Is sneaking healthy food to your picky eater a good idea?

My kids have a new game they call "The Sneaky Chef." My daughter starts the game by preparing something in her play kitchen. Say, wooden fish with a side of ice cream. My son "eats" the meal. Then my daughter says "Ha! I put blueberries in that fish and mashed avocado in your ice cream." Then they laugh and laugh. I get it. It's funny to create outlandish food combinations and then trick others into eating them.

But, it's also an increasingly popular technique for parents dealing with kids who refuse to eat certain foods. Two books on the topic, The Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious, are bestsellers this month. From Oprah to Amazon.com, from Chow.com to the New York Times, everyone is discussing which book is better--and if Deceptively Delicious (which came out 2nd and is written by Jerry Seinfeld's wife, Jessica Seinfeld) is just a rip off of the Sneaky Chef idea.

The media storm is all very interesting, but I am quite surprised that more people aren't asking a more to-the-point question: Is sneaky healthy food to your selective/picky eater a good idea?

It all depends on how it’s done! Here are some great pointers from Eleanor Taylor, a nurse, wellness consultant, and co-author of Feeding the Kids: The Flexible, No-Battles, Healthy Eating System for the Whole Family. According to Taylor, adding vegetables and fruits to other foods, even if they are cooked and pulverized, can add extra fiber, vitamins and nutrients. However, that doesn’t make every food-sneaking recipe healthy—and it doesn’t make misleading your children a good idea. Taylor suggests five ideas for adding veggies and fruits to the family diet in a healthy, honest way:

1. Tell the truth! Tricking kids into eating healthy food disguised as junk food will ingrain junk-food eating habits. Instead, allow kids to taste vegetable or fruit fortified foods, then explain that they are enjoying a healthier version of a favorite. That way your kids will learn that eating healthy foods—even vegetables—can be enjoyable.
2. Don’t make sneaky recipes your child’s only source of vegetables and fruit. Many popular stealthy recipes incorporate only a teaspoon or two of the added vegetable or fruit per serving—not enough to impact a child’s daily nutritional profile.
3. Serve vegetables and fruits undisguised at every meal and snack. Your kids might not eat them, but repeated exposure is the only proven method for increasing the number and type of foods a child eats.
4. Don’t assume that a recipe is healthy just because it contains some vegetables or fruit. A recipe that contains a bit of nutrition along with large amounts saturated fat, trans fat, refined (white) grains and sweeteners is a treat—not a health food.
5. Whether you sneak or not, help your family enjoy mealtime! Serve the kids, then let them decide what and how much to eat. Mealtime arguments will only result in associating healthy foods with unpleasantness.

Mommy, I HATE oatmeal.

I have two kids. One loves almost everything I cook, even experiments that come out looking odd, lightly burned food and new foods he's never seen before. If he was my only child, I would think that feeding kids is easy, fun, simple and satisfying.

But I don't think that. Because I have another child. She keeps me very, very humble. She grumbles, she cries, she refuses food, she begs for junk food at the store. And, worst of all, she has a habit of suddenly proclaiming that she now hates foods that she used to like.

Just yesterday, she walked into the kitchen, dressed in wildly mismatched clothes, and ready for a tough day in 1st grade. She glared at the saucepan bubbling on the stove.

"I hope that's not oatmeal because you know that I hate oatmeal now."

I said the stupidest thing possible, having not had any coffee yet: "You don't hate oatmeal!"

"I do," she sighed, shaking her head at my lack of maternal mind-reading skills, "but don't worry about it. I'll make myself an English Muffin."

For just a moment, I stopped packing lunches/making coffee/feeding the cat/unloading the dishwasher. I thought to myself about the section in Feeding the Kids on not making separate meals for kids. I though about how hard it is on kids (and parents) when they let kids decide what to eat and then the kid's diet becomes restricted.

But then I thought about her going to 1st grade hungry, about the crying fit she'd have if I gave her oatmeal, about how a whole-wheat English muffin is healthy after all. I opened my mouth to say go ahead and make the muffin. Then I closed it and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry you don't like oatmeal anymore. But that's what we are having. You don't have to eat it, of course, but it just doesn't work to have everyone having different things for breakfast."

She cried. She pleaded. She used the "I'll starve" technique. She stormed out of the kitchen. I felt terrible. I doubted myself. Was she really going to skip breakfast before school?

But then, to my relief and amazement, my daughter trudged--frowning-- back to the kitchen. She added huge amounts of milk, walnuts and dried fruit to her bowl of oatmeal. She topped it off with some brown sugar.

And then she ate the oatmeal. And the next day? Well, we all had English Muffins.

Yikes! The Doctor Says No Dairy for My Daughter

If you've read Feeding the Kids, you know my take on dairy foods for children. I agree with those who claim that dairy isn't vital to survival: your children could get their calcium from beans, greens, almonds, tofu, salmon with bones, and/or calcium supplements/fortified foods. However, for kids without dairy intolerances and allergies, lower-fat dairy foods provide both calcium and protein in an easy, healthy and kid-friendly package. Also, for those people worried about pesticides and hormones in milk, organic or hormone-free milk is now widely available.
That's why, usually, my kids get three servings of dairy each day. It's the easiest and most natural way for me to insure that they get the calcium they need.

