Sunday's Plate

Introducing new foods to kids is tough. Sometimes I think it's just the expectation that makes kids shy away from new possible yucky stuff.

With Thanksgiving approaching, we will do our best at the Garden School to teach the kids what Thanksgiving food will be like. Next week we will have a full Thanksgiving practice meal with the kids. We will bake a traditional turkey, stuffing, homemade and canned cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and the general works. Kids can sample everything and be ready and waiting for their family's version on Thanksgiving.

One of the things we will do is to bake our own cranberry bread to take home and share. This has always been fun for kids. More about that later.

Making food fun is part of the art of eating well. The simple fact is, it's not the organics, the naturals, or the store where you buy food that makes a healthy body, it's the fact that we eat as wide a variety of foods as we can that makes us healthy. And that variety can be daunting to kids.

One of the things I did as a young mother that seemed to work, and I still do it today at school, is to build menus and meals around a schedule that takes in all the various kinds of meats, fish and other proteins.

On Monday, I try to serve beef. Doesn't matter if it's ground, roast, steak, or ribs.
On Tuesday, I try to serve pork. There are dozens of varieties including snausage ;-} chops, roast, piggy pie, ham, ribs, ground patty, tenderloin - you name it.
On Wednesday, it's a non meat day. It's breakfast food sans meat, eggs, cheese, beans. I have to serve 2 ounces of protein at every lunch, so our menus must include an alternate protein on non meat days.
On Thursday, I serve chicken. This week we're having chicken legs.
On Friday, I try to serve fish, but sometimes we resort to another pizza day.

This allows children to sample the basics, and still not have too many red meat days. This schedule has served me for thirty years, and it encourages children to eat different things as they come on the table.

Taped to my desk, I have a list of twenty possible fruits and vegetables that we serve in a kind of rotating menu plan. I add things on sale, strange and interesting things from the Asian market, and weird stuff I find at Schnucks. All in an attempt to bring to our children the widest possible menu plan.

By eating a wide variety of food, children's bodies are taking in a wide variety of vitamins, proteins, and minerals that they would not get by eating the same thing every day. As a workshop giver, I have many times been met with the statement by a day care provider who will tell me, "I don't cook, so my kids get boxed pizza, French fries and applesauce every day." No wonder children are constantly ill.

Monday at the Garden School, we will have marinated baked steak, potato wedges, big bread, frozen grapes and oranges. It will be a plate beautiful to look at. But I wouldn't serve beef again that week, because the body can only use so much beef at a time. Too much beef is not good for anyone, so we limit it to one day.

So next week when we serve the turkey and trimmings, we will set up the round table with all the food and serve buffet. I hope it will look like what the children will sample on the big day. Buffet means the children can choose the food they want. The turkey will be there in all it's glory and we will ask, "Would you like white or dark?" And we'll put on a nice show and carve right there for them. It should be fun.

Next week: How to bake a turkey.