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• Kitchenista: Unbland Zucchini With Almonds, Curry and Mint

  I am a big fan of zucchini because it's so cheap and filled with all the good stuff (vitamins, fiber, etc.). But zucchini is such a bland vegetable that it drives me crazy/makes me gaggy when it's served raw or even steamed. I think it needs to be saturated with other flavors and mixed with other textures to be enjoyed.  Luckily, unblanding zucchini is easy -- just chop it up and sautee with garlic in olive oil. Or you can add a little curry powder, mint and almonds and have this incredible side dish I came across in "The Paris Cookbook" by renowned American in Paris Patricia Wells. Even your picky eaters will get over the zucchini hump if you serve it like this.   Read More... Posted Mar 10 2008, 03:03 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: healthy eating, picky eaters, vegetables, kitchenista, healthy cooking, unbland zucchini, zucchini

• Picky 3-Year-Old Heads Home -- Alone! -- For Lunch

  Let's just say parents of the 3-year-old girl who left school alone and unnoticed are pissed. Their little girl Leonie didn't like the day's lunch menu so she didn't line up with the others when it was time for their afternoon meal. Instead, she walked out of the school and through a gate that had been left unlocked and headed down the street, making her way back home. Nobody at her school noticed that she wasn't in the lunchline. In fact ...   Read More... Posted Jan 22 2008, 09:13 AM by Madeline Holler with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: preschool, picky eaters, runaway, Run Wild Run Free, scary, scary things, daily mail, run for your lives, accidents, lunchtime, pork chops

• Picky Eaters Unite!

  Lucky me, I don’t have a picky eater. Yet. It seems like most kids go through phases when they will only eat white food, or flat food, or exclusively French fries (my nephew would willingly eat little else ages 1-2). It's clearly not hereditary since I don't know how my parents managed to feed me as a kid – I hate tomato sauce, anything with gravy or white sauce, mushrooms, cooked carrots in any form, and mashed potatoes. And I am less picky now than I was as a child. Read More... Posted Jan 15 2008, 04:09 PM by AmyinMotown with | with no comments Filed under: food, picky eaters, preschoolers, gross food

• Jessica Seinfeld Woes Keep Getting More Woeful

  Soooo, what happens when a celebrity-by-association puts out a book on hiding veggies in otherwise innocuous foods? Well, at first it's all Oprah love (sez FameCrawler) and interviews, and then...the backlash. Critics of the covert food strategy pointed out that camoflaguing foods could keep your kids from developing good eating habits that include appreciating stuff with seeds, and leafy greens, and so on. (And by the way, my child will be eating all her meals at CityMama's house from now on.) And then on Friday the NY Times and other places reported that Ms. Seinfeld's book bears an uncanny resemblance to another book on the market, The Sneaky Chef, written by Missy Chase Lapine and published in April. Ooops. Now here's where it gets extra bad... Read More... Posted Oct 22 2007, 04:29 PM by Kelly Mills with | with 14 comment(s) Filed under: picky eaters, cooking for kids, scandal, plagarism, hiding vegetables, jessica seinfeld

• The Dark Side of Seinfeld’s Sneaky Veggies

  While Jessica Seinfeld single-handedly ups the Vitamin A and antioxidants intake of our nations’ children with her stealth veggie offerings, some damn celery-crunchers are exposing a darker side to the chocolate-zucchini muffin. By tucking peas in here, spinach in there and watching her children unwittingly lap it up, experts warn that the wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld is ... Read More... Posted Oct 16 2007, 05:52 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 19 comment(s) Filed under: Seinfeld, picky eaters, cooking for kids, vegetables, Madeline Holler

• Kid Only Eats Six Foods. But Not By Choice

  We all have our picky-eater horror stories. The year my older son would only eat white foods and subsisted on bread, pasta and bananas. The Phase of Chicken for my daughter, unlikely and sort of horrific in a largely vegetarian household. The fact that my younger son will no longer eat anything green. We've all had these times as parents, and some of us fare better than others. "He'll grow out of it," is the kind of assvice we get. "She'll eat when she's hungry." What if everything but six foods made your kid horribly sick? So sick as to cause convulsions in a kid weighing only 50 pounds at age 10?   Read More... Posted Oct 13 2007, 08:41 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 12 comment(s) Filed under: kids, picky eaters, allergies, Tylor Savage

• Child's Picky Eating is Your Fault! (Kind Of)

  Growing up, my sister was a relatively picky eater, which annoyed me since I tended to eat everything. And lots of it. I loved (and still love) variety in taste, texture, smell, quality, preparation, and ingredients. But as a big pouter who could stubbornly resist a single bite of anything on her plate, my sister and her tastes often dictated the dinner menus. I understand that now that I’m a parent, but, man, I vowed back then to surround myself with only the most adventuresome of palates. Naturally, I married someone whose food preferences make the childhood version of my sister appear ... Read More... Posted Oct 10 2007, 03:38 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 8 comment(s) Filed under: food, picky eaters, new york times, DNA Testing, gene science

