Today I had the opportunity to try out a new trick that I learned from a friend (thanks, Jenny!). Have you ever had problems getting a toddler to eat her sandwich? Not again! This method turns an ordinary sandwich into a gobbled-up snack! Here's the procedure:

1) Take two pieces of bread and cut off the crusts.

2) Layer one slice of cheese and one slice of meat.

3) Squish the sandwich until it's as flat as possible. This is the most important step. If it isn't compressed enough, the pieces will separate. If you are having trouble getting it flat, you can put something heavy on top, such as a heavy frying pan, and let it sit for a while. Another alternative is to use a rolling pin.

4) Cut the sandwich into 1/2 inch squares.

This is a perfect on-the-go meal!

Labels: Picky Eater, Tips

You know those toothpicks that come in restaurant sandwiches? The kind with colored cellophane on the top, that you carelessly pull out and plop on the side of your plate? Well, for two-year-olds, they can make the difference between chicken fingers eaten and chicken fingers buried in the applesauce bowl. Next time you cross forks with a stubborn eater, whip out some "flags" and make some "flag chicken." Then tell me how it worked!

Labels: Picky Eater

Katie has recently decided that she doesn't want to eat green peppers. She has gotten very good at identifying peppers wherever they are in our food. I made my favorite dish today, chili, which absolutely requires green peppers.

I successfully got her to eat them!

Here's how: I put them in my food chopper, a la the Sneaky Chef. I didn't liquefy them completely, but they were pretty small pieces. I thought I had lost when I set it in front of her and she quickly and correctly identified them. First I tried to convince her that it was green meat (you never know what might work on a two-year-old), but she looked at me like I had lost my head. She finally tasted it when I told her I had chopped it up so small that she wouldn't be able to taste it. And she ate almost an entire bowl. Score!

Labels: Picky Eater