I am currently on vacation back east with my family and one day my sister in law asked "What ever happened with that food thing you did with the kids. Was it worth it?" It was. Did my children become amazing eaters? No. Did I stick to the 30 meals I outlined in the beginning? No. Did I ever fall off the wagon? Yes. Did I give up? No.
Here is what I learned from this challenge:
1. Preparation is king: The only way I am not going to slip into pizza/nuggets/macncheese is if I have a menu planned and shop for that menu.
2. 2.5 year olds are very young to get this challenge, but 4 year olds are not!
3. Stickers/incentives were not necessary. Over the top praise from mom and dad was sufficient.
Sofia: She benefited the most. She gets the idea of trying something new and is much much better at giving something a taste rather than ushing it away right off the bat. Still, when given a choice, she will always eat mac n cheese (however, she is now cool with whole wheat pasta instead!)
Jack: Jack is not that picky.
Liam: Liam can not be bribed/tricked into doing or eating anything he does not want. Since Liam is my big meat eater, I feel my success lies in the fact that I now have him eating tofu dogs and veggie meatballs instead of the real deal. Also, Liam is often not hungry when the other two are, so I have to allow him to eat later sometimes.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Days 16 & 17: Off the Wagon!
For a variety of reasons, we fell off the wagon Sunday & Monday.
Day 16: Sunday we took the kids out to eat. Sofia has been asking a lot to eat out at a restaurant, which we rarely do with all 3. But, we got up our nerve and took them to Tower Burger up on Portola. They got nothing new (sofia a grilled cheese and hot dogs for the boys), but they were very very well behaved. Philip got a burger and it was pretty darn tasty. Perfect place to bring the kids. Service was quick.
Day 17: Katya & I took the kids to SIX FLAGS. We had an absolute blast. There are plenty of things there for my age kids to do. In fact, since scantily clad teenagers have no interest in the rides/areas that 2.5-4 year olds like, we waited on NO LINES and at times felt like we had the park to ourselves. The shark exhibit is very cool. We watched the sea lion show and Shouka and killer whale show. My kids were clapping and cheering away. As for rides, they've got great kid rides - roller coasters, old skool swings, Thomas the tank engine, Harold the helicopter. And on top of that, the animals in Tava's Jungle land are super cool and you get really close - giraffe, elephant, camel, tiger, lion, cougars. A huge jungle gym/play area for kids, a water fountain area they can run around in and keep cool. Seriously, i know its in Vallejo, but it only took us 40 minutes to get there.
Negatives: parking is a pain (park and then either walk 10 minutes or take a shuttle/tram; food is ridiculously overpriced (4 small ice cream cones with sprinkles was around $26). But whatever, its a great way to spend the day, escape the fog and tire the kids out! I want to go back and do the dolphin discovery - you can swim with the dolphins.
Getting back on the program Tuesday for sure.
Day 16: Sunday we took the kids out to eat. Sofia has been asking a lot to eat out at a restaurant, which we rarely do with all 3. But, we got up our nerve and took them to Tower Burger up on Portola. They got nothing new (sofia a grilled cheese and hot dogs for the boys), but they were very very well behaved. Philip got a burger and it was pretty darn tasty. Perfect place to bring the kids. Service was quick.
Day 17: Katya & I took the kids to SIX FLAGS. We had an absolute blast. There are plenty of things there for my age kids to do. In fact, since scantily clad teenagers have no interest in the rides/areas that 2.5-4 year olds like, we waited on NO LINES and at times felt like we had the park to ourselves. The shark exhibit is very cool. We watched the sea lion show and Shouka and killer whale show. My kids were clapping and cheering away. As for rides, they've got great kid rides - roller coasters, old skool swings, Thomas the tank engine, Harold the helicopter. And on top of that, the animals in Tava's Jungle land are super cool and you get really close - giraffe, elephant, camel, tiger, lion, cougars. A huge jungle gym/play area for kids, a water fountain area they can run around in and keep cool. Seriously, i know its in Vallejo, but it only took us 40 minutes to get there.
Negatives: parking is a pain (park and then either walk 10 minutes or take a shuttle/tram; food is ridiculously overpriced (4 small ice cream cones with sprinkles was around $26). But whatever, its a great way to spend the day, escape the fog and tire the kids out! I want to go back and do the dolphin discovery - you can swim with the dolphins.
