How I got my kids to eat dinner without complaining for two weeks straight

Tacos with walnut 'meat' - delish in my books!

Ya you read that right. I got my kids to eat dinner without whining, crying or complaining for two weeks.

Now if you know me, you know that I have been struggling with one picky eater since he was 7 months old. It's been one of the most frustrating parts of parenthood (if not the most frustrating). Nothing drives me more nuts than sitting down to a nice meal and having the kids say one of the following:

"BUT I DON'T LIKE THAT!"
"WAAAAAAAH I DON'T WANT CHILI!!!"
"THIS LOOKS LIKE CAT FOOD!!!" (A personal favourite.)

So two weeks ago on a beautiful and sunny Sunday morning I said to Leo: "Leo I'm making my meal plan for this week; what do you want to eat? You get to choose what we eat this week."

He looked at me like I'd fallen off my rocker, but quickly started listing off things that he wanted to eat:

• Pasta (duh)
• Burgers (that one surprised me because I make bean veggie burgers that aren't always popular)
• Tacos (we came up with that one together)
• Chicken fingers and fries (You want it? Ok I'll make it!)
• Pizza (duh)

And then he picked fajitas for our Sunday dinner.

To be honest I thought the whole week would be pizza and pasta, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Here's the thing. I don't follow the I-don't-care-what-they-eat-as-long-as-they-eat-something! philosophy which is probably why my life has been a bit hellish for the past 4.5 years where dinner is concerned. But if they're going to be picky, I want them to eat something that is good for them. It has to have nutrients. But I do realize that it has to be fun too (it only took me 4.5 years to figure it out). So I took a stab at this let them choose thing, but then I made the food the way I wanted to make it.

So here was my version of what he picked:

• Portobello mushroom 'steak' fajitas from Oh She Glows cookbook
• Pasta with Kale/basil pesto
• White bean burgers on sprouted buns
• Tacos with walnut 'meat' (honestly they only eat tacos with cheese and yogurt anyway, but I want them to see all the fixin's that we eat)
• I made a special trip to a meat market for free range chicken to make chicken fingers and made roasted potatoes for the fries
• Gluten free pizza crust with the kale pesto and whatever I had left in the fridge

And that was it. That's all it took. If they did start to say something I'd say "That's what you picked!"  And then they'd keep eating. Aside from the chicken fingers, these meals are pretty much what I make on a regular basis, but because I gave them a choice of what to eat they bought into it.

It was heaven. We laughed at dinner. We told stories. Mark and I talked about our day without much interruption. It was craziness! 

So the following week I told Mila that she got to pick. She picked a few of the same things, and then Leo helped with some meals until we got another full week that they chose. And again it was another full week of bliss.

We'll see how week three goes!

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mini project: seat cover

Leo has pretty much graduated from the high chair/booster seat to sitting with us at the table, but he's almost two and a half and of course the little bugger is messy.

Our chairs are leather and easily wipe down, but the the stitching is also white and so to prevent the chairs from getting too gucked-up (that's a word right?) I made a chair cover. Or as I tell Leo, a chair bib.

I bought some oil cloth when I was pregnant with Leo to make cushions for his high chair, but I never got around to it. I had just the right amount (about a yard) to make this cover.

It just slips over the top and since it's oil cloth it cleans up pretty easily.

This took me about 10 minutes to make, even with Leo sitting beside me practically shoving his head into the sewing machine asking 'what's that?' a hundred times.

An added bonus: it has helicopters.

eating your greens

I've been hearing a lot lately about how the food you eat can have a greater impact than imagined on the body -- especially when it comes to cancer. It may seem like a no-brainer, but it seems the majority of those in NA don't pay particular attention to the way they eat, opting for freezer meals and other processed foods.

i first started hearing about it from a friend of mine who had a freelance job writing about raw foods and the benefit they can provide the body. She went to a camp of sorts where several cancer patients were housed, eating only raw foods and partaking in spiritual programs and yoga. my friend said that she heard many a story of people going to the retreat with stage 3-4 cancer only to leave in remission. This is all because of mindset and eating lots of veggies and fruits.

Then on Oprah this week there was a woman - Kris Carr who has stage 4 cancer and she managed to control and essentially stop the growth of the tumor. she still has cancer but she's managing with diet and exercise. It was truly eyeopening.

Last night I was listening to CBC on the same topic and although i can't find the link to the radio program, the interviewee did say that all we have to significantly reduce our cancer chances is to eat according to the Canada food guide. Seems simple right? After the show i looked up the food guide and it's actually quite informative. Check it out here. he also said that supplements are a waste of money and the only ones we really need (if we follow the food guide properly) are vitamin D and Folic Acid. I'm going to do more research into this and try to make more of an effort to follow this thing -- paying special attention to getting my veggies!