Until this week, that is. One of my kids has been feeling sick for a couple of weeks. So, the doctor told me to avoid all dairy foods for her for at least a week. She explained that dairy foods are hard to digest when you are feeling sick and eating them might not start the problems... but diary foods can keep them going. So, we stopped all dairy. Like magic, her problems cleared up. Mine, however, had just started.

It's really hard to avoid dairy foods! So many kid-foods have dairy: pasta with Parmesan cheese, pizza, pudding, pancakes...the list goes on. So, I enlisted some "expert" help from a 14 year old expert who hasn't had dairy in over a year--and her mom! Here are her top 8 suggestions if one of your kids ever has to avoid dairy foods.

1. Eat greens, canned salmon, almonds and tofu for calcium. Or try calcium supplements as recommended by the doctor. Beware of giving a child lots of calcium-enriched orange juice, though. You don't want them to fill up on juice and not want other foods.
2. Serve lean meats to add in extra protein. Skinless white poultry, extra-lean hamburgers, and pork loin are a few great choices.
3. Beans are also a great replacement for the protein and some of the calcium. Hummus, baked beans, and chili are good ways to incorporate beans.
   
4. Earth Balance brand spread makes a good replacement for butter in recipes and for toast.
5. Rice milk (plain not vanilla) works in many recipes (but see #6 below)--soy milk has a stronger flavor that many kids don't like if they aren't used to it.
6. Non-dairy baked goods, such as muffins, pancakes or quick breads, can be tricky. Substituting rice or soy milk for regular milk often results in odd textures or strange flavors. You are better off finding non-dairy recipes on the internet or in cookbooks.
   
7. Don't bother with non-dairy cheese. Most of it tastes (and I quote) "funny."
   
8. For treats, many brands of non-dairy ice cream and pudding tastes great. However, even soy and rice ice cream sometimes contains whey--so read the ingredients if you are avoiding all dairy foods!

Why Do You Always Have Vegetables in Your Lunch?

That's what a kid at school asked my son the other day. He answered "Cause I like them!"

Then, after practicing at home, he went up the little heckler the next day, looked him in the eye, and said "From now on, don't say anything about my lunch."

It worked. But, still. So far this year, my kids have been teased for vegetables, avocado on a sandwich, cheese (!), salad and even yogurt. They don't really seem to care that much. But isn't it amazing that our little kids are so convinced that real food is weird when brightly colored, nutritionally-depleted, chemical-tasting food is normal.

It's just something to think about.

Berry Picking with Kids

Day before yesterday, my family did one of our favorite activities. We went to "The Farm." That's what we call Berry Patch Farms in Brighton, Colorado, a you-pick place with strawberries, raspberries and all kinds of vegetables. It's the kind of place where there really is a red barn, roasters crow and they take you out to the berry picking patch on a tractor pulled wagon traveling through fields of broccoli, spinach, squash and sunflowers. It's so idyllic that I always feel like I am exaggerating when I describe it.

When we are there together, the world makes sense. Even my six-year-old can feel it--in fact I think she, especially, feels it. And I am trying to put my finger on why. Here's what I do know: Picking food is an instinctively satisfying experience, something humans are meant to do, but few Americans have the opportunity to do. And working together as a family to get food for the winter allows the children to participate in an adult activity, rather than common modern construct of adults participating in children's activities. Last, there is the insanely wonderful, incredibly flavorful food. But as dramatic as I am being...the sum is still more than the exact parts that I can list.

All I can say is: yeah for berry picking!

And, by the way, yesterday I packed fresh raspberries and tiny fresh carrots from the farm in the kid's lunches. Nobody teased them--and when I asked my son about them, his eyes got big and he just said "Oh, man, they tasted great!"

Healthy Packed Lunches and Teasing in the Lunchroom

Today was the first day of school for my kids. I cried. I always cry the first day they go back. But this year, I didn't cry in front of them. They were nervous and excited--but they didn't cry because they, unlike their mom, are very grown-up.

So, early this morning, I snipped the tags off the new lunch boxes and peered inside. Empty. Could fill them with something that showed the kids how much I love them...something that says I'm thinking of them when they aren't here? Could I make this lunch stand in for me since I can't be there? Hum, I'd need a curly haired, somewhat neurotic lunch with a tendency toward disorganization. Nothing in the kitchen, besides myself, would work. And I can't fit into the lunch box, even if I use the secret-hidden-zipper that expands the lunch box to almost suitcase size.

I had to settle for packing a healthy lunch instead. But healthy isn't good enough either- the lunch must also not invite teasing from fellow students. Last year, some kids teased my son for having hummus. He said the teasers were eating junk food and he briefly considered telling them about the trans fat and piles of sugar they were eating. But, in the end, he just shrugged, told them they were "stupid," and went back to eating his hummus. Apparently, calling them "stupid" worked, as it so often does, and that was the end of it. Even though I usually discourage name calling, I was glad he stood up for himself--and his healthy lunch.

