Feeding my children can be a serious challenge. Well, I would assume it is challenging for most parents. To alleviate this challenge, I believe in creating a meal that is interesting, nutritious and tasty at the same time.
Providing all the vitamins and nutrients a child needs to get through the day is essential. But for the parent of a picky eater, accomplishing this task can be extremely challenging. The solution I have found is to blend the nuts, berries or fruits into the batter.
For example, in the morning I like to cook pancakes because pancakes are easy to make and I can also add elements of proteins carbohydrates fiber all into one one of the most flexible things to cook.
With pancakes I have the ability to blend in a variety of different elements that have the can provide nutrients and vitamins giving my children vital energy they need to fuel their little motors at the beginning and throughout their day.
It goes without saying that some children, for whatever reason, just do not like eggs or sausage or bacon or peanut butter or waffles or a wide variety of the food that we put our hard work and energy into purchasing, preparing and serving them every single day.
As such I have had to figure out ways in to circumvent this. Especially if or when more than one child has a certain type of acquired taste, which they often seemingly conspire to do.
What I do is blend elements into the pancakes that they are least likely to eat alone. For the example bananas. Even though all of my children do not eat bananas I blend just enough into the batter so as not to overwhelm them with the banana flavor while maintaining and incorporating the nutritional benefits into the pancake.
For some reason, I am not sure whether or not it is the particles or the textures or the flavor, but for whatever the reason when I blend items into pancakes very thoroughly my kids eat with no argument and no fuss. They literally just eat.
Blending
Blending nuts berries and other fruits into pancakes as well adds variety to the strategy. Minimizing the likelihood of an argument with the picky eater or eaters (if they are tag teaming) first thing in the morning.
As a parent, being able to save 15 to 20 minutes of going back-and-forth with the picky protester who refuses to eat certain foods is time well spent.
With that said I implement this strategy with a lot of cooking that I do. I have a simple hand blender that I use and basically I blend everything into real fine almost cream like badder so that it masks the item accentuating the food without changing it to the point where my children will protest eating it. Am I tricking the picky palettes? Perhaps.
For the most part his technique works extremely well with pancakes and also can be done with eggs. Yes I blend the eggs very thoroughly. Even had with eggs, for some reason the normal type a scramble is very difficult for them to chew at times.
I am not entirely sure why, it might be the texture of the egg or it could be just a thought that there was a little chicken in there somewhere about to hatch that gets them gagging. Whatever the reason, I pivot away from those exhausting debates by blending it.
Eggs Meats and Veggies Too
When I blend the egg I can blend in all types of meats or tiny vegetables not too much but just enough to add the recommended vitamins and nutrients they need to get through the day.
Is it trickery? Not sure. It might just be one of my superpowers that I’ve been granted here in the Fatherverse. Nonetheless this is how I like to cook, especially in the morning at it helps get the day going and minimizes the likelihood of engaging in those arduous morning battles.
As a parent, I can not emphasize enough the value of being able to get that one critical meal out of the way. Hungry children end up being cranky and disruptive. I am not claiming to be some child behavioral specialist, but I can speak from experience in saying that children who eat a good breakfast have the ability to think and focus on learning as they go about our day whether your child is in public school or homeschooling.
Whatever you do either way it is a great technique that really works well for me. Hopefully it can work for you. Feel free to let me know any other techniques you may have because I mm open to learning new thoughts, ideas and suggestions along the way.
The blender that I use is the one that you can hold in your hand I prefer this time because I just put all the items inside mash everything down while blending them. My favorite one is the Braun 200 Watt hand blender. I also have the Cuisinart as well. Both are pretty cool work fine getting the job done in a relatively quick fashion with minimal post cooking cleanup.
The two types of blenders and I have used have slightly different buttons on them. I do not like the silver Cuisinart one to be honest. I don’t like it much because I have to hold two buttons in order for it to turn it on and off.
The white one is the older on this is my favorite. I have had it for almost 9 years it comes in handy and I got it from my mother-in-law. It is made of plastic and easy to clean as well. The plastic is strong and there is little staining. I use it a lot and have bought and given it as a gift a few times a well.
When I was as a kid myself, I can remember my aunt I am guessing using her own techniques to get us to eat pancakes in the morning. My aunt would mix the pancakes up and poor them into shapes like Sesame Street characters or toy trucks and airplanes.
Looking back I realize that this may be where I got the idea to use the blender?
Fumy thing is I can recall my aunt making shapes out of the pancake batter, little creations of all kinds and just being so excited getting them on my plate. The could have had anything blended in them, my brothers and sisters and I were too focused on eating Big Bird and Cookie Monster.
Basically the primary goal is to plan ahead and strategize for your meal that it does not take 25 to 45 minutes per meal to feed the kids.
Win the War Avoid the Battle
I don’t know of any parents who look forward to going through battles with their children about what they are eating or not eating. Incorporating this strategy into your routine could mean the difference between a 5 to 8 minute meal or a 45 minute exhausting battle just to have them take a few bites and then feel guilty later when they are saying they are hungry for a snack mid meal.
It can drain a lot energy out of you first thing in the morning so planning is key. Try to plan ahead if you can get everything blended in for that picky eater or two in the family.
Right now I am able to get them to eat pancakes, last week it was waffles. Planning ahead provides empowers me with the ability to accomplish the first of many critical tasks I have to do throughout the day.
It is kind of funny when you think about seeing other people who have children that seem so well-behaved sitting quietly and eating nicely. Meanwhile you are afraid to eat out of your house in an effort to avoid witnesses to struggle. That ever intensifying battle just to have your child eat some chicken McNuggets or just the meat with the hamburger.
Just thought I would share the moment of enlightenment I experienced.