Cooking with Kids

Imagine for a moment, that, for a week, your picky-eater child has no options. That every day, three meals are presented, and if he or she doesn't eat them, that's it. There is no grocery store, there is no pantry, there is no fridge. It's not even "my way or the highway," because there is no highway. This was our life, for one week last summer.

My husband, my mother Jo, and I took our three kids (then 7, 5 and 3) to China to adopt our fourth child (a 3-year-old daughter). Before we reached her province, the rest of us were caught up in China's stringent H1N1 quarantine. My husband spent a week locked in a tiny hospital cell with a mild case, served three meals a day through an air-lock window like the one they use at Harold's Chicken on Chicago's far South Side. The rest of us rode it out in quarantine, five confused Westerners amidst several hundred similarly exposed Chinese. We were served three meals a day, at first in our room, then buffet style. Three Chinese meals. Small amounts of meat or fish, with vegetables, in sauces. Noodles. Dumplings. Shrimp, complete with heads and tails.

It wasn't that we didn't expect to eat Chinese food in China (and lots of it). It was that suddenly, I didn't control when or what the kids were eating, and neither-once they'd chosen among the day's offerings-did they. We pointed, said thank you, took the food, and gathered around a table, all of us -- three kids, me and my mother -- on equal footing. What is that? We don't really know. What does it taste like? Well, somebody try it. Seven-year-old Sam discovered a love of curry; 4-year-old Lily, steamed buns; Wyatt, 3, ate snails. The rest of us had one bite each and agreed that although snail tasted ok, it was rubbery.

We did not have, all week, one single argument about the food on our plates. This is what led to my horrible realization: my kids will eat anything. They're human beings, and if you put edible food in front of hungry humans, they'll take what they need to get by.

Therefore, if they've been picky at home -- turned up their noses at a perfectly good meal or thrown a tantrum because we have the wrong kind of Pop Tarts -- it's because I've let them.

Which really, really blew. I never pandered to special requests at home, cooking a different dinner for each kid or providing a plate upon which nothing touches anything else. But every time I opened the pantry, or offered a snack an hour after the breakfast dishes were cleared, I was essentially saying, "heck, no, don't eat it if you don't like it. Don't even try it if it doesn't look good. You'll get something you like better before you even have time to get hungry." And so they waited. Once China said eat it or don't eat it, but there isn't gonna be anything else -- they ate.

This hasn't been an easy lesson to bring home. For one thing, there's no buffet here -- if I want them to try new things and eat whole foods, I have to cook them. For another, they're not fools. They know we have snacks in the pantry, and even if we don't, there's food at school and at the store and at the gas station and everywhere we look. The truth is that eventually, into every American child's life, some Goldfish will fall -- but, at our house, not nearly as often as they once did. If there is chili, there will no longer also be cereal; if there are apples, there need not also be chips. Because I have seen these kids eat snail, and now I know their secret: if I let them get a little hungry, they'll eat.

Can't get quarantined? Then try this at home:
1) Don't offer an alternative to dinner, and give no seconds on any food until everything has been at least tasted.
2) Skip snacks. When kids come in starving for dinner, get them out of the pantry and into setting the table or chopping vegetables. (In a pinch, put salad out first.)
3) Go for a nice, long hike with a healthy picnic.
4) Just don't buy it. If there are no cookies in the pantry, there are no cookies in the pantry.
5) Offer "weird" foods again and again and again (and again). Experts say it can take as many as seven "exposures" before a kid takes to a new food.
6) Don't give up, and don't give in. No kid ever starved to death because the only food on offer wasn't white.

by Tracey Seaman and Tanya Wenman Steel

We keep well-stocked freezers. Tracey likes to keep leftovers in the refrigerator, for fast reheating of subsequent servings, but she freezes fresh meats and breads and batches of chili, stews and soup to have on hand for later. Tanya likes to freeze individual portions of dishes so when she comes dashing in from work at 7 p.m., or after a Saturday soccer game, there is something healthful and tasty to pop in the microwave to feed a hungry and weary kid just minutes later. We both freeze our home-cooked recipes and keep a minimal stash of processed organic foods. Here is all you've ever wanted to know about freezing -- and more.

1. Cooked Pasta
Cook a pound -- bow-ties and rotelle are best for this purpose - -until barely al dente (so that when you reheat, the pasta will not be mushy) and then freeze (unsauced) in freezer-ready container for adding to a hot sauce or microwaving later.

