Food for Children
 

Does anybody have any recipes that both the parents and children enjoy that are a little bit out of the norm? I made Middle Eastern this week and my daughter really enjoyed it. I'd like to help her expand her pallet, especially if Mom and Dad will like it.

When my dad would cook dinner for me and my siblings, he would make something and say "This is dinner. Eat it or go hungry."

You could try that.

Burrito Pie: Tortilla - Beans - Cheese - Tortilla - Beans - Cheese - Tortilla - Beans - Cheese -Tortilla.

Put a paper towel between that and the plate, heat it in the micro and enjoy. You can also add Taco Bell Sauce or Taco seasoning for flavor. Then everyone can pick salsa, sour cream, guacamole, whatever they like. You can make more or fewer layers also. Good stuff.

I would say to just offer whatever you like to eat. There was short period of time where my 2-year old would eat whatever we were eating, even curry. Then the stomach flu hit, and puking up food seemed to make him regress a lot.

That said, most kids seem to like gyoza. My mom used to call them "Chinese tacos" to make other kids try them. They usually ended up loving them.

Is there a difference between gyoza and potstickers?

I agree with this very much. My littles kids eat very complex and sophisticated foods with gusto. The only thing they have no tolerance for is spicy food. Unfortunately, I've got a couple of older kids (different mother) who are in their teens and still won't eat onions, tomatoes, and other stuff. It's ridiculous. They eat sushi because my first wife's father is Japanese and she fed them sushi from the time they were babes. A tiny bit risky, I know, but we do it too. Maybe it's no more risky than hamburgers. The bottom line is you want your kids to be the kind of people who try new things and eat a variety of good non-fast non-processed food and the way to get there is to expose them to the food you want them to eat early.

Whenever my dad was left in charge of making dinner we had chilimac.

One box macaroni and cheese mixed with one can of chili.

It doesnt get more exquisite than that.

Our rule is that kids always have to try the stuff parents are eating. Even if they already have tried it before and they didn't like it. I read a few articles that said that it may take as many as a dozen exposures to a food before the child starts to like it. This has shown itself to be true for us, with our daughter learning to love tomatoes, curry (Indian and Thai), Edam cheese, artichokes, and so on after multiple exposures. Consequently, we basically never have to eat kid food since she has really come to have an expanded palette.

Amen to that. Our boys have been pretty good sports about new foods but our daughter has been the toughest. A few years ago she had yellow squash for the first time and absolutely hated it. We like it and were growing it in our garden so we ate it several times a week. We insisted that she eat some each time, even if it was just a small amount. At first it was a major ordeal for her and she came close to throwing up on the table (she has a strong gag reflex) a few times. It seemed a bit cruel at times, but it is something we feel strongly about. After a few weeks it was no big deal and she will happily eat a normal serving now.

Bottom line, don't cater to the whining and don't adjust your menu to boring kid-foods. Cook what you like and they will quickly learn to like it.

This reminds me of a Calvin and Hobbes strip: he looks at what is on his dinner plate, and asks, "can I get a new plate? Someone threw up on this one."