• Breastfed Kids Have More Varied Palates

  I have an affinity for local television news, my husband and I sometimes catch the newscast just to see how many cliches and faux 'jokes' we can catch. That's why I wanted to read this article from Lauren Johnson at Channel 13 Central Florida News. I was not disappointed. "....crying can be the main dish while screaming is the dessert." (Read it again in a Stone Phillips voice: funnier.) Oh Lauren, you are a card! Lauren tells us pickiness is found in all cultures and in around 25 to 30% of families. It sort of helps me to picture a Japanese mother throwing her hands up at her child's refusal to eat pickled ginger. "I don't get it. She loved it as a toddler!" The Journal of the American Dietetic Association published a study which found breast-fed babies are 'typically' less picky when they get older because the flavors of the mother's diet have been transferred into the milk. Bottle fed babies, may be more choosy because they were given just one flavor, formula. Read More... Posted Jun 03 2007, 03:14 PM by Melissa Summers with | with 39 comment(s) Filed under: picky eaters, bottle feeding, breastfeeding, studies

• Babble Talk: Top Five Ways to Get Your Picky Toddler to Eat

  Does your toddler subsist on chicken fingers, cheese sticks, and Cheerios? Does mealtime suck because your kid won't eat? There is nothing more frustrating than making a delicious and balanced meal for your child and then hearing them say, "Oh Mama, I can't like that." Keri Fisher is battling it out with her toddler over meals, but she's finally figured out how to get the upper hand. Best of all?  She's sharing her tips with us. From dollar store chopsticks to a fancy food colorings she's laying down the law and her kid is eating. Check out her clever tips on getting your toddler to eat.  And if you have tips of your own, please share them in the comments!  Posted Apr 09 2007, 08:31 AM by Stefania Pomponi Butler (CityMama) with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: picky eaters, mealtime, tips for picky eaters, babble talk

• Frustrated Parents: We Have Some Advice

  Are your kids driving you nuts? Are they picky eaters? Do you have a child that gives you trouble at bedtime? Do you have one kid (or two kids, in my case) that just don't want to be potty trained? We found an article on Cantonrep.com that laid out some advice for some common issues that we have with our kids. If your kid is having trouble with language skills, cut back on the television time. Kids learn by doing, so they need to be having conversations in order to learn how to talk properly. They also need unscheduled playtime in order to learn, so the article suggests not over scheduling little kids. They need free time just like we do. Does your kid have problems going to bed? Maybe try a stricter schedule. I also read somewhere else that if your child is having a lot of trouble falling asleep try putting them to bed a half an hour earlier. They could be overtired. Make dinnertime a fun time and limit sugars during the day and it could solve some of the problems you are having with your picky eater. (I'm writing that last one down for myself.) Read More... Posted Apr 07 2007, 08:27 AM by Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: parenting, picky eaters, parenting advice, frustration

• A Book Worth Checking Out: Winning The Food Fight

  I haven't read Natalie Rigel's Winning The Food Fight yet, but I'll be devouring (hee!) my copy as soon as Amazon delivers it. Meanwhile I'm going to have to put my trust, and yours, in the hands of Jennifer McCann's review at Vegan Lunchbox--this is a woman who knows food, and anyone who has mastered the art of vegan Goldfish crackers has some authority to talk about anything related to childhood nutrition, so far as I'm concerned. Despite being whatever you'd call a person who's about halfway between gourmet and gourmand,  I ended up with one kid who just won't eat a damn thing that isn't white. Ellyn Satter, bless her heart, has saved that kid's life and my sanity, but I am still basically clueless about why kids eat the way they do--it's obviously not as simple as "if you always provide a variety of healthy blah blah blah". According to McCann, Rigel's book is more about the psychology of taste than about ways to convince your little one to just try a freaking bite, already, you used to like this! And four years into the still-tense relationship I have with my child's pickiness, maybe it's time I just tried to understand it for once. Posted Feb 16 2007, 10:58 AM by Patti with | with no comments Filed under: children, food, healthy eating, picky eaters, eating, food blogs, vegan lunchbox, jennifer mccann, natalie rigel

• The Sadistic Parent: Forcing Your Kids To Eat What You Hate

  Admit it. You tell your kids it's "not a dessert night," then eat a pint of Chunky Monkey after they go to bed. You steal their Halloween candy. You sneak vegetables into everything they eat. You force them to drink water even though you guzzle down a six pack of Diet Coke every day. You're a mean, hypocritical parent. Pull up a chair! God, I hate fruit. Nary shall an apple pass my lips unless it's slathered with blue cheese, but I buy them by the ton because it's the snack my kids love best. Every time they say, "Can I have an apple?" I gush, "Why yes! What a healthy snack choice!" As a result they love fruit and I try not to gag as they happily chomp their bananas, pears or (shudder) plums. Let's talk about water. I think I may be part camel because I don't drink more than a glass or two a day. I don't like it. I'd rather drink nothing. And yet, I force my kids to drink it as their main beverage of choice. Yes, they can have a glass of soymilk or a glass of juice, but the rest of the time it's water, water, (blerf) water. Yogurt. I'd like to pummel the person that decided tangy, sour, thick milk was a good idea. Let's leave it there. Milk. I'm sorry but I'm not drinking any liquid that's been extracted from a cow's tits. Actually, with milk I let my kids have a pass. I'm bracing for the day when the older kid finally wises up and says, "Wait a minute, why do I have to eat a broiled grapefruit for a snack? You never eat it." Please tell me I'm not alone. What foods do you pretend to like so your kids will eat it? Posted Dec 12 2006, 06:02 PM by Stefania Pomponi Butler (CityMama) with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: parenting, food, feeding kids, healthy eating, picky eaters, health