But this year, he's more self-conscious and he's going to a new school. And my daughter definitely cares if other's make fun of her for anything at all, lunch included. Of course, all kids have to learn to ignore other people's opinions sometimes and find ways to handle teasing. But I hate the think that the lunches I pack would cause them to suffer in any way.

And so I packed crackers (whole-wheat), cheese (2% cheddar), squares of turkey meat, some grapes and some orange pepper sticks (the most risky addition). I added a few kalamata olives for a treat--they're small and I think the kids can eat them without attracting unwelcome attention. After the first few weeks of school go by, and the kids have more friends at their new school, I'll talk to them about adding some of their favorite "strange" items, like salmon salad or smoothie ice cream. Who knows? Maybe we'll even go for hummus again...

Yogurts with Fiber...Watch out!

The other day my kids and I had smoothies while staying with relatives. Later in the day, we were all in terrible pain with horrible stomach aches. I asked if I could peek at the yogurt she'd used in the smoothie. And, sure enough, it was Stonyfield Farms brand yogurt.

About a year ago, my whole family started suffering from terrible tummy aches several days a week. I couldn't figure out what was happening. We weren't sick or eating any strange foods. It didn't occur to me that yogurt could cause these problems--yogurt is good for tummy aches, after all. But, one day we happened to have nothing but big bowls of yogurt for a snack and were in pain a couple hours later. So, I checked the label and saw, to my surprise, that the yogurt contained fiber.

So, I called the Stonyfield Farms consumer info line. The fiber in their yogurt comes from something called "inulin" which is listed on the ingredients list. It's made from chicory root fibers and is added for the fiber, and fiber increases calcium absorption among other healthy benefits. The inulin is also a "prebiotic" food for the yogurt cultures, though it's very possible to make yogurt with non-fibrous prebiotics. The person I talked to wouldn't comment on the stomach-ache issue.

But Stonyfield is not alone. Other brands are jumping on the fiber bandwagon. For example, Horizon brand organic yogurt contains something called "NutraFlora®" which also seems to cause tummy aches in kids. It's benefits are similar to the inulin, but I couldn't find out what it's made out of...that's proprietary!

I get that most people need more fiber in their diets. But, I'd bet that most people who eat organic nonfat yogurts are the types of healthy-conscious people who get plenty of fiber from fruits, veggies, whole grains and nuts. These artificial fiber additions to yogurt are totally unnecessary for a healthy diet!

Of course, these fibrous yogurts may not bother everyone. But, if you or your family members are suffering from mysterious stomach aches... take a look at your yogurt.

Healthy Snow Cones!

While on vacation, my always-on-top-of-the-trends niece brought her snow-cone maker. Turns out, snow cones are all the rage this summer for the older elementary set.

Needless to say, my kids were smitten with the icy concoctions. So, after we got home, we bought ourselves a $15 snow cone maker. Standing there in Target, the kids and I had visions all the snow cones we'd make. We'd impress their friends. We'd cool ourselves after bike rides in the summer sun. We'd use all the ice that our lame ice maker could generate. But then we turned to the syrup selection and our happy imaginings came to an abrupt halt.

I could not buy the brightly colored, artificially flavored corn-syrup called "Snow Cone Syrup."

"Kids," I told them, "We'll invent our our syrup. It won't be easy-- it will involve a lot of ice, a dose of creativity and the courage to taste."

They nodded. And we set to work. Here are the results of weeks of study:

• Orange juice: Not too good. Too bland and the pulp gets caught on the ice. Plus, the color is unappealing.
• Fresh squeezed lemon or lime with honey: Delicious, but too much work. The bottles lemon and lime juice tasted funny.
  
• Olive juice: I refused to taste this one. The kids claim it was good, but then again they didn't actually eat much of it between hysterical bouts of laughter.
• Juicy juice: So-so, but not very great.
• Limeade concentrate, melted: Really good, but not very healthy. (Though better than the Snow Cone syrup.)
• And finally, the winner: 100% fruit juice concentrate, melted: Fantastically good! We used cranberry-raspberry juice blend. But there's lots of flavors. You can keep the can of concentrate in the frig, ready to go. The juice plus the ice is basically the equivalent of a cup of juice. Not as healthy as a piece of real fruit of course, but still fairly healthy.

Hurray for snow cones.

Camping Food Compromises

We are, quite possibly, the only family in Colorado who goes camping in a sedan. We balance a bike rack filled with 4 bikes on the back with another bike perched on top next to the rocket top. The kids have sleeping bags packed all around their feet and stuffed animals piled between them. The trunk is completely filled with food, of course. When we get out at rest stops I always wonder if the whole car might tip backwards, like a stroller with too many shopping bags hanging from the handlebars. When we go up mountain passes, we are the slowest vehicle in the slow lane at around 6 miles per hour, holding up even giant campers and loaded tractor trailers.

But we do eventually get there and start camping.

