Kale-Garnish or Edible? and Soap Nuts Winner Announced

Wow! I should have been a natural cleanser blogger instead of a kid’s nutrition-foodie-mama blogger. I have really enjoyed reading all the comments from readers for this give-away. Thanks so much to Kid Appeal’s returning readers (really, I did enjoy hearing from you, keep commenting even if I can’t give you free loot every time…). A special thanks to all of Kid Appeal’s new readers who checked this little blog out for a chance to win a really neat product.

And the winner is Heather! Congratulations! I used random.org integer generator to determine the winner.

Here are your random numbers:

5

Timestamp: 2009-01-30 22:51:00 UTC

Thanks Laundry Tree for such a great prize!

I made sieve licking blueberry sauce again this week and dribbled a drop on my shirt as I was licking the pan (I’m telling you, this sauce is so good, you will not rinse the pan out, you will get out the spatula and scrape every drip off the sides). I have a new stain to put to the test this weekend. We know it works on Pomegranate. Will it get blueberry out?? This is not my most flattering picture, but if I only let hubby near me with the camera when I had hair and make-up done, you'd never see me, ha!

As a preface to the next giveaway on Kid Appeal, here’s an interesting fact about Kale. According to Dave Grotto in 101 Foods that Could Save Your Life, the primary use for Kale in the US is to garnish restaurant salad bars. HUH??? You know that ruffley green stuff around every veggie bowl at the salad bar? Not in the bowls for consumption, but around it for eye candy. That’s kale. What a shame! It has 1327% DV for Vitamin K, and is packed with lots of other nutrients including lutein. If you know me personally you know I like to exaggerate numbers to be funny, but that Vitamin K% is NO exaggeration. The irony about the salad bar garnish is--you can eat Kale raw, in salads.

Kale was introduced to our diet last year when we started getting our organic produce shares. We tried it in beans; too slimy. Mostly we eat it sautéed with onions and drizzled with olive oil. Hubby likes this better than sautéed spinach, and my dad likes it too. The boos are still learning to eat a side of leafy greens, but they’ll taste it every time I make it. Kale is a super green veggie, so eat some. Dave Grotto said so.

I’m making my way through Dave’s book, currently in the M’s, just read about Millet and Mint is waiting for me on my pillow. Hopefully in the next week or so I’ll be ready to write the review and offer a copy as a freebie to a reader!

Sautéed Kale with Onions

Boil some water in a pan. Dice some onion (I use about a quarter of a large onion). Let the onions rest 5 min before cooking to increase their health benefits. Wash the kale and remove the spines from each leaf. Chop coarsely and let Kale sit to bring out its health benefits. Put the kale in boiling water for 5 minutes (or you can steam it). Meanwhile sauté some diced onion in a drizzle of oil in a pan for a few minutes. Remove kale from water and sauté with the onions in pan for a couple minutes. Remove from heat and drizzle with olive oil and salt to taste.

Kid Appeal Tip There may be many flavors, textures, foods that don't appeal to your kids on their first go. The reason hot dogs, fruit, chicken nuggets, flavored yogurt, fries and ice cream are readily accepted by most kids is due to their high sugar, fat and/or sodium content. Foods with low sodium, fat, and sugar may not be immediately accepted, but that's OK. Just keep serving it, and eventually your kids will accept a good amount of what they see on a regular basis. It may take a year or more of offering salad, steamed veggies, etc, but if kids see it regularly and see others eating it with enthusiasm those healthy veggies will make it into their tummies.

I made Kale in this bean/pasta dish a few weeks ago and it was mighty tasty. This is not a simple supper. Nothing is hard in this recipe, but it takes a while to get it all together. Look how green the kale is when cooked! How can you pass up a food that green?!? So pretty! The bacon was pretty tasty too, and the boos were happy to have a chance to eat bacon for dinner.

Kale is the Food of the week at WH Foods. George shares his 5 minute Kale recipe here.

My question is, have you ever seen Kale for sale at the grocery store? I can’t say I’ve seen it among the leafy greens in the produce section.

Edamame - The Snack Your Kids can Unwrap

This is a guest post from Cathy over at a Life Less Sweet. She blogs about a HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) free life. I've been enjoying her blog for sometime and I'm very pleased to have some of her words to share with you. Plus I've been wanting to write about edamame for months. Edamame is a nutrient dense, protein packed, fun, delish snack most kids go for. Even if you're not normally an organic buyer, I do suggest organic for soy products. If you've seen the recent news on mercury and HCFS and want some additional insight, check out her blog.

My son is pretty picky - especially when it comes to vegetables. He would rather be hungry than snack on raw carrots. He would rather go without dinner than face a stick of raw celery. But one vegetable he happily snacks on - even asks for - is edamame.

For those of you who haven't experienced edamame before, it's a simple but wonderful thing. Edamame is young soybeans - soybeans harvested before they start to harden when they are but wee babes - that are typically boiled in water, maybe with a little salt added.Soybeans are an excellent source of molybdenum, and a very good source of manganese and protein. They're also a good source of iron, omega 3 fatty acids, fiber, magnesium, riboflavin, and potassium - just to name a few. Soy may have other health benefits as well, such as helping to maintain a good cholesterol level and keeping bones strong and dense, though it's doubtful that snacking on a handful of edamame alone is going to have a significant effect on your cholesterol level or bone density.

I'd be remiss if Ididn't mention concerns about excessive soy consumption - such as increased levels of phytoestrogens, or isoflavones (found in abundance in soy foods), in infants consuming soy formula and isoflavones' effect on thyroid function. Again, those may be valid concerns if soy is a big portion of your diet, but a snack of edamame every now and then isn't likely to impact your thyroid function.

We call edamame "poppers" because you pop the beans out of the shell straight into your mouth. Poppers is a lot easier for a little one to say than edamame, and it makes eating beans a lot more fun.

You can boil, microwave, or steam edamame for a tasty treat. I like to buy plain, no-salt added, frozen edamame in the shell and boil for 5 min. I used to add salt to the pods at the end, but I've discovered that we all like it just as well without the salt. It is good with a light sprinkling of flaky sea salt, but I leave that to our visits to the sushi bar.

If you have a picky eater - adult or child - give these a try! They're fun, tasty, and good for you to boot!

I too was once concerned about the excessive consumption of soy products. Soy "parts" are used in gobs and gobs of processed foods. This article on soy from whfoods.org help put some of my concerns to rest (it's long look towards the end for the "safety" section). The summary is, whole soy beans, and soybean products are soy is safe for most people. Stay away from processed foods, and focus on tofu, edamame, miso, soy sauce and tempeh and soy is fine for most people. For more on edamame's nutrient content (including choline, a brain booster) see this article.-Jenna


For more recipes and kid appeal tips on how to make real food relevant to your kids, click there to join the food with kid appeal facebook fan page, or there to become a subscriber via email or google reader. We share What's for Dinner (WFD) daily on Facebook, and I pose a "Question of the Day" (QOTD).

Does your kid love edamame?

