Fun with food

 Fun mealtime and snack presentations can motivate toddlers and school-age children to eat healthy foods. They can also provide a positive experience at the dinner table and a good introduction to foods your kids have never tried. Youngsters like food that has color, shape and character.

And remember, children take their cue on everything from their parents. So hype up each dish. Tell them how amazing and tasty the dish looks. Hop onto the enthusiasm train; draw up your magical-land persona, smile and offer oohs and ahs.

Sandwich and 

vegetable shapes

Sandwiches cut into shapes are probably as old as the wheel. But we tend to forget to serve them. Cutting can be done with a small sharp or serrated knife by free hand or use your Christmas cookie cutters. With a knife, the sky’s the limit on what you can create. If your hand and creativity are shaky and your cookie cutters boring, grocery stores now carry sandwich cutters such as butterflies and dinosaurs. Look for these displays by the bread, jelly or peanut butter. Sometimes it’s easy to look right past them hanging at eye level on the shelf.

Peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese, and cucumber with cream cheese are some of the sandwiches that can be cut into stars, triangles, circles, hearts, letters and more. And what accompanies a sandwich better than a few vegetables for a nutritious side? Once again think of your vegetables as paint on your child’s plate-canvas. Multicolored peppers become a sun or a face. You can spell your child’s name. Cucumbers and carrots cut round work great for eyes or wheels on vehicles. 

Don’t stop there. Continue playing up the display by adding dipping sauce. Dipping sauces may be the best motivator to even the most vegetable-phobic child. Ranch salad dressing is a favorite of many, but also consider yogurt. For a healthier and cheaper option, buy a big tub of low-fat vanilla yogurt with the good live and active cultures, lactobacillus bulgaricus and streptococcus thermophilus. Kids will love the sweetness. Fashion your vegetables into cups to hold the dip. With peppers you can scoop yogurt into the middle of a sun – a section of pepper that you have cut around the middle of the pepper instead of longways. Or use the bottom of a pepper as a dipping cup.

Awesome oatmeal

Most know that oatmeal is a wholesome way to begin the day. Oatmeal has fiber and very little calories besides the good cholesterol that fights bad cholesterol. But don’t think of oatmeal as only for breakfast. Consider it chilled as a dessert or as a side to a meal. 

If your kids find oatmeal bland or aren’t accustomed to less-than-sweet foods, you might be amazed at what adding a few ingredients can do for taste. (Always serve foods to your kids first with the least amount of sweet or saltiness even if you prefer the dish a certain way.)

A few additions that really make oatmeal awesome are yogurt, raisins, jelly and fruit. Jelly can be spooned on top of oatmeal like sundae sauce on ice cream. Or to really make the kids love it, draw a picture or write their names atop the oatmeal with the jelly. Grab a flavor of jelly your child likes. Spoon about two tablespoons into a pastry bag or sandwich bag. If using a sandwich bag, cut a small slit in the corner you have spooned the jelly into. Push on the jelly in the bag as you draw a heart or write your child’s name. 

Watermelon is actually quite yummy with oatmeal, yogurt and jelly. Experiment with kiwi, blueberries, bananas and more. And remember that many of these fruits can also be cut into shapes.

Banana burrito 

and a few sprinkles

For something different, try a banana and peanut butter burrito. All you need is one banana, a spoonful of peanut butter and any size burrito tortilla. Slice the banana lengthwise into three or four slices, spoon the desired amount of peanut butter on the tortilla and add the banana. This yummy snack or meal can also be enhanced with sprinkles. Because the banana and tortilla are cream-colored, blue, yellow, green or red sprinkles can add a touch of magic for a kid. Or you can buy vegetable tortillas; they come in green.

No matter where your silliness and imagination takes you, you can be sure your kids will like everything you prepare for them better with sprinkles, or as some call them, jimmies. Yes, these are the same sprinkles you decorate Christmas cookies with. They come in all sorts of colors and shapes, even in more intricate shapes such as carrots and rabbits. Anything you make can be adorned with happy sprinkles. And we call them happy sprinkles because, as most parents know, sprinkles make children light up with happiness.

From a large extended family, Anita Stienstra has raised two children and has a 4-year-old granddaughter. In another life, she studied early childhood and elementary education and was a licensed home daycare provider, substitute teacher and educational services coordinator who worked with children and trained teachers, parents and daycare professionals. Contact Anita Stienstra at astienstra@illinoistimes.

This article appears in Capital City Parent July 2013.