Building Healthy Habits for Kids

I was reading a post on eating from a toddler's perspective. It got me thinking. I have raised a good eater. My son is rather open to foods and will choose healthy over unhealthy more often than not. He still likes treats such as soda, chips and candy but he will choose to eat air-popped popcorn and fruit if I offer them. I can't say I have the perfect advice for raising healthy eaters since we still have our share of unhealthy habits but I do know I did somethings right.
Plate Rule: In our house the rule is you don't have to clear your plate but if you want seconds you have to eat everything on your plate. That includes later. You can't scrape your salad into the trash and then decide 30 minutes later you want more pasta. There have been nights when my son's plate has sat on the counter half eaten while he decides whether or not he's still hungry.
New Food Rule: You have to try one bite of a new food. If you don't like it then you don't have to eat it (but the plate rule is still in effect). My personal belief is that if it's healthy and I still don't like it then I eat it fast and I eat it first. If it's not healthy then I pass on it.
Those are the only two rules we have about eating but we have some guidelines about snacking. The biggest guideline is - if we shouldn't eat it then we shouldn't buy it. On occasion, I buy a junk food something - box of doughnuts or oreos, a bottle of soda. These never last long in our house and they are a rarity. That doesn't mean we don't have snacks. We keep popcorn in the house and my son is quite familiar with the air-popper so he can make his own snack. We set limits to how much nucoa he can use and he stays within those limits. He's free to experiment with seasonings and other ideas. (He's put barbeque sauce on his popcorn.) We keep instant coffee, tea and individual packets of crystal light available for drinking. I, personally, don't like the crystal light but my husband does and if it keeps him away from soda I'm all for it.
Another thing I did was taught my son to be self-reliant in the kitchen at a very early age. I worked the evening shift when my son was two and I hadn't met my wonderful husband yet. My son was an early riser. I was already exhausted and I couldn't keep getting up with him every morning. So I taught him how to make breakfast. We designated a drawer that was his. I filled it with breakfast bars and snacks. He knew that when he was hungry he could make his snack. It wasn't long after that that I had him making real food. By the time he was five he could make his own packaged mac and cheese. I know it's not the best food but it taught him valuable skills in the kitchen. Now at 15, he can cook just about anything. He's been creating his own recipes for the past 5 years and has even entered contests.
I keep him involved with the whole process. We talk about what we want to eat, how do we want to prepare it, what sort of vegetables should we have. I ask for his input when I go grocery shopping. When we have extra money, we talk about what would we like to try. With the bountiful baskets we get lots of interesting fruits and vegetables. He's very honest. He'll talk about what he didn't like whether it was texture or flavor. We talk about our food as we eat it especially if it's new.
I have made mistakes - I will be the first to admit that. My favorite mistake story happened when my son was about 4, I think. He was going through a phase where he just wouldn't eat his vegetables. I kept trying to think of creative ways but I didn't want to deceive him - he's a smart cookie and figured out I was slipping cauliflower into the mac and cheese. After that he was suspicious and I didn't want to make him hate vegetables. So I thought I'd get creative and make a Bob and Larry salad. For those who don't know Bob is a tomato and Larry is a cucumber on Veggie Tales. When I served it to him, all beaming because I was an awesome mom, he started crying - you killed Bob and Larry. It was an absolute failure and I had to give back my mom of the year award. He got over it but he still remembers it. I still can't get him to eat raw tomatoes but atleast now we can talk about why.

Hot Chocolate

It might be early in the season for hot chocolate but here in Washington the night's dip to really cold temperatures and hot chocolate becomes the perfect evening treat (especially with some homemade bread). We were big on the instant hot chocolate because it was easy, then my father suggested I make some from scratch (he stopped buying instant because it was going too fast).
This recipe is adapted from the Hershey cocoa powder box and is just as easy as making instant except I haven't come up with a microwave version. It cooks on the stove but only takes as much time as it takes to heat the milk.

Hot Chocolate
1/4 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups milk
3/4 teas vanilla

Pour milk into saucepan. Add cocoa and sugar. Stir with a whisk. The cocoa will float on the top of the milk until it heats up a little but this is not a problem, just keep whisking now and again until it all combines. Stir occasionally but do not leave unattended. Do not let the milk come to a boil. When hot, remove from heat and add vanilla. Whisk quickly and serve.
Great with whipped cream or marshmallows. (if serving with marshmallows and you like them melty, heat the milk up hotter than drinkable and let cool with marshmallows on top).
For a kick, add a little cayenne pepper.

Squirrel on a Stick

Squirrel on a stick is a family favorite for barbequing. It takes a little preparation and goes fast but it's a fun addition to outdoor cooking. I will put your mind at ease and tell you it's not really squirrel, it's chicken. My mother started making these chicken skewers when we were teens and my brothers named them squirrel on a stick (which stuck and has freaked out non-family members for 20 years).