Yogurt Bowls-Berries, Puffs and Honey

New to Food With Kid Appeal? Welcome, leave a comment, reading your thoughts makes me smile! If you like what you read, sign up to receive email subscription or RSS feed.


Big and Little boo eat at school three days a week, so on their days home I try to get a couple extra dairy servings in. Yogurt lunch is kind of a hold over from baby food days, and also one of the things I did last year to A) save money on expensive individually packaged yogurt and yogurt drink items. B) reduce the amount of plastic waste we create C) cut some added sugar out of our diets. Pre-sweetened yogurt product all contain a fair amount of sugar (4 or more tsp for a small cup), and with two little ones eating it daily the cost, trash and sugar was adding up. Now I buy a giant container of low-fat plain yogurt and we make bowls for lunch, and “yogurt” drinks for special snacks.

(yes, I know that is NOT a very appealing picture of yogurt, but did you see those baby blues??)

What’s good in yogurt?

• Yogurt is great for gut health. If your kids suffer from constipation or frequent tummy upset, getting them on yogurt regularly could help a lot. Yogurt is a probiotic-which means it contains bacteria that produce lactic acid. These “good” bacteria contribute to a boosted immune system, better intestinal tract health and reducing the risks of certain cancers. It’s also been shown to improve LDL/HDL ratios. For more on how yogurt helps with immunity to bacteria and viruses, check out WH Food’s yogurt page.
  

1 cup yogurt (389 mg) has MORE calcium than 1 cup of milk (~300mg)! Plus it has less lactose than milk, so even those with intolerance to milk may be able to enjoy it.

As with all dairy products, yogurt is high in protein making it a good alternative to meat for little ones who haven’t figured out how to eat that chewy stuff.

Moms, this meal is great for weight maintenance too! One study showed that folks who ate yogurt daily burned more fat after meals than those who didn’t. Check out WH Food’s yogurt page for more details on that study.

Make sure to find yogurts that have “live and active” cultures to get the benefits from the good bacteria. Lowfat is best for kids over 2. Kids under 2 should eat whole milk yogurt.

The other great thing about yogurt bowls is the other healthy foods in them! We add honey, frozen berries (thawed) and puffed grains (millet, kamut, rice) or granola. We get fruit, whole grains and dairy all in one bowl! I prefer puffed grains over granola because I get them unsweetened, and then there is no sweetener but honey in this meal. See this post for more on Nature’s Path’s puffed cereals. Most granola is sweetened with sugar, but is still a better choice than pre-sweetened yogurt since at least you’re getting the benefit of a grain. Berries are something I used to buy fresh year round, but buying them frozen is more affordable, and better for the environment. More frozen berries can go in a truck load, than fresh delicate gently packaged berries. Dave Grotto, author of 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life has a great video on raspberries, check it out here. Stay tuned for a chance to win his book!

Ground or whole pumpkin seeds, flax seed meal and dried fruit have also appeared as toppings on yogurt days for us. Any nuts/seeds would do, and would give a protein kick to this meal. Grind them for your youngest eaters, leave them whole for older kids and add a great crunch to the yogurt.

The boys both love yogurt days, and so does hubby. If you followed the recovering picky eater challenge you know I just started eating honey. It used to be on my ick list, but now I enjoy it in yogurt. I have to credit the enthusiasm of my family for this meal in helping me get over the honey-is-yucky hurdle. This is a top-it-yourself meal which has undeniable kid appeal. I serve the boos a bowl of yogurt and put the toppings on the table. They load up their bowls with fruit and puffs and I drizzle on the honey. The berries turn the yogurt great shades of pink and purple so the boys like to mix and watch the white yogurt disappear. There is a mine-is-purpler-than-yours contest every time! For another top-it-yourself meal check out this post on Taco Night.

Kid Appeal Tip If you’re having problems getting a certain themed meal over with your family, try making it a routine. Being exposed to it more often helps, but kids often are comforted when they know what to expect, and the same goes for food. Even if they start off resisting, they may come to really enjoy a new food tradition once they’re expecting it and they see others enthusiastic about it.

What’s on your yogurt?

PS-if you haven’t entered to win Soap Nuts, you have until Thursday at 8p CST. Click here to enter.

Pass the Soap Nuts- Review and GIVEAWAY

You have a chance to win a natural plant based laundry cleaner at Food with Kid Appeal! When I was putting together the gift basket for the Recovering Picky Eater Challenge, the folks at Laundry Tree gave me an opportunity review a natural laundry cleaner and give away two starter kits. One went to the RPEC winner and the other is up for grabs now! Keep reading to see how to score this neat product. Thanks Lisa for offering such a great product to Kid Appeal readers.

My natural, plant based product purchases have always centered around food, but occasionally they stray into toiletries and cleaning products. I suffer from frequent headaches and it’s so hard to know whether a food, food additive or chemical additive in a house-hold item that is contributing to these headaches. Needless to say, when budget allows I’m all for natural plant based products replacing chemical ones.

Does it work on food stains left by messy tots?
Yup. I used soap nuts for all my laundry this week, and I have no complaints! The boy’s laundry put it to the test, I have messy little eaters. The juice of pomegranates, oranges, and berries always make it on multiple articles of clothing. Same thing with yogurt and soft egg yolks (see here for egg toast recipe or here for why eggs are super protein capsules for kids.). Big boo is riding his bike without training wheels, which means a lot of spills in the grass and grass stains on elbows and knees. I’m bad about remembering to put my apron on so I often contribute oil splatters and batter smudges to the laundry pile.

I followed the directions included with my starter kit and used my regular spray to pre-treat the food/grass stains. And it worked. I usually have to wash pomegranate stains more than once, but I was surprised with soap nuts results. The first time through the stain cam out better with soap nuts compared to all free clear. After pre-treating with spray again and washing a second time the stain was gone. Anything that gets out pomegranate stain gets my stamp of approval! It handled all other stains on one wash. I wish I'd thought to take picture of the pom stain before and after, seeing would be believing!

What are soap nuts?
Besides telling you that this laundry cleaner grows on a tree, I’m going to leave it to you to check out the Laundry Tree website for more details on how this amazing plant based product can get your clothes clean! For those of you washing baby clothes, soap nuts are a great alternative to the fragrance-free milder detergents marketed for newborns. Three of the four in our family suffer from mild eczema; Soap Nuts are good for us to avoid any harsh chemicals in our clothes irritating our skin.

Clothes come clean with no scent when you use the Soap Nuts alone. If you like a scent, add some essential oil (9 scents to choose from). Winner will get a chance to choose which scent they want in the starter kit. The starter kit also includes 3 wash bags and enough soap nuts for 40 loads of laundry.

How do I win?
The contest will end at 8p CST Thursday January 29th, and the winner will be announced here, Friday January 30th. I will use random.org to draw a winner. The winner will be contacted via email and have 48 hours to claim their prize.

If you want ONE chance to win, leave me a comment on this post and let me know what natural/ plant based household products you use.

