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Cooking Cooking For Kids

Whining and Dining

Mealtime Survival for Picky Eaters and the Families Who Love Them

by (author) Eshun Mott & Emma Waverman

Publisher
Random House of Canada
Initial publish date
Apr 2007
Category
Cooking for Kids, Comfort Food, General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780679314547
    Publish Date
    Apr 2007
    List Price
    $29.95

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

Part cookbook, part parenting manual, Whining & Dining – from two food lovers who are also mums of picky eaters – will bring sanity to every family’s table.

Your kids are happily sitting at the table. As you deliver tonight’s meal, they all murmur their approval and dig right in. They reach eagerly for the vegetables and even agree to try your new kid-friendly dish of chicken curry. They ask for seconds and don’t even mention dessert until it arrives at the table. STOP THE MUSIC! If this is your house, then you don’t need this book.

However, if your dinner experience is full of chaos and whining; if you are constantly worrying that your children are not getting the basic building blocks for a healthy life; if the path between the table and the fridge is worn from making separate meals for each child; if the word “YUCK!” is being used far too often, then Whining & Dining is for you.

Like many parents, Emma Waverman and Eshun Mott, both food professionals, have dumped plates of food in the garbage, they have lied and cajoled and they have also capitulated and served their kids only the foods they like. They have seen other preschoolers eating broccoli and tofu as snacks and have silently cried in the corner. They have called ice cream a meal and bacon a protein – more than once.

Feeding a family day after day can be exhausting and emotionally draining. All parents want their kids to be healthy, of course, but we can make ourselves crazy trying to ensure they get the recommended daily amount of protein or vegetables or omega-3s. Emma and Eshun believe that there is a way to feed your kