Toddlers and Lunch-iaras

Toddlers and lunch-iaras

Look at them smile and laugh like they are so innocent. . .

My grandma has been babysitting kids from before my mom was even born. That means in about 40 years, while working five days a week, she has easily served over 10,000 meals to small children. Over the years she has picked up some tricks to feeding the most demanding of food critics, toddlers.

Small children are the hardest people to please when it comes to food. They don’t like this and they don’t like that, and of course if they don’t like something their natural reaction is to throw it and scream. Also if there are multiple children, they feed off of each other, figuratively speaking of course. If one child decides the lunch table is actually a drum set they all do or if the dreaded “we want lunch” chant begins, everyone wants to join in. Feeding kids can be a nightmare.

There are four things to keep in mind when feeding toddlers: KISS, creativity, cleanliness, and authority.

KISS is an acronym that the engineering students definitely know. It means keep it simple, stupid. Ask any child what their favorite food is and they will most likely say, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza , or ice cream. Little kids enjoy simple foods. The average foods on the menu at my grandmas are sandwiches, PBJ, bologna and cheese, or grilled cheese, oodles of noodles, pancakes, and macaroni and cheese with hot dogs. The menu is simple yet fulfilling. Sorry to say this but a kid would enjoy a chicken nugget just as much as a chicken that you personally killed and cooked that morning. Therefore, unless you are seeking potentially better health benefits, then you shouldn’t go the extra mile.

Next, as I have previously mentioned from an earlier post is creativity. Children don’t have much of an attention span and tend to wander the second they loose interest in what’s in front of them. Making meals more fun and interesting helps the kids to eat their food. As I have briefly mentioned before serving themed food, especially on the holidays, is a favorite for the kids. The easiest easels for these creations are pancakes. Food coloring can easily be put into pancakes to give effects such as green for saint patties day. Also pancakes can easily be cut into shapes, like a Christmas tree, or stacked to create a birthday cake. Themes can even be made up. You can have astronaut food and even math food. Creativity can also be used for trickery. A perfect example is crust. Most kids, and some teens, claim that bread crust is yucky and will not go anywhere near it. Cutting sandwich slices into little triangles makes the bread appear as if it has less crust. My favorite trick is when my grandma takes a heel piece and flips it upside down so it looks like a normal piece of bread. Even I would admit to not liking heel pieces but have been victimized by this trick many times. I have eaten whole sandwiches without even knowing the two pieces of bread were heel.

Children are messy eaters. If you have ever watched one eat you will most likely have observed that more food ends up on their face than in it. Also a child who believes that their food is actually army men, or that there drinks are actually maracas tend to make even bigger messes. That is why in the photo above you will notice that every child’s drink has a lid on it. Never give kids syrup either. If you serve pancakes put powdered sugar on them instead. When they are done eating make sure to wash their hands, even bread makes their fingers sticky.

The last tip is to maintain authority. Toddlers, even, no, especially the ones who don’t talk are geniuses. They know what they want and how to get it. Whether it be tantrums or beady eyes, kids learn from an early age their specialties. Don’t’ let them be little princes and princesses. Learn to say no. If they have already had their serving and they want more, too bad. If they don’t like a certain food make them try it and wait at least a few minutes before trying something else. Offer rewards for eating all of your food. My grandma has always done pretzels or ice pops. Let them know they cant have it unless they eat what is in front of them. This all may sound tough, but it should be a helpful step in becoming the authority figure.

Raising children is something that most everyone does at some point in their life and learning how to feed and interact with them at mealtime is a big step in the process of parenthood.