If you want TWO chances to win, enter a comment as stated above and sign up for the email or RSS feed subscriptions. Make sure you tell me in your comment that you signed up.

I need your email addy to contact you if you win, so if you are not registered for the forum or email subscription, leave it in the comment! Your email addy is safe, it will not be used for anything but notification purposes.

Taco Night-A Healthy Kid Pleaser

This was my post on Happy To Be At Home this week. Since it has a recipe in it, I'm including it here, rather than just a link, so the recipe is archived here. I'm also linking to LifeAsMOMs soul food recipe swap. If you're looking for other kid pleasing soul food options, check it out here.

If you’ve ever prepared tacos at home, it’s probably no surprise that Taco Night is a real crowd pleaser. I love taco night because it’s fast. Only the onion and meat need to be cooked, and I can get all the toppings diced while the meat cooks. This meal comes together in less than 20 minutes. My kids rave about taco night. Here’s why:

• Let them build it and they will eat! Kids get a kick out of meals and snacks when self-assembly is involved. They like the autonomy to pick which toppings and what quantity.


• Tacos are vehicles for shredded cheese. Cheese has real kid appeal; it’s salty and the creamy, chunky texture is delish. The fat content helps too! If a sprinkle of cheese helps them eat fresh tomatoes, avocados, lettuce, etc, that’s fine by me.


• Messy meal. Isn’t it more fun to eat messy food when you’re a kid?
  

If you’re skeptical of the nutritional content of taco night, let me help you make Taco Night synonymous with “healthy dinner night” in your house.

The Ingredients
Avocados are good for you! Yup, they are high in fat, but for most active kids, that’s not a problem. Anyone watching their weight should eat avocados in moderation, but don’t skip it! Avocado is a great source of the healthy fat a tot’s brain needs to develop, and it supports brain function for adults too! It also contains a phytochemical that is cholesterol-lowering.

Black Beans. I’ve always known that beans are “super” foods, but I learned in 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life that 4 of the top 20 anti-oxidant containing foods are beans. So whether you like ‘em refried or soup style, include beans on your taco night. Black beans are probably the SUPERest of beans; but any kind will do.

Whole Wheat Tortillas. Using WW tortillas gets more whole grains in your diet. Are you worried you’re going to ruin the flavor of your taco with WW? Put that fear out of your mind; by the time you top it with your choice of sour cream, cheese, avocado and salsa, you won’t be thinking about your tortilla any more, and neither will the kids. I’m a bread snob, so I prefer freshly made tortillas. In my neck of the woods the big HEB and Signature Kroger sell 2-3 kinds, including WW tortillas. I buy them in bulk, warm the day they are made, and put them in my freezer. They stay fresh-tasting this way.

Fresh Veggie Toppings. If it’s in the budget and in season, use fresh veggies for toppings and you’re essentially serving a salad along with your taco night. Cilantro also makes it in 101 Foods

That Could Save Your Life, as do tomatoes and greens (lettuce). I keep it simple and dice avocado instead of making guacamole.

Sour Cream and Cheese. Buy reduced-fat versions and enjoy. If you’re watching your girlish figure, just eat one taco, then have seconds of beans and veggies if you’re still hungry.

The meat. You don’t need it, because you’ve got plenty of protein in the beans, cheese, WW tortillas, and sour cream, but I make taco meat from ground beef or turkey. Avoid using those packet seasonings as they are usually loaded with sodium and MSG. I also sneak in a half an onion into the meat. Little boo is just now starting to eat onions knowingly; previously taco meat was one way to get them in his tummy. Onions are something every kid should eat. They can help prevent against illness, making it harder for sick germs to take hold in the body.

Kid Appeal Tip Soft tacos are hard for little kids to hold, especially when they try to pick them up and put them down. We use toothpicks to help hold the boy's wraps together, and fold up the bottom like a burrito. The toothpick still fails for little boo most nights and at that point I just cut up the remaining tortilla and uses the strips as "pinchers" to grab some of the stuffing mixture in bit size pieces.

PREPARATION

Taco Meat
Pre-heat pan and drizzle in a little canola oil. Add ½ chopped onion and sauté until translucent. Add 1 lb of ground beef or turkey and brown the meat. While meat is cooking add 1/2-1 TBS Homemade Taco Seasoning (or 3/4 tsp cumin, 2 tsp chili powder, salt and pepper to taste.) Drain fat off meat and place in a paper towel-lined bowl. Note: you don’t need the oil if you skip onions.

Fresh Veggie Toppings
Dice tomatoes, avocados and shred lettuce-any salad greens work, we used arugula this week…). Add some rinsed, stemmed fresh cilantro to greens if you have it.

Serve with a shredded cheese, can of beans, WW tortillas, sour cream and salsa.

What kind of taco eater is your kid? Little boo dips every bite in sour cream (and the contents of the taco fall out a lot). Big boo LOVES beans beans beans and salsa!

Quick Healthy Kid Breakfast-Egg Toast

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In response to your vote, half of you wanted more of both family friendly recipes and tips on feeding toddlers. Hubby treated me to egg toast this weekend. Even when you love to cook, three meals a day (not to mention all the dishes) is daunting, so it was nice to have the morning off from cooking. One of the fun parts about marriage is the opportunity to share your meal-time childhood favorites with your spouse, share your spouse’s favorites and then share the collection with your kids. Egg toast is one that hubby brought to the table, having mastered the recipe his dad (PaPaw) prepared for him and his siblings. Hubby started making this for me well before we had kids and it was an instant hit with me.

The key to this meal is cutting a circle out of buttered toast in which to cook the egg. The toast circle then becomes a special treat to eat before the meal is served. I don’t know exactly why small circle toast tastes so good to kids, but my suspicion is that supply and demand plays a part. They are eaten quickly, and there’s only one per slice, always leaving them wanting more, thus enthusiastic for the small bites next time around.

Eggs are packed with nutrition, high in protein and several other important micronutrients such as lutein and omega-3s. Outside of kids with allergies, eggs should really be a part of every kid’s diet as they are second only to breast-milk in quality of protein. Eggs have tons of kid appeal! They can be made in so many ways and have brightly colored round centers hidden in a bright white casing. See this post for more on the nutritional content of eggs and other suggestions for ways to eat them.

Egg Toast Directions
Toast bread and butter on one side. Pre-heat pan on medium. Lightly grease pan with butter or spray. Cut out a circle (large enough to drop an egg in) with a knife and place the bread in the pan, butter side down. Crack and egg in the hole. Salt and pepper to taste. Call kiddos in the kitchen and serve them their special “toast circle.” Let the white set, and then flip the toast over with a spatula. Cook until desired doneness. Gently press the yellow to feel how much it gives. It’ll be soft and squishy for a runny yolk, it’ll be firm for a fully cooked yolk. Serve with bacon or sausage (we like turkey links, but go for the real stuff for bacon).

What happens if I mess up? You can’t mess up with this recipe. You may accidentally break a yolk, or under/over cook a yolk, but you can’t go wrong with toast and eggs. If it’s not cooked to perfection when you first give it a go, keep trying.

