Creative Eats

Do you have picky eaters at home? Here are some fun ways to present healthy food.

Words by Tania K. Cowling

Photos by Jessica Friend

Do you hear your child saying, “Yuck!” to foods you serve? Getting kids to eat healthy is a real challenge. If your kiddos are only asking for chicken nuggets and milkshakes, then they may be lacking many of the vitamins and minerals they need for good health and growth. If this happens often in your home, then consider your child a selective eater. So, what can parents do? Be a good role model by eating healthy foods and keeping the mealtime atmosphere calm and argument-free. The American Academy of Pediatrics has put together some quick tips about feeding a picky eater: • Allow your child to pick a new healthy food at the market. • Encourage your child to help you prepare food in the kitchen. • Let your child feed himself, even if it’s messy. • Give your child choices between good foods he likes and new foods to try. Parents can also be creative chefs and present some fun meals. Children may be so intrigued by the presentation of the food that they're inspired to try something new.

Butterfly Salad

Gather lettuce leaves using both green and red lettuce varieties.

Place the lettuce on a plate to resemble butterfly wings.

Take a carrot stick and insert it in the center of the wings as the insect’s body. An olive makes the perfect head, and sliced olives can decorate the wings like the black marks of a Monarch butterfly. Cut two tiny strips of red pepper for the antennae. Present this salad to your youngsters with their favorite dressing.

About the Author:

Tania K. Cowling is a former educator, author, and freelance/ghostwriter for parenting magazines and online sites. She lives in Central Florida.

Serve it in an ice cream cone

Kids like the idea of holding a cone and may eat something good for them because it is presented in a different way. Try scooping cottage cheese into the cone and then sprinkle chopped nuts and fruit on top. Or fill the cone with tuna or chicken salad, which you can top with raisins, celery pieces, sliced olives, shaved carrot or small slivers of red pepper. This tasty pseudo-ice cream cone should lure your child into a fun meal.

Artistic French toast

French toast is full of nutrition from eggs and milk, and it's easy to make for any meal. Place a cooked slice on a plate and invite your child to decorate the slice with all sorts of toppings. Provide raisins, fresh fruits, chopped ham, and bacon pieces, along with a shaker of cinnamon. It’s fun to decorate the toast and show your creation before you eat it. Make this a family event each week!

Sailboat regatta eggs

Peel hard-boiled eggs and cut them in half lengthwise. Remove the yolks and mash them in a bowl with some mayonnaise and mustard.

Spoon the mixture back inside the egg white boats. You can decorate the tops with chopped carrots, chopped green pepper and sliced olives. Cut construction paper into boat sails and invite the kids to decorate them.

Attach a toothpick to each sail with tape and insert it into the egg boat. PLAY Tip: After letting the kiddos do a “wave run” with the boats first, see how fast they can gobble them up!

Create a fruit tree

Place a pineapple ring on top of a lettuce leaf on the plate. Take a banana half and stand it on its end in the center of the pineapple ring. Invite the kiddos to spear a piece of fruit (grape, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, etc.) onto a toothpick and stick the other end into their banana tree.

Fill the tree with as many limbs of fruit as it can stand.

What a fun way to get a variety of fruit into your child’s meal without a fuss! PLAY Tip: Toothpicks are sharp, and parental supervision is needed while making and eating the fruit tree.

Paint with broccoli

I don’t believe in playing with food, but I may make an exception to the rule with this veggie experiment. Give the kids a few stalks of steamed broccoli along with a dollop of cheese sauce, Ranch dressing, ketchup or any other type of sauce you may have. Invite the kids to dip their floret into the sauce, paint on their plate and then eat the "paintbrush". This hands-on fun will entice the kiddos to eat a vegetable they might have balked at without the tasty sauces and unique presentation.

Blend it up

Smoothies taste great, so what’s the harm in sneaking a little spinach into the mix? How about a carrot? Your kids may never know they're consuming vegetables with their yummy fruit smoothie. Add a little powdered protein for added nutrition.