It does take preparation but when that's done they cook rather quickly and are eaten twice as fast.
It's better to soak your bamboo skewers while marinating the chicken and use them wet. Because they are wood they will burn on the grill, soaking reduces this problem. You can use metal skewers but they will be hotter coming off the grill than the wood.

I have included a link to my homemade teriyaki sauce. My mom would buy the powdered mix (in the aisle with the taco seasoning, powdered spaghetti sauce, gravies) and add pineapple juice and whatever the packet called for. Any teriyaki sauce would work here.

Squirrel on a Stick
boneless skinless chicken breasts
teriyaki marinade
bamboo skewers

Cut the chicken into stripes the long way (I use kitchen scissors). Marinate in the teriyaki sauce for several hours (or as long as you can plan ahead). Soak the bamboo skewers for at least an hour. Thread the pieces of chicken onto the skewers the long way so that you have one long piece of chicken on the stick. Cook on hot coals until done. You can also cook these in the oven at 400 if you set them on a grill with a baking pan to catch sauce/fat drips. You want them to come out a little dry to the touch. Eat and enjoy.

Mixchief Jello

I was wandering the Walmart grocery area to price what it costs for us to make our own marshmallows. There are so many varieties of marshmallows that I want to do lots of experiments. For us, homemade marshmallows are about ingredient control over cost but I wondered if it was really one of those things I could promote as being economical as well. If I had to guess: it costs about $3.25 to make a batch of homemade marshmallows which is about 1 1/2 pounds of marshmallows (equivilent to 3 bags of marshmallows at $1.25 each) so it's slightly less.
But that's not what I wanted to share with you. I was looking at the unflavored gelatin (and really disappointed that all the stores in my area only carry 4 packs of unflavored gelatin instead of my favorite 32 pack) when I found a new Jello product called Mixchief.
The first box was a color-changing instant pudding, the next a juice Jello, followed by a soda Jello and finally a color changing Jello. All 4 varieties sold for $.88. Not a bad price (I guess) but I don't buy Jello because of the artificial flavors and colors but I was a little interested in the juice and soda varietys - well more curious. I was furious to discover that what those two $.88 boxes housed was a single packet of unflavored gelation (you can buy 4 for $1.25 in the Knox brand).
I want to play with this idea but meanwhile, I'm going to share the recipe with you.

1 packet unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup boiling water (or boiling soda/juice for more flavor)
1 1/2 cup chilled juice or soda

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Add chilled juice/soda. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.

Be careful adding fruit, some fruits will prevent a good set-up.

Bug Juice

I realized that I haven't really shared beverage recipes. This is my go to party drink. I change it as theme dictates. It's a Halloween drink but would be great for a summer cooler (just omit the gummy worms). I originally got it from Family Fun (I think) but with everything I have changed a few things. Feel free to try different fruit and juices. The original recipe had you thaw all the ingredients, personally I am a little lazy and often throw everything together at the last minute. Using the fruit and juice frozen makes the drink nice and cool (and a little thick). I often use a 2 litter bottle of ginger ale and add it to taste.

Bug Juice
2 10-oz. pkgs. frozen strawberries
1 6-oz. can lemonade concentrate
1 quart ginger ale
6 gummy worms
Mix the strawberries and lemonade concentrate in a blender until smooth and thick. Transfer to a punch bowl. Gradually add ginger ale. Place the gummy worms on the rim of the bowl for a swampy effect. Makes 10 servings.

Cinnamon Snails

Years ago, we saw this recipe on an episode of Zoom. I made it several times for maybe a year or two and then completely forgot about it. Recently, I came across it in my files and thought what a fun recipe. It's super easy. I made it with margarine this weekend and the thing about margarine to remember - when you melt it, it becomes fat sitting on water. I used all the liquid from the margarine and my family could not tell which pieces had been dipped in the fat and which were in the water which goes to show that you could use a different liquid.
It is time consuming to make these "snails" so I suggest making them for special occasions or just because instead of making them a daily snack (unless you have the eaters make their own).
I have only used white bread to make these but I think they could be good with a wheat bread. Homemade bread may not hold up to the rolling (mine wouldn't).

Cinnamon Snails
slice of bread with the crusts removed
cream cheese - leave it out of the refrigerator for a little while so that it gets soft.
three tablespoons melted butter
some sugar mixed with a little bit of cinnamon
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Flatten the slice of bread by rolling over it with a rolling pin. Spread a thin layer of cream cheese over the flattened bread. Roll up the bread and seal the seam with more cream cheese. Slice the roll into three pieces. Dip each piece into the melted butter and then into the cinnamon and sugar. Put them on a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil. Put the snails in the oven and bake them for 8-10 minutes or until they are crisp and brown. Let your snails cool a bit before eating.