Note: For kids under one, fully cook yolks. Never soft cook eggs that are past the best before date (hard boiled eggs and eggs used in baking are fine used within a few days after their BB date)

The boys usually go straight for the soft yolk, poking it with bacon or sausage, and then work their way around the eggy-est parts of the toast, then the toast. Little Boo would eat almost two egg toasts when he was one. His appetite has slowed down now (which is completely normal between 2-4-ish) and he often claims he’s full after slurping up the yolk, polishing off his breakfast meat and eating fruit.

Kid Appeal Tip If you’ve noticed a decreased appetite in your 2 year old, that’s normal. While growth is still rapid in young kids, it’s significantly less dramatic than in the first 2 years. Your child won’t need as much food to sustain this decreased amount of growth. When you notice your toddler picking at their food, tell them it’s OK to eat a little if they aren’t very hungry, but they need a few bites of everything to have energy for (ballet, playground, playgroup, fill-in-the-blank activity.) Knowing they don’t have to finish a lot of food can get them over the hurdle and down a couple bites. On the worst of mornings Little Boo takes a few bites at the table, and then I bring him a few more bites while we’re getting ready for school. He usually doesn’t protest too much about a bite here or there when he’s distracted by shoes or toys. What you don’t want to do is chase them around and feed them ALL their meal. Kids need to learn to eat when food is provided, so I only recommend doing this infrequently and just a handful of bites so you know their tummy isn’t completely empty.

What’s your favorite childhood meal you love sharing with your family?

Winner of Recovering Picky Eater Challenge Announced

I used random.org's Random Integer Generator to determine the winner.

Congratuations lrowland! You have won the Recovering Picky Eater Challenge, and four great gifts. The CD Play by Milkshake, Nasopure saline nasal washing bottle, Soap Nuts by Laundry Tree, and a copy of Dave Grotto’s 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life. Enjoy your loot! I have used all products and can vouch for them. A review of Milkshake can be found here. Stay tuned for reviews of the other prizes, and additional chances to win Dave’s book and Nasopure.

Wow, this challenge sure was fun. All in all 11 people entered the challenge and the thread was viewed 443 times! I know that means not everyone who read it entered, so I’m hopeful that some lurkers have a seed planted in their head now to try something they think they hate in a new and intriguing dish. There very well may be people roaming the country a little more willing to eat something healthy they used to turn their nose up at. That is really satisfying for me.

To those of you that bravely took the challenge with me, thank you! It was nice to have company in my journey of overcoming food aversions and eating more healthy things.

In case you missed my progress:
I’ve had peppers in salad, on veggie platter, and in soup, as well as roasted. Preference the pepper soup.
I’ve had nuts in cookies, nuts in milkshakes, nuts in pesto, raw nuts
raw carrots in slaw, and just plain raw and unadorned, still prefer them raw dipped in ranch (link),
I've had honey in yogurt and tea.
I ate shrimp once and it was pretty good.
I haven’t had an opportunity to eat figs, but I will try to snag some fresh ones when they’re in season, and I’m going to buy some dried and try them in oatmeal. According to 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life, figs have the most fiber of any fruit both dried and fresh.

Turns out I like raw carrots in salads, honey in yogurt, nuts in milkshakes, pesto and cookies. I still have a long road a head of me on eating raw, plain nuts. I don’t like peppers yet, but I can eat them in small quantities. I am a complete convert on honey. I’m not expecting any difficulties with figs. It’s fruit. Why wouldn’t there be some way, fresh, dried, preserved or blended in a smoothie that I couldn’t enjoy? Other contestants have learned to eat sweet potatoes, peppers, fish and beans. It's hard for me to imagine that for more than three decades I picked onions out of every meal I ate (red onions are amazing on home-made pizza), and I've completely forgotten I used to hate oatmeal. I fixes Apples and Oatmeal twice last week!

To read the challenge thread, click here. Come on!! What’s there to lose by trying healthy food you think you hate? The stories of these folks will surely inspire you. Really, the worst that could happen is you try it, and you have a momentary unpleasant taste in your mouth.

Be honest. What food do you avoid? Hate? Gag on?

"Milkshake" CD Review and Healthy Green Recipe

Read on to find out what GOT MILK and kids music have in common. When I was putting together the gift basket for the Recovering Picky Eater Challenge, one of the prizes I snagged was Milkshake’s new album Play. Some of you may be familiar with this band from Discovery Kids, PBS Kids, and NOGGIN. In addition to the CD, I also received Milkshake’s DVD Screen Play and previous album Bottle of Sunshine to review! Thanks Lisa for offering such a great gift to my readers. Our family is really enjoying Milkshake's music.

Little Boo was the first to see the Screen Play on a sick day home from school. For a 2 year old, he was remarkably engaged by the videos and interviews with the band. He sat still through the whole thing, I guessed because he wasn’t feeling well. He’s asked to watch it a dozen times since then, and the results are the same, he’s entranced by this music. Little boo has been musical since he was an infant, even his early vocalizations had a sing-song quality. Big Boo has seen it too and his favorite ditty is Pirates, which is also on CD Play. The DVD is packed with videos from several albums.

As a parent I enjoy it when the boys listen to music I like the sound of too. So much kid music is annoying, and Milkshake is certainly competent at making songs that are relevant to a kid’s life (Rainy Day, Pirates, Superhero to name a few), and not grating to a parents ears. Up until recently the boys mainly listed to what hubby and I listen to, but as they get older and more able to listen to and understand the words, I’m glad we’re building a music library with lyrics that are germane to their life experiences. Milkshake’s songs have choruses that are easy for kids to sing along to.

My favorite song on Bottle of Sunshine? Rainy Day. I think Little Boo concurs with me, it’s the song from the CD I hear him singing and humming most often in the car or on the playground. Other tracks of note are Bluebird and Sleepytown. ABC of me is a great alternative to the nursery school song we all know (and don't love). Music and lyrics are something that enhance learning in a fun way. Milkshake lets parents and kids share in this joy together.

Monday, January 19th the winner of the Recovering Picky Eater Challenge will be announced. If you are not the lucky winner of Play and 3 other great prizes, you can order a copy of Play, Bottle of Sunshine or the DVD Screen Play, you can find links to purchase here. Click here for MP3 samples of some of the songs. Music makes great gifts for all those birthday parties coming up in the Spring for the boys school buddies. I'm weary already just looking at theeir social calendar for weekends between now and March!

Healthy Green Milkshake

Skeptical that a milkshake could be healthy? Green ones are, that’s for sure! Here is a great healthy milkshake recipe the folks at the California Milk Processor Board (creator of GOT MILK campaign) sent to me. The CMPB partnered with Piccolo Chef in Culver City, Captain Cook’s Culinary for Kids in San Diego and Sacramento Culinary Center Showroom to come up with some recipes using milk and veggies that were sure to be kid pleasers. The recipes that came out of this collaboration are not available online, but as I make them, I will publish them. The Got Milk site does have other healthy milkshakes at this link. I made a variation of this recipe using what I had in the house.

