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    Foodlets

    Foodlets

  • Kid-Friendly Apple Ideas: 4 Recipes the Whole Family Will Love

    When the weather turns crisp, there's nothing like cooking with fresh apples. Full of fiber and flavor, what once seemed like an old wive's tale turns out to be quite true: an apple a day, or at least every so often, can help prevent everything from Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, to cancer and diabetes. Not bad for fall's most portable fruit.

  • Why I'm Still Buying Organic Food for My Family

    Oh boy. Aren't the cynics laughing now? This week, USA Today reported on a new study, noting that organic produce may not be more nutritious than conventionally grown vegetables. As I've often mentioned on Foodlets, my blog about cooking for kids (including the recipes, the strategies, the food on the floor...), I do believe in buying organic. But this four year study led by a primary care doctor at Stanford University revealed two serious findings: There were no significant differences in the vitamin content of organic and conventional fruits and vegetables. ...

  • How to Get Kids to Try New Foods (Without Begging, Bribing or Losing Your Mind)

    Every meal with 18-month-old Estelle starts the same way. I lift the fork to her lips, just as she clamps them shut. "No." There's twisting, frowning and eyebrows furrowing and it would be maddening if this lasted for more than 5 seconds, but we're on to her. At this stage, and there will be many more, the trick is to take a bite yourself first. After that, she's open for business and eats like a hearty little field hand--one with a head full of ringlets in a highchair.And that's the key right there. Figuring out what works at whatever stage you're in. ...

  • A Surprising Way to Cut Dinner Stress

    There's a hilarious cartoon circulating on Pinterest with a woman hunched over the arm of a chair in despair. The caption reads "Why do they want dinner every single night?" It's funny...because it's true.But it doesn't have to be so hard. I recently read about an idea that could change the anxiety level in our kitchen for good. In his book "Simplicity Parenting", Kim John Payne suggests making a set menu every week: pasta on Mondays, chicken on Tuesdays, tacos on Wednesdays, and so on. ...

  • Why French Kids Eat Everything

    Here comes another one...but it's not what you think. "French Kids Eat Everything" is a surprisingly charming memoir about a family who moved to France with two picky eaters in tow, and returned to Canada a year later with a happier, healthier, more educated outlook on food. Make no mistake. This isn't a US-bashing book. It's not even a pro-French parenting book. It's just the story of a mom married to a Frenchman who moved overseas and discovered a whole new way of feeding her family. A more peaceful one. And I think they're on to something. ...

  • Stop Making Two Dinners: Versatile Ideas for the Whole Family

    The other night I made herbed turkey burgers for dinner. Since our two-year-old has always been a diehard condiments fan, I put neat little dots of ketchup and mustard on her bun, silently congratulating myself on knowing her so well.That's when the screaming started."I want it clean! Clean, like Stellie's!" Referring to her one-year-old sister Estelle's plain bun and patty arrangement, suddenly our pre-schooler was reduced to a shrieking puddle on the floor.This is why I don't make two dinners. ...

  • 5 Ways to Teach Toddlers Table Manners

    I head up a blog about cooking for kids called Foodlets.com. My aim is to make healthy, delicious food, both with and for kids so they'll grow up to cook themselves, and better yet, enjoy sitting around a table full of family and friends for years to come. I've got tips (let the kids help cook) and tricks (grate vegetables and add them to everything-everything!) but mostly I rely on simply delicious flavors for success. Sometimes it's a win, sometimes it's not. So goes life, especially life with kids.

  • Why Are Some Kids Such Picky Eaters? Simple Solutions Worth Trying

    A friend of mine relayed a familiar scene with her four-year-old on Facebook.

  • Seriously, Too Much Sugar is Terrible for You and Your Kids: 11 Better-for-you Recipes to Try Now

    Here’s a news flash, reported recently by USA Today: kids are eating too much sugar. Your kids, my kids. (And let’s not even talk about my own sweet tooth. Except we should; more on that in a minute.) This isn’t a discussion about blame, though.

  • Italian Lessons: How to Take Kids to a Restaurant

    Say what you will about French parenting but when it comes to food and family around a table, no one does it better, or enjoys it more, than Italians.

  • 10 Sneaky Ways to Make Valentine’s Day Treats Healthier

    With Valentine's Day fast approaching and our youngest daughter's first birthday coming even sooner, we're in the mood for sweet treats in Rome. But here's what we'd like to avoid: a giant family-wide sugar crash. (The kind that involves crying, screaming, flailing and foot-stomping...and we're not just talking about the pregnant lady here.) Actually Estelle, our birthday girl-to-be, hasn't really had refined sugar yet and as I said about our toddler at this age, she's got the rest of her life to become a junk food addict. For now, let's try to show her another way--but let's make it fun. ...