On the upside

Morning snack: cottage cheese and cantaloupe

Lunch: grilled cheese sandwich, baby carrots and strawberries

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I read a funny post on Facebook the other day that reminded me of how finicky kids can be about food.  Maybe you've seen it.  As you all know, I've been dealing with a little bit of that myself with Miss I don't eat chicken or turkey anymore.  Oh and as a bonus, she's now added veggie crumble to that list.  Anyway, I'm just happy and grateful that this new pickiness has only affected protein and that she still loves fruits and vegetables!  

Do your kids have any random food habits, rituals, dislikes, etc.?

Nacho-ish

Morning snack: whole wheat rice cake topped with peanut butter and raisins and a clementine

Lunch: brown rice, peas, veggie crumble, a couple of corn tortilla chips and a sprinkle of cheese.

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Cheesy situation

Morning snack: cottage cheese with a sprinkle of cheese and Triscuit

Lunch: sharp cheddar grilled cheese sandwich, blueberries and red bell peppers

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I've been having a bit of a hard time getting LQ to eat turkey or chicken lately.  In fact, she took the turkey out of her pita yesterday.  She is, however, eating all the proteins I eat.  These include peanut butter, dairy, legumes, hummus, nuts and vegetarian meat alternatives.  Her favorite....cheese, of course!  

Maybe she'll be a vegetarian like her mommy!  

Greek yogurt oatmeal breakfast cookie

Morning snack: Greek yogurt oatmeal breakfast cookie and clementine

Lunch: Turkey, cheese, avocado, hummus pita, baby carrots and grapes

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One of the most important things I've learned from my three year old is that calling something a cookie automatically makes it more delicious!  

Greek yogurt oatmeal breakfast cookie

Ingredients

2 cup oats

1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt

2 TBS almond slivers

2 TBS raisins

2 TBS melted butter

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup agave

1/8 cup honey

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Method 

Set oven to 350 degrees.  Place all the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in a second bowl.  Use a whisk to make sure the wet ingredients are completely combined.  Combine the wet and dry ingredients.  Pour into a pregreased 8x8 baking pan and bake for 20ish minutes.  Enjoy!

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.)

Mac and cheese

Morning snack: green apples and pistachios

Lunch: macaroni and cheese, steamed broccoli and "chicken"

Afternoon snack: Stonyfield yogurt

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I was debating what I should make for LQ, so I asked her.  She immediately said, chicken, mac and cheese, broccoli and yogurt.  How easy was that!  Now the best part, I made mac and cheese from scratch! I love making it this way because I know exactly what is in it.  I know that it contains no preservatives or additives.  And LQ loves it!

Mac and cheese 

Ingredients

1 TBS wheat flour

2 tsp butter

1/3 cup 2% milk

1/8 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1/3 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup whole wheat fusilli 

salt and pepper to taste

Method

Cook fusilli according to the the instructions on the box and set aside.  Over medium to low heat melt the butter and add wheat flour.  Use a whisk to combine until all the flour until it is moist and continue stirring for a couple of minutes.  Add milk and continue mixing with the whisk until the flour breaks up and makes the milk thick.  Once the flour is all broken up add the cheese and continue stirring to make the cheese sauce.  Add pasta.  Enjoy!

**This method works with almost any cheese.  The roux (a.k.a. the flour and butter part) helps to keep the cheese sauce from breaking and thickens it up.

Black Bean Won-ton Mini Tostadas

Morning snack:  cinammon coco pop with almond butter, cinnamon and a drizzle of honey and clemenite

Lunch: black bean and cheese wonton mini tostadas, avocado and blueberries 

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These mini tostadas were the easiest thing I've made yet.  I had a stock of black beans which made it extremely easy.  I wet the won-ton wraps, placed them in a silicon muffin cup added black beans, sprinkled it with cheese and baked at 350 until the won-ton was a golden brown.  By the time I put everything else together the mini tostadas were done.  Voila!

I can imagine these being awesome for parties.  If I were having a party I'd make some with chicken, some with beef and some with black beans.  To pretty them up I'd top them with guacamole, sour cream, chopped lettuce and tomato.  

**I also made these with turkey once.