Green Milkshake Recipe

1 cup 1% milk
½ cup nonfat plain or vanilla yogurt
½ cup blueberries
½ cup strawberries
3 cups raw spinach
2 tbsp green tea powder (optional)
5 raw almonds (optional)
Honey or sweetener to taste

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Serve cold.

My substitutions: I used one cup raw arugula (it’s very peppery compared to spinach-which is mild, and I thought using more would over power the milkshake) and bananas instead of berries. I’ll go with berries next time since they have so many anti-oxidants. Smoothies/shakes are a great way to get berries in your diet year-round by using frozen berries. For sweetener I used some of the tangerine syrup we made from our last harvest of tangerines. Click here to see the tangerine pineapple popsicles we made with our first tangerine harvest.

Before this shake, I’d never added greens to smoothies, but since one of the boys drank it, I do think I’ll be repeating the green milkshake. In the co-op veggie shares we get greens every week and although hubby and I love green salads, sautéed greens, etc. it’s often hard to get them all eaten up unless the boys help. While they usually eat some green salad, getting more than a couple leaves in preschoolers is a challenge even I haven’t figured out. I thought it was a tasty snack, and for me it was an opportunity to try nuts again, since I’m still not up for eating them raw. Big Boo drank a couple slurps, but wouldn’t finish it, claiming he didn’t like the green stuff. Little boo finished his drink off. One out of two ain’t bad!

Which band is your kid's favorite?

Is There A Picky Eater Living with You?

New to Food With Kid Appeal? Welcome! Leave a comment, please! Reading your reactions and experiences makes me smile! If you like what you read, sign up to receive email subscription or RSS feed (look to the right navigation bar).

Here's a link to my post this week at Happy to Be At Home: Is There A Picky Eater Living with You? The cliff notes are that showing your kids that some foods are not your favorites or are unfamiliar or being skeptical of whether you'll like them or not, then trying them can be a great way to show kids that trying new foods isn't scary.

And here's a reminder to you to enter the Recovering Picky Eater Challenge! There are only 11 people entered so far, which means you have pretty good odds of winning 4 cool prizes. Check out the challenge and the contest here.

How many times have you see that sad face at the table?

Oven Crispy Chicken-Just for Kids

I came across this recipe on LifeasMom's healthy new year recipe swap last week and asked Ellen if she'd share her recipe with us here. I made a similar dish this week, my recipe was a little different, but same idea, oven roasted fried chicken. This is a real crowd pleaser in our family, can't wait to try Ellen's version next time!

Kid Appeal Tip The boys LOVE eating chicken on the bone. Their Nana taught me this trick. Have them pretent they are a hungry lion or dinosaur and use their sharp teeth to rip the meat off the bones! Older kids may not need to pretend, but if bone-in meat is not a crowd pleaser in your family yet, the meat eaters in the animal kingdom may even inspire your grade-schoolers.

Frugal Cooking Tip My food budget is nothing but frugal, so I make up for it by getting as much out of every food purchase I make. After you and your kids destroy all the crispy chicken, and you're working on dishes, start a pot of water boiling and put all the bones in. Turn it to med-heat and let it simmer for a hour. Take out bones with slotted spoon, let the broth cool and store it in the fridge or freezer in an air-tight container. Any fat will congeal at the top and you can skim it off before using in your next home made soup, pot of beans, sauce base, etc.

Here's Ellen's recipe, thanks for sharing with us!

This is a healthy version of fried chicken that is delicious. My family enjoys eating it and it is very simple to make.

Crispy Chicken

4 lb. chicken cut into 8 pieces

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil1 large egg white

1/2 cup wheat bread crumbs ( place a few slices in a food processor)

1/4 cup whole wheat flour2 teaspoons cajun seasoning

1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprikasalt

Directions: Preheat oven to 425, moving rack to bottom of oven. Remove the skin from the chicken and discard ( except for the wings). In a large bowl beat the egg white until frothy, then add chicken pieces and toss to coat. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl mix together cajun seasoning, bread crumbs, flour, paprika and a dash of salt. Coat the chicken in the mixture and lay on the parchment paper. In large skillet preheat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken pieces cooking until golden, about 3 minute per side, turning once. Transfer to a clean baking sheet and cook second batch of chicken. Cook on the bottom rack of the oven until crispy about 22 minutes.A great side dish is homemade fries which can be cooked on the top rack at the same time.

My name is Ellen you can find me at Thrifty & Chic Mom where I blog about money saving, recipes, product reviews and host giveaways. I love feeding my family meals that everyone enjoys and I hope you enjoy this healthy version of fried chicken as much as we do.

Share your frugal kitchen ideas in the comments. (Note if you have probs posting a comment, hit the submit button again, it usually works second time for me....)

Crock Pot Chicken Quinoa and Pesto Crostini

About three years ago I decided I wanted to start using my crock-pot more. Then little boo was born and any task that wasn’t a hungry baby, a potty training toddler or dirty diaper didn’t get done for about 2 years! A few months ago I recalled my crock-pot wish and started looking around for some recipes to add to my pot roast and chili repertoire. After tweeting about quinoa on twitter, I got this recipe in response. One of my favorite things about twitter is how many like-minded foodies I meet and the recipes we swap. I posted it on the forum and it lived there for a couple months, until I finally had all the ingredients and a free crock pot day to try it out just before Christmas. This recipe comes from Kimberly Harris at Nourishing Traditions. She has lots of healthy recipes and beautiful food photography.

Here’s what I love about crock-pot night.
My morning is a little busier, but in the evening I just get to make a side dish and serve what’s ready in the pot. It’s nice to have a low-stress night.
The house smells amazing all day.
Even with my small crock-pot I usually freeze half the meal and we have it for a future weekend night after a day of errands or play with little to no cooking.
The routine, I love it when I don’t have to think about what to cook. Thursday is crock pot day.

This recipe was a big hit with MaMaw and PaPaw who were staying with us, and big boo loved it too. I will make this again. It actually gave little boo the shivers and although he gave it a try twice he spit out both bites. I used champagne instead of white wine. The grown-ups were quite happy to finish off the bottle of champagne with some of the left-over tangerine popsicle ice-cubes. Next time I’ll substitute broth for the white wine, because I think it’ll go over better with little boo. I know another reader tried this recipe and enjoyed it, although her results were the same with the youngest taster at her house.

Little boo was all about the pesto crostini. On soup night the boys usually finish off their cheesy toast, cornbread or crostini first. This was a great way to use some of those frozen cubes of spinach-basil pesto from I made in November from the basil in SIL's garden. Click here for that recipe.

If you’re new to quinoa, it’s a high protein, nutrient dense grain. If you have toddlers who don’t eat much meat, it’s a good staple to have in your house due to the protein content. Click here for more about quinoa’s nutrients and recipe for quinoa veggie stir-fry.

