Picky Toddler Food: Octopus

Well, the picky eater issue is still a daily struggle for us and I'm still trying to come up with new and creative things to feed him and ways to present food so that it's appealing to his irrational unique little brain.

When we were traveling, this was no less of a problem.  In fact, at times, it was MORE of a problem because we were limited in the selection of food we could have on-hand for meals and snacks at any given time since we were staying in a hotel room.

One evening in particular stands out, and will for the rest of eternity: we took the kids to a Japanese steakhouse with Jack's Pawpaw, Uncle Jon and his lady, Amy.  Jack has, in the past, enjoyed the show of the hibachi chef, the presentation of the food, the chance to practice his chopstick skills, and even the taste of the grilled chicken and even, on occasion, a disguised chunk of shrimp.  However, on this night, Pawpaw (my father-in-law) ordered an appetizer of some sushi combo that included raw octopus.

Gag me. 

(I'm not a huge sushi fan. I know; very uncool of me.)

Next thing I know, Pawpaw's presenting Jack with a big, slimy chunk of purple-edged tentacle meat.  I raised an eyebrow, waiting for the squeal of disgust and nearly swallowed my tongue when I watched my son pinch it with his chopsticks and shove it in his mouth with no hesitation.  He chewed it with zest and gusto normally reserved for Tonka fruit snacks before demanding another piece.

I know.  I don't get it either.  Apparently I've not been thinking far enough outside the box.

So my picky-eater tip for the day: try octopus.

Come on; I know you've all got some hanging out in the back of your fridge just begging you to use it, right?  Yeah, just like I've got a hibachi grill built into MY dining room table and the balls to flip knives around like a ninja. 

Octopus.  Seriously?  When McDonalds puts octopus in Happy Meals, maybe I'll make it part of our menu.  Till then, we stick to corn-flake baked chicken nuggets.

Oatmeal Cookies...

Well, to be fair, cookies are a dessert... this is more of an energy... lump... disk... thing. 

And it tastes good, but not good enough to get a toddler to eat it and not too good that you feel bad eating 4 of them for breakfast.

So, if you're in a super granola mood and you want a healthy snack that's on the sweet side but ends up more like a bran muffin, this is your recipe.  If you're looking for ooey-gooey finger-licking decadence, check back soon. 

Ingredients:

DRY:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup whole oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 Tablespoons toasted wheat germ

WET:
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoon milled flax seed
3 Tablespoons brown sugar

Extras* (optional): Nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, dried cranberries (*I added chocolate chips in an attempt to entice my picky kiddo to eat them.  It failed and I was mad that I didn't add the Craisins I had laying around because I think those would have been delicious.)

See?  This is me working out the recipe:

Yikes. 

So, combine all dry ingredients and set aside:

 

Then, combine all wet ingredients.

 

Slowly add dry to wet and combine well, adding any extras at the end... it will look like poop.

 

 

Use rounded tablespoons to drop onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 335 degrees for 15 minutes.  Be aware that the honey in it burns at a much lower temperature so this recipe has to bake at 335!

 

And here is, I think, where my toddler was totally turned off because he didn't even TASTE these things.  I left them as lumps on the cookie sheet and didn't think about the fact that there is no fat (like butter or shortening) in these cookies to melt and allow them to spread out in the oven, so they came out of the oven in exactly the same shape as they went in.  

 

And what toddler takes a look at a turd on a plate and thinks, "Wow, I won't eat scrumptious looking veggies but I'll sure stick this lump of fecal matter in my mouth!"?  I mean, seriously.

If you're concerned about presentation, take the time to squish these cookies into cookie-like shapes before you bake them.

Next time, in fact, I'm going to do chocolate chips and squish them into cookie shapes and drizzle them with a bit of cream cheese icing.  

But really, these are terrific for a breakfast-to-go or quick snack mid-day.  And they're cookies... well, they want to be cookies.  So it's pretty much a win-win.

My Culinary Love Affair - Wheat Germ

Okay I am obsessed OBSESSED OBSESSED with wheat germ.

My husband thinks I'm crazy.

But I LOVE it.  I add it to all the babies' purees now.  I mix it into every possible recipe I can.  I sprinkle it on salads and on diced fruits for the girls.  I sneak it into PB&J sandwiches.  I love wheat germ.

What the heck is it?  Germ? What?  Ew.

Nope, germ is short for "germination" and refers to the fact that wheat germ is like a wheat kernel embryo.  It's just where new wheat kernels sprout and is super rich in nutrients like... oh, EVERYTHING.  Nutrients such as B vitamins (folate, niacin, thiamin, and vitamin B6), Calcium, Fiber, Iron, Omega-3's, Potassium, Magnesium, Manganese, Phosphorous, Protein, Selenium, Zinc and Vitamin E.  Wow.

