Cooking for Very Young Children by Judy Lyden

The whole point of cooking for very young children is to balance what they will eat with what they should eat at times that fit into the family schedule.

Easier said than done especially when children get caught up in the bad habits of twenty-first century life. Establishing meal time is probably the hardest one thing for young families to do because no one is quite certain what we are doing when. It's no wonder we have run away illness, obesity and few expectations for manners.

Establishing times when the family is fed are important today as they have always been because meal time is the nutrition zone of family health. Health is complimented by certain food components that build strong bodies, and if the food is not offered, the children can't eat it. Health and vitality don't come from snacking. So begin your search for the balance of what children will eat and what they should eat with times for eating.

Finding things that children like is not impossible even for picky eaters. At breakfast time, children should have a grain product, milk, and a fruit or vegetable. Juice works well. That grain product can be a favorite cereal, a piece of toast, a muffin, pancakes, waffles, biscuits, or even a pastry. The idea, of course, is to get a regular time established and then experiment with different foods.

One recipe I use for pancakes and waffles is:

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup cooking oil
2 cups milk or milk to desired thickness

Muffins begin the same way. Add 1/2 cup sugar and 1 cup less milk.

What I find is 95% of children like this recipe. It's plain, simple, and there is nothing to startle the taste buds. If making pancakes at home with little equipment, use as flat a frying pan as possible, wipe the bottom with oil or lightly spray cooking spray. Heat the pan to about 3/4 of the highest heat you have, and when the pan is hot, make one pancake at a time. The pancake is ready to turn when bubbles form and burst.

These are basic, simple recipes that will last in a refrigerator for nearly a week if covered.

To these simple recipes, it's important to begin to change the recipe slightly and add the nutrients we need to make the simple foods we are making superbly good for you. By moving from white flour to whole wheat PASTRY flour, you are making the bulk of your food a much healthier choice because white flour is an obstacle to healthy eating. Pastry flour can be purchased at the grocery store in the special flours department.

Bread products are supposed to fill you up, and cleanse your digestive tract. White flour clogs instead of cleans, so beware of eating it.

Once children and other family members have made the switch from white to WW pastry flour, it's time to make sure that the oil you are using is one of the healthy ones. I use Canola oil. Olive oil is a great oil, but a little weird in pancakes.

Changing from regular milk to soy milk will make pancakes and waffles much lighter. It's worth a try.

Now for the fun part. It's time to add some things that will make your pancakes, waffles and muffins a really excellent start. Try adding wheat germ, flax seed, whole oats, berries, raisins, dark chocolate chips, applesauce, pumpkin, nuts, and coconut. Try adding spices like ginger and cinnamon.

Making changes does not have a rush formula. It all takes time. One of my pickiest eaters at school began with a hatred of anything even resembling a muffin, and today he doesn't even ask what it is. When I tell him we are having muffins, he's thrilled. It just takes time.

Adding a topping to food sometimes helps make new things more palatable for children. There is nothing wrong with using peanut butter, cream cheese, regular cheese, jam, jelly, butter or home made syrup as an incentive to eat. Homemade syrup is made by boiling two cups water to one cup sugar for three minutes. To the syrup, you can add any flavor you want. Cinnamon syrup is delicious and I find children will eat it.

Next time, Lunch.