If you make eating healthy foods fun, healthy eaters will be created. Kids think it’s lots of fun when you make playful, decorative food. Decorating only takes a few seconds, but it makes your child feel very special. For the older than 1 child, try creating a recipe like Apple Smiley Face (recipe below) and then decorating with fruits and vegetables. Once the recipe is completed and placed on your child’s plate in a pancake-shaped face, use decorative touches to add eyes (cooked egg slices or halved grapes), a nose (raisin or carob chip), mouth (orange section) and hair (curly carrot peel). This recipe is healthy all around and fun! Any healthy food can go through the same decorative transformation.
Here’s the Apple Smiley face recipe:
To make a “pancake,” grate a well-scrubbed organic apple with peel in a processor (or use organic no-sugar-added applesauce). Mix with 1-2 tablespoons natural peanut butter or other nut butter to make a slightly thick “dough.” Optionally add 1 teaspoon maple syrup or agave nectar (a healthy sweetener that can be found in natural foods stores) and a pinch of cinnamon and/or some flax seed oil or freshly ground flax seeds. Grate an apple in a processor.
Enjoy your toddler’s enjoyment of this Super Snack!