Deconstructables

I love my boys. My boys love food (and me, of course). But they don't love ALL food (actually, pretty sure one of them does love ALL food. Can you guess which?).

Honestly, cooking for kiddos is a bit of a rollercoaster ride (anyone out there who can relate?!). One day, they love everything they can get in their little mouths. The next, they won't touch anything you offer them.

Here's how I try to avoid mealtime mayhem and/or monotony: Deconstructables.

(Don't mind my super cheesy Paint rendition)

What are deconstructables? Exactly what it sounds like -- things that are able to be deconstructed.

When I was a freshman in college I took a nutrition class. It had nothing to do with my [undecided] major, I just thought it would be fun. And it was. One thing about children's nutrition that stuck out to me most was this concept:

Don't force your kid to eat foods he or she doesn't want to eat. Encourage them to try everything, but don't get mad if they don't. Provide several options at each meal, but make sure you include at least one thing you know they'll eat. If they don't like something, don't force it on them -- but reintroduce the food after a few days. Eventually, they'll try it and/or like it. 

Makes sense, right? But it also sounds like a lot of work. How am I supposed to provide several options when I'm only making one meal?

The answer? Deconstructables.

Here's a simple example: I want a Greek-inspired cucumber salad for lunch. My salad includes cucumber, cherry tomatoes, sliced red onion, feta cheese and balsamic vinaigrette. I assemble my salad and deconstruct the kids'. I get a scrumptious and beautiful cucumber salad, the kids get a little stack of diced cucumbers, a few cherry tomato halves, a sliver of sliced red onion (in case they're in a palate-expanding-mood [and I don't mean braces]), a pile of crumbled feta, and some dressing on the side. Throw in a piece of fruit and you have a meal. I get my salad, and the kids get a variety of foods to pick and choose from.

If it's something the kids haven't tried before, I start with a small amount of everything and encourage the kids to try the new foods, using the additional "liked" foods as bribery. I can almost always get them to taste everything this way. If they don't like it, they're allowed to spit it out and they still get the other "liked" foods for trying. Most of the time, they don't spit it out.

On a larger, dinner scale: I'm making Vegetarian Chili with a side of cornbread. I know the kids will eat the cornbread, but the chili might have too much kick for the little guy (actually, the bigger little guy. Little guy is a Texan and can handle the heat. Bigger little guy spent his formative first four months in Utah and hasn't finished acclimating to spicy foods). If I'm worried about the spice, I'll (a) set aside a couple pieces of each vegetable as I'm chopping and nuke it with a little water in a bowl with a vented lid, or (b) spoon some chili into the colander and rinse it with cool water, effectively cooling the food in more ways than one.

And that's that: Chili deconstructed. Kiddos get to try beans, squash, zucchini, corn, onion, red and green peppers, and tomatoes -- all in one go. I usually give them a little bit of the cooked meal, too, so they can try it and eventually be okay with just eating the cooked chili.

There you have it. Deconstructables. Just about any meal can be deconstructed to give your kid plenty of options and broaden his or her palate.