Food, Culinary And Recipe Blog

I have an elder sister who has two darling sons and I visit them as often as I can. As early as now I can see their faces squirm every time they eat carrots, eggplant, leafy greens, and the like. Actually, it takes them a long while to finish it. I have better luck getting them to eat fruits but only the sweet kind like mangoes and oranges. It really is going to be a challenge to train them to eat fruits and vegetables.

Most moms are struggling with this and it puzzles them why kids are so resistant with the greens. It is important to consider that our taste buds are conditioned to appreciate anything sweet. Other than that, it takes repetition to condition our taste buds to appreciate the sour, the bitter, and the bland. There are many ways by which kids can eat fruits and veggies with more fun and less fuzz. Here are some of them:

Let them create their own menus and cook with you

Kids love to be involved. When you give them a task they get excited. Cooking with them will not only make them healthy eaters but it will also create more bonding time with you and your kids.

Get them involved in gardening

When you combine outdoor activities with anything you want them to do, you’ve got a winner. Planting and gardening with your kids is a great time to educate them while having fun. Ask them to watch out for the growth of the fruits and veggies so you can harvest and then munch them together. Strawberries and mangoes are the perfect fruits to start with. Most kids certainly like those fruits because they’re both sweet, delicious and best of all, nutritious.

Start it sweet

Introduce sweet fruits and vegetables first so that they will find it easier to taste other types later on. Kids need to know that the so-called good for you foods also taste good. You can start with the colorful sweet ones like strawberries, oranges, tomatoes, and corn.

Dunk it in dips

Vegetables go well with dips. Let the kids taste a variety of dips such as ranch dressing, blue cheese, and butter. Veggie sticks become more exciting when they see that they can go well with dips too just like nachos or chips.

Puree fruits in desserts

Dessert time is probably the most anticipated time in any meal. This is also one of the best ways to inject fruits in the table. Getting your kids to eat puree fruits is easier because they’ll hardly even notice that it’s there. Once they do, the kids will realize that fruits may seem intimidating at first but actually they taste great.

Roast vegetables

Roasting veggies is another way of making vegetables tastier. Seeing the veggies lined up with barbeques make them more appealing to the kids. Some olive oil and salt will definitely seal the deal for your soon-to-be healthy eater.

Finely chop and mix vegetables

Vegetables can be placed everywhere. It’s just a matter of how you place them. When you finely chop your veggies, it can easily make its way to your kids’ salads, hamburgers, and pasta sauces.

Shop with the kids

Let your kids pick the fruits and vegetables you need for your menus. Let them appreciate the sight and smell of the fresh produce around them. Listen to their suggestions and indulge them with what they’ve chosen.You can initially bargain with them to buy their favorite snack in exchange for eating fruits and vegetables. If everything goes according to plan, you won’t need to use the former trick as they themselves will want you to buy that produce and cook it for them.

Make up fun names for the recipes

Brainstorm with your kids for the names of the veggie recipes you cook. Come up with creative and fun names or even include your names in the recipe! You can also play with their curiosity by saying that your dish is a super secret recipe passed from, let’s say, the kids from Neverland.

Walk the talk

Your kids should see that you eat fruits and vegetables. Show enthusiasm when you eat them. Make it a regular part of your meals so that kids will get used to it.

Getting your kids to eat fruits and vegetables doesn’t happen overnight. You have to give it time and involve repetition. Start with any of the above suggestions and soon you’ll have a happy healthy eater with you.

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About Belle

Belle is the owner and blog editor of Lean and Fab Supplier. She is an athletic girl who loves running, gymnastics and tennis and is also a strict vegetarian.

Food vending is a lucrative business. However so is the sale cigarettes. This will shortly come to an end. The sale of cigarettes from vending machines has been banned in England, with violators facing a fine of £2,500 if caught.
The Department of Health said the ban was to stop under-age sales to children and to help those trying to quit.
The rest of the UK is expected to follow suit next year.
Some pub landlords say it will be yet another negative impact on their revenues that have already been destroyed by the ban on smoking.
Perhaps owners might now look to food vending to turn that extra profit.

Preparation Time :

10 minutes

Cooking Time :

20 minutes

Serves :

Two

Things required :

• 2 skinless chicken breasts
• 1 tbsp flour, with salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 3 celery stalks, thinly sliced
• 100 gm cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• a handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• a few watercress or rocket leaves

Method:

• Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally, so that you have four thin pieces.
• Cover with baking paper and flatten the chicken gently with a rolling pin or the bottom of a heavy pan.
• Dust with the seasoned flour. Make sure you shake off all the excess flour.
• Heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan. Brown the chicken pieces well on both sides. Then remove from the pan.
• Saute the onion and celery in the same pan for three minutes and season well.
• Add the cherry tomatoes and saute for four minutes until they start to break down.
• Then add the red wine vinegar and sugar.
• Put the chicken back into the pan and cook for four minutes, until cooked through.
• Stir in the parsley.
• Serve the chicken with some green salad.

Cooking time 25 mins. approx. Serves 3-4 persons.

Ingredients:

• Table rice (Ponni, Jeersal, Khichidi etc.) - 1 1/2 cups
• Water                                                           - 3 cups
• Salt                                                               - 1 tsp
• Spring onions                                              - 10-12 nos
• Garlic                                                           - 2 cloves
• Capsicum                                                    - 1 no
• Shelled prawns                                          - 1 cup
• Mushroom                                                  - 1/2 cup
• Oil                                                                - tbsp
• Soya sauce                                                  - 2 tsp
• AJI-NO-MOTO*                                      - 1/2 tsp
• Salt and pepper                                         - to taste

Method :

Pour water over cooking plate in the cooking pan. Add cleaned rice, salt and 1/4 teaspoon AJI-NO-MOTO* . Heat oil in a “Kadai” to smoking point.add garlic, when it becomes dark brown remove from oil and discard it. Add cleaned prawns to the oil. Fry for 2 minutes and remove fire. Now drain pwarns from the oil and add to the rice. Place prepared vegetables for steaming in a 2 dish-pan and place it in position. Cover with the lid and switch on the cooker to “Cooking”. Meanwhile chop spring onions, capsicums (discard seeds) and mushrooms.

Reheat the oil in the “Kadai” and stir fry capsicums, mushrooms and spring onions. Add salt, pepper and remaining AJI-NO-MOTO* . Add soya sauce. Remove from fire and keep aside. When the food is cooked, the switch will automatically move to “Keep warm”. After 10 minutes, remove the vegetables in 2-dish pan and use in the following recipe. Add the stir-fried ingredients to the rice and mix gently. Allow to keep warm for another 10 minutes, before switching off and serving hot or keep warm till time to serve.

* - AJI-NO-MOTO enhances the flavor and taste of all India savoury dishes.