And it's not technically a food. 

Wheat germ comes in two basic varieties: raw and toasted.  I use toasted for a few reasons: 1) it tastes better, 2) it's easier to find, and 3) it lasts a little longer.  The toasted wheat germ has a light nutty taste to it that all but disappears from notice in things like sandwiches and salads or even in meatloaf or meat balls, and it lends a little somethin'-somethin' to oatmeal or waffles or muffins or cookies.  The only real key thing is, you have to store that stuff in either the freezer or fridge so it doesn't go wonky on you.

   

 

So in addition to mixing in in with whatever breadcrumbs I might use in a recipe, such as this one, you can just add it into cookie or muffin recipes or swap out 1/2 cup of the flour in the recipe for 1/2 cup of wheat germ, for instance.  I also made breakfast for the girls the other day by mashing up a banana:

 

 
 

And stirring in a couple tablespoons of wheat germ to get this:

 

It may look gross, but it was really yummy.  It cuts down on the "snot factor" as I call it... Bananas, when mushed, are a little slimy and my kids aren't huge fans of the texture, but the wheat germ gives it some grit (insert manly chuckle here).  I tasted it and determined it was quite tasty, so I later did the same thing for myself but smeared it on a piece of bread and smushed that on top of another piece of bread that I'd coated with peanut butter and I thought I was in heaven.  Then, I tossed some mini chocolate chips into the sandwich when I realized how awesome the "banana jelly" was and essentially considered myself a genius at that point.  Now, did the wheat germ make that heavenly sandwich?  No.  Not at all.  BUT it was there and I was able to use its presence to justify eating a sandwich made with chocolate chips and not feel in the least bad about it.

Okay, so maybe to some wheat germ is a nutritional supplement.  To me, however, it is probably more of a crutch. 

Whatever.  I'm lactating.  Back off.

Anyway, so there you have it.  I *heart* wheat germ.  And I make no qualms about the fact that it goes in mac 'n cheese and into my home-made pizza crusts and into the breading on my chicken nuggets and it holds my hamburgers together so if my picky kid only takes one stinking bite of something I toiled for hours to make, at least that one bite has as much goodness as I can feasibly pack into it.

If Your Kid Loves Chicken Nuggets...

...Try these homemade chicken nuggets!  I did, and it was a great success!  They're still chicken nuggets... ish... but they're way better for a kid than the processed kinds.  And the best part is, I just made whole chicken breasts for Daddy and me and the nuggets for Jack and we all got to eat the same thing as a family!

(Side note: Family dinners are very important to me, and I feel like it's important for Jack to eat what everyone else is eating because I do NOT want to instill in him the idea that he can have a sandwich and I'm going to make "x" for dinner and then the girls can have whatever they want and so on... I am not a short-order cook.)

So, here are my chicken nuggets!

Ingredients:
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (in our case, I only cut one into pieces for Jack and left the other two whole, but if you want to make nuggets for everyone, feel free)
2 cups Corn Flake crumbs (buy a box near the bread crumbs in the store, or make your own!)
1 cup wheat germ*
2 eggs, beaten
3-5 Tbsp seasoned salt, depending on taste
(*I will do a short post about wheat germ soon!)

Pre-heat the oven to 350 and prepare your set-up.  I used a technique called "dry baking" to keep the bottoms of the nuggets from getting soggy (which might be a deal-breaker for Mr. I-don't-like-mixed-textures).

Take a baking sheet and (optional:) line it with foil for easier clean-up, then place a cooling rack on top of the sheet.  It lets air circulate around the food and any drippings fall away from the nuggets and keep the bottoms fairly crispy.

Next, combine the Corn Flake crumbs, wheat germ and seasoned salt in a shallow dish.

Beat the eggs in a bowl and cut your chicken breast(s) into nugget-sized pieces.  Create an assembly line of chicken, then egg, then crumbs, then baking sheet.

Dredge the chicken through the eggs and then coat with crumbs on all sides.

I set the timer for 20 minutes and checked back.  At that point, all the nuggets were done.  So if you're just doing nuggets, the time is 20 minutes.  However, it took longer for the adult portions to cook so I left them in another 20, which gave me time to prepare the sides of frozen, steamed corn and rice pilaf and gave the nuggets ample time to cool off before I served everyone (because TextureBoy hates being served food that's hot).