Kid Appeal Tip Young kids often find meat too difficult to chew. Don’t fret about this, the longer they have molars and practice chewing meat bites, the better they’ll get at it. Until then make sure legumes (lentils, beans, dried peas) and whole grains (oats, brown rice, quinoa) are offered several times a week to make sure they get the protein their brains and bodies need. Brain development requires protein. The brain’s development is rapid until age 1, fast until age 2 and still significant until age 3. It tapers off somewhat after 3 but the brain is still forming until early adulthood, and even past that point, protein supports brain function. The lesson there is no matter what your age, protein in the diet is important.

Have a crock pot or quinoa recipe you’d like to share? Post a link on the forum, or tell us about it in the comments.

Sieve Lickin' Blueberry Sauce

Generally I’m a fruit purist, I like it fresh, and raw, unadorned with sugar or other stuff. But with blueberries, unless I’ve just plucked them from a bush on a walk in Norway, I prefer them cooked, or pureed in a smoothie, or mixed in yogurt with honey and wheat puffs.

I saw Ina Garten make a blueberry sauce to go with a lemon glazed pound cake so I had this sauce on my list of things to try. Blueberries are a super food, and included in Dave Grotto’s book, 101 Foods that Could Save Your Life. Little boo had asked for French toast earlier in the week, my dad had bought a half pint of blueberries when he took big boo to the store on grandpa day, and we got a lemon in our produce share this week. It was all coming together, French Toast with fresh blueberry sauce for Saturday’s big breakfast.

Blueberry Sauce Recipe

½ pint fresh or frozen blueberries
3 heaping soup spoons of sugar (sorry, I’m not really a recipe girl)
Juice from half a small lemon (yes, if a seed drops in the pan you should scoop it out, cooking citrus seeds makes your dish taste bitter).

Directions
Rinse blueberries and remove any shriveled or moldy ones. Preheat small sauce pan on medium, add blueberries, sugar and lemon juice to the pan. Stir to combine and keep stirring until sugar is dissolved. Let the sauce bubble for a while removing some of the moisture and allowing the sauce to thicken, maybe 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat, and serve as a topping for pancakes, waffles, French toast, toast or English muffins. Here is Ina’s recipe. Mine was thicker and more like preserves than sauce because I didn’t use water. She strains hers, I don’t recommend straining if you use my recipe.

I strained the sauce, but it was so thick the blueberries got all stuck in the mesh. It was so tasty, and so chock full of nutrients I couldn’t see all that sauce stuck to the sieve go to waste, so I licked it. I didn’t even call the boys in to help me; I just stood over the sink licking every chewy sweet blueberry skin off that sieve! It took a lot of will power for me not to get a spoon out and eat all the sauce before I served breakfast. It was that good! I thought about having hubby come in and take a picture of me, but I had bed head and pjs on. It would have been a great shot. Now I’m sorry my vanity won in that decision.

Here’s why your family should eat blueberries.
They contain several health promoting phytochemicals
Like cranberries they contain compounds that prevent bacteria responsible for bladder infections from taking hold in the bladder wall.
They are also known to support memory and cognitive function, promote heart health, and can be effective inhibitors of cancer.
Plus they taste great.
And they’re blue. Blue food has loads of kid appeal!
Or crazy purple when cooked. Purple food is pretty cool too.

Kid Appeal Tip Sometimes kids are reluctant to try even sweet treats if they are confused by them. Little boo was expecting syrup on his French toast, so he declared, “I don’t yike blueberry sauce,” as I put a dollop on his plate. While the rest of the family inhaled our toast, he didn’t take a single bite. I finally got him to dip his finger in it and try it by telling him it was sweet with sugar and blueberries. Once he had a lick he exclaimed “It IS yummy. I eat it now.”

Kid Appeal Tip 2 Let your kids watch as the blueberries come up to heat and start staining the juice purple. It’s a neat experiment to watch them turn such a vivid deep purple. Kids are more likely to eat food they’ve helped prepare.

Too see other big breakfast recipes we enjoy check these out: Steel-cut oatmeal, whole grain oat waffles, Apples and Oatmeal (from LifeasMOM).

I'm taking a poll, please respond! I want to make sure I'm writing what you want to read, so tell me.

I love to hear from you in the comments. What was the last thing you ate that made you lick the bowl?

Feeding Baby-An Overview of Spoon Feeding Baby

I know some Kid Appeal readers have infants and are getting ready to spoon feed, so I’m starting a new feature where I’ll talk about that wacky time where you introduce solid foods to your wee one. According to the boy’s pediatrician, outside of illness, feeding is the topic parents are most likely to ask questions about, first timers and experienced parents alike. And unfortunately the short time at the doctor’s office doesn’t give you much time to ask the plethora of questions you probably have about how to get started. I’m going to try to ease some of the concerns you may have. My advice should not replace that of your doctor. You should confirm your feeding plan with your doctor.

Seems easy right? You need a tiny spoon, jars of food, a high chair and a bib, and that’s it. But once you get started, there are so many other logistics to consider. What about a drink? Do you serve water with meals? How many meals the first day? The second week? What about milk? Breast/bottle before or after the spoon food? What should go on the spoon? Why does baby make all those funny faces? Did baby get enough of the spoon food? Why do baby’s diapers look different? What’s that smell? How do I get sweet potatoes out of baby’s nostrils? I could go on, but I know these questions are already in your mind, so I’ll stop.

I’m not going to cover all these questions at once. I’ll break them down into shorter articles and post them on a routine basis. Until then here’s an introduction on feeding baby.

First. Every baby is different. Your baby won’t be the same as your sister’s kid, your neighbor’s kid, my kids or your mom’s stories of how you were when you started on solids. So, read your baby for clues. It’s good to have an idea of what you might expect, but it’s best for you and baby to learn from each other. Go ahead and be prepared for curve balls. Even if you’re well educated on feeding baby, baby will probably challenge your baby feeding skills.

Second. Even the doctor’s orders are guidelines that are generally accepted in our culture. There are many cultures that don’t have jarred, bland, pureed baby food available, and those babies transition from milk only diets to food with a different process. The process you’ll use is a guideline, not hard fast rules. So relax a little. Your first-born will not go off to college on the bottle.

Third. Take things slow, especially in the first 3 months of spoon feeding. As long as baby has normal stools--that aren’t causing discomfort, is gaining weight appropriately, is free from signs of allergy (rash, difficulty breathing, abnormal stools, etc.), and is showing that as the weeks goes on, more and more foods, flavors, textures and amounts are being tolerated, he’s probably fine. Everything that happens in the high-chair between 4-12 months is PRACTICE. During these months your baby is still taking in a lot of milk, which is their primary source of nutrition. At 12 months, when the daily milk requirement drops, baby needs to ace the I-can-eat-solid-food-test.

The picture in this post is little boo’s first spoon food meal (look at that chin!) . Wondering what that green stuff is? That’s not the normally recommended baby cereal flakes. It’s avocado. Stay tuned for the next Feeding Baby article for the reasons behind my choice for his first food. If you can't wait for me to shed light on this fun time for you and baby, I recommend the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. Her baby feeding tips are spot on and were pretty influential on my feeding baby philosophy (minus the vegetarian bit), but you have to weed through some irrelevant food storage and other general house-keeping tips.

