Kid's Foods Ideas For Parents:Give Your Children New Ingredients

Crudités and dips:
If your children are old enough, let them help you out in the kitchen by preparing crudités for dipping. Whether you’re eating out or at home, your dips could include houmous, baba ganoush and tzatziki – all of which provide a tasty, texturally interesting cargo for your carrot, celery or cucumber sticks.
Make the dining experience fun
Presenting food in inventive ways can make a real difference to kids’ perceptions. Use colourful crockery and encourage your kids to give fun names to the foods they’re not so keen on. Arranging the food in an interesting formation – a rainbow, for example – or cutting it into different shapes will help them to feel more excited when mealtimes come around.

Be patient
It’s been reported that a child must try a new food between seven and 15 times before they develop a taste for it – so mix it up for both of your sakes. If you want to get them into spinach, try it as a leaf in a salad, wilted in a pasta dish or creamed with a little nutmeg as a tasty side dish. You’ll get there eventually – but be prepared to persevere.
Soup:
Soup is a brilliant way to sneak tons of vegetables into a healthy, delicious meal. Onions, celery, potato and stock form the base for most soups, to which more veggies, pulses, cheese or meat are usually added. Roasted carrot, wild mushroom or pumpkin are great flavours to start off with. Le Pain Quotidien has a different soup on offer every day, so chances are you’ll find something they’ll enjoy if you stop off for lunch.

Quinoa burritos:
Everyone loves a burrito, right? Try frying up some onion, green pepper, garlic, quinoa, corn, courgette and tomatoes, then add vegetable stock and cook until you’ve got a thick sauce. Heat up some tortillas and add the veg, some cheddar and sour cream, then roll up and fry in a pan for a couple of minutes until browned. It’s an easy way to get lots of goodness into a quick evening dinner.



Moussaka:
Moussaka lets you sneak loads of aubergine into a tasty, hearty dish. Keep the aubergine layers thin enough so that they turn soft and buttery – they’ll retain all their goodness while adding to the gorgeous texture of each mouthful. Mandaloun does a delicious version with chickpeas and vermicelli rice.

Halloumi and vegetable skewer:
Skewers are a great way to get kids eating their vegetables – they’re colourful, fun and different. The Real Greek does a good-value lunch menu that offers crudités and dips as starters, alongside mains including skewers, stacks and falafel – so there’s something for everyone and it’s really easy to share.

Other tips:
Keep Servings Small -

It’s important to be realistic in your expectations of what your child will start eating at mealtimes. A good tip is to try out very small portions of new foods as snacks so that they can build up a taste for them. Then, when it comes to sitting down to eat as a family, you can include a small serving without it being a shock.

Get the kids involved:
Kids get a lot of enjoyment from being part of the food decision-making process. If you’re green fingered and like to grow your own, get the children out in the garden with you, picking herbs and vegetables. If not, take them along to the supermarket – show them different fruit and vegetables, talk about their shape and colour, and explain where they’re from and how they taste. If they’re old enough, get them involved in the cooking process itself. They’ll be proud of what they’ve helped to make, so will be much more eager for everyone to taste it.

Eat (and enjoy) new foods in front of them
It’s time to lead by example, even if you’re not the biggest fan of broccoli yourself. Making it clear that you’re really looking forward to what you’re about to eat – and adding a few yummy noises – will increase interest and anticipation about what’s on the menu.

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