I was happy that my kids ate so well.

I practice what I preach with Small Bites – I don’t EVER ask my kids to eat something that they don’t want to eat. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t bother me when they don’t eat. So of course it makes me very happy when they dig in and enjoy good, healthy foods that I’ve cooked for them. Especially when it’s something like quinoa that is very new to them and I don’t make very often.

I’ll call this meal a success!

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!

I’ve posted about my new favorite fish recipe already, but I made different sides with it the other night, so I wanted to give you a run-down of how the kids liked everything.

Wednesday night we had:

• Tilapia cooked my new favorite way
• Sugar snap peas, steamed with a little salt
• Brown rice
• Leftover sweet potato “fries”

Lucie (5 1/2) was feeling a bit sick, so she mostly ate the brown rice with some butter on top and a bunch of the snap peas. No fish, no sweet potatoes. Oddly enough, my very un-picky daughter does not like apple sauce, sweet potatoes or macaroni and cheese.

Ronan (2 1/2), who many of you know almost never eats any dinner, ate a lot of rice, a few snap peas and a bunch of sweet potatoes. I don’t think either kid touched the fish, unfortunately.

The sweet potatoes I made came from an Epicurious recipe that I found ages ago:

Roasted Sweet Potato Slices

They’re pretty good. But I noticed the other day that the recipe says not to peel the potatoes and none of the reviews said that they should be peeled, so I made them this time unpeeled. Not a good idea. They really need to be peeled. So make sure if you do make this recipe you peel the potatoes and cook them a good long time so that they’re nice and crisp.

Image by myJon

Does your child like macaroni and cheese?

Surprisingly, one of mine does not. Would love to hear about yours.

Image by DeaPeaJay

Last night I made risotto with chicken, peas and mushrooms for dinner. I’ve been craving risotto quite a bit lately and I finally got around to making it. It was a bit of a letdown for me because I have a pretty bad head cold and in the end was unable to taste the dish. I had to ask my husband if it tasted any good and if it needed any salt.

I love risotto so much but for some reason, I rarely make it anymore. I used to make risotto quite a bit, but since having kids the thought of standing at the stove for 30 or 40 minutes without really being able to walk away for very long is not so appealing. But, since yesterday was Sunday and my husband was around all day, I finally got to feed my craving so to speak.

For the dish, I used a basic risotto recipe, which you can find almost anywhere these days. And, as I mentioned above, I added frozen peas, baby portobello mushrooms and about 3/4 lb. of poached chicken breast, cut into small pieces. I couldn’t taste anything, but my family said it tasted good!

Lucie (5 years old) picked out all of her chicken to eat and ate most of my chicken as well. She claimed the dish was delicious, but she really only ate the chicken. Ronan (2 years old) didn’t touch his food. I chalk this up to the aforementioned fact that I hardly ever make risotto anymore and so it is unfamiliar to him coupled with the reality that he simply just does not eat dinner very often. It’s a shame because when I was looking at the food on the kids’ plates I was thinking how kid-friendly a risotto dinner really is. I mean, what kid wouldn’t love creamy, cheesy rice?

My verdict: Pretty unsuccessful. But I will try again!