Camping, it seems, is considered a vacation. A vacation full of grime, extra work to accomplish the most basic tasks (such as washing dishes) and difficulty sleeping, but still a vacation. And I know many people subscribe to the idea that you should eat anything on vacation. I don't. I think you should eat anything that you really like on vacation. So, for me, marshmallows are in, as are s'mores. Fruit roll-ups, out. Hot chocolate, in. Sugary granola bars, out. Salt and vinegar chips, in. Boxed mac n' cheese and spaghetti-Os, definitely out. It sounds like an obvious point--but it's easy to overlook: don't eat junk food you don't love, even while camping.

That brings up the question: what can you eat while camping, besides junk food? Dehydrated food packets? No kid will eat those. And grown-ups only eat them so they can feel hard-core. They taste terrible. Gourmet fresh foods sauteed in your portable outdoor kitchen complete with spice rack and wine cooler? Not if you are traveling in a sedan. No, I go with easy to pack, easy to cook foods:

• Kashi brand granola bars
• Beef jerky (I get the kind w/out nitrates.)
• Turkey jerky (Hey, that rhymes!)
• Packets of instant grits
• Packets of instant unflavored oatmeal, with a bit of sugar on top
  
• Barbara's Bakery Saltine-style crackers
• 2% cheese sticks or string cheese
• Little containers of unsweetened applesauce, pineapple bits, or fruit cocktail
  
• Hebrew brand Low fat hot dogs (These do contain nitrates...it's a compromise.)
• Whole grain hot dog buns
• Unsweetened dried fruit
• 100% fruit chews
• 100% fruit juice boxes
• Apples
• Canned lower-sodium soup (Open the tops half way and set the whole can on the grill until hot.)
• Whole grain pasta, sauce and Parmesan cheese
• Baby carrots, pepper slices, cucumber slices and celery sticks
• Trail mix made with whole grain cereal

Pop Tarts versus Granola Bars.

Recently, there has been a great deal of press coverage regarding Kellogg's commendable decision to stop marketing their least nutritious offerings to children. Under the company's self-imposed new guidelines, one of the products that will either have to be advertised to adults only or be reformulated is the classic Pop Tart. The guidelines specify that only products with 12 grams or less sugar, per serving, be marketed to children.

That's very good news.

But, most moms and dads already knew that Pop Tarts aren't healthy. Kellogg has always had the decency to be reasonable honest in it's marketing. The message always was that this is junk food for breakfast...enjoy!

What makes me mad is "stHealthy" junk food. Empty foods cleverly marketed, disguised as healthy foods.

Today, as I heaved my overfull buggie through King Sooper , I passed the Pop Tarts and pondered their future. Seconds later I pulled up at the granola bars. I picked up a box of Barbara's Bakery Nature's Choice Apple Cinnamon Cereal Bars and looked at the label. 14 grams of sugar and 1 gram of fiber. Wow! That wouldn't pass Kellogg's new test. I looked at box after box of granola bars. With the exception of the Kashi brand bars, I couldn't find any that would pass the test. Few had more than a gram or two of fiber. And several even contained partially hydrogenated oils.

The granola bars were really no better than the Pop Tarts. The only nutritional difference I could find was that the Pop Tarts contained some artificial colors and other additives. Still, granola bars aren't under attack.

Could that be because of clever granola bar marketing?

Natural sugar is still Sugar

This is the promised rant about sugar. But first, I'd just like to say that the Chocolate Rabbit is gone. Eaten. Whew.

I have a bit of a pet peeve about "healthy" recipes using tons of honey, maple syrup or natural sugar. It especially bugs me when these recipes claim to contain "no sugar" as though the recipe is some type of magical creation that is sweet without being bad for you.

It bugs me because all types of sweeteners contain lots of calories and very little nutrition. (The exceptions are the low-cal artificial ones--but that's a whole other rant about a whole other pet peeve.) Honey, turbino sugar and maple syrup are more natural and less processed, but not more nutritious, than sugar. But they still fill kids up, making them less hungry for foods that do contain lots of nutrition.

Having said that, a bit of sugar--or any other sweetener your family enjoys--in an otherwise healthy diet is just fine!

(In case you are wondering, I personally use "evaporated cane juice" because it is less processed and because I like the flavor.)

No-sugar Pumkin Pie

No, this is not a recipe! This is a story. But just in case you do want a recipe, I normally start with a great frozen whole-wheat crust (from the health food store). Then I just use the recipe on the back of Libby's Pumpkin (plain, not the pre-mixed pie filling). Only, I use non-fat evaporated milk and cut the sugar in half. ***Rant about types of sugar in the next post.***

So here is the story: I decided to bake a pumpkin pie for dinner the other night. I whipped up the filling, poured it in the crust, then baked it while we ate dinner. Finally, the timer beeped and my kids, my husband, and our ever hopeful dog all rushed into the kitchen all excited about the pie. I sliced the pie and put it on plates. A bit of pie fell off one piece and I popped it in my mouth.

Ugg! The pie was weird. I had left out the sugar.

