Kids & Company Blog

The Great Foodini

Let me begin by sharing a bit about myself, then we’ll get into the contents of this article. For many years I fancied myself quite the Cooking Light expert. Several friends and colleagues would ask me my opinion on how to prepare home cooked meals with fresh ingredients that were healthy and delicious. I was living in Arizona during this decade of my life and needless to say when you spent 12 months a year near a pool in a bathing suit keeping your physique in shape was a must.

I spent three years as a “Raw Food” practitioner, which was incredible. My skin, energy and immune system were all running at optimal performance. A well oiled machine if you ask me. Now, let me be realistic with you – I spent hours on weekends dehydrating food, shopping for ingredients that only the most boutique food stores sold and preparing two separate meals for my husband and I to eat at dinner time. Oh, wait; did I mention this was before I had any children? Haha, I assume by now you picked up on that but I figured I should clarify.

Fast forward to 2012 when arrival number one came – an adorable baby boy. I started to really harness my organic, raw, healthiness into a Pinterest crazy mom, too.

It’s almost like I judged myself on what kind of working mom I was based on how I fed our family. So, each night when I was preparing his bag for school I would take out the food steamer/processer and prepare something like sweet potatoes with chicken and rice – organic, from scratch and made with love. I would label it adorably in its individually portioned container and send it on his way.

The cutest part about this ritual was how I would also receive his daily “activity log” which clearly stated how he ate almost no solid food: “He tried a few bites but continued to spit it out” .

OK get to the point you’re saying, got it. So my little guy is 14 months old now and I’ve discovered something over the past six months of him eating solids – there’s nothing wrong with creating an illusion with your cooking to get them to eat the “good stuff”. And, you’re not a bad mother or love your child any less if you’re unsuccessful in this approach (if you are successful, please share your secrets and also I am jealous of you).

Remember I told you I would prepare two separate meals for my husband and I when I was eating Raw? Yea, it’s because no one likes insanely healthy food all the time. It’s boring and doesn’t taste very good. Our children are the same way. The problem is when we’ve worked all day and get home we know that they’ll eat pizza, tater tots or mac and cheese without any dispute.

It’s important that we try though. Being unsuccessful because you don’t try and introduce healthy options isn’t fair to your child or you. Being unsuccessful cause you pulled the great disappearing act on some tomatoes in the grilled cheese is a small and victorious step for some families.

I know it’s not easy but take this little trick into consideration: sauté some spinach and add it in between the tortillas when you make Junior a quesadilla. If Mac and Cheese is a fan favorite in your house try chopping up some cauliflower, steaming in the microwave for a bit then adding it to the noodles and cheese. You might be surprised and how similar the texture, color and flavors are to the noodles.  Another easy one when it comes to snacking is dehydrated fruits and veggies from the grocery store. They’re convenient for on the go but also a sweet healthy option for the little people in your life.

I will warn you, some of these will fail. I’ll tell you my “homemade mango fruit rollup” experience from two weekends ago was tragic. I wasted five mangos, some parchment paper, two hours of time in the oven and gagging down several bites of it myself before admitting defeat. But, honestly, some will work and you can feel a little more confident each time you get your “hiding the good stuff” magic cape on.

This gal is a great go-to for this sort of cooking: http://www.hungry-girl.com but I will warn you she’s a bit extreme so take it with a grain of salt (pun intended).

 

 

Jackie Kardesh lives in Chicago, IL with her husband Eric, son Landon and three dogs. She is the director of marketing and operations for our U.S. branch with a passion for children’s health and wellness.

You can find her @jackiekardesh or jkardesh@kidsandcompany.com.

Posted on: Friday January 24th, 2014

Posted by: Jackie Kardesh