Growing A Good Eater - Ask Your Question

Come out, come out wherever you are!  There is a place you can ask questions about how to grow a good eater.  The Food with Kid Appeal Facebook fan page.  How many times have you read a picky eater article, employed the tactics and had them fail?  How many times have you given up on getting your kids off the kids menu and onto an adult palate?  How many times have you vowed to rid your pantry of meal helpers and cook from scratch until the logistics got the better of you and you went back to convenience?  How many times have you found yourself in a menu rut and need new ideas for dinner?  There is hope.  You can get over the obstacles.  You just need a community to support you.  You need to know how other families are doing it, and you need to know what works and what won't work for your unique situation.  You need atta-girls (guys?) to keep you going.  You need a group of 2685 other parents trying to solve the same problems to get you back on your feet and on track.

I started the Food with Kid Appeal Facebook page a year ago with less than 50 fans.  These 50 fans were my personal FB friends who wanted to "like" my fan page and a few blog readers who liked the page.  The reach of FB is astounding.  Just by conversing on FB every day for a year, the community has grown from less than a 100 to nearly 3000 people.  I'm honored to have the opportunity to have such a reach with the real food for real health for every child message.

I didn't really know what I was doing when I first started my Facebook fan page, and I was hesitant to do it.  I was already having enough problems keeping up with how to leverage Twitter, and spending far too much time online.  2685 fans later, I'm glad I did.  I discovered that I could get a better conversation going on Facebook than I'd ever been able to do in the comment section of my blog, or the forum that I had to shut down because it got over-spammed and required too much maintenance.

I cherish the FwKA facebook community.  It's a place for me to rant about articles I read, and draft future blog posts.  It's a chance to hear from other parents who are facing the same challenges as I am, how to grow good eaters in this world where factory food is thrown at kids right from the baby food aisle to kindergarten.

Have you liked FwKA on facebook yet?  I hope you come interact with me and 2,685 other like minded parents there.  Whether you're just getting started with feeding a toddler (bless you) or you're trying to convert your mac-and-cheese loving child to food that isn't sold in a box or shiny wrapper, you'll find a support group of parents who are all trying to do the same thing, and hitting some of the same obstacles as you.

On the Food with Kid Appeal Facebook Fan page you can:

• Answer the WFD aka What's For Dinner thread.  Every night between 4:30-5p CST I let the gang know what I'm fixing for dinner, and fans share their dinner plans.  The WFD thread makes me salivate and gives me plenty of ideas for what to make when I'm in a rut.
• Answer the QOTD aka Question of the Day thread.  Every morning around 8a CST I ask a question to the group.  Sometimes it's about a particular ingredient, or feeding the family practice.  Often I poll readers for their best piece of advice on feeding toddlers or teenagers.  
• Ask a Question on the Wall.   You can leave me a question about a problem you stumbled across while feeding the family.  Fickle toddlers, picky preschoolers and stubborn gradeschoolers can throw parents a plethora of curve balls.  
• Request recipe or ingredient help on the Wall.  You can request help with a recipe or ingredient on the wall. I often put an APB out to the gang to see what the other ideas come up.  I don't always have the best answer.
• Post a picture of your kiddos in the kitchen.  I love to see what your kids are cooking and eating with you.
• Help me reach more families.  When you interact with me on FB your friends see what we're talking about.  They may get curious and come check out the dialog.   They may like the page.  They may lurk for months, or click through on an advice post or real food recipe.  I know in my heart that every kid needs better food in order to become healthy adults.  I don't want a single child left off the real food train.  Most people just don't know what is in the food they're eating and serving to their kids.  Even when they do know what's in it, they don't understand the serious health ramifications of a routine processed food diet. I want every parent to know their child is capable of learning to eat and be nourished by real unprocessed food. 
• Share an article with me and get my reaction.  The FwKA community often wants to know what I think of school food reform news, food dye news and other real food issues.
• Hear from me more frequently.  I post on FB almost every day often several times.  I do unplug on some weekend days when I just need a break or have a lot going on with family.  With my two contracts and busy volunteer schedule I'm lucky if I can get one or two blog posts published each week.