I confessed to my family, I explained to them that it was very bad pie, and I apologized sorrowfully as I trudged to the trash can. The kids blocked my way. They still wanted pie. They were going to eat the pie: sugar or no sugar. And they told me not to "bad mouth the food." (That's a rule from Feeding the Kids.)

So, we put some low-fat vanilla ice-cream (get the brand) on top, and tasted.

My son said it was a "strong pie" and gobbled it up. My husband said he liked it better than regular pie. My daughter said she didn't like it, and yet she ate it. I was blown away. It tasted really terrible to me. Just goes to show that you can't always know what your kids will or won't eat!

Update on the Headless Chocolate Rabbit

The chocolate bunny from Easter is still with us. About a week ago, my daughter ate the neck and upper torso after lunch one day. Then, she left the bunny belly on the kitchen counter. I found it much less disturbing in this state, since it's less bunny-ish.

Then, yesterday, we saw a real bunny on the way to school. I am not sure if that triggered it or not. But when she got home from school, she ate some more. Now there is just a foot and leg section left.

Meanwhile, as I was cleaning under the bunny-box, I happened to take a look at the label. It hadn't occurred to me to do that before. I knew, after all, that a chocolate bunny has to be an Empty, right? Well, yes. It's an Empty. But I was surprised to see that the old (and I do mean old) bunny contained a surprising amount of calcium (8% DV) and iron (6% DV) per 1/5 bunny serving. It even contains 3 grams of protein. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised, it is "milk" chocolate, after all.

That got me to thinking. I dug through my food label collection. (Yes, I have a food label collection. And what's so strange about that?) I found my pudding cups label. (By pudding cups, I am talking about those single serving cups of pudding often packed in lunches.)

And guess what? This is really unbelievable... per serving, the pudding actually contains less calcium (4% DV), iron (0% DV) and protein (1g) than the rabbit! Plus, the pudding contains partially hydrogenated oil. (Eww.) Granted, the pudding cup contains 100 fewer calories than a serving of bunny. But half a serving of bunny (that would be, let's see, 1/10th of a bunny) contains fewer calories than the pudding cup... and still has more nutrition. Next, time I am going to compare yogurt tubes to the bunny.

And that gives me an excuse to treat myself to a new label for my collection.

(Note: please don't send me angry e-mails! I am NOT recommending that you serve your kids chocolate bunny as a dairy serving. No. I am recommending that you NOT serve them pudding packs as a dairy serving... except as treats if they love them. And, you know, you could make your own pudding using the easy recipe in Feeding the Kids!)

The Headless Chocolate Bunny

Easter was over a week ago. My kids got some toys, a kite and a fair amount of candy from the Easter Bunny: some jelly beans, a couple of marshmallow rabbits and a chocolate bunny.

I have absolutely no concerns about all that candy because my kiddos eat really well most of the time... and they should be allowed to thoroughly enjoy all the wonder and fun of holidays.

And in accordance with Feeding the Kids philosophy, I also never take their candy away and dole it out. (Nor do I control their Halloween bounty or treats from birthday parties.) Why? Because that isn't fun for them or me. I don't want to play candy-cop. More importantly, it would also make my kids think candy is a BIG deal--dangerous and desirable. And candy just isn't a big deal. It is one type of food- not a very nutritious type of food, granted- but still just a food that they can enjoy sometimes if they want to.

This self-regulation works out really well. They enjoy the candy they like, they don't feel like they have to eat it fast before I take it away, and I don't have to be a mean mama stealing treats from my kids. But I have run into a problem with these seemingly simple system. Sometimes they don't really want to eat what they get.

That doesn't sound like a problem... but it is. I recently found Valentine's candy stashed away among the cards my son got from school. Once I found months old candy from soccer camp still residing in the bottom of the water bottle it came in. I've unearthed old candy in party-bags from birthday parties and ancient Halloween candy stashed in a kitchen cupboard for "later." Most of this candy is stuff they don't really want. They like to save it for a while just in case they decide they want it--or to remember the fun occasion they got it from. We usually laugh when we find it and through it away.

But right now I am living with a decapitated chocolate rabbit. It disturbs me. It moves around the house. Yesterday, I found it on the side table in the living room. They day before it was on the kitchen counter next to a bowl of fruit. This morning I found it on a chair in the kitchen.

The rabbit belongs to my 5 year old. She ate the head and obviously didn't really like it. (She did like the jelly beans and marshmallow rabbits... they are long gone.) Obviously, she can't get rid of it because it was a present from the Easter Bunny. That gives it high sentimental value. So she keeps it.

It wouldn't be so bad if it still had it's head.

Have you heard this song?

I just got a call from my good friend Angie, who lives near Athens, Georgia. That's were REM and the B52's are from. She had just returned from a concert.

But this one was put on by her son's kindergarten class. The kids had practiced the songs for 2 weeks--even missing PE in pursuit of musical perfection. We have all been to these performances, right? All the parents smiling and a very involved parents sing along softly. The other cute little kids singing just perfectly while your own kid picks his nose. (Or do you have one of those perfect kids?)

