Okay, talk about eating your words. With all of the confidence in the world, I prepared a very delicious-sounding soba noodle and spinach recipe from the NYT columnist Mark Bittman last night for dinner. I talked it up big time, too. My daughter was so excited to try the noodles with all of the good things she likes - edamame, spinach, lime juice, soy sauce – what was there not to like? Apparently, everything. Noodles didn’t exactly come flying back into my face, but I think they might have if it hadn’t meant a time out. I’m not sure that this qualifies her as a picky eater but it sure doesn’t make things a heck of a lot easier. So, in hopes of redeeming dinner, I made a quick little miso soup — ha, ha. Remember me? The LAZY mom-chef. She asked for, and I gave her, a few slices of prosciutto, some goat cheese, cucumber slices and baby tomatoes along with milk.
But, for you diehards, here is the miso soup recipe I should have made last night (one that Monkey loves):
Ingredients
Prepare and measure ingredients first. Put dashi stock in a large pan and bring to a boil, and then turn down to a simmer. Add miso to stock, and dissolve. Add in tofu cubes and seaweed leaves. Heat for 2-3 minutes and then serve into bowls. Garnish with the chopped green onion.
*Makes 4 servings
Using the “sqaure foot gardening” method developed by Mel Bartholomew way back in the day, we’ve created some garden boxes along our driveway. This is the place where Monkey likes to hang out if she’s not painting on her easel. We have a pot full of kid’s tools and purple gardening gloves that she almost fits into. And she digs right in – literally. Her favorite parts of gardening are planting and harvesting. It’s hard to find enough green beans for a meal because the little scavenger has already been through all of them before I can get to them. If there is any magic bullet to getting a child to eat their veggies, it has to be having that child help to grow them. I wouldn’t have believed it until I saw it with my own eyes. My daughter seems to intuitively understand that we pick and eat whatever is ripe and ready - concepts she picked up by observing us in the garden. I have seen this with children at Farmer’s Markets, visits to farms, family garden, neighborhood pea patches, and even from container gardens. It doesn’t take much and it’s well worth the effort.
Feeding toddlers who are picky eaters seems to be a hot topic on the web these days. I’m sure that the number of websites devoted to the subject is in exact proportion to the level of frustration that parents of picky eaters feel. If you’re looking for a comprehensive list of strategies for making meal times less fussy, the Dr. Sears website has created a pretty thorough catalog of the basics. (Earlier posts on this same subject are on the toddlerwhoate.com site as well.)
Reading through the list at Dr. Sears just makes me smile. Haven’t we all tried these tips before? Why do some of them work only some of the time? The truth is that every child is so different, and different from day to day, that in reality there is no comprehensive list. There is only your list for Susie or Johnny, or in my case Monkey. It’s my little toolbox that I reach into at least three times a day to try to find anything that will help me “construct” a workable meal. One that doesn’t have three of us eating three completely different dishes. The other great thing about my toolbox is that I’ve finally remembered to add another tool to it. I’ve labeled my new tool ‘perspective’ (which I don’t always have on hand after 2:30 a.m. wake up calls). My perspective tries to remind me that all in good time, we will be through the prosciutto-craving, strawberry-loving phase. And at that time, Monkey will have undoubtedly found a new wrench.
A recipe to try when you think your toddler is open to it:
Spiced Nuts:
Warm oil and add rosemary until fragrant (1-2 minutes on stove). Pour over nuts and mix in other spices. Roast at 325 for about 15-20 minutes.
We’ve been really experimenting with the garden – table connection, and having a lot of fun with it. Not too long ago, Monkey had a couple of friends over and we set them up with some seedlings, water and soil. Each girl planted some plants that we had on hand waiting to go in the ground anyway. We used cardoon, pole beans and strawberry plants, but you could use anything appropriate for your zone (talk with someone at your local nursery). It has been wonderful to watch the plants grow and the girls come by to check on them and snack right off of the plant. (Once again, I’m able to maintain my hands off, raw food, vegan philosophy on the table without hitting anyone over the head with it.) The best part is that the girls treat these fresh off the vine fruits and veggies as treats!
As I’ve already confided, I believe in keeping things simple. There’s no way that I would skimp on the chance to engage my toddler in something fun that involves food! We invested in a paella pan and got busy making this delicious and relatively simple Spanish dish. The best part of Paella is that there is usually something for everyone in the dish – rice, seafood, sausage, chicken. Although I’ve recently turned vegan, I did spend some formative years in Lousiana, where I grew to appreciate jambalaya, a paella cousin. Thus, I enlisted my foodie husband to make the dish – a pleasure for him – and then we called over some friends, who brought the Spanish wine to accompany our meal. The kids thoroughly enjoyed picking through the dish and eating their favorite parts with their fingers. It was also reassuring to see the toddlers try something with different spices. We just set it out in front of them without any kind of hoopla, and they were willing.