Interact by leaving a comment on the blog
Of course you can always interact with me here on the blog by leaving a comment. The best thing about leaving a comment on the blog is that your words get attached to the blog post for all future readers to see. That makes the blog post a much richer source of information when readers hear my two cents, and the experience and perspective from my readers.

If you've ever felt isolated in this world of feeding real food to kids among all the cereal box marketing, kids menus, ginormous chemically dyed cupcakes at birthday parties; come out, come out where-ever you are.  Come talk with us over on the Food with Kid Appeal Facebook fan page. We don't bite. We love to help.

Want tips on how to grow your FB fan page?  Heather of Freebies 4 Mom has created a PDF called Fabulous Facebook Fan Page with plenty of How-Tos.  Thanks for all the tips Heather!

Natural Easter

A natural Easter; it's too much to expect, I know.  Family gatherings are usually pot-luck which usually means only some of the menu is real, nourishing food.  I'm on hyper-alert this year because now instead of one kiddo with allergies and asthma, I have two.  Little boo had what appears to be his third "asthma attack" over spring break.  We ended up in urgent care and narrowly missed a hospitalization.

The more I peel back the onion of why kids get allergies, the more I realize that diet is one key factor.  I want to have fun at family gatherings, relax and enjoy a meal with the family.  But more than that I don't want overindulgence of sugar, refined grains and yet unknown reactive foods to further compromise my sons' already compromised immune systems.  Nor do I want their brains bombarded with toxins from chemical food additives and dyes found in junky candy or convenience food. Even in moderation.

Easter, the egg holiday
I've proposed to my sisters we eggsperiment with dying eggs using different foods like red wine, fruit juices, onion skins and chlorophyll.  I think it will be fun.  Thanks to Christina at Spoonfed and this food science how to round-up of turning eggs from white to colors, I have instructions for a fun-filled natural kid activity at my fingertips.

Speaking of eggs, where do yours come from?  I feed my family local farm eggs from pastured hens when at all possible.  If I'm doing a large amount of baking I buy organic eggs from the grocery store since I rarely have enough farm egg supply to feed the masses.  If you're unschooled on the difference between grocery store eggs and farm eggs, here's a post with the many reasons why I go to all the trouble to source and procure farm eggs for my kids' brains.  Eggs = brain food.  I want only the best brain food available for my kids.   Hint:  animals are what they eat, ingredient list for "conventional" hen feed included.  Only click through if you seek the truth about what's in an egg.  You might not like what you read.

I hope to get another batch of real homemade organic chocolates made before we head over for Easter celebrations with the family.  Hubby nearly passed out when he thought I intended to put these chocolates in the boys' Easter baskets.   I assured him it was a recipe for the family to enjoy, made lovingly by me, not a treat from the Easter bunny.

The Easter Bunny spent entirely too much money on confections from The Natural Candy store.  I intend to let them gorge on however much sweets they want, as long it's from their Easter Basket stash instead of the junk they may get from everyone else.  I found some additive free gum. The boys now have a small stash of gum that doesn't contain artificial sweeteners, phenylalanine, chemical food dyes and who knows what else.  Don't people read ingredient lists??  Please, if you know my kids, don't offer them your chemicalized gum.  Their brains thank you.

This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday, Pennywise Platter and Life As Mom's ultimate recipe swap for Easter.

Got a home made candy recipe using real ingredients and free of additives and chemicals?  Share your link in the comments.  It will probably end up in a future natural candy recipe roundup!

How will you celebrate Easter naturally?

Better School Food - Every child, lunch box or lunch tray, deserves it

My brain is busy trying to keep up with the state of the union of food in schools in our country. My brain hurts.  My heart is heavy.  I am livid.  I am distraught.  I am worn out.  I've been numb for two days.  Good thing emotions are temporary, and I'll have my sea legs back before too long.

It is hard for me to understand how our great nation could harm human health with food additives, genetically modified foods, and government sponsored nutrition education that is based on profits versus nourishment.  Many people don't know where their food comes from, because it is so unfathomable that food would be anything but nourishing.  Sure we know desserts and fried foods aren't healthy, but food?  You wouldn't expect food like your ground beef or your whole grain breakfast cereal to be health damaging.