Anyway, as the last song of the concert, the kids sang a song called "A Pizza Hut." Just take a moment to listen: www.songsforteaching.com/stephanieburton/pizzahut.mp3 The song even has motions!

So much for believing that it's just big industry marketing junk food to kids. Obviously, at least one kindergarten teacher is in on it, too. Or more than one...there's even a teaching unit that goes with the song.

Breaking Things in the Kitchen

This morning I boiled water for my coffee in a kettle missing the handy flip-top spout cover that makes the kettle whistle. So, I really focused my pre-coffee brain on not forgetting I had turned the water on to boil.

That's important because I didn't want the water to boil away and leave the kettle cooking dry. I know that's a bad thing because I ruined my last kettle by cooking it without water. Doing that makes the black interior lining flake off into your coffee.

You may be wondering why I don't have a coffee maker. I broke it.

I also broke my food processor recently by banging the lid against the edge of the counter. I just so happened to crack off the gizmo that allows the lid to lock. And we all know the lid has to lock or the processor won't turn on. (That is a good thing... I need that type of protection.) Fortunately, my patient engineer husband figured out how to jam a chop stick into just the right spot to override the locking mechanism. So, technically, the food processor still works.

But, instead of using the technically-working-food-processor-chop-stick combination, I generally just use the blender. It still works well, though lately I have been smelling that distinctive "I'm going to die" smell whenever I use it. That will give me an excuse to replace it. For the last six months, I have been using it without the little clear plug on the lid. It fell through the lid once when I was pureeing soup. The lid part was ground into a million tiny plastic shards in the 10 seconds it took me to realize why the blender sounded so funny. (No, we didn't eat the soup!) So now I have to blend things with my hand over the hole and that's just gross.

And then there's the vacuum...

Holy Mackerel! Part 2

Well, I tasted the mackerel. It was . . . interesting? I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. It was just a bit fishy for my taste. (Sorry, Yoko!)

Funny thing is, my 5 year-old devoured it.

Holy Mackerel! Tasting New Foods.

Yesterday, I took a Japanese friend of mine to my favorite fish store, Tom's Seafood in Lakewood (near Denver). My friend loves seafood--and so I knew she'd love Tom's. She did.

While she was looking at all the fish, I decided to make my purchase.
"How's it going Tom? I'll have the boneless trout fillets, please," then added, "and 20 shell-on shrimp."
I'm not afraid of a few shells, after all. Well, not very afraid. Tom wrapped up my order in shiny white paper and taped it with narrow masking tape.

Then, Tom turned to my friend. She said she was going to get a whole mackerel. (You know, as in "Holy Mackerel!)
"What are you going to do with that?" I asked her, sounding like a snotty 8-year-old, but unable to mask my disgust.
"Eat it!" was her answer.
"But it's whole." I pointed out. "You'd have to, I don't know, scale it and stuff. There's going to be bones. And there could be guts." I finished in a whisper.
My friend laughed. "No! You just chop, chop, chop. Then cook it up. The bones soften."
"Oh, she knows her fish." Tom nodded approvingly. "Do you want a mackerel, too?" he asked me.
"NO! I mean, no thank-you. I'll stick with my trout and shrimp."

I was surprised at my reaction. It's been a long time since I was grossed out by the mere thought of a food. Or, in this case, the thought of just preparing a food. But the experience reminded me of how it feels to be a kid faced with a new, weird food. When a food seems suspect, very strong instincts kick in. And those instincts are screaming "NO!" not "No thank-you" and certainly not "It'd be fun to try a bunny bite."

But, I am not a kid. And I have agreed to take a bunny bite of the mackerel today. I'll let you know.

Meanwhile, my kid's loved the trout and so did I. Here's the recipe:

Plain (Kid-friendly) Fish Serves 2 Smart
To make plain fish more appealing, buy a very fresh, mild fish like farm-raised trout. Then flavor it with a familiar spice your children like and serve it with ketchup. It’s not gourmet, but it sure is healthy!

• 1/4 pound (or more) boneless, farm-raised trout fillet per person **
• Olive or canola oil
• Seasoning mix (lemon pepper, garlic salt, seasoned salt, etc.) that your family is already familiar with and likes
• Ketchup (optional)

Cover a cookie sheet or baking dish with foil. (Covering it with foil makes cleanup much easier.) Place fish skin side down. Drizzle about 1 teaspoon of olive oil on each piece. Sprinkle with seasoning mix. Broil fish for about 10 minutes per 1/2-inch thickness. To see if it is done, dig into one piece with a knife. It should look white and not be at all rubbery, but it should be flaky. Serve the fish with ketchup for dipping!

**Be sure to ask the person at the fish counter if the fish you are buying contains any bones. If it does, use tweezers to remove the bones before serving it to your kids. (Or just buy a different type of fish that doesn’t have bones.)

Variations:

• Try other types of fish. Ask the person at the fish counter to recommend some mild, boneless types to try.
• If you have a countertop two-sided grill, grill the fish for about 5 minutes per 1/2-inch thickness of fish.