It was a delicious meal! I'd love to break the Ketchup habit, but it'll never happen.  Oh well.  He ended up eating half the pile of nuggets (The other half went into his lunch for school the next day where they were not met with quite the enthusiasm I'd hoped, to be honest... However, I did taste them after he'd rejected them as leftovers and I assure you they tasted great so he was obviously just being a toddler.) and a few bites of corn and about half the pilaf!

When I took him to an occupational therapist to have him evaluated for Sensory Processing Disorder (which he does not have) the therapist did give me some suggestions about how to increase a picky-eater's diet.  He said that introducing a food over and over and over again helps, as does offering meals in sections; ideally 4 (though we do 3 usually, I'll probably start doing 4) - one section should be food you know your child will eat, one section should be something he'd be willing to try, another section should be something he'll touch and the 4th should be something he'll look at.  So in this case I knew he'd eat the chicken, I knew he'd probably try the rice and I was hoping he'd give the corn a shot.  I omitted the final section because I didn't really have any idea what to put there.  As it was, he ate some of everything!

So that's this week's first toddler food recipe - healthful, fun, and easy! It sneaks in extra nutrition in the form of wheat-germ, its more wholesome than freezer or fast-food nuggets, and it's totally toddler-approved!  Please feel free to link up here on MckLinky if you put up a blog post of your own about a tot-friendly food you've tried and loved or leave a comment here with your tips, suggestions and ideas!

My Toddler is a Picky Eater!... Let's Fix It.

Shouldn't really be the frightful admission I make it out to be, should it?  But let's face it: it stinks.  It's horrible to have a picky eater.  I feel like I failed.  I love food - all foods! - and this picky-eating nonsense is cramping my style.  And what about his health?  How can a child thrive on Cheeto's and juice boxes alone? 

It is normal.

Repeat after me: it is normal.

I guess it has a vast array of causes, this affliction we suffer... anything from the assertion of independence to the toddler's innate need for routine and sameness and aversion to change and the unexpected.  Some experts suggest that toddlers are simply too busy and curious to be bothered by the mundane act of eating.  Those same experts also claim that kids won't starve themselves.  I'm convinced the experts don't have kids and haven't seen a 3-day food strike and the resulting temper-tantrums of exhaustion and the parental fall-out when we finally cave and allow a child to gorge himself on french-fries and M&M's.  This crap is stressful and emotionally draining. 

A few things that "They" recommend regarding mealtime and our picky eaters:
- Don't turn mealtime into a battle (Um, Hubby, are you reading this?) because the last thing you want to do is create negative connotations for your child with meals... instead, keep it light and talk about positive things and remain cheerful.
- Serve simple meals and offer your kiddo small portions and a small plate.  *However, my experience is different here; my son gets insulted if we give him a "baby" plate or "baby" utensils... so I have to give him food on a "big" plate and he must use a "big" fork.
- Don't incentivize eating.
- Praise, praise, praise!

Now, when I first approached the idea of blogging about toddler foods and offering up recipes and working with you all to help our little ones get good nutrition, I was torn between whether to tackle the problem in a manner similar to Jessica Seinfeld and her Deceptively Delicious recipes that sneak nutrition into everyday foods and whether to just find new ways to present food in a "my willpower is greater than yours"-esque manner.  In the end, I chose both.  I am not entirely sure that Mrs. Seinfeld's method would help our picky eaters or just create more problems in the long run since the whole goal here (for me, at least) is to cure picky eating.  Her recipes are great, but don't do a lot to break the dependence on spaghetti, mac and cheese and hot dogs.  But, then I had to recognize that picky eating might not be a life-long and chronic condition and that it will probably resolve itself in time and I'll end up with a family of foodies in a few years so the main focus should be to get all the nutrients in the kids as I can now. 

So, I'm combining the two.  The way I'm going to present this whole toddler food thing is this: I'm going to pick a food or a meal that my kid likes.  Or liked.  Or finds not revolting... you get it.  And I'm going to offer up ways to a) make that food more nutritious à la Jessica Seinfeld and/or b) create something similar that is healthy - or at least healthier.  Does that make sense?  I'll have a linky thingy so you can offer up your own toddler recipes or even toddler food ideas if you want.  Share with us what your toddler DOES like... what works for you, what tricks you've got up your sleeve... We need all the help we can get!

We will conquer picky eating!  Or, at least, we will find ways to work nutrition in despite picky eating!

**DISCLAIMER:  Please use caution when introducing new foods to your child.  Consider your own child's food allergies and sensitivities and use appropriate substitutions when necessary.  Thanks!