We made these super easy gelatin treats for Halloween, but they would work just as well for a fall-themed event. You can easily buy pre-made gelatin already in a cup formation (which I did to save time, but also to get a variety of colors) and use any leftover Halloween candy for the body parts of the spider or monster that your child is creating. I also invested in a small tube of black frosting that Monkey could easily grab and use to create the eyeballs, etc. I know it seems like a lot of sugar all at once, but I was there to regulate her intake, and it turned out that she didn’t care for the gelatin one bit. She mainly enjoyed making her “jiggly critter.” We were inspired to make this dessert by one of my mom’s magazines (she’s been in town visiting), but I can’t find it on their site. Here’s a picture of the page that we used to guide us:
One of the pleasures of living in wine country is the easy access to all things grape and wine related. Harvest has ended early this year, but we made it to a winery in time to see the production process in full swing. Although Monkey is too young to drink wine, she has certainly seen her parents drink enough of it to recognize the special glasses when they appear on the table and request a sip on occasion. Showing her the grape sorting and crushing and fermenting process was a great deal of fun, and at this stage of the game it’s all still grape juice – perfect for sampling. If you’re lucky enough to bring home some juice from a visit to a winery, try this recipe for sorbet:
Grape Juice Sorbet
3 cups of grape juice
1 cup sugar , divided into quarter cups
Dissolve the sugar into the grape juice, a quarter of a cup at a time, adding only enough sugar until it tastes good to you. Place the mixture in the refrigerator until it is very cool, at least 4 hours. Freeze in an ice cream maker, according to the manufacturers instructions. Store in freezer in popsicle molds or freezer-proof container.
Sometimes, the whining is just too much and I give in. These are baked cheese crisp things. Who knows? It’s seems so futile some days to fight the good fight. All the other kids seem to be eating them and Monkey just wanted them so badly. I’ve dubbed them cheesy-oaty puffs after a great line from the kids’ picture book, Llama Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney.
Ah well, by the next day she was no longer interested.
We’ve been reading the fantastic book Zen Ties by John J. Muth a lot recently. Since it’s fall, it’s a happy coincidence that this book features apples. I decided to have a little apple tea party with Monkey by having her help me make an apple galette, and serving apple tea. We shared a wonderful afternoon, first admiring and selecting apples in the store and then preparing this freeform pie. We purchased the tea, which was too spicy for us. The pie turned out beautifully. Here’s the recipe:
Apple Pie
Crust Ingredients:
Apple Filling Ingredients
Instructions
Make sure you let the galette cool down before eating. Serve with your choice of ice cream.
Our sparkling water bills have been skyrocketing ever since Monkey caught the bug from her father. We have friends who have invested in some of the various systems out there, so we undertook a highly unscientific taste test and study of whether we find a home carbonator system palatable.
In this tasting, we put Crystal Geyser, Lauretana and some home-brewed sparkling using the very portable iSi system to the test. The big surprise was that each water could be enjoyed, and while we had grown accustomed to the big bubbles of the big brands like Crystal Geyser and San Pelligrino, the iSi delivered very nice quality, delicate sparkling. We were convinced that this could be done at home.
We were initially attracted to the iSi (pictured above) with its handsome good looks, the fact that you simply add one cartridge to the canister, pump it, and you’re done. There is no appliance to set out on the counter and my friends were able to carry their system to our house. A quick check on the Web confirmed that the price was right, too. We weren’t completely sold, however, since we’d learned to prefer a really powerful carbonated water and with the iSi, your choice is one cartridge or two. There is no ability to customize the water, if you will.
Soon thereafter we were able to see The Penguin demonstrated at another friend’s place. The Penguin does require a ‘machine’ to house one huge container of CO2- another something to set out on your counter. However, the advantage of this system is that you get to control the amount of CO2 going into your carafe. The Penguin comes with attractive glass carafes. The initial investment is more steep than the iSi, but at this point it gets difficult to do a true cost comparison, because it depends on how much CO2 per liter you add to each bottle. We were sold, though. Not only is our daughter occasionally picky, but her father can be a stickler about what he drinks. We decided on The Penguin.
The good news is that when we went online, we learned the manufacturer of The Penguin, Sodastream, has a more lightweight and less expensive model called The Fountain Jet. We were familiar with the system, so we purchased a starter kit and have been delighted with the results. We do require more CO2 than is demonstrated or recommended in the company’s promotional materials, so we are probably not saving as much money as suggested elsewhere, but we have already made our investment back. The system is extremely popular, though, so our only complaint was the initial wait while the company worked through its backlog. It’s been two months and we’re still using our first CO2 cartridge. Our daughter loves her sparkling water (has to have it before bed every night) and the rest of us are drinking more water.