A lesson from the Wise

A Lesson from the Wise

The past weekend, I stayed at my great grandparents’ house in Pennsylvania to visit family. My Grandma Louise is known for cooking feasts for company whenever they stay over. Normally we would gladly have her cook dinner, but this year we finally noticed her age catching up with her. Since last year, Grandma Louise has gotten gout, a form of arthritis, in her feet and hands and has unwillingly had to resort to using a walker. We decided we would go out and get dinner someplace else so she didn’t have to cook for us (they don’t do much delivery in rural Pennsylvania). This upset my grandma Louise and at the age of 91 she still went ahead and made dinner anyways. She was willing to cook an entire meal with all of her ailments to have us eat together. Even though she didn't eat a single bite she knew from her years the importance of bonding at the dinner table and enjoyed our comany and time spent together.

As I have previously tried to emphasize, mealtime is not just to satisfy your hunger, it is for many other reasons including socialization and fellowship. I believe that families should eat together as often as possible.

In today’s society eating together is declining or nonexistent in too many families. Many families “just don’t feel like it” or of course “just don’t have the time”.

When you have a meal with your family you can increase the relationships and bonds between one another. You find out about how someone’s day was or what their plans are for the day. You can find out how school and work are going. You joke together. You laugh together.

Therefore I know that getting meals in as a family is hard. In my family we only eat dinner together and that is normally only 4 or 5 nights a week. Between all of our activities, there is hardly any time included to eat at all. Generally we will fabricate intricate plans that involve phases of time that people are home to prepare parts of the meal we will have for the window of time that we are home together. It may be hard, but it can be done.

If it wasn’t for dinner time I don’t know when we would talk. My sister is almost always in her room, my dad likes to work on his projects out back and my mom is always cleaning or out running. Dinner is just about the only time on a regular basis that we get to have conversations and be together as a family.

I challenge anyone reading this, if you don’t already, to have dinner with your family. If you need to, find a recipe online and make dinner, invite your family to join. This is an important part of life for any family and will lead to a more positive lifestyle. Go out and make it happen.

Slow Down there Seabiscuit

Slow down there Seabiscuit

Several moments ago I was eating a Rice Krispies Treats, chocolatey drizzle, of course, when I found myself holding the treat upside down. Suddenly I was swept away by a wave of inspiration. I ran to grab a hold of my camera to take a picture of my more than reluctant sister eating a Krispies Treat upside down to use for this weeks blog post.

Your probably thinking upside down Rice Krispies?, Seabiscuit?, a reluctant sister?, but don’t worry this is going somewhere.

The main reason that people in our modern society eat, besides for survival, is for pleasure.

Here’s where everything ties in, except for the sister thing, I just like to bug her. There are ways in which I have discovered to improve pleasure and satisfaction gained through food. Now first off I am not trying to come off from someone who worships food or even that is even slightly obsessed with it, but I do believe we should draw as much pleasure from little things we do, even eating.

Well I will start with the Rice Krispies treat. When you eat foods that are better on one side than on the other, then you should let that part touch your tongue first. It probably sounds silly but it gives you a more pleasant initial reaction to your taste buds. Many foods drizzle chocolate or other sweet substances on the top of the food. Just flip the food around and plan your approach for the greatest tasting experience.

Another way to enjoy your food more is to make it yourself. When you put some work into a meal it will taste better than if someone else made it. Therefore this doesn’t include heating a Hot Pocket, but how about you make your own hot pocket with some toasted flat bread and your fillers of choice. Not only do you get the satisfaction from the hard work, but you can also alter the taste to your preference.

As for Seabiscuit, eating is not a race. If you are eating something you love, like ice cream, slow down and enjoy it. Ice cream is great for improving your mood. You shouldn’t eat too much because its unhealthy but if you are going to do it, you might as well enjoy it. Also eating more slowly is supposed to help you to want less. So go ahead and nibble on your cookie, drink your Frostie through a tea straw, anything to slow you down so that you can last longer in your shrinking window of culinary happiness.

The last idea I will leave you with is to save the best for last. The catchy phrase isn’t only true in encouraging slow and late people, it works in eating too. Unless you are one of those people who think the best meal is the one where you just mix everything together on your plate, then decide what you like the most and then least and start form there. Even with simple foods like peanut butter and jelly, go ahead and eat the boring crust off before getting to essence found in the sandwich’s core.

