What Are Your Kids Eating Tonight?

[dracisk]

Spaghetti with meat sauce and Parmesan cheese. Mounds and mounds of Parmesan cheese.

[NolaCaine]

Cold plate. Stuff in the fridge. Cold. 

[leleboo]

On 11/16/2018 at 5:48 PM, NolaCaine said:

Cold plate. Stuff in the fridge. Cold. 

I think my kids had this for lunch three times last week. 

[leleboo]

This one is on a shoyu ramen kick.

 

 

[NolaCaine]

Apparently, I starved the kids yesterday because they at dinner so fast, they forgot to complain. Thank you Trader Joe's for catering: shumai, fried rice with extra shrimp and peas added, and steamed green beans.

[Sundae in the Park]

The big one had eggplant parm last night! The little did not, with projectile vengeance. The big was delighted that the dish counts as a vegetable and so gleefully requested it for breakfast this morning to get his daily veg allotment out of the way early.* I'll take it!

*We know that mandating veg and fruit to earn treats is not ideal, but it's working for now with 95% less daily negotiating so the tactic has been completely sanity-saving. The Satter method of dividing food responsibility cut down the negotiating but had us genuinely worried about malnutrition for a bit, so we built on it by adding incentive (yup, married to an economist) for him to make better-for-our-peace-of-mind choices. Yes, he tried right away to earn extra treats by eating more servings of fruit and veg but we shut that down hard and now he sort of understands step functions. I don't include this longer-than-original-post aside because I think DR-ers would be mean, but to show how we are dealing with our our more rational picky kid in case someone else is having a similar issue. The little is still a processed food monster that isn't shy about throwing food or going hungry. Sigh. I welcome any and all ideas for that one.

 

[KeithA]

Tonight - pasta with margarine and salt, steamed broccoli and whole foods fish sticks. At least they eat fish in some form. For the umpteeth time will try to entice them with our salmon dish - I mean it is yummy and pink (my girls like pink), but I'm not that hopeful.  

Lately my older one 10 is constantly asking and even day dreaming about dessert - which she gets almost daily. We walked past an ice cream shop yesterday, which got her started listing all of the treats she would love to eat: ice cream, cookies, brownies, cake, many varieties of candy, etc. A literal 5 minutes later, she turns and says so what is it going to be? 

[leleboo]

On 11/19/2018 at 2:04 PM, Sundae in the Park said:

*We know that mandating veg and fruit to earn treats is not ideal, but it's working for now with 95% less daily negotiating so the tactic has been completely sanity-saving. The Satter method of dividing food responsibility cut down the negotiating but had us genuinely worried about malnutrition for a bit, so we built on it by adding incentive (yup, married to an economist) for him to make better-for-our-peace-of-mind choices. Yes, he tried right away to earn extra treats by eating more servings of fruit and veg but we shut that down hard and now he sort of understands step functions. I don't include this longer-than-original-post aside because I think DR-ers would be mean, but to show how we are dealing with our our more rational picky kid in case someone else is having a similar issue. The little is still a processed food monster that isn't shy about throwing food or going hungry. Sigh. I welcome any and all ideas for that one.

 

I actually totally think this is a great approach. As kids get older and can understand nutrition, I think mandating "nutritious" foods -- even if it requires a small incentive -- in the long run makes them more mindful, balanced eaters. I'm a fan of Satter as well, but I do think at some point you're actually doing your parental duty by saying, "You can't live your entire life avoiding the vegetables on the plate" (well, ok, technically you could, but it's a wickedly bad idea). It's vastly different from requiring a child to clean their plate of a food they abhor or using the withholding of treats as a punishment.

For your little one -- how old again? If under kindergarten age, I'd probably just stick with what works for now. Logic about nutrition isn't going to help. Include whatever non-processed foods s/he WILL eat with most meals, and maybe start to increase the proportion of those to the less desirable foodstuffs. My littler one is a much less balanced/adventurous eater than her big sister, but there's only so far I can go, especially since she's the kid who gets hangry and has endless meltdowns in that case, so there's got to be *something* she'll eat or we're all in for misery. 

[leleboo]

Tonight the kids ate leftover mushu pork*, with a side of supermarket sushi**, which I also had, and yes we are done with dinner at 5:35pm, because TIRED. 

*We have epically mediocre Chinese takeout up here. I'm seriously bummed.

**Wegmans does a decent job on the supermarket sushi. I prefer our local place, but I'm solo-parenting after the holiday weekend -- hubs has a work trip -- and I couldn't be arsed to do separate stops with two small humans in tow. 

