March 10, 2010

Tips on Helping Kids To Eat + 15-Minute Lunchtime Soup

I’m not an expert on getting kids to eat. I’ve only been a parent for 2.75 years, but I have several tricks that work for my girls. What works for us, may not work for everyone. Generally speaking, I only have a few rules:

1. I don’t “dumb-down” dinner. I make dinner exactly as Steve and I would eat it — within reason. I try to accommodate my kids a little, but I do all that I can to get them to eat dinner as is and expose them to a wide variety of foods and flavors. I don’t take out seasonings or vegetables. Sometimes I add vegetables that I know they like or hide some if I know they’ll pick it out. Or chop them small enough so it won’t be worth it to them to fish them out.

2. I don’t feed them foods regularly that I don’t want them hooked on. I’ve heard people say, “Oh, my kids won’t eat anything but frozen pizza and corn dogs!!” Um. . . why do they like frozen pizza and corn dogs? They had to have eaten it enough times to develop a taste for it, and know that it’s always stocked in the fridge. Kids don’t just wake up one morning craving stuff like that. If you don’t want your kids hooked on “frozen fast food” then don’t have it in the freezer. Or at least limit it to a specific day of the week and hold fast to that rule.

3. I find a way to work in some kind of fruit or vegetable at every meal. My kids are pretty young (almost 3 and 15 mo.), but since they began eating solid foods, I’ve tried to abide by this rule. By starting young, my kids have grown accustomed to seeing things like minced baby spinach in a lot of their meals. I’m sure that won’t fly with all children, so you have to figure out what they’ll eat, while repeatedly exposing them to different types of vegetables.

Despite this, my kids will occasionally have dinners of leftover oatmeal from breakfast or a bowl of Cheerios and some fruit if they absolutely won’t eat what I make for dinner. And a lot of food ends up thrown on the floor, spit out, or shoved off the plate. Some foods they loved one day they’ll suddenly hate the next. Pleasing the toddler palate is an ever-changing challenge. Keep trying!

See Helping Kids To Eat Part 2 for more of our tips and tricks!

Yes, she’s standing within arm’s reach of the stove and an extremely sharp knife. I was standing right next to her the whole time. And yes, that’s our water heater, and yes, my cutting board is on top of the dryer, next to the stove. Oh, how I long to move out of this little ghetto apartment!

During breakfast and lunch is when I try to really accommodate my kids. See my two-year-old up there? That’s Sophie. She’s very sweet. And very opinionated. She absolutely has to pick out her clothes, how (or if) I do her hair, what plates and utensils she uses, and what she has for lunch. If I make these choices for her, I’m just asking for a meltdown. Life is really dramatic right now, but I love her spunk. And her commentary.

Sophie loves to help me in the kitchen (whether I need help or not). I find that when she helps me make lunch, she tends to eat it more enthusiastically. On this particular day she helped me make a simple tomato-vegetable soup that literally only took 15 minutes. With minimal chopping.

I use this frozen vegetable mixture a lot because my kids like it.

Yep, she’s spitting frozen peas back into the cup. Sometimes I wonder where this girl came from. This is one of the many reasons why she doesn’t help me when we have company over for dinner.

And now for the taste test. . . (a few goldfish crackers always helps things along)

Success!! And the best part . . . it’s tasty enough to feed grown-ups. I liked it, too.

Cheesy Tomato-Vegetable Soup (for everyone)

Total Time: about 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
1 15 oz can of low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup whole wheat elbow pasta (or other small pasta)
1 cup frozen vegetable mix
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh spinach (optional)
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
a handful of grated cheese
1/4 c half-and-half or heavy cream (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the tomato sauce and chicken broth to boil. Add the pasta and simmer for about 3-4 minutes or until pasta begins to soften, but not cooked through. Add the vegetables, spinach, and Italian seasoning. Simmer for 5 more minutes until the pasta is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Stir in cheese and cream. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes about 4-6 toddler servings.

from Perry's Plate (Natalie) and her lovely little assistant

30 Minutes and Under, Especially for Kids, Gluten-Free, Perry's Plate Originals, Soups and Stews, Vegetarian

13 comments »

13 Responses to “Tips on Helping Kids To Eat + 15-Minute Lunchtime Soup”

1

Malia — March 10, 2010 @ 1:50 pm

These are such great rules Natalie!
Not only is it healthier for your children, but for you. Eating frozen pizza and corn dogs is bad for everyone.

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2

Jodi — March 10, 2010 @ 3:08 pm

Thanksfor the recipe! I've totally got to try this with my kiddos. As long as there is no corn in there, they will probably eat it. *Sigh* I hate that they hate corn.

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3

ElegantSnobbery — March 10, 2010 @ 3:34 pm

Excellent, Natalie!! I'm not a mom that spends a lot of time in the kitchen, but I absolutely refuse to get my kids hooked on hot dogs and chicken nuggets and crap like that. Man, I feel like a failure when I feed my kids an occasional packet of Ramen (which they love… they think its a treat. I remind them frequently that its not, its unhealthy). That soup looks great! I know my kids will eat it… love easy go-to lunches!!

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4

Sare — March 10, 2010 @ 8:52 pm

I am totally with you on avoiding the frozen fast food. It always makes me laugh when people say "he/she won't eat anything except for corn dogs (or whatever)." I think the staples for my kids are grapes, oranges, rice and beans. The worst thing they eat is salami (which really isn't that great, but could be worse…and they don't get it that often).

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5

Joanne Choi — March 10, 2010 @ 9:47 pm

Natalie – you and I think alike! I always have vegetables at every single lunch and dinner, rain or shine. The soup looks great (although we have some food allergies in this house which may make it hard) but I appreciate your rules very much.

And for SURE no child wakes up craving corn dogs and pizza. WE don't' have them in our house and they never ask for them.

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6

McKell — March 11, 2010 @ 3:31 pm

ooh! I might like this soup! Do you think veggie broth could be a sub for chicken? Looks awesome, oh and thank you for your tips they will definitely come in handy.

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7

Natalie — March 11, 2010 @ 5:00 pm

Veggie broth would be great! If you wanted it extra creamy, you could even use milk, but I think the broth gives it more flavor.

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8

Richard and Nicole — October 4, 2010 @ 6:45 pm

hey i found your blog searching for cafe rio chicken. AWESOME BLOG! im a registered dietitian and i can't agree with you more. i have people give me that line all the time……"all my kid will eat is the dino shaped chicken nuggets!" ok – well get the nuggets out of your house and offer them other things. if they say no then guess what – they can wait to eat until they are hungry enough to eat what you are serving. i think we're just a bit too spoiled……..love your recipes and tips – couldn't agree more.

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9

Natalie @ Perrys' Plate — October 4, 2010 @ 10:09 pm

Richard and Nicole – Thank you for your comment! It's nice to find others with some common sense when it comes to feeding kids. I agree, that we're just too spoiled. :)

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10

jc — October 11, 2010 @ 1:41 am

This was delicious! My kids ate it with no complaints and I had 3 adults love it too. Thanks!

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11

Natalie @ Perrys' Plate — October 12, 2010 @ 4:19 am

jc – Good to hear! I'm glad even the grown-ups liked it. (I especially like goldfish crackers in mine :))

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12

sammyjo — November 17, 2012 @ 10:09 am

Just made this soup for lunch and it was great! My girls (4 and 5) loved helping to make it and ate every last drop. It was heartier than I expected, which was a good thing. I didn’t use the optional spinach but added the optional half and half, and used mini wagon-wheel pasta. No additional salt was needed. Served it with goldfish crackers of course… thanks for a great recipe!

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