Never Fear — Peanut Butter is Here!
It’s 6 a.m. Once again you spread peanut butter and jelly on your child’s sandwich. Guilt pours over you. You should send a little variety in his or her lunch but at 6 a.m., how can your sleeping brain cleverly whip up a Turkey Club sandwich with freshly fried crisp bacon, turkey you roasted the night before and lettuce and tomatoes picked from your garden that morning. Top that with 5 fresh rosette shaped veggies along with compote of passion fruit, mango and star fruit.
Let’s not even talk about preparing it or convincing your child to actually eat it. Well ladies throw that guilt right out the window because my motto is "never fear-peanut butter is here!" In my wise old age I have concluded that children go through stages of eating just like crawling, walking, the terrible 2′s and teen-age. Each stage has it’s challenges but parents and children alike actually survive them all.
First milk, then mushy stuff, followed by the "I want" stage, when no matter what it is it’s going in my mouth. That includes potting soil and toilet water but not anything on a plate set before them at the table. This stage lasts a very long time, but some golden day they move to the next stage: the peanut butter & jelly stage- (and you thought the other stages were bad).
For three meals a day they dig in their heels and want nothing else. It’s what I call a no brainer menu with little effort to fix and very little clean up. Eventually guilt will again overcome us insisting that we must teach them proper eating habits. When that happens, try this recipe for something that they may actually eat rather than trade or throw away.
Apple Oatmeal Bars
1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 1/2 cups apples, chopped or 3/4 cup apple butter (omit cinnamon)
1/2 cup sugar
Combine the first five ingredients, and pat half into an 8×8 inch pan. Layer apples and sugar. Crumble remaining mixture on top. Bake 35 minutes at 350°
Photo By: kalleboo
The potting soil and toilet water brought back a scary memory.
I had tried a few times to get my son to eat mushrooms from fresh not mushroom soup (which he loved) but fried mushrooms or mushrooms in salads were a no go.
He came home from JK one day and said “there mom, I did what you wanted.” That’s nice dear what was it? I ate a mushroom. Great did they have them at school. Nope we found some in a yard so we all ate one.
Called the poison control centre and was told that one toadstool would probably not kill him but to keep an eye on him for a few hours.
He is still alive at 33 and after that day he started really liking mushrooms. But what a way to introduce a new food.
The stages they go through. One son decided that macaroni and cheese loaf luncheon meat was all he wanted for so long that finally I told him the stores ran out of it. So he had to pick something else.
Some things continue all through life.
I had one son who loved homemade soups but one son preferred stews. What I did was make a big pot of soup then divide them and add flour to thicken the one pot and left the other as soup. They were both happy and they were eating healthy.
to this day one son still loves stew and the other still likes things without sauces as he calls stews a sauce dish.
Give in on some of their likes and dislikes it not only makes life easier but it gives them the idea that they do have some control.
Learn to pick your battles.
Jill, I thought this recipe from my World War II cookbook would make a good snack for lunch. It’s called “Quick Coffee Buns.” The ingredients are 8 slices bread, 1/4 cup marmalade OR jam, 3 tablespoons milk, 1/4 cup flour, 1/3 cup melted margarine, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon allspice. Make 4 marmalade OR jam sandwiches and cut into quarters. Brush the tops and sides with milk. Mix the flour, sugar, salt and allspice with margarine to form crumbs. Pat the crumbs gently onto the tops and cut sides of the sandwiches. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until browned. Serves 4