Teaching Nutrition to Kids

I've been cooking at my kid's school again. This time, I had a group of highly attentive, well-behaved, extremely polite kindergarteners. (I have no idea what spell the teachers cast that caused the kids to say "please" and "thank-you" and to sit quietly waiting for directions. If I find out, I promise I'll share.) We made brown rice balls dipped into peanut butter sauce. The kids really loved it. Only one child declined entirely, and about three didn't seem to like it. The rest ate it and a quite a few shoveled down ball after ball of the stuff, while mumbling with pleasure.

The interesting part for me was that none of the kids seemed to notice that the rice tasted different than usual. Surely not all of them have whole-grain, brown rice at home. So, wanting to incorporate some nutrition lessons into the activity, I mentioned that the rice was brown. They all looked at the rice quizzically, then back at me, then went back to eating. I guess it didn't exactly look brown. Next, I told them that this so-called brown rice is a good-for-you whole grain, with all the healthy vitamins and fiber in it. Again they looked at their rice. Then, nodding in agreement, one of the kids said, "Yeah, it's good. Can I have more?"

This whole conversation (or lack there-of) made me laugh . . . and reminded about what the research shows: Kids learn about nutrition from eating, watching others eat, and watching adults shop, cook and order food in restaurants. So, nutrition education that works is hands-on (or maybe mouths-on?). It is the only way kids will ever really learn to love healthy food.

Actually, my kid's former preschool teacher has come up with the ultimate nutrition education program. Her students take turns bringing snacks for the class. The catch is, they can only bring in fruits and vegetables. The school supplies crackers and water. The results? Over time, Sue reports that the kids are learning to eat and enjoy all types of fruits and vegetables. Meanwhile, the parents like knowing exactly what to bring and are thrilled that their preschoolers are getting peer-pressure to eat fruits and vegetables.

So, want to do some nutrition-education in your own home (a.k.a. make dinner)? Here's my recipe for quick peanut sauce. Try it on chicken, shrimp, steamed vegetables, brown rice and/or quinoa.

Peanut Sauce (serves 4, depending on what you do with it)
1/4 cup natural peanut butter (no trans, of course!)
1/4 cup hot water
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 Tablespoon rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
1 Tablespoon soy sauce (or a bit more)
Whisk all ingredients together until creamy- or have a kindergartener do it. Enjoy!

President's Day = The End of a Season

Today is President's Day. Besides the traditional meanings of this auspicious day, there is another significance. One that causes mothers everywhere to heave a sigh of sugary-sweet relief. This day marks the end of our national over-eating season.

The season begins with Halloween and buckets of snack-sized candies. One bucket from traditional, around-the-hood trick-or-treating, one bucket from school, one from a neighbor or co-worker who is on a diet and thought your kids would like to have her left-overs, one from church, one from prizes at a party at a classmates house, one from trick-or-treating at the mall and one full of your left-overs. But, hey, it's Halloween. I, personally, love Halloween. I even love the occasional candy-corn, though it hurts my teeth.

Next is Thanksgiving. And that is all about over-eating. The turkey! The sides! The bread! The wine! The pie! More pie! A little more pie! One more slice with just a dab of whip cream and. . . sleep.

Then, come the "Holidays" with cookie exchanges, kid's parties, office parties, parades, plates of cookies, fancy dinners, gingerbread houses (I love those too, even though they also hurt my teeth), fudge, your own special cookie recipes, some store-bought cookies as back up in case you run out of time to bake or burn your homemade cookies, and special flavors of ice cream available at the grocery store. Then, New Years, the Super Bowl and, finally Valentine's Day. By President's Day, most of the Valentine's candy is gone and, at last, the over-eating-season is over for another year.

So, let's celebrate this day! Maybe have a cake. . . or some cookies?

OK, wait. I do have some solutions that can make next year's over-eating-season a bit less unhealthy- but without becoming uptight or skipping your favorite treats. The solutions are in Feeding the Kids: The Flexible, No-Battles Healthy Eating System for the Whole Family. Go to www.feedingthekids to find out more.

A Recipe for Healthy Pizza (with whole grain crust)

My son's class had a pizza party today as a reward for finishing their reading logs. But rather than order the high-fat, refined grain stuff--the kid's made their very own pies. Here is the recipe. (I promise it isn't hard. If I can make it with 20 very excited 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders...) The trick to making it taste great is to use the right type of whole-wheat flour.

Enjoy!

Whole-wheat PIZZA!!!!!!! Makes 1 pizza

The dough:

1 cup warm water
1 package rapid-rise yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups white whole-wheat flour
1 cup regular white flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil

The toppings:

¾ cup bottles spaggetti sauce
1 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese
12 (low-fat turkey) pepperoni slices
4 mushrooms (optional)
12 or so olives (optional)
etc. (optional)

The process:
1. Mix together yeast and water. Let it get foamy.
2. Add in other ingredients and mix well.
3. Add a bit of extra flour, and knead the dough about 20 times.
4. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise for between 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, wash your bowl, clean up the flour and oil your pizza pan(s).
6. Punch the dough down (literally punch it!)
7. Press dough into round shape. Place it in pan.
8. Add toppings.
9. Bake at 475 degrees 20 minutes until the crust sounds hollow when tapped with a spoon.

