Ridiculously Good Lunches For Kids

The collage above are images of the past three weeks of Ridiculously Good Lunches for Kids.

When I started Ridiculously Good Lunches for Kids my hope was that my children would learn to appreciate what was being served to them.  Also, that they would start to enjoy all the different kind of flavors that can be created with vegetables.

As I’ve posted my images to instagram every day, many people have asked me, “Do your kids respond well to that?”

The truth is that sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t.

Little brother has difficulty stomaching salads and raw cabbage. I’ve been working with him to slow down and chew his lettuces.  I’ve been teaching him to chew his lettuce into small itty bitty pieces so that it’s easier to swallow.

It takes him FOREVER to eat his lettuces but I’ll sit with him until he does and give him tons of praise for being such a big boy when he’s finished. Although this process is sometimes painstaking for me, I continue to serve him greens mixed in with other foods or on their own again and again.

Big cousin never complains but gives me the weary eye.

He’s so funny.

One afternoon he looked down at his steaming bowl of leek, potato, and parsnip soup.

I could tell right away that he was evaluating the situation and trying to figure a way out of it.

He casually looked at me and in a half question half statement proceeded to tell me, “Ummm… Nana.  Ummm, when kids don’t like a food they don’t have to eat it – right, Nana?”

I had to hold my laughter.  I gently looked at him and I said, “Well big cousin, kids need to try new foods they’ve never had before.”  I knelt right next to him, looked him in the eye and said, “Mijo, would Nana make you food that doesn’t taste good or does Nana love you so much that she works very hard to make you good food that is going to keep you healthy and make you strong?”

His response to me was, “Okay, Nana.  I’ll eat my food.”

Big brother on the other hand eats everything.  He likes to try new foods.  I can’t claim credit for that, every child is different.

The thing is, it’s not easy, however,  I don’t give up.  It takes a lot of time, patience, and consistency.

I keep making them different foods everyday to make it fun and I let them get involved in what ingredients we should add on certain days.  Big cousin has recently become excited about making up his own recipes and wants to make his very own cookbook.

It’s been a blessing seeing these boys develop their palates in just 5 weeks.  It’s made dinner time go by more smoothly as well, as they’re so used to eating vegetables throughout the entire day.

We Haven’t Been Sick

Knock on wood… but here it goes.

If you follow my Traditional Menu Plan On a Budget you’ll know that my family eats just as many vegetables for dinner as we do for our ridiculously good lunches.

Well, we spent the entire month of December, January, and now into February sick free.  Although we’ve been around many sick people in those months, we’ve managed to stay healthy.

This is a first for us.  We usually follow suit and end up being sick along with everyone else.

I don’t know, but I really think that eating as many seasonal vegetables and fruits as we have has ramped up our immunity.

I’m starting to realize that eating REAL FOOD all day long is the key element to preventing illness, especially during the winter.

We’ll see – there’s still a lot of winter left 😉

Have a great week and if you’d like to learn how to cook this way and feed your family traditional real foods loaded with vegetables and grass-fed, pastured meats, check out Spain in Iowa’s Traditional Menu Plan on Budget.  I’m happy to say that I’ve had great feedback including people that have shared with me that their children are enjoying their vegetables.  That makes me so ridiculously happy!

Have a great weekend!