Shrimp Remoulade with Hearts of Palm and Avocado

Aug 8, 2009 by

Stock palm treeHearts of palm, an ingredient more common in France than in the U.S., are the soft inner core of the young shoots of various kinds of palm tree, including the coconut palm.  They are interesting little nibbles. It’s something to talk about at the table with kids and a great way to introduce an intriguing and unusual new veggie.  I made this salad with twice the amount of hearts of palm the original recipe called for, and my daughter, who wasn’t familiar with them before, asked if there were any more of them after we finished the last of the leftovers. This fresh little salad was a big hit with us.

Another great thing about it is that kids can build their own salads,  choosing…

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Celery Root Salad a la Viennoise

May 7, 2009 by

Celery root This salad is new and different, I'll bet – a good first step to eating as varied a diet as possible. I'd never heard of celery root before I lived in France, and I never come across recipes for it now, but it is available in some grocery stores. I wonder who else is buying it and what they do with it. I have a soup recipe or two that include it, but this is a really tasty, easy way to discover its flavor.

Variety in food is the number one rule to follow in feeding children. I try to continually bring into my family's diet as many different foods as possible. It keeps things interesting, guarantees a variety of nutrients, expands our horizons, eliminates fussiness. Eating a wide variety of foods also prevents getting much…

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Is Your Child Neophobic? Give Her More New, Not Less

May 5, 2009 by

Arcimboldo2

YOUNG CHILDREN TEND TO BE FEARFUL of new foods, especially when the foods are arranged into the shape of a clown.

Young children tend to be naturally neophobic—afraid of newness—about food, experts now tell us.  But is this neophobia inborn in normal children? Au contraire: children are born naturally wanting to discover and explore.  Infants are ready to put anything and everything in their mouths.

Yet I  have observed that the majority of kids who have come to my house over the years— though not my own kids—have indeed been afraid of not just new foods, but of food in general, including chicken, peas, potatoes,…

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Hunger: To Fear or Not to Fear?

Dec 19, 2008 by

Children must eat or they will die.  Does that fact scare you or give you a sense of power?

When it comes to eating, in many American families, the children are successfully controlling the fearful parents, who are in turn unsuccessfully trying to control the children.

I heard last week yet another mom complain, “Little Caiden has eaten nothing but tater tots and pickle loaf for the past week.” Another mom sees what I feed my kids and tells me, “My kids would never eat that. How do you get them to eat that?”

All I wonder is: who is furnishing the tater tots and pickle loaf or whatever else that enables a child to refuse perfectly good Real Food and live?  And why?

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The Perils of Monday Meatloaf: A Recipe for Disaster

Dec 15, 2008 by

Janet makes meatloaf every Monday. Every Tuesday it’s spaghetti. And so on and so forth. Ad nauseum. It’s no wonder she doesn’t enjoy grocery shopping, making dinner, or eating it, either, truth be told. It’s just a job. Just think how her children feel.

“The wise mother does not say, ‘I always give my children so and so,’” wrote educational reformer Charlotte Mason. “They should not have anything ‘always’; every meal should have some little surprise.”

Too little variety in the diet week after week makes for a child who is “inadequately nourished, simply because he is tired of it,” according to Mason. 

One study indicates that at least to some degree, food is only good for you if you enjoy it. (https://www.thehappydinnertable.com/2008/12/06/it-doesnt-matter-if-she-likes-brocoli-as-long-as-she-eats-it-or-does-it/).

Enjoyment of…

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