Part of the whole “dial down the picky eater-ness” philosophy is to connect kids with where their food is made. On a road trip this summer, we were delighted to spend some time at the Rogue Creamery in Central Point, OR. It’s not a huge shop – but it has all the essentials. There is a large glass window into the cheese-making area, a sampling area along with some cheese paraphernalia, and a couple of deli counters with bricks and logs and wheels of some very divine cheese.
Monkey especially liked sampling. To her credit, for a 2 year old, she did watch the video about the cheese-making process and seemed to get that it would be an excruciating wait before the milk that was being hauled in at that moment would be available in a cheese form. She was also mildly disappointed that there wasn’t any goat cheese – her favorite. Nevertheless, the kind people behind the counter gave her tastes of some exceptional cheeses like the Rogue River Blue and the Oregonzola (how many toddlers like blue cheeses?). I think they converted her by the time we left.
P.S. If you go, there is a chocolate store next door called Lillie Belle Farms that serves up heaven in little chocolate squares. Save time to visit both places.
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!
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.
After a few months of paying attention to Monkey’s eating habits, it’s time to summarize what I’ve learned so far:
Further to these key points, Monkey has some other important rules. If food is to be cooked, it still must be simple and easily deconstructed. Unfilled pasta is better than filled pasta, croutons are better than untoasted bread, crunchy is good and all things cheesy are wonderful. Getting to pat down the pizza dough can’t be beat, but eating the pizza is not as important. Cured meats, if meat is to be eaten, are acceptable. Give Monkey the bag – the whole bag – please do not dole out specific portions.
No sitting in chairs at the table FOREVER – Monkey would like to get up and paint or ride a bike or go into the kitchen for something. In fact, the ideal setting for eating is outside. If we are eating outside with friends, however, Monkey would prefer not to share her grapes. Smoothies sound good, and so do cupcakes, and bean dip (thanks to E’s mom for suggesting) - but monkeys don’t really like to eat them all that often. Making all of these dishes is great: measuring out flour and fruit, sampling all the way, using the blender or the food processor, just generally being of help in the kitchen is alright.
And always, always, always provide cow’s milk at every meal (much to Monkey’s mother’s horror). And fruit at every meal. And fruit for snacks.
Coming Up
In addition to investigating the suggestions from the Woman’s Day article on how to get kids to eat better (see August 20th post), here’s what else is planned at The Toddler Who Ate Everything:
I just came across this article on the Woman’s Day website on ways to encourage your children to have a more healthy diet. While I think that the headline is misleading – these are all common sense ideas, not really ‘secrets’ – there is good, reliable information in the article. We have profiled or experimented with a lot of the ideas here at The Toddler Who Ate Everything. The tips are short and to the point. On the other hand, about half the tips are geared to parents who have kids addicted to sweets and fast food / junk food.
There was one that was a surprise to me. The 4th tip is to “Keep Trying” and the article suggests that it takes 10 exposures to a new food before a child may like it. I have always read and heard about a higher number, say in the 14-20 range. I have to wonder if that is over consecutive days or over any period of time. This will be completely unscientific, but we’re introducing polenta tonight and I’ll begin counting how many exposures to polenta it will take before she a) tries it and b) likes it (if ever). I know that when I have to ask my daughter to do something, it seems like I’m in the 1,000s exposure range before it sinks in.
In fact, I will try out many of their suggestions over the next few weeks and see what works and what doesn’t. After all, Monk couldn’t eat any less could she?
Just a few photos from a recent birthday party celebrating the summer birthdays of the three boys in the last photo. The great part of this party, in addition to the very nice park (near a bathroom!), was that it was a bunch of kids and parents eating and playing.
I watched Monk try foods that I had seen her previously shy away from – I suspect because the other kids were eating them. Other moms have also made this discovery. We have a bunch of social eaters! Perhaps this goes back to that evolutionary theory about kids shying away from food at this age (see posts from August 7th and August 5th), but once they see others trying and enjoying food, they’ll be a little bit more adventurous. Of course, it doesn’t hurt when the new foods are things like cheese puffs and the appetite has been whetted by cupcakes.
The monk loves these! Fiberfuls are only available at Trader Joe’s (http://www.traderjoes.com/index.html). They fill her up and are full of fruit. We only get them once or twice a month and that seems to be enough to keep her interested. In fact, most of the time I just have her eat one in the store and we’re good on them until the next shopping trip.
