Olives used to be one of Princess Ella's favourites.
INTERLINKING old posts into a new post is the task of day eight of
31 Days to Build A Better Blog.
Today also happens to coincide with the bloke in The Shed, Julian, posting about our li’l girl turning her nose up to all things green – except the green in her nose, of course. Preschoolers. Phuff!
Please, leave him a comment. We’d both appreciate any tips!
By Julian O’Brien
IN PRINCESS Ella, we used to think we had a dream child.
At first, Ella would eat anything; she even used to eat olives like they were M&Ms. Then something happened and she suddenly became extremely fussy about her vegies, particularly “the green ones’’.
She still has her favourites though. Raw carrot and mushrooms will be consumed faster than you can say “pickle me grandmother’’ and I have literally seen her devour a corn cob faster than Homer Simpson can shotgun a can of Duff Beer. She even ate the broccolini on her plate first the other day – probably because we called it “baby broccoli’’.
So, what to do?
Well, we disguise her veggies. We cooked zucchini in the form of both fritters and slice, combining them with some of her “favourites” such as corn, mushies and even bacon bits. It worked for a little while.
Then Princess Kel had a good idea: what about Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni? That was OK till Ella found out you could unwrap the spinach and ricotta and just eat the pasta.
Meat? A whole other story. Like her dad, Ella is a meat girl, preferably steak. Recently, presentations of perfectly good rissoles and sausages have been met with “I want steak, please”. Scotch fillet, to be precise. Sheesh. Talk about expensive taste.
Thank goodness we only have to worry about boobie juice for Baby Holly … for the moment.
So how do you go with your fussy eater? What tips and tricks have you uncovered?
Want more lessons for wives? Read Lessons For Wives No. 1: Blokes don’t know the location of health shops.
I would have thought this was a lesson for all parents not just wives 😛 lol
My tip – Don’t sweat it. They all go through stages of being fussy eaters and eventually grow back out of it again. Feed them what they’ll eat and save yourself some stress.
As for disguising stuff – the grater is your friend. You can disguise grated vegetables in soups, casseroles, sauces, rissoles, slices… all manner of things. Oh and perhaps you should be telling her the rissoles and sausages are made of steak – just minced up 😉
But again, don’t sweat it, she will expand her tastes again. Good luck 🙂
Hey Beet, that’s a great tip about the rissoles and sausages. Will give that a try.
And true about the patience and don’t stress. I grew to love veggies (not quite as much as steak though).
P.S. I can cook and love cooking so you are right, this is a lesson for the blokes as well. All self-respecting blokes should cook. It’s manly (or so I keep telling myself).
All three of my little princesses struggled to begin with. The big two are now great and eat their veggies no worries (most of the time) – but miss nearly 3 is still a challenge. (But she’ll eat them grated is a spaghetti sause no worries.)
Wow on the Olives and Mushrooms – none of mine will touch them yet. I still think in the long run as long as they see you eating a wide range of food they’ll come around in the long run.
Nice work on the linking. I need to start using key words to link too. I’ve always said HERE – which I now know is not good for the Google SEO. (thank you 31DBBB!)
Spag bog is a great one.
We’ve also found, put a plate of shredded lettuce, chopped tomato and advocado in front of Ella and she’d be just as likely to tip it onto the table.
However, give the same ingredients to her with a taco and some mince, stand back and watch the feeding frenzy begin.
Her favourite comment when we have tacos is: “Daddy you won’t eat them all will you, they’re Ellas”.
This is a really funny post! who would compare homer simpson slamming down a can of duff to a child eating vegies but a Dad!!! very cute 🙂
I’m blessed with a three year old who will eat anything just not in large quantities – perhaps another blessing for when he becomes a teenager! He also asks for meat often and has expensive taste buds too like the steak and raw salmon (wt???) Youngest boy is going to be an eating machine! already cries when his bowl is empty! LOL!
hiding vegies is an art form for sure. my kids love their veg at the moment but sometimes its good to have a back up. one of my favourites is homemade pasta sauce with a whole heap of vegies like zucchini, mushroom, carrot (whatever really) cooked into it then blended into a smooth sauce. they love it and don’t even realise what is in it 🙂
The blending into a pasta sauce is a great idea. Had not thought of that specifically before Rachel!
Yep smoked salmon is a hit out our house. Kel made a smoked salmon pasta tonight and usually only puts a tiny dash of chilli in to give it a bit of heat. Well, she must have had a heavy handed today because poor ol’ Ella was reaching for her drink after every bite!!!!!
Cooking is VERY manly.
It involves enough dangerous elements to satisfy the toughest bloke (fire, knives, and electrical tools). BBQs are slightly better, because the danger level is greater, but only just.
Does she like frozen peas? I ask because my kids eat them for dessert. In a bowl.
MMM.
Frozen peas as dessert? Well, Toni you have floored me 🙂
Classic
My kids love peas, too, frozen, fresh… anything. But they go through stages. Sometimes they eat, sometimes they won’t it balances out in the end (I hope)
I found that if they are involved in growing it, they’ll eat it! And you don’t need a massive veggie patch, even just a few pots does the trick. Watch them mow down their home grown lettuce, snow peas and baby carrots (without even washing the dirt off!!)
I’ve also heard of this great cookbook (think it has the work sneaky in it…) and it has recipes like chocolate and spinach cupcakes etc….these I’ve tried and they ROCK!
Oh, that sounds devine, Barb. Where can I get a copy of that?! We’ve got a small veggie patch and I can tell you the peas don’t make it into the kitchen! 🙂 Someone loves them raw! Along with the strawberries and lettuces! Our carrots didn’t do too well this year.
Check out my post on this same topic – obviously a lot of picky eaters out there in Blogland 🙂
http://life4everyday.blogspot.com/2011/02/hidden-vegetables-for-picky-eaters.html
Your post is gold, Mandy! Thanks for sharing. 🙂