[leleboo]

I think I’ve mentioned the turkey pumpkin pasta sauce before...well I made it into a lasagna, with some spinach for good measure. My kids ate like food was going out of style. 

[lion]

Ledo's cheese pizza, green beans and left over home made gingerbread cookies. It's a Monday before the holidays. 

[Xochitl10]

Potato and leek soup with rosemary/olive oil bread. He didn't want to try the soup at first, but after he did, he was cramming leeks into his mouth.

[dracisk]

A banana and an apple last night for the 4-year-old. Sigh. She's all over the place with dinner. Sometimes she'll eat what we're eating and sometimes not. There are a few dinners she's almost guaranteed to eat, but most of our dinners are crap shoots. She'd eaten last night's dinner (Ground Turkey with Potatoes and Peas) in the past without resistance. Not so much last night.

[zgast]

Tortellini in sage/butter sauce with carrots and hummus.  Cross-cultural dining.

[Pat]

3 hours ago, zgast said:

Cross-cultural dining.

I'm remembering that one!

[Xochitl10]

Homemade gyoza (Japanese potstickers), rice, and grapes. Goat loves him some Japanese food.

[Sundae in the Park]

Available/offered to eat for the past two nights: manicotti, sausages, assorted cut fruit, roasted asparagus, and sauteed eggplant and peppers. The Big has eaten sausages with white rice dug out from the fridge and the Little has only eaten sausages. Before that we had some lovely homemade chicken tenders that both enthusiastically scarfed for dinner and then refused completely the next day. By the way, while both kids enjoyed the Costco dumplings mightily while we were in the store, they won't touch them at home. I'm somewhat flattered that my homemade dumplings are acceptable and also kind of furious.

Lee, the Big kid just turned 4 and the Little kid is just 1.5, so I don't really expect too much out of either of them (though I dearly miss when #1 would eat anything we gave him, but that has been done for over a year and his formerly wide palate is re-emerging only incrementally). Giving the Big the choice to earn his treats has been less effective during these holidays, as treats are here and there and everywhere and we have been quite indulgent, but has been moderately successful in getting him to revisit the least challenging fruits and vegetables (mostly apples, bananas, pears, and cucumbers). One upside of our method seems to be that he likes treats, but doesn't feel any desperation towards them, as minimum treat attainment is entirely within his control. We're still working on his Halloween candy, which he is happy to share.  This is so different from my own childhood, in which sugary treats were generally banned, and I had already begun filching/hoarding sweets by age 4. While I'm sure a lot of it has to do with our kid's personality, it is a much preferable state of affairs.  As for the Little, we just feed him whatever he will take and try to remove the refused food before it flies through the air.

[leleboo]

After two weeks of nonstop whining and bickering, I gave up on self-respect at the store today. Hence, my kids are eating noodles shaped like princess gowns, castles, and crowns. At least it’s covered in spinach and vegetable marinara.  🤷‍♀️

[stevem]

Boy - English muffin pizzas. Don’t feel like arguing.

Girl - Thai food w us. From where should we order in Falls Church? We usually do Sweet Rice. It’s fine....

[leleboo]

3 minutes ago, stevem said:

Don’t feel like arguing.

This pretty much sums up my entire state of being right now. I hate winter break. #sendwine

[stevem]

We went back last Wednesday.  This plus furlough = High cranky factor.

[leleboo]

Just now, stevem said:

We went back last Wednesday.  This plus furlough = High cranky factor.

Dude, I don’t blame you! My big went back Wednesday and then my parents showed up as a surprise for my birthday, so she took of Friday to be with them. My little wasn’t due back til tomorrow so that was going to be a mess regardless. Hubby is still active duty so he’s not furloughed, but we know too many people who are to feel good about it. 

[DonRocks]

4 minutes ago, stevem said:

We went back last Wednesday.  This plus furlough = High cranky factor.

Try being a government contractor and not getting back-paid (Dec 5, 1995 -  Jan 6, 1996). 😠

[stevem]

I am EXTREMELY sympathetic to contractors that won’t get back pay, especially to the lower-wage workers.

[Sundae in the Park]

Blessing and good luck to all the furloughed workers, workers without pay, and most of all, the contractors who almost certainly won't get paid. 

We've all been cranky and picky coming off various illnesses, but we got a family hit yesterday with chicken tikka masala curry and rice.  Everybody ate (at least some of) the same thing, so we're taking that as a big win.

[dracisk]

3 hours ago, Sundae in the Park said:

we're taking that as a big win

That's a big win for sure!