Packing a Healthy Lunch... at 7 am... every single weekday

Packing a lunch can be a drag. Here are my top 5 reasons why I don't like packing lunches:

1. Tupperware lids are always in the very back of the Tupperware cupboard or missing or close to the right size but actually the wrong size.
2. You have to wash out all those Tupperware containers in the evening.
   
3. My kid's favorite lunch foods shift mercilessly from week to week.
4. It's hard to decide what to pack for lunch at 7 am.
5. Even after you decide what to pack, most lunch food seems kind of gross at 7 am.

But, I do it. My kid's school has a particularly horrifying hot lunch program with nasty vegetables and plenty of fried stuff. I stare longingly at photos in all the news items about the awesome school lunches being served at many schools around the country. We are talking salad bars, stir-fries, brown rice, steamed vegetables, whole-wheat hot dog buns and fresh fruit. Someday maybe all schools will serve those kinds of lunches. Until then, the rest of us must pack.

And since we must pack, I have developed an easy strategy for getting the job done quickly, between gulps of coffee and giving out early morning wisdom like "Don't put snow boots on without socks" or "When you brush your teeth, your breath smells better."

The basic strategy, straight from the pages of Feeding the Kids: The Flexible, No-Battles, Healthy Eating System for the Whole Family, is this: pack one whole-grain, one lean protein, one vegetable, one fruit, one dairy and, sometimes, something extra.

Here are some ideas for each category.

• Whole grain: Baked corn chips, baked potato chips, Kashi granola bar, whole-wheat bread (as a sandwich), low-fat Triscuits, brown rice cake, popcorn cakes, whole-grain cereal (as part of a trail mix), left-over whole-wheat pasta with Parmesan cheese, popped popcorn
• Lean proteins: Lunch meat (with or without the rest of the sandwich), beef jerky, salmon salad, chicken salad, bean dip, bean salad, chicken soup (in a thermos), nuts
• Vegetables: baby carrots, pepper slices, cucumber rounds, corn and peas (just put frozen in a Tupperware-they melt by lunch) or add veggies to the protein (in soup, salad, sandwich, dip)
• Fruit: a piece or slices of fresh fruit, cup of applesauce, pop top can of fruit in juice, dried apricots, box or raisins, frozen berries in a Tupperware container (melts by lunch time), a frozen smoothie (only partially melts by lunchtime and can be eaten with a spoon)
• Dairy: let the kids by milk at school, string cheese, yogurt on top of frozen fruit (see above), homemade pudding (recipe in Feeding the Kids), thermos of hot chocolate or milk with milk cubes to keep it cold (recipe in Feeding the Kids, again)

I am in no way implying that using these strategies will solve the 5 reasons packing lunch is a drag. But, at least the strategies will help you pack a healthy, complete lunch... at 7 am... every single week day.

Visit www.feedingthekids for more information!

Whole-Wheat Pasta

Welcome to the new Feeding the Kids blog, brought to you by the authors of Feeding the Kids: The Flexible, No-Battles, Healthy Eating System for the Whole Family. For more information on this brand new book- or our cheerful approach to eating, go to www.feedingthekids.com.

So, today my kindergartner brought a new friend home after school. I always like to make new playmates feel comfortable at my house, so on the way home I asked the little girl what she would like for lunch. She asked for pasta and my daughter whooped in agreement. I was pleased with the choice too-until I got home and looked into my cupboard.

Of course, I only feed my kids whole-wheat pasta. And, of course, I always feed whole-wheat pasta to their playmates... who, to date, have never even noticed. Problem was, at the store yesterday I noticed a new brand of pasta. Since I am always on the look out for new healthy products, I bought a box to try out on my family. But try it out on a new playdate? Now that is serious maternal risk taking!

For those of you who haven't read Feeding the Kids, I would never, ever claim that all (or even most) whole-wheat pasta tastes good. In fact, I only really like two brands. That's because most brands taste bitter and are either rubbery or brittle. Really nasty. So, was this new pasta going to be good? Or was the little girl going to go home reporting that she's starving from being feed weird and inedable pasta?

I boiled the water, pacing. I put in the pasta, holding my breath. I waited an eternal 10 minutes and, finally, fished out a piece. Blowing on it, I smiled nervously at the expectant and hungry girls. I tasted it and . . . it was good! The kids ate heaping plates full with many compliments to the chef. Whew.

So, now I have three favorite brands of whole grain pasta. All have been tested on my own kids and their unsuspecting playmates. Enjoy!

1. Naturally Preferred Organic Whole Wheat Rotini (and other shapes): available at Kroger and King Sooper's stores
2. Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Whole Wheat Blend Pasta (any shape)
3. Bionaturae 100% Stone Ground Whole Duram Wheat Organic Pasta (available as health-food stores)