Getting back on the program Tuesday for sure.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Day 15: Soft Polenta & Mini Meatballs
Day 14 was Thursday night which is the night Philip and I go out - so the name of the game is get through dinner/baths easily and quickly so we can head out. That said, we had pizza and left over pasta with peas. Sofia ate the pasta, Liam ate the pizza and Jack ate both!
Day 15: The menu called for this Grilled Halibut with tomato bbq sauce and a honey mustard polenta. well, it was foggy today which does not make the grill to exciting and today we have our current tenants moving out and new tenants moving in so the afternoon was a little hectic. BY the time I got home and started cooking dinner, I would not have time to get the halibut together, so I did the polenta and made some mini meatballs to go with it.
As for the polenta, I only had slow cooking corn meal, so I did it in the oven (instead of stirring on the stove top for 25 minutes). It worked really well and was easy. Mix 1 cup of cornmeal with 3.75 c of liquid (i did 2 c milk and 1.75 chicken broth). Put it in a buttered 8x8 glass pan and bake for 50 minutes at 350. After 50 min run a fork through it bake 10 more minutes. Add butter and parm and a little salt/pepper.
Verdicts:
Sofia: Loved and ate everything.
Jack: ditto
Liam: Ate what seemed like 100 meatballs. did not touch the polenta.
Day 15: The menu called for this Grilled Halibut with tomato bbq sauce and a honey mustard polenta. well, it was foggy today which does not make the grill to exciting and today we have our current tenants moving out and new tenants moving in so the afternoon was a little hectic. BY the time I got home and started cooking dinner, I would not have time to get the halibut together, so I did the polenta and made some mini meatballs to go with it.
As for the polenta, I only had slow cooking corn meal, so I did it in the oven (instead of stirring on the stove top for 25 minutes). It worked really well and was easy. Mix 1 cup of cornmeal with 3.75 c of liquid (i did 2 c milk and 1.75 chicken broth). Put it in a buttered 8x8 glass pan and bake for 50 minutes at 350. After 50 min run a fork through it bake 10 more minutes. Add butter and parm and a little salt/pepper.
Verdicts:
Sofia: Loved and ate everything.
Jack: ditto
Liam: Ate what seemed like 100 meatballs. did not touch the polenta.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Day 13: Eggplant Rollups & Tortellini
This is a very exciting evening in our house. We found something Liam loved! 
I really was not thinking this Eggplant Rollup recipe from Rachel Ray would go over too well. I made tortellini on the side (the thing I know they like), but even Liam is not a huge fan of tortellini. If you have not guessed by now, Liam is a meat eater & not a big fan of pasta. My expectations were very low.
This recipe is tasty, but that's a given. Its fried and has ricotta cheese and as a twist, also a little pesto. While it was not difficult and really did only take about 30 minutes to prepare (then 15 min in the oven), its messy and has a lot of bowls, pans, etc to clean up. I think I will experiment with this one with baking instead of frying the eggplant. Of course, it will loose some of the yum factor, but if I can get liam to love it that way, then I'd probably make this a regular meal.
This recipe is tasty, but that's a given. Its fried and has ricotta cheese and as a twist, also a little pesto. While it was not difficult and really did only take about 30 minutes to prepare (then 15 min in the oven), its messy and has a lot of bowls, pans, etc to clean up. I think I will experiment with this one with baking instead of frying the eggplant. Of course, it will loose some of the yum factor, but if I can get liam to love it that way, then I'd probably make this a regular meal.The verdicts:
Sofia: Thumbs up. She loved it so much that she did not bother with the tortellini.
Jack: He ate it, but was not as enthusiastic as the other 2. He did eat a very big lunch today.
Liam: we hit the jackpot. Liam did not even touch the tortellini, but dug right into the eggplant. After he finished his first serving, he looked up and said "I want some more meat." I did not have the heart to tell him it was not meat. If he thinks its meat, great. He ate 4 of them!
This past Christmas Santa gave Sofia a fisher price digital camera. Its pretty cool and lately the kids have all been enjoying taking pictures with it. Below are some of their recent pics.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Day 12: Baked Scallops, Polenta & String Beans
I was really hoping scallops would be a hit since they are one of my favorites....
I did not have a recipe, just coated them in some melted butter and sprinkled some bread crumbs on top and baked them for about 20 min at 400 (they were pretty large sea scallops)
I also found some yellow wax beans instead of green beans, figure something that looks new might get a taste (also, put butter on them). As for the polenta, I sauteed slices and sprinkled a little parm on top.