We had chicken cacciatore and pasta last night and tonight. Last night the 4-(almost 5-)year-old gave us a big fight but ultimately ate quite a bit. There's nothing about this she doesn't like (OK, maybe the green peppers -- she always picks those out) -- chicken, tomato sauce, mushrooms (which she likes), pasta, and all the Parmesan her little heart could desire. Now that she's on a major burrito kick she demands a burrito every night, even if we're having something else she likes. My husband and I have to stick to our guns to get her to eat anything other than a burrito. Tonight when she got home from preschool instead of shrieking "I WANT A BURRITO!" when we told her what we were having, she said, "I like chicken and pasta!" (not that I think we won't be having any more fights about burritos).

[lion]

Cheese omelets, avocado and Route 29 Sweet potato chips. Very lazy but tasty dinner. 

[Sundae in the Park]

Aaaaaaand the Big won't eat (any, not just my) dumplings anymore 😭  Instead, he ate mostly fridge/pantry food yesterday - yogurt, frozen blueberries, cheese, and peanut butter, along with some noodles.  While that's actually fine, I hope this dumpling-hating phase ends soon. Who doesn't like dumplings???!!!

[dracisk]

Rotisserie chicken and one apple slice. After a 20-minute post-preschool fit about how she just wants to play and she doesn't want to eat dinner. "Food is not the goodest!" (She's clearly not actually related to me.) 😣

[silentbob]

Our almost 6 year-old's favorite meal in the whole world is a concoction of his grandmother's -- a 肉鬆 (a.k.a. rousong or "pork floss") and fried egg sandwich, usually with whole wheat bread and a light touch of mayo.  It's a treat that we typically reserve for lunch on weekends, but between the holiday on Monday and staying home from school on Tuesday with a cold, he was going to have it four days in a row.  So I decided to change things up slightly.  Instead of wheat bread and a fried egg, I used King's Hawaiian rolls and scrambled eggs.  He loved it all the same!

[leleboo]

My first-grader’s first favorite food was spinach dal (no joke). My preschooler is “meh” on it so it’s fallen out of rotation, but then I found these (at Target, of all places). They’re really good. The little one even likes the one with squash. Meet dinner. 

[leleboo]

On 1/23/2019 at 4:05 PM, Sundae in the Park said:

Aaaaaaand the Big won't eat (any, not just my) dumplings anymore 😭  [...] Who doesn't like dumplings???!!!

I’m pretty sure that’s inhuman. I’m sorry for your struggle. (I’m only being mildly sarcastic here, because truly, dumplings are universal. I’m sure the Big will come around.)

[lion]

14 hours ago, leleboo said:

My first-grader’s first favorite food was spinach dal (no joke). My preschooler is “meh” on it so it’s fallen out of rotation, but then I found these (at Target, of all places). They’re really good. The little one even likes the one with squash. Meet dinner. 

How do you deal with the hot/cold temperature thing? Packing lunch still is a challenge with that. 

[zgast]

1 hour ago, lion said:

How do you deal with the hot/cold temperature thing? Packing lunch still is a challenge with that. 

The new thermos containers are amazing at keeping things warm.  Just pour boiling water in, let it sit for a couple minutes, then add the hot entree.  Son reports it's still warm at lunchtime.  Even when it's next to his double wall water bottle, which still has ice in it at lunchtime.

[leleboo]

46 minutes ago, zgast said:

The new thermos containers are amazing at keeping things warm.  Just pour boiling water in, let it sit for a couple minutes, then add the hot entree.  Son reports it's still warm at lunchtime.  Even when it's next to his double wall water bottle, which still has ice in it at lunchtime.

Yep. We love these. 

[Sundae in the Park]

On 1/24/2019 at 7:06 AM, silentbob said:

Our almost 6 year-old's favorite meal in the whole world is a concoction of his grandmother's -- a 肉鬆 (a.k.a. rousong or "pork floss") and fried egg sandwich, usually with whole wheat bread and a light touch of mayo.  It's a treat that we typically reserve for lunch on weekends, but between the holiday on Monday and staying home from school on Tuesday with a cold, he was going to have it four days in a row.  So I decided to change things up slightly.  Instead of wheat bread and a fried egg, I used King's Hawaiian rolls and scrambled eggs.  He loved it all the same!

Oh that sounds delicious and now I want one!

Mmmmmmm, Leigh, those pouches also look good. I usually keep the Tasty Bite madras lentils on hand (bought from Costco), and my kids sometimes eat them (mostly in the store, though).  I did try to make them at home but neither kid liked my version (which I thought was pretty close). Both of my kids LOVED chana masala for a while, so we'll have to try these sometime when they're back on beans.