It just doesn't make sense. How did we end up here where we soak meat in ammonia and make brown food browner with food dyes?  What are the consequences?  Is it too late for us to clean up the food supply and get healthy?  Are food industry practices contributing to the decline in health of our children in the past 2 decades?

Unless your food came from a farm, you better double check what's in it, where it came from, what it ate or where it grew, and how it was transformed from a plant/animal to something boxed or shrink-wrapped before it ended up on your plate. Then decide whether or not it's fit for human consumption. 

Here's where I'm at today, two days following the season premier of Jamie Oliver's 2nd season of  Food Revolution.  Here's where I'm at more than one year into my efforts at my local elementary and district to get kids better food at school.

If you feed kids, its on YOU   
No one, parents, school staff or government staff has the right to trash a child's health or intelligence by feeding them factory food as a rule. Children shouldn't eat food made in a factory for every breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner.  Children rely on adults to get their nourishment. Every adult, whether they are school staff, govt member, parent or someone who feeds kids on occasion, should be educated about the truth of what's in that factory food and how it can damage a child's health and brain.  

Big Kids Big Brains?
I'm not talking about oversized kids here. I'm talking about kids whose brains can't learn and stay focused long enough to accomplish a task. Those kids will eventually be employees and parents.  Imagine trying to keep a toddler safe when you can stay focused long enough to finish a task.  

I'm talking about kids who have allergies, asthma, ADHD and GI disorders like GERD, IBS, constipation.  Those condition aren't normal.  Your child should not be suffering from any of those conditions.  If you don't fix the food they eat, they will most certainly suffer from those conditions long term, and possibly much worse as they get older.  Is that OK with you?  That is not OK with me.  Not for my kids.  I want them well and their brains to become huge complex thinking orbs that can solve hairy problems and get stuff done.  If I give my kids those two things, a well body and a big brain, then I've done my job.  They can become anything.


It doesn't matter what the child wants to eat, or likes to eat.  Children want all kinds of things that are not in their best interest.  That is why they have parents and teachers and community outreach centers to protect them.  You are the adult.  You figure out what fuels a child's body for health and wellness and what does not.   You do some research on the internet about what macronutrients a young body and mind need to learn and grow (right-sized).  Don't know what an excitotoxin is?  Do some digging.  Decide if these food additives are safe for your family, students or customers to eat.  Don't know about the link between artificial food dyes and attention and mood disorders? Read up on it.  Decide whether or not your family, customers and students should be consuming dyes that the FDA now agrees are harmful for some kids.  They still won't warn you that you should think before feeding to your kids everyday in the form of colorful yogurt, breakfast cereal, cupcakes and flavored medicines and multivitamins.

Do you think your child or student wants to be so distracted he can't sit still and learn?  Don't you think your child wants to use her big powerful brain to learn lots of fascinating things?  What if you could make a huge change in the way a child's brain works by feeding him mostly real food with food made in a factory as sometimes food?  Would you stop buying convenience foods except for special occasions?

It's on you as a citizen
If you feed children, you need to get it right. Children are our future. Children are our ticket to continued prosperity. Our country needs children to be well because they are the guardians of our government, economy, and earth when we leave.  Our children deserve to have brains that function properly and bodies that are right-sized and well.


Want to take action?
Head on over to PEACHSF for some of the best "how to change school food" road map tools I've found.  Parents Educators & Advocates Connection for Health School Food can help you get started on doing your part to help our kids get the food they deserve.

How do you feel when you read a food industry story or learn of something in food that shouldn't be there?  What do you do about it?

Real Easter Chocolates - Simple Anyone-Can-Do-It Organic Recipe

easter chocolates

 This was supposed to be a real chocolate for valentines day recipe.  My first recipe was a flop, not suitable for the camera.  Life intervened and I didn't have time for a do-over.  Thankfully there are two chocolate holidays in the first third of the year. Behold the Easter Chocolates.