Don't be scared to take up silly new eating habits, add a little bit of extra happiness to your snacks and meals. I mean who doesn't want more happiness?

Cheesecake on a Stick

Creativity in Food: Cheesecake on a Stick

The past week while at an unfamiliar restaurant, I once again braved the interestingly unusual. After finishing a more than satisfying meal, I was offered dessert. Initially my response was “no thank you” even though I was thinking “how could you even ask that, I just ate the biggest bacon egg and cheese burger I had ever seen after rescuing it from a sea of fries, I am about to be sick and the last thing that I would possibly want to have cross my mind is more food.” Moments later while peeking at the menu I noticed something that caught my attention. Cheesecake on a stick. The idea of a food so often thought of as elegant being served in such a childish manner intrigued me. Of course I succumbed to my curiosity and peer pressure of the host and ordered it.

As a fan of creativity, I believe that food is better served in unique and thoughtful ways.

For businesses in the food industry this is the best way bring interest to your customers. Even though I was beyond stuffed, I still ordered the cheesecake on a stick, not because I was hungry, but because of its entertainment value. Lets face it, creative food is fun. Not only that, but now I am heavily inclined to share this food with others. From edible utensils to gourmet corn dogs, anything is possible and luckily for restaurants owners we want anything

The idea of creative food isn’t just helpful for business, it can and should be used on the family and friends level as well. One example is from my grandma. My grandma has been babysitting since my mom was a baby. Over the years she has learned and taught herself the art of serving food to children (which I do plan to blog about another time). A big part of serving food to children is creativity. I will not go too deeply into this right now but I will say that on holidays my grandma will take pancakes and mix them with food coloring. She will use red for Valentines day, green for St. Patrick’s day etc. She then cuts the pancakes into different shapes such as hearts and clovers. The children love this and enjoy these meals far more. It can also be used in a family without small children using anything you can imagine. My uncle once mentioned putting a chicken inside of a duck inside of a turkey and then covering it with bacon. Hey, whatever floats your boat, but at least it is creative and unique.

As I have mentioned, mealtime is not just about survival and preventing your starvation. It is more so, especially in our society, about entertainment. Go ahead and put sticks up your cheesecakes, serve color coordinated food and cover your chicken duck turkey in bacon. The appeal of a food doesn’t technically make it taste any better but it increases entertainment value and therefore increases the fun. Mealtimes bring families together. Creative and entertaining meals bring families together in a positive and uplifting mood that encourages growth in one another’s relationships.

P.S. photo temporary, I am awaiting the arrival of the actual picture



And the Champions are. . .

And the Champions are. . .

Most people are always trying to find those magical substitutes to their food that can be enjoyed and that, most importantly, help them to become healthier. No, I am not a health guru and hardly even a dieter, but therefore I do try to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Through my life there are two products that I have found to be the greatest substitutes. The champions are honey and carbonated water.

You heard right. Condiments and sodas, just go ahead and put your caps down in shame. Walk away. March.

Honey is the condiment of the gods. It is a natural sweetener that taste good with just about anything you eat with ketchup. Eat honey with chicken and fries instead of honey mustard. It can also replace butter on foods like toast and pasta. You can even replace jelly by making a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Honey helps give you energy and can help your immune system. It also has many other benefits that several websites are dedicated to showing.

For anyone who drinks soda, a switch should be made to start drinking carbonated water. Carbonated water comes in flavors such as wild cherry and key lime that taste just like cherry cola or sprite. They have all of the health benefits of water and yet the taste of soft drinks. Also, carbonated water is much cheaper. Wall-mart sells their brand for only 88 cents a liter.

For people who don’t like carbonated drinks or honey (my sister), there are so many other substitutes out there. These substitutes really do make a difference in our lifestyle and once you find who your champions are you will be lead to a more positive and healthy life.