If you’re reading this and feeding a baby under 12 months(first born or not), drop me a comment and let me know you’re here? List baby's age. The bigger the following is for the feeding baby features, the more frequently articles will publish. If you want them every week, tell your friends!

I’m starting a new thread on the forum for Feeding Baby questions. Follow this link to leave me a question on the forum, or leave one in the comments. If you've gone through the spoon feeding process before and have insight to share, stop in and leave a comment. I'm sure other readers would benefit from your experience. I'm a firm believer in it takes a village to raise a child!

A Diet You Can Follow With Your Kids

Click here to see this week's article I wrote as contributing writer for Happy To Be At Home. If you've tried diets before that didn't last, this one will work for two reasons:

1. It's the diet made up of food you CAN eat.
2. It's a diet your whole family can eat. No more special meals for mom, and you don't have to worry about falling off the wagon at the family meal.

I'd love to read your comments there.

Prod, prod, nudge nudge. Have you entered the recovering picky eater challenge yet? If not, you still have one week to enter and win four great prizes! A book, a kid friendly nose wash system, a kid's rock CD and some natural laundry detergent. Read here for details on the challenge and the prizes.

Please vote! Scroll up and to the right. I want to know what you want to read more of in the coming months.

What bugs me about buying organic

picture courtesy of Karin Barry of Cooking Adventures.

I have to say that while buying organic has many health promoting benefits, there is one thing that bugs me. It’s the additional creepy crawly critters I get in random boxes of pasta, rice, flour and sometimes produce.

Today was the second in two days of seeing bugs in organic stuff, and I have to admit, it grosses me out. I know, I know bugs are a natural part of life. But they are in there because they’re eating it. I want to scream at them, “Out out out of my food, that’s for MY family.” I pay a little more for organic food, and organic food is less convenient. It has a shorter shelf-life so I have to buy in smaller batches. This means more trips to the store, and not being able to take advantage savings with bulk buying. I have to repackage stuff when I get home in airtight containers, and keep most of my flours and grains in the freezer or fridge. Even still, there is the sporadic black crawling dot in the box.

My grandparents were farmers so I grew up knowing that bugs and crops co-exist. (I never wanted to shuck the corn, worms ewww). And yes it’s gross and inconvenient to have bugs in your groceries. But, I have to say, I’d rather get a couple boxes of infested grains and buggy greens, than have all my plant based food coated in chemicals and grown in toxin filled dirt. So, I’m sticking with organic.

What to do to prevent buggy food?

• Buy from stores that have good turn-over on bulk/shelf items
• Buy in small quantities
  
• Once you open a box/bag keep remains in air-tight containers
• Keep as much of your grains/flours in the fridge/freezer as you have room for.
• Inspect INSIDE heads of lettuce and cabbage. The bugs are usually a few layers in, so do a peeky and make sure the inside looks as good as the outside.
• If you do get produce or product that is infested tell the vendor, farmer, store or manufacturer. Most organic sustainable farms do their very best to provide infestation free food to you and are happy to replace the product, refund your money or both.

Come on, it’s Friday. Share a food gross-out story with us.

Organic Co-op Produce & The 2 Red Onions Challenge

It's been nearly SIX months since I've had organic co-op veggies from Central City Co-op. And yesterday I picked up my first bag of loot. CCC produce is something I started last year when I was doing research for the Kid’s Nutrition class. At first I thought the random collection of veggies was odd, but after a couple weeks I started enjoying picking up our mystery bag of produce. I never know exactly what’s going to be in the bag. And sometimes I don’t know until I’m cooking exactly what meals the food is going to end up in. Thanks so much to the sisters who run our neighborhood CCC, I for one am very happy for the service you provide to our family! Here’s what I came to love about the bag-o-fun.

More herbs! I rarely splurge for fresh herbs at the store, but I love them. I have a black thumb and a mostly shaded yard, so there’s no point trying to grow my own.

New concoctions. Some have bombed (like black beans and kale, ick), but some have become our family’s favorites, like ground pork with purple cabbage, a Chinese inspired stir fry dish. This is the infamous dish in which I learned to love onions. I made a to-die-for beet salad with a bunch of beets. Adding zucchini to eggs came to our family this way too. Sometimes you don't get enough of one particular veggie to do a whole side dish with it, so it ends up in a salad, soup or omelet.

More local food. Local food is fresher and tastes so much better. Last year we enjoyed local strawberries, spring onions, beets, plenty of herbs and greens. They were all delish. Plus it’s nice to support local businesses.

The adventure. I picked the boys up from school and I’d start selling the produce bag to them. We talk up what might be in it, what we hoped for, what we didn’t hope for. Then we get home, and I’d ask them to help me put the produce away. We pull out giant beets, spring onions, bags of kale, etc. and we’d look at it, smell it, talk about what meal it might end up in, and then find a place for it. I so enjoyed putting together the raw ingredients into tasty meals. And the boys were way more likely to try a new food if it showed up in the mystery bag, vs. something I yanked out of the fridge one night.

Budget check. I have a spending problem. And it's not on shoes, clothes or jewelry. I spend too much money on food! Meat, cheese and fresh produce are my weaknesses. And bakery bread. And wine. And bulk coffee and tea. Fine, my problem spans all food groups. There I've admitted it. It helps to have the co-op produce bag to limit my spending. This way I can almost avoid the produce section at the grocery store and it puts a cap on fruit and veggie spending. I still sneak over there for more potatoes and bananas and I just try real hard not to look at any other produce, repeating in my head "the fridge is full, the fridge is full..."

Here’s what was in my bag this week. 5 roma tomatoes, 2 avocados, a bag of cherries, a bag of mixed greens (local), a HUGE head of Napa cabbage (local), a large bunch of broccoli (local), a bag of baby carrots, one giant lemon, 4 apples, one kiwi, 2 red pears, one zucchini, one large russet potato and 2 red onions.

We enjoyed a green salad last night with the mixed greens. Tonight I’ll use the broccoli as a side for baked chicken and rice. The zucchini will get shredded and sauteed with a little onion then added to scrambled eggs for breakfast this weekend. We’ll use the tomatoes and avocado for tacos night and french salad another (brown rice, corn, tomatoes, avocado). Two of the apples didn’t make it home from picking the produce up, the other two I hope to hide and sauté to serve over oatmeal (thanks to fishmama for this recipe). The rest of the greens will end up on chicken salad sandwiches. The lemon will end up in various dressings, marinades, etc. The cherries, pears and kiwi are all fruit for snacking. The carrots go in the boys lunches.

Kid Appeal Tip I usually get the boys to help me put away the produce and I talk about what I might do with each veggie. I ask them if they have suggestions and what veggie they want that night. We talk about which items I'm not sure what to do with and then later in the week I tell them what recipes I'm looking forward to trying. The repeated exposure of helping me put away, thinking of menu ideas, letting them participate, and then having them help me taste-test new things goes a LONG way to them actually trying and eating the produce once it ends up on their plate. Even if you shop at the regular grocery, you can involve your kids in these activities and over time I expect they'll become more adventuresome in the things they'll eat.