I stumbled on this recipe when I was looking for a yoga video from Kathryn Budig.  I ended up watching Kathyrn make chocolates instead of doing yoga that morning.  Thanks YouTube.

She doesn't list any amounts in her video, so I had to guess.  I guessed wrong on the oil.  The chocolates actually tasted great, they just didn't look great, and they had an oily flavorless layer at the top.

You must plan a trip to Whole Food or Trader Joes or wherever you find your coconut products and pick up a stash so you can make these simple, delish treats suitable for any night holiday.  If you don't have molds you can pour the chocolate mixture into a shallow pan (think fudge). 

don't look too close, you can see my finger prints..

Real Chocolates - home-made, pure yum Recipe 
based on Kathyrn Budig's video recipe
Ingredients
4oz Coconut butter (I used Artisana found at WF)
2  TBSP coconut oil
2 TBSP + 2 TSP raw honey (more if you like sweeter chocolate)
1/4 cup almond butter
1/4 cup cacao powder ( I used Dagoba found at WF)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 dashes cayenne pepper (it won't taste spicy, it will taste, um, more chocolaty)
1/8 tsp of ancient sea salt (it won't taste salty, it will taste more chocolaty)
2 plastic chocolate molds (I got mine at Hobby Lobby)

directions
In a double boiler (or in a metal bowl over a sauce pan of simmering water) melt the coconut butter, coconut oil and almond butter.  Add the cacao powder, cinnamon, cayenne and salt.  Stir to combine.  Do not let mixture get too hot,  just hot enough to stir.  It will be a bit thick like a batter. Spoon chocolate mixture into molds.  Flatten mixture so it is even with mold.  Place molds in freezer for 15 minutes to set.  Pop chocolates out (use a knife if necessary) and store in air-tight container in fridge.  They melt at room temp, keep them chilled until serving.

brainy chocolates

According to Kathyrn the recipe is forgiving.  Leave the almond butter or cinnamon out.  Put dried fruit in.  I have a bag of walnuts I'll be making into chocolates next week.  I haven't tried too many variations yet, but I can tell I will always want to have a batch of these for an after dinner guilt free dessert.  I think the recipe could take a little more oil, I'll add 4 TBS next time and see if that works.

Kid Appeal Tip  If you've been trying to find a way to sneak more raw coconut/ coconut oil in your child's diet, this is the perfect vehicle.  Why not give kids a chemical dye-free treat that will help their brain instead of harm their brain as is the case for some kids when they eat candy with artificial food dyes?

Do you make your own chocolates?  I'm new to this, what's your recipe?

Baked Apple Puff Recipe The Whole Family Cookbook Review and Giveaway

Just out of the oven, puff already deflating a bit

Read on for a chance to win Michelle Stern's new cookbook, The Whole Family Cookbook.  Also included in this post is her Baked Apple Puff recipe that can go either a breakfast, brunch or dinner direction.

The Whole Family Cookbook Review
I appreciate cookbooks written for me.  By that I mean, written for a real food eating, environmentally conscious, growing good eaters family cook.  That's who Michelle is too, so that's what you'll find in her book.  Recipes you can make with your family, for your family.  Recipes kids enjoy making with their family and don't mind eating.  Recipes that meet the requirement of being both nourishing and earth friendly.

Michelle teaches cooking classes for kids.  In her book, she teaches parents how to bring kids into the kitchen as a strategy to get kids hooked on locally grown foods.  Each recipe instruction bears a colored triangle that indicates the recommended age a child can be to manage the task.   This is a great cheat sheet for parents who haven't yet let kids into the kitchen.  I know there are dangerous things like knives and heat in the kitchen and precaution should be taken, but that's no excuse to make the kitchen a no kid zone.  Riding bikes can lead to scraped knees and broken bones, but I don't know many parents that avoid bike-riding because an accident may happen.

Ranging from age 2 on up to over 11 years, Michelle guides you to which recipe tasks are appropriate getting kids involved in the food they're eating before it shows up on the plate.

