Cherrytinis

Morning snack: Blueberries and vanilla greek yogurt

Lunch: Chicken quesadillas, avocado slices and cherrytinis (aka cherry tomatoes)

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I know you saw the title and thought to yourself....isn't her blog about kid's food?  I know, I know, it was deceiving but based on a true and somewhat story.

So LQ (little Queen) is a fan of all fruits and vegetables except for potatoes, tomatoes and kiwi.  Now kiwi, I get.  She and I have a slight allergic reaction when we eat too much of it so she just won't eat it at all.  I, on the other hand, love it and eat it anyway!  But potatoes and tomatoes, I have no idea.  I mean, what kid doesn't like french fries and potato chips?  She won't eat potato chips if you call them such but will eat them if you call them chips.  And she'll eat sweet potatoes if I call them yams (and she doesn't see me prepare them).  What's funny is that if you call marinara "tomato sauce", as many restaurants do, she won't eat it.  She'll even get a bit annoyed by the fact that they even offer her tomato sauce.  But if you call it "spaghetti sauce" she's cool with it.  

So, the other day we were at the grocery store and I thought, what the heck let's see if this same concept can be applied to tomatoes.  So I picked up a box of cherry tomatoes and talked about how cute they were and how delicious they tasted, blah, blah, blah.  Then she asked what they were.  I nearly called them cherry tomatoes, but because I'm such a smooth mama, who wasn't at all panicking (yeah right) I instead called them cherrytinis. Of course afterwards I thought to myself, really....that's the best you could do?  So there you go, the nonalcoholic, nonbeverage related cherrytini was born.  Of course, it will only take one kid in her classroom pointing out that they are in fact tomatoes to completely derail my plan but I'll keep my fingers crossed that this does not happen.  Cross your fingers too!

Do your kids avoid any food?  Do you have creative ideas on how to get around these avoidances? (Yes, I think I made up that word.)

Datelets

Morning snack:  Wasa whole grain crispbread with almond butter, drizzle of wildflower honey and cinnamon and clementine

Lunch:  Baked breaded"chicken", brown rice, steamed broccoli and datelets

Afternoon snack:  Red pear and pink Goldfish

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My elementary school cafeteria would serve these tiny pieces of delicious sweetness when I was a kid.  I was always so happy to see that little plastic bag on my lunch try.  But I never knew what they were.  Then one day, 25 years later, I was at the Dutch market and there they were!  Yes!  What were they, you ask.  They're actually dates chopped up into little pieces and then covered in some kind of flour to avoid the pieces from getting stuck together.  If you've never had them as a treat, give them a try.  They are definitely LQ approved!

The Dutch market is a great place to get all kinds of other delicious items.  I get all kinds of things like, datelets, mushroom popcorn kernels, cheese, meats, produce and different kinds of seasonings.  The only downside, and the reason why I hardly ever shop there, is that they have limited hours.  The one I go to is only open Thursday - Saturday.  But because it's an awesome market it's generally jam packed!  Not to mention it's pretty far.  So to be honest, I only go there when I need to stock up on datelets....yum!

Pumpkin Almond Butter Oat Bars

Morning snack: Pumpkin almond butter oat bars with raisins and red d'anjou pear
Lunch: baked chicken, brown rice, roasted Brussel sprouts and blueberries
Afternoon snack: cashews and red d'anjou pear

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I found a can of pumpkin that didn't quite make it into my pumpkin pie fudge last week for Thanksgiving. So, since I promised I'd take a healthy snack to LQ's school tomorrow I looked through the internet and finally found something that looks delicious (and nutritious, of course)...pumpkin almond butter oat bars!  I made a modification, no chocolate in mine.  Instead I used raisins....yeah, that's all I changed.

Adapted (with slight modification) from The Blonde Vegan.

Ingredients
2 cups oats
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 cup agave
1 TBS vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup raisins

Method
Dump everything in a bowl, mix it all up.  Pour everything into an 8 x 8 greased pan (I used parchment paper instead).  Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 35 minutes.  Enjoy!