2. Homemade Pasta Sauce
Make a batch on Sunday afternoon and store in containers (be sure to leave a little space at the top for expansion). Cream sauces do not freeze well.

3. Very Ripe Bananas
For an instant protein-rich smoothie store ripe bananas in the freezer, peeled, in freezer bags and blend them with skim milk and soy protein powder.

4. Pizza Dough
It thaws quickly at room temperature. Also, when you make pizza, cook an extra pie or two, let cool without cutting, wrap and freeze for later. Just pop the pizza in a 400F oven until hot, then cut and serve.

5. Vegetable Protein Burgers
When in a pinch, defrost some GardenBurgers, cook them in a cast-iron skillet, slide them between a whole-wheat hamburger roll, and pile on the lettuce and tomato.

6. Shelled Edamame
Buy them frozen in the supermarket, boil them for a few minutes, and serve them in a bowl, lightly salted. These buttery soy kernels are nutritious and surprisingly fun to eat.

7. Bacon
Raw bacon, wrapped side-by-side in pairs in parchment or waxed paper and then enclosed in foil is great for keeping portions on hand.

8. Peeled Deveined Shrimp
Thaw shrimp quickly under cool running water to make a tasty meal in a snap.

9. Frozen Potatoes
Look for organic shoestring, shredded or crinkle cut fries or hash browns without additives. You can cook them quickly in the oven or in a skillet and top with browned ground beef and cheese or serve them with eggs.

10. Soups and Stews
Simmered and braised dishes freeze well. Many of our recipes provide a large enough yield that you can freeze at least a quart to serve later. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

How to Freeze
You can freeze myriad foods: cake, cheese, bacon, berries, and other fruit. Sauces, broth, and pureed baby food can be stored in ice-cube trays and frozen. Here are some tips on how to ensure your foods don't end up tasting of freezer burn.

1. Slice breads before you freeze for easier removal.

2. Freeze in small portions, so you can just defrost a serving fast and easily.

3. Wrap well. Use containers and plastic wraps that were designed specifically for the freezer. Make sure there is no air in bags and wraps. If you are storing sauce or soup, keep room at the top of the container for expansion of the liquid.

4. Be sure to label the package with the name of the item and date of preparation and storage.

5. Place newer things in the back of the freezer and use the older items in front.

How to Thaw
Overnight thawing in the fridge is best, but if time is of the essence, you can immerse foods in cold water -- bag or container and its contents -- and keep changing the water until it reaches room temperature. Transfer soups, sauces, or stews to a saucepan and heat slowly, covered, until the mixture comes to a boil; be sure to stir often. For other individual portions, defrost uncovered in the microwave and cook and serve as soon as possible.

Buy Real Food for Healthy Kids

From REAL FOOD FOR HEALTHY KIDS by Tracey Seaman and Tanya Wenman Steel © 2008 by Tanya Wenman Steel and Tracey Seaman, reprinted by permission of William Morrow/An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers


Live Webcast: Talk to Michelle Obama about her Let's Move initiative to combat childhood obesity.

On Tuesday, June 13, AOL Health hosted a live web broadcast with Michelle Obama (her first-ever live online chat). Mrs. Obama talked about her Let's Move initiative to combat childhood obesity and took live questions from the audience.

During the broadcast, the First Lady discussed how she and President Obama have made simple changes in their own household to encourage healthy eating, including eliminating snacks, encouraging drinking more water instead of filling up on sugary drinks, and serving more fruits and vegetables. They went through their cabinets and removed processed foods and began sitting down more for dinner as a family. Mrs. Obama says that she started out by making sure to cook one good meal a week -- she acknowledged that cooking every night isn't a realistic option for many busy parents.

Mrs. Obama stressed the importance of small, doable changes. "It's not about saying 'no' forever to ice cream and French fries," she said. "These are special treats." And she underlined the importance of leading by example: "Kids watch everything we do," she says, noting that her girls certainly check to see if she's eating her vegetables. Another tip from the First Lady: Get kids involved in cooking. By the time they're in middle school, kids are curious about cooking and "looking for independence," she said, adding that if they're "engaged in making the healthy snack, they are more likely to eat it."

While Mrs. Obama offered lots of tips for parents in the chat, she also called on school officials, legislators, food manufacturers, retailers, chefs, athletes and media companies such as Disney to do something about childhood obesity. "How do we make meals healthy, affordable and tasty?" she asked. For more on that and to see the entire interview, visit AOL Health.

For ideas on starting healthy eating habits in your home, browse our healthy recipes.