Of the roast chicken dinner we had last night (paired with Brussels sprouts, potatoes, carrots, and blueberries - not all together), the Little ate some chicken, wheat thins, almond butter, and some fruit smoothie, while the Big ate a banana, a few bites of croissant, and some apple slices.  While I wish they would eat what we make, I let them have most anything in the fridge or pantry that is food-like (as opposed to snack-like) and doesn't require extra cooking/making (the smoothie was a leftover from lunch). 

[lion]

On 1/28/2019 at 9:59 AM, zgast said:

The new thermos containers are amazing at keeping things warm.  Just pour boiling water in, let it sit for a couple minutes, then add the hot entree.  Son reports it's still warm at lunchtime.  Even when it's next to his double wall water bottle, which still has ice in it at lunchtime.

Our son is pre-k, so we haven't broached 'hot' foods away from us yet. At what age did you feel comfortable with that? 

[DonRocks]

22 minutes ago, lion said:

Our son is pre-k, so we haven't broached 'hot' foods away from us yet. At what age did you feel comfortable with that? 

When Matt was three-years old, we were at a Pho House in Eden Center. As a sadistic joke, we gave him a lime wedge, and told him to lick it: What followed was the Pictionary definition of the word, "shudder." I know it might sound cruel, but it was *hilarious*.

[zgast]

2 hours ago, lion said:

Our son is pre-k, so we haven't broached 'hot' foods away from us yet. At what age did you feel comfortable with that? 

Basically as soon as we thought he could get the thermos open and eat it without an assist. Probably late kindergarten or early 1st grade.  We lucked out in that our pre-K provided lunches before then.  Son is a 'bland-itarian' so lunches are a PITA since peanut butter is mostly banned.  

[lion]

14 hours ago, DonRocks said:

When Matt was three-years old, we were at a Pho House in Eden Center. As a sadistic joke, we gave him a lime wedge, and told him to lick it: What followed was the Pictionary definition of the word, "shudder." I know it might sound cruel, but it was *hilarious*.

My son is the exact opposite, he likes to lick lime wedges. Actually when we go places, we will give ours to him and he will squeeze it over the rice. He really is interesting to see his tastes even at a young age!

[lion]

12 hours ago, zgast said:

Basically as soon as we thought he could get the thermos open and eat it without an assist. Probably late kindergarten or early 1st grade.  We lucked out in that our pre-K provided lunches before then.  Son is a 'bland-itarian' so lunches are a PITA since peanut butter is mostly banned.  

That's for the data point! Another year or two does seem right. Unfortunately it limits what we can pack with his lunch and he's starting to not like certain foods at school that get cold. 

[ktmoomau]

On 11/7/2018 at 9:58 AM, NolaCaine said:

Lion: How do you keep an lunch avacado from getting brown? Stupid question: If I roll an avocado in a tortilla with ham, will it turn brown if well wrapped in something like plastic wrap? My 5 yr old is part monkey as she loves avacado, mango, banannas...well, all the fruit.

When I do this for lunches, I mash it up a little, put it in the bottom of a ziplock (I know single use plastics ugh), push out as much air as I can around it and put a little bit of evoo on the top where it may hit some air (you can also freeze this way too).  Oh and sometimes I put just a few squirts of lemon juice before mashing to help stave it off too.

[ktmoomau]

Also, ask and you shall receive (when I get around to reading posts that don't really apply to me, but I think I might find interesting)- the packing a school lunch thread. 

 

[NolaCaine]

18 hours ago, DonRocks said:

When Matt was three-years old, we were at a Pho House in Eden Center. As a sadistic joke, we gave him a lime wedge, and told him to lick it: What followed was the Pictionary definition of the word, "shudder." I know it might sound cruel, but it was *hilarious*.

We did this with our son when he was 2 and have him on video saying "stop torturing me." So funny. Fast forward, both kids eat lemons and limes all the time now. 

[NolaCaine]

16 hours ago, zgast said:

Basically as soon as we thought he could get the thermos open and eat it without an assist. Probably late kindergarten or early 1st grade.  We lucked out in that our pre-K provided lunches before then.  Son is a 'bland-itarian' so lunches are a PITA since peanut butter is mostly banned.  

Re; Peanut butter...that sun butter is pretty good according to my 8 yr old and is what's used in arlington public school lunches.

