Waiter, There’s a crayon in my soup!

Remember the days when you were single and you vowed never to take your screaming brats out do dinner with you to annoy the other dinners? Well now here you are, with a child or two of your own and you’re tired of cooking your own meals – it’s time to venture out into the world of full service dinning once again! But how can you be one of the lucky parents with well mannered children who eat their mac n cheese and sip their chocolate milk and not one of the haggard couples staggering out the door with screaming tots in tow with unfinished meals left behind and angry customer scowling in their wake? The secrets lie in choices and preparation!

 

Picking the right place:

If the place doesn’t have a kids menu – don’t go there.

Your favorite sushi place doesn’t have a kids menu for a reason. My son’s favorite place to go is IHOP – maybe not my first choice for a date night with my husband but it’s a place to go where I know the whole family will have a lot of fun. Also O’Charley’s has a great kids eat for free menu!

 

Picking the right time:

It blows my mind to see parents walking in to a restaurant with young children at 8 o’clock at night. Again, this might be an ok adult dinner time, but for optimal child behavior, you might want to try 5:30 or 6:00. (Additionally you might get seated faster, a long wait time might tire out your child’s patients before they even hit the table!)

 

What to bring:

Snacks!

Don ‘t count on the restaurant having bread or crackers, bring your own snacks to keep the kids busy while they wait for their food.

Toys!

Special toys that are only played with when out to eat are great! Stickers and crayons are always good, toys and games that come in small kits works well!

Cups!

For small children I highly suggest brining their own sippy cups. The restaurant will gladly fill them for you and it will reduce stress and spillage!

 

Tips:

If you want to get out quickly do not order salads and apps – they slow down the meal.

Ask for the drinks to be brought out with the meal and not before to prevent spills.

If your kids are messy – TIP EVEN BETTER – you know what it’s like to clean that up!

If your kids are attention-intensive have the adults take turns eating and watching them so you can both enjoy your meal.

If a child has a melt down – take them out to the lobby or outside until they calm down.

If they start heading for a melt down, take a walk with them.

Don’t be afraid to take them out – taking them out teaches them how to behave in public and lets them get comfortable with it and lets them move on to more “adult” atmospheres. Some children are more “grown up” in nature than other naturally – you’ll just have to take your little ones out to see!

 

Feel Free to comment with additional tips!

 

Leftover Potato Oyaki

What is Oyaki?

Oyaki is a Japanese bun made from simple water and flour or some left over mashed up potato and startch (corn starch in my case) with a veggie and miso filling (or be creative and fill with whatever you want!). You good oyaki with a hot heavy pan.

It is best to use a healthy falvorful flour like whole wheat, buckwheat or spelt flour. Pour flour in blown and add just enough water to mix into a pasty dough - kneed.

For potato oyaki mash your boiled potato up with a few tablespoonds of corn startch until a dough is formed.

Cook some chopped veggies in miso (or some ground meat in miso would be good as well!) - form a small patty in your hand, fill with the veggie or meat filling, wrap and form a small flat ball.

Fry in a hot heavy pan (spray pan with cooking spray or add a little peanut oil to pan) until brown - brushing each side with a tiny amount of soy sauce.

Healthy - yummy and perfect for bentos! Perfect for little toddler hands as well!

Can be frozen for later use! Great way to use up leftovers!

 

Orange Crush Smoothie

Low Calorie Smoothie with no fat.

1/2 cup cold Orange Juice (fresh squeezed is best!)

1/4 cup plain non-fat yogurt

1/2 cup crushed ice

1 or more packets splenda (to taste)

89 calories, 0 fat. (weight watcher points value 2)

 

Feeding Your Child Age 2-6

“To ensure good nutrition in your child and that they grow up healthy, they will need to eat a large variety of foods. The amount of foods that they eat is much less important. Remember that your child’s appetite may decrease and become pickier over the next few years as his growth rate slows. As long as they are gaining weight and have a normal activity level, then you have little to worry about. You can still offer them a variety of foods, but can decrease the serving sizes if they don’t eat a lot. “

Keep Kids Healthy - Source

Grain group servings include 1 slice of bread, 1/2 cup of cooked rice or pasta, 1/2 cup of cooked cereal, and 1 ounce of ready to eat cereal. Your child should eat 6 servings from this group.

Vegetable group servings include 1/2 cup of chopped or raw vegetables, or 1 cup of raw leafy vegetables. Your child should eat 3 servings from this group.

Fruit group servings include 1 piece of fruit or melon wedge, 3/4 cup of 100% fruit juice, 1/2 cup of canned fruit, or 1/4 cup of dried fruit. Your child should eat 2 servings from this group.

Milk group servings include 1 cup of milk or yogurt or 2 ounces of cheese. Your child should eat 2 servings from this group.