The Book is Beautiful and Delicious
The photography and recipes are compelling.  I rarely find so many recipes in one cookbook I want to try.  The book has a way of saying "this should be on your table. Soon."

The Book is a Guide
One of my favorite parts of the book are the "teachable moments" content in the green boxes peppered throughout the book.  Michelle has included dozens of tips to get kids engaged in the role of food for the the family as well as insight into why eating locally and thinking about the environment are important concepts for kids to learn.


Baked Apple Puff Recipe
Serves 4

5 TBS butter, divided
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
3 TBSP sugar,divided
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour
2 small crisp apples, peeled, sliced thinly

Directions (I have condensed the steps, in the book they are broken down into kid sized instructions.  Perfect for early readers and beginning cooks.)

Preheat oven to 450.  Melt butter in a 10" oven proof skillet, remove skillet from heat.   Whisk eggs in a bowl.  To the eggs add milk, 1 TBS sugar, vanilla, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, salt and flour.  Mix the ingredients until well blended and set aside.  Peel the apples, core and slice thinly. 

If the apples are organic hand the peelings to kids and let them munch, my boys love to eat apple peelings!
Place apples in skillet with 3 TBSP butter over medium heat and cook the apples until they brown a bit, about 5-10 minutes.  Remove pan from heat, and pour the batter over the cooked apples.  Sprinkle a mixture of 2 TBSP sugar and 1 TSP cinnamon on top of the batter.  Place the skillet in the oven for 15-25 minutes until gently browned and puffed.  (Do not open the oven during the first 15 minutes or you will lose the puff.)  Call kids to kitchen before removing the pan.  Let them observe the puff and watch as you slice to serve.

Look in the oven, it's puffy!

The puff will deflate a minute or two out of the oven.

Cooks Note: I made a gluten-free version of this recipe but the puff didn't  puff and I had equipment error, so we won't talk about that foible.  The pancake portion tasted great, but totally different than the white flour version.  If I nail the recipe adaptions I'll report back.  My first batch burned at 18 minutes, so watch carefully!


Win a Copy of The Whole Family Cookbook
To win a copy of the Whole Family Cookbook answer this question in the comment field and include your email address.

Tell us one reason why you cook (or don't cook) with your kids.

For an additional chances to win,
1) like What's Cooking on Facebook and tell me you do/did so in the comments.
2) like me on Facebook and tell me you do/did so in the comment section.
3) subscribe to my email or become a reader and tell me you do/did so in the comment section.
4) follow me on twitter and tell me you do/did so in the comments.
5) share the What's Cooking's blog URL or the URL to this review on your FB page and tell me you did so in the comments.

The fine print
Only separate comment entries will be counted for extra entries. If you want more than one chance, leave more than one comment. The contest closes at midnight April 20th at midnight CST. I will draw a winner and notify the winner via email. The winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize by responding to the email. Your email address should be in this format:  jenna AT foodwithkidappeal DOT com. 

Disclosure
I  received a copy of the The Whole Family cookbook in order to conduct this review.  The opinions here are my own.  I think Michelle's work is amazing, admittedly, I am biased.

High Protein Potato Pancake Recipe

I'm surprised this recipe made it to my breakfast table.  I remember a year back, when fellow blogger Kelly the Kitchen Kop said her kids were getting tired of eggs for breakfast, she whipped up potato pancakes.  I naively commented on her post, "how could you ever get tired of a  fried egg, over medium on a piece of butter toast?"  That was back when we had breakfast cereal in a regular morning rotation.  Breakfast cereal has been off the menu for a while, and guess what??  We got tired of egg toast. 

I've never read a recipe for potato pancakes, much less eaten one.  I have no idea if my potato pancakes are what "real" potato pancakes are supposed to taste like.  This is just how 1.5 cups of leftover mashed potatoes and 5 eggs turned into a change-of-pace breakfast for us.  I will repeat this recipe with every cupful of left over potato mash I have.