[leleboo]

Per the heating thing above: our daycare actually will microwave "heat-ups" -- we can't send a thermos, in fact. That starts at least in the 3yo room...not sure if younger, since we didn't go there then, but my older one's preschool starting in the one-year-old room served lunch and it was warm. So it never occurred to me to be wary of hot foods away from us! Ha! That said, both of my kids will choose to eat certain things cold that should probably be warmed up. Kids. 🤷‍♀️

 

On 1/28/2019 at 6:54 PM, Sundae in the Park said:

Oh that sounds delicious and now I want one!

Mmmmmmm, Leigh, those pouches also look good. I usually keep the Tasty Bite madras lentils on hand (bought from Costco), and my kids sometimes eat them (mostly in the store, though).  I did try to make them at home but neither kid liked my version (which I thought was pretty close). Both of my kids LOVED chana masala for a while, so we'll have to try these sometime when they're back on beans.

 

We used to get the TastyBite spinach dal, and then they stopped selling it ANYWHERE that I could find it! Haha! I will say, the Maya Kaimal ones are tastier, IMO.

[Sundae in the Park]

23 hours ago, lion said:

Our son is pre-k, so we haven't broached 'hot' foods away from us yet. At what age did you feel comfortable with that? 

21 hours ago, zgast said:

Basically as soon as we thought he could get the thermos open and eat it without an assist. Probably late kindergarten or early 1st grade.  We lucked out in that our pre-K provided lunches before then.  Son is a 'bland-itarian' so lunches are a PITA since peanut butter is mostly banned.  

9 hours ago, lion said:

That's for the data point! Another year or two does seem right. Unfortunately it limits what we can pack with his lunch and he's starting to not like certain foods at school that get cold. 

My husband is specifically trying to "train" our kids to like cold foods (i.e., never offering to heat up leftovers until asked) exactly to avoid the warm food at school issue!! I initially objected because I am an always warm food person, but I definitely see the convenience of having kids always willing to eat cold foods (this perhaps could be considered an offshoot of the baby wipes warmer controversy - why get your kid used to that level of luxury in the first place when it's guaranteed to bite you back in the field?).  My big kid is 4, has very high-scoring fine/gross motor skills, and there is no way I'd trust him yet to work a thermos and remain more/less unsullied throughout the day.  We really like noodle preparations that were originally intended to be served cold or room temperature, and he'll always eat cold pizza because...pizza.  Silentbob reminded me about rousong or "pork floss" - when I was little we would often eat sticky-ish rice rolls with the rousong or the fish version inside, and they are good at room temperature, and could potentially be sushi-fied with harder/drier vegetables for more (any!) nutrition.  My mom sometimes made a version of the fish floss on the stove using tuna, which would have quite a bit more nutrition/fewer preservatives than the stuff from the store. 

4 hours ago, NolaCaine said:

Re; Peanut butter...that sun butter is pretty good according to my 8 yr old and is what's used in arlington public school lunches.

Trader Joe's has some nice sunflower seed butter.  Don't forget to beware of pesto! The pine or walnuts also make it off limits for nut-free schools 🙁

Last night, while intended dinner was in the oven (bourbon chicken and roasted balsamic mushrooms, to be served with rice), I made a very quick chicken bullion broth for my sick dad.  He ladled it over some rice and both kids immediately demanded their own (multiple!) portions. So they all had broth and rice for dinner, though the kids also ate apple slices. I made them both try the chicken and sauce once it was ready and am confident/hopeful that they will eat it today, since it was designed to hit their favorite flavors and the initial reception was quite enthusiastic. We'll see!

[leleboo]

I can’t get warm, so I pulled out the leftover bœuf bourguignon to reheat in hopes of it warming us all up. Kids are drooling over it. They’re even eating the mushrooms. (Includes peas, because I’m a heathen.)

[leleboo]

Also fun fact for the nut allergies: our public school isn't nut-free. I sort of assumed all schools were now, but nope. My first-grader can take nut products. She doesn't like peanut butter (because she's a contrarian, obvs) so doesn't, but she's allowed. The daycare/preschool IS tree-nut free, and of course my littler one DOES like PB, so we've done sunbutter occasionally for her. Mostly we stay away from it, as that's easier, and we snack on whole nuts at home.

[silentbob]

We learned recently that our unpredictable two year-old daughter loves gnocchi with pesto (De Cecco and Kirkland, respectively).  She rejects around 80 percent of whatever is offered to her, so this was a pleasant surprise!

Frozen pizza from American Flatbread, which was BOGO at Harris Teeter a few weeks ago, has been a hit with our kids too, especially the Twisted 6 Cheese.