Still not sure what to do with 2 red onions. I prefer red, yellow, and green for cooking. Red are usually served raw, and I still haven’t gotten over my aversion to raw onions. I get a large onion every week, so I’ve got six days to use up 2 large red onions, that's my challenge this week. You can see how this one onion a week thing really helped me get over my onion aversion.

Where do you get your organic veggies? Got a red onion idea? Leave a comment or post a recipe on the forum.

Apples and Oatmeal

Apples and Oatmeal - A Great Breakfast Combination

I was delighted when Jessica of Lifeasmom wanted to cover oatmeal as a guest post. Oatmeal has so many health benefits, everyone could use a little more oatmeal in their life! I've never prepared it with apples, but I'm going to try now.

As a busy mom of six children, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. One thing that helps me get in and out in short order is to have a regular breakfast menu for the week. We have seven different breakfasts each week. And usually, I repeat those same seven for several weeks or perhaps for an entire season. Not having to think about what to cook so early in the morning saves me time and brain power. And I need all of those that I can get!

One favorite menu item during fall and winter is apples and oatmeal. I love it for the whole grains, fresh produce and fiber. My kids love it simply because it tastes great. An added bonus is that this meal comes together in a short amount of time.

Apples and Oatmeal - FishMama Style

serves 4-6

I like my oatmeal on the dry side, like cooked rice. If you don't, simply start out with more water. To shorten your morning prep time, prepare the apples the night before. Drizzle them with lemon juice to prevent browning and store, covered, in the fridge.

3 T. butter

4 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

2 1/2 cups water

pinch salt

2 - 2 1/2 cups rolled oats (we prefer old-fashioned)

brown sugar or sucanat

heavy cream

In large skillet, melt butter. Add apples, stirring to coat with melted butter. Allow apples to cook, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. In a medium saucepan, place water and salt. Bring to a boil. Stir in oats. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Once apples are tender, you are ready to serve. We place oatmeal in the bowl and top with sauteed apples. Sprinkle with brown sugar and drizzle with heavy cream.

Jessica Fisher, also known as FishMama, is a happy wife and mother of six children under 12. She regularly blogs about being joyful amidst the busy-ness of motherhood at LifeasMOM.

Check out this article I wrote for details on what's healthy in oatmeal. If your schedule doesn't allow for hot cooked breakfasts, try making oatmeal for a light dinner, or desert!

Oatmeal is like pizza. Everyone has their favorite toppings. What do you mix in? Pumpkin? Peanut butter? Flaxseed?

Enter Recovering Picky Eater Challenge and Win Free Stuff

If 3 weren't enough, here are 4 more reasons to enter the recovering picky eater challenge!

I planted the seed a few weeks ago, now it’s time to step up to the plate. Be brave, and learn to like a food you think you hate. Last year I learned to eat oatmeal, raw carrots, onions, cabbage and nuts. I found that some of my food aversions were in my head (oatmeal, onions). Others are clearly a preference thing (carrots, peppers, nuts). Dry crunchy mouthful is not my thing. So what do you say? Are you ready to join the challenge?

Maybe you need a bribe? I’m not opposed to rewards for feats of bravery. Here are four bribes, some for you, some for the kids. Become a recovering picky eater and win some healthy, natural and kid loot.

Reason number 1: 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life This is a book by Dave Grotto, with nutrition info on 101 Foods that are good for your diet. Skeptical there won’t be a single food listed you’ll actually enjoy eating? It’s true that wine did not make the list, but chocolate did! Others that might surprise you are coffee, raspberries, apples, eggs, olives, peanuts, potatoes, sardines, sunflower seeds and tea. Check back later in the month for a full review of this book, and another chance to win.





Reason number 2: Nasopure starter kit. Nasopure nasal wash bottles are something my whole family uses (big and little boo included) and I know it keeps our need for allergy/cold meds down and reduces the number of times we need antibiotics. The bottles are dishwasher safe and easy enough to use that preschoolers can do it themselves. They are less bulky and easier to wash than neti pots, but the concept is similar. Again, check back later in the month for a full review on this product and THREE more chances to win starter kits.

Reason number 3: Soap Nuts by Laundry Tree. I am such a fan of eating plant based food for optimal health. Although, I’m newer to the idea of plant based products for cleaning purposes, I think it’s a swell idea. They are 100%, totally natural. They are organically grown and are chemical-free, and they are incredibly gentle on clothes AND skin. I’m eager to try out my starter kit of Soap Nuts to see what kind of match they are for all the food and play stains on big boo and little boo’s clothes. Check back later for a full review.

Reason number 4: Play. This is a CD by the band Milkshake. I don’t have it in my hot little hands yet, but I’ve listened to the short samples (on-line here) and look forward to hearing more. Pirates and Superhero are sure to be a hit with big and little boo. I’m not sure who will like it more. Me because it’s kid music I don’t mind listening to (sorry barney, I am not a fan of your sing-a-long songs.), or them. I’ll be reviewing Milkshake’s DVD Screen Play later in the month.

Are these bribes not enough? Read here for three more reasons to enter. And if you need more inspiration, you can read about how I came to enjoy oatmeal and started eating nuts this year. I’m still working on carrots and peppers. I’m finding carrots much easier to adopt. Plus, before Christmas, the 3 reason's article made Kirtsy's Today's Top Stories for about 24 hours. Still not convinced? What if I tell you another blogger at Elastic Waist wrote about the challenge? Does that make you want to join? Really I want to mention Weetabix because I like the word bugaboo, she used in her post, and I was flattered to get the free press. Oh, and she got way more comments on her article than I did. I might be a teeny bit jealous.

How do I win?
You have work for it! These are bribes for those willing to go on the perilous adventure of challenging the hated, disliked, gross-out food mind-set we all get about certain foods. Your ick-factor food list may be long or short, but you just have to pick one food you don’t like and try it again, a few times, and see what happens. Here’s how to enter.

1. Register for the Forum. Use FireFox not IE.
2. Go to the Recovering Picky Eater Challenge thread (RPEC), and answer 4 questions. Here’s the link.
3. Come back to the Forum at least once before the winner is announced Jan 19th and tell us how the challenge is going for you. Only those who post in the RPEC thread more than once will be entered for a chance to win. I know, I know. It’s a lot of steps, but the prize basket is big!
4. Come back Jan 19th to see the randomly selected winner of ALL four prizes announced. The winner will be contact via email, and will have 48 hours to claim their prize or a new winner will be drawn.
5. Optional 2nd chance to win: sign up for the RSS feed or to receive Kid Appeal updates via email. See the column to the right to do either.

And please contact me via twitter or email if you can’t comment or register for the forum. I know there are some bugs for readers doing both, but so far I don’t have enough information to troubleshoot the problem. I want you to win! Let me know if you can’t enter, and I will fix the problem!