Meat/Protein group servings include 2 to 3 ounces of cooked lean meat, poultry or fish, 3 oz tofu, 1/2 cup of cooked dry beans. You can substitute 2 tablespoons of peanut butter or 1 egg for 1 ounce of meat. Your child should eat 2 servings from this group. 

 

My children are not picky. It’s a myth that all toddlers and children are picky eaters that only like hotdogs and applesauce - if you give them a wide variety of foods from the start they will grow up liking a wide variety of foods. Be a role model - show them that you eat healthy foods and they will do the same.

 

Comments

Sorry for the lack of photo posts these days, we’ve been super busy working and feeding all these family members, ha! I have some great ideas for new posts though so stay tuned!

Please leave me any comments you might have with ideas for posts you want to see or questions you have!

Planned so far:

Fun with Jello

Food-Stuffs on Sticks

Baby Food Recipes

 

Carribian Shrimp

Ingredients

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

1 teaspoon black pepper (optional)

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon molasses

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 3/4 lbs shelled uncooked jumbo shrimp

  Heat broiler.

1. Coat large broiler-pan rack with nonstick vegetable-oil cooking spray.
2. Mix brown sugar, allspice, black pepper, onion powder, thyme, salt and cayenne in bowl.
3. Whisk in oil, molasses and lime juice until smooth.
4. Add shrimp; toss to coat.
5. Cover and refrigerate for 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes.
6. Arrange shrimp in single layer on broiler-pan rack.
7. Broil about 4 inches from heat for 2 minutes.
8. Turn shrimp over.
9. Broil 1-2 minutes or until shrimp are cooked through.
10. Serve shrimp immediately with white rice if desired.
11. Garnish with lime wedges.

 

Banana Oatmeal Mini Muffins

These mini muffins are Vegan and they are low calorie and low fat, making them only 1 weight watcher point per muffin!

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup brown sugar, unpacked

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup soymilk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 or 4 over-ripe (black) mashed bananas)

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).

In a bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt.

In another large bowl, soy mix together milk and vanilla.

Add the mashed bananas, and combine thoroughly.

Stir the flour mixture into the banana mixture until just combined.

Lightly grease and dust mini muffin tins (I was able to make 36 mini muffins!)

Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 9 or 10 minutes.

Freezing:

Wait until cooled, place in zip lock bags. Leave on counter for a few hours to defrost.

 

 

 

 

 

Freezer Food Friday

Veggie Quiche Cups

Ingredients

3/4 cup egg-whites 

1 package frozen spinach

3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat cheese

1/4 cup diced onions

Heat oven to 350F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with foil baking cups, spray the cups with cooking spray.  Thaw and drain spinach, wring it out well. Mix the spinach, egg whites, cheese and onions in a bowl. (You could also add hot sauce or other veggies for more flavor) Fill the foil cups with the mixture.  Bake at 350F or 20 minutes, testing so that a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Remove from cups.

Flash freeze on a cookie sheet in the freezer, freeze in freezer bags. Thaw over night, heat up in a toaster over. (To heat up in microwave remove foil cup!)

 

1 Point Weight Watcher Chocolate Cupcakes!

Ok these are “minis” but they are so good, so moist and delicious that just a few will do ya! When I first heard this recipe from Hungry Girl - I thought GROSS - because I hate pumpkin, but I tried it anyway and I’m sure glad I did. You do not taste the pumpkin at all! All you taste is moist rich chocolaty goodness!

And the recipe couldn’t be easier!

1 box devil’s food cake mix (some brands are even Vegan!)

1 can pumpkin

1 cup water

Mix well - drop spoonfuls into mini muffin tins. You can make 36 with a little left over batter or you can easily make 48 if you dont’ over-fill the cups. (Sadly either way you still get a point value of 1 - ha!)

Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. I have not tried to freeze these yet but you know that I will and will let you know how it goes!

Check out the link above to Hungry Girl - you can view their blog via an e-mail subscription, there is great advice, food finds and recipes there! She now also works with Weight Watchers.

 

Freezer Trivia

When you think of things to put in your freezer several easy answers come to mind including fruits, veggies and meats - but there is so much more you can freeze! Freezing foods lets you save time in preperation and money on sale items:

Who would have thought you could freeze:

Pasta

Rice

Hummus

Cookie Dough

Stick Butter

Egg whites

Freeze with Caution:

Milk (you can freeze it but it changes the texture some and absorbs freezer flavors, also anything other than skim seperates)

Bananas (I love to freeze bananas for smoothies! I freeze them in the peel! Especially the ones my toddler leavs unfinished! However be warned, they do change color)

Cheese (changes texture)

Don’t freeze these:

greasy foods

soft cheeses

mayo

sour cream

This just lists a few choices for each category! There is a lot of research and some great books out there. For Freezer or OAMC recipes I love to visit www.recipezaar.com!