The Verdicts:
Sofia: loved the polenta and the beans (i was shocked by her liking beans, she really eats next to no vegetables). She tried the scallop, but did not like it. I am impressed enough that she is giving things a taste.
Jack: Loved the polenta. Its a good thing because its all he ate.
Liam: Nada. not a taste of anything. bribery means nothing to this kid.
I did not have a recipe, just coated them in some melted butter and sprinkled some bread crumbs on top and baked them for about 20 min at 400 (they were pretty large sea scallops)
I also found some yellow wax beans instead of green beans, figure something that looks new might get a taste (also, put butter on them). As for the polenta, I sauteed slices and sprinkled a little parm on top.
The Verdicts:
Sofia: loved the polenta and the beans (i was shocked by her liking beans, she really eats next to no vegetables). She tried the scallop, but did not like it. I am impressed enough that she is giving things a taste.
Jack: Loved the polenta. Its a good thing because its all he ate.
Liam: Nada. not a taste of anything. bribery means nothing to this kid.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Day 11: Orange Beef & Broccoli
Today the kids, Katya & I headed to Tilden Park and went to the Little
Farm. It was chilly over there, but the kids loved feeding the animals the lettuce and celery we brought with us. It was also a good opportunity to start helping them make associations between animals and the food we like to eat. My kids love sausages and ham (we even had a ham sandwich with us) and lo and behold the farm has a pig. Being kids, they were not at all phased by the fact that the cute little pig we were feeding would son die and become a sausage. In fact, Liam looked right at the pig, gave him some celery and said "oh, hi pig, i like sausage."
On to dinner: I made an Orange Beef & Broccoli recipe (with brown rice on the side) that I got from a Rachel Ray magazine. It was quick to make, but did require a few ingredients that I would not always have on hand (corn starch, hoisin sauce, plum sauce).
The Verdicts:
Sofia: she said thumbs up, but did not eat too much (perhaps the smoothie she had at the mall 90 minutes earlier had something to do with it)
Jack: Loved the rice (i put the sauce from the beef on the rice)
Liam: Meat, meat, met. He loved the meat and its all he ate.
Farm. It was chilly over there, but the kids loved feeding the animals the lettuce and celery we brought with us. It was also a good opportunity to start helping them make associations between animals and the food we like to eat. My kids love sausages and ham (we even had a ham sandwich with us) and lo and behold the farm has a pig. Being kids, they were not at all phased by the fact that the cute little pig we were feeding would son die and become a sausage. In fact, Liam looked right at the pig, gave him some celery and said "oh, hi pig, i like sausage."On to dinner: I made an Orange Beef & Broccoli recipe (with brown rice on the side) that I got from a Rachel Ray magazine. It was quick to make, but did require a few ingredients that I would not always have on hand (corn starch, hoisin sauce, plum sauce).
The Verdicts:
Sofia: she said thumbs up, but did not eat too much (perhaps the smoothie she had at the mall 90 minutes earlier had something to do with it)
Jack: Loved the rice (i put the sauce from the beef on the rice)
Liam: Meat, meat, met. He loved the meat and its all he ate.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Day 10: Chicken Fajitas
Yeah!! A three way success. I made chicken fajitas and rolled them up for the kids so they were easier to eat (like a burrito) - chicken, onion, spices, salsa, cheese, black beans - rolled into a tortilla.
The verdicts:
Jack: Yum.
Sofia: Ate the whole things thumbs up
Liam: THUMBS UP!!! Yeah, something Liam really likes.
Our drive home along Highway 1 last night inspired us to head south this morning.
We first went to this huge playground in Pacifica call Frontierland Park. Very cool, the kids had fun exploring. Then we went and walked on the beach where the kids found lots of crabs, shells, seaweed and some fish and got soaking wet.
The verdicts:
Jack: Yum.
Sofia: Ate the whole things thumbs up
Liam: THUMBS UP!!! Yeah, something Liam really likes.
Our drive home along Highway 1 last night inspired us to head south this morning.
We first went to this huge playground in Pacifica call Frontierland Park. Very cool, the kids had fun exploring. Then we went and walked on the beach where the kids found lots of crabs, shells, seaweed and some fish and got soaking wet.
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