High Protein Potato Pancake Recipe
1.5 cups left over mashed potato
5 eggs, beaten slightly
Salt, pepper to taste
Butter to grease the pan

Directions:  Beat the eggs.  Mix in the mashed potatoes.  Stir to combine.  Over medium heat in a generously buttered pan, pour egg-potato mixture into the pan making circles about 3 inches in diameter.  (I don't think they would flip easily if they were much bigger).  When egg starts to set, flip.  After 1-2 minutes on side two, remove potato pancake to a plate.

They tasted like scrambled eggs and hash browns.  Not quite as good as egg toast. Now that there's been a little separation between me and egg toast, it is going to taste darn good tomorrow morning.   Big boo liked them a lot.  Little boo was in a funk this morning and sat in front of his plate saying "don't look at me" instead of eating.  I think he ate a total of two tiny bites.  Boy does it irk me when he decides to go to school with an empty stomach and hungry brain.  It was partly my fault.  I'd snapped at him for taking too long trying to find something warm to come to the table in and missing his breakfast window.  When he comes to the table chagrined, his appetite goes from sluggish to comatose.  Me on the other hand, I'm hungry before the alarm goes off.

Kid Appeal Tip  Don't be afraid to enforce a small breakfast even if your child is not usually hungry before school.  Just like you wouldn't let your child skip teeth brushing every night because he wasn't ready to brush, condoning breakfast skipping can be a learning disaster.  Students really need their brain to be nourished with protein, fat and water.  Complex carbs help power the brain until lunch time.  Don't expect your child to eat a lot at breakfast, but make sure they understand their brain needs fuel to learn and think.  Tell them to put as many bites in their mouth as they can, even if their tummy isn't awake yet.  By the time their hunger arises, they will be in class, still hours away from lunch.  Avoid snack or liquid breakfasts that entice your breakfast loathing child to eat something.  Their brains don't need juice or sugary cereal bars for fuel.  These foods may take hunger pangs away, but they don't give your child's brain the energy and nutrients it needs for learning.  In time your child will, on most days, eat a little real food for breakfast, as well as learn a valuable lesson that food = fuel and good fuel = good learning and health.  You will never worry when they're off to college whether or not they remembered to eat something before taking a big test.

This post is participating in LifeAsMom's URS (simple recipes) and Nourishing Gourmet's Pennywise Platter.

This recipe is grain free, gluten free.  Enlighten me.  What is a true potato pancake supposed to taste like?  Have in the recipe?

Get More Vegetables Down the Hatch - Healthy Recipes with Kid Appeal

sweet potato chips - perfect for movie night

One thing that often stands in the way is getting more veggies down the hatch is the way veggies are prepared.  Here are 5 veggie preparation techniques and 11 kid tested vegetable recipes to help move the veggies from the plate and into the tummy of your kiddo. 

Over-cooked mushy, flavorless veggies are not very appetizing.  So, what to do if you're not a veggie cooking expert?  Learn a few veggie prep tricks that will take veggie appeal up a notch or three for your family.

Hop on over to my contributing post at Zisboombah, How to Cook Vegetables The Way Kids Love Them to learn 5 vegetable preparation techniques.

Vegetable Recipes links in the Zisboombah post include:


Sweet Potato Chips
Red Cauliflower
Oven Fries
Purple Cabbage and Pork Stir Fry
Bok Choy and Chicken Asian Pasta
Vegetable Fried Rice
Lettuce Wraps 
French Rice Salad
Purple Cabbage and Carrot Slaw
Chickpea salad with Tomatoes and Cucumbers
Mediterranean Beans and Greens Salad

Kid Appeal Tip  Let the question to your kids be "how do you want to eat your veggies today" vs. "do you want veggies with that?"  Just like teeth brushing and bed time, kids don't always want to do what's best for their health.  When kids know that veggie eating is normal for kids, and expected they will generally comply. When they complain, give them options:  "The steamed broccoli looks unappealing to you?  Would you rather help yourself to some raw broccoli in the fridge or and extra serving of salad?"  Short of chronic gag reflex when serving veggies (which can indicate a medical issue or super-taster status) you should maintain that vegetable eating is normal, expected and necessary for your child's health and development.   

This post is participating in Cooking Thursday and Pennywise Platter.

What tips do you have for getting veggies down the hatch?