Want to cook for a picky toddler? (Now, I know you shouldn’t actually use the word “picky” in front of your little one – but feel safe to vent, I meant write, it on this site.) As with everything that I try, I learn that it all comes down to the basics, right down to the equipment. Cooking well requires, at a minimum, some decent pots, pans and knives. Pictured are two recent acquisitions, which have made turning on the stove a breeze. These are both by All-Clad – one is a Stainless Steel 12-inch Fry Pan and the other is a Stainless Steel 4-Quart Saute Pan. Don’t ask me what makes the pans work so well. All I know is that the heat seems to distribute evenly throughout the pan, everything slides right out and they are a snap to clean.
Here’s a quick tomato sauce to make in your saute pan. Try it and I think you’ll agree that having the right pans makes this already simple recipe practically effortless.
Quick Tomato Sauce
Place tomatoes in saute pan over medium heat along with herbs. Cover pan, but stir periodically. Allow tomatoes and herbs to cook for about 10 minutes until they have softened. Run the mixture through a food mill to get rid of the skins and seeds. Place sauce back in saute pan along with salt, pepper and olive oil to taste (try out a couple of tablespoons) and then simmer until the sauce reaches your desired thickness. Sauce may be kept in the fridge for about a week, or frozen for several months.
Here is something interesting that I read recently. The gist of this new research, as reported by Don Sapatkin for the Philadelphia Inquirer, is that:
Of course, thinking about picky eaters, there is some discussion about the role that breast feeding plays with the development of food preferences and eating practices. Some researchers believe that breast feeding, as opposed to bottle feeding, introduces a variety of flavors from the mother’s diet and consequently affects how much is eaten, since babies play an active role in getting the milk.
Though I loathe to admit it, I’m finally ready to confess that I must be the laziest mom out there when it comes to preparing meals. I’m red-faced, but there you have it. If I had my druthers, I’d be spending my time reading or playing with my daughter. Not cooking for us! I married a foodie – shouldn’t he be the one busy in the kitchen? But there I am, about 4 or 5 nights a week, in the kitchen cooking up a meal. I don’t like touching meat, my knife skills are pretty weak, and my palette is pretty mainstream (curry – how exciting!).
Luckily, my tastes line up pretty well with my daughter’s interests at this age. We both like things quick and simple. The main difference is that most of my meals are vegan, but she is an omnivore cook’s delight. So we compromise…. I’ll usually make a meal and then add in a little meat on her plate. Meat for her includes prosciutto (her fave!), sausage, chicken – things I can cook up in batches and chop up easily. Here’s our list of surefire winners that do not usually require a recipe:
Everything is always served with fresh raw veggies on the side, usually tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots and occasionally celery. Fruit for dessert. I do not buy any pre-made sauces or dips, I just usually find a night of the week and then make up double or triple batches of everything and then freeze them. For instance, we’ve got basil pesto as well as tomato sauce in the freezer. I just take out a small amount, thaw it in the microwave and then stir it in with the freshly cooked pasta.
Those of you feeling sad for Monkey right now, never fear. Her dad feeds her extremely well on the nights he cooks – very exotic and gourmet meals that include duck confit, truffle oil and all kinds of pork rubs.
Another theory (I’m starting to feel like an economist here): Monkey is a relatively good eater because of all the time we spend in gardens and the gardening we do with her. Pictured above is only part of the garden at Wild Flour, a bakery in Freestone, CA. At least one of us works in our teeny garden almost everyday, which reinforces the “garden – table connection.” She sees us, and we encourage her to help out. We also take Monkey to the Burbank Gardens in Santa Rosa, CA and to our neighbors’ gardens – just about anywhere plants or veggies are growing. I don’t want her to grow up being grossed out by “green stuff” like I was. Today, someone thoughtfully left a big ‘ole box of fresh and ripe tomatoes at the entrance to her preschool. She picked out a big one and a small one and then proceeded to eat them both on the drive home.
Second theory: the snacks are too tiny at preschool and she’s just SO hungry that she would eat anything in front of her.
Photo by Wendy Wilder
A friend recommended a great cookbook called The New Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas. Every page is filled with the most delectable offerings – I can’t wait to dig in – and I appreciate that the book is organized by season and events. What has stood out the most is the list of never fail meals for kids! Just like the lists we’ve been compiling, there are other parents who are managing by reminding themselves of the fantastic options that we have and that the kids will eat. To name a few from the book: quesadillas and a fruit plate, tomato and rice soup and muffins, plain polenta with grated parmesan on the side. My favorite quote: “They will always, always eat quesadillas. Quesadillas have saved them from starvation and me from a nervous breakdown many times.” Amen.
My monkey is gnoshing on bread and brie in this picture taken at the local beach.
At home? She would’ve snubbed such a snack or a treat. It’s possible she went for this snack, sand and all, because she was just plain hungry, because there were other people around eating these foods, or because it was a different setting.
I started keeping track of “toddler approved” snacks ever since that day. My list so far:
There’s nothing better than a quick list of what your kid WILL eat posted on your fridge. At one of our friend’s house, they use this list to keep track of what their daughter likes for dinner. In a hurry? Refer to the list. Babysitter coming over? Refer to the list. Child melting down about dinner? Refer to the list. There’s no reason not to have multiple lists: snacks, breakfast, soups, smoothies and so on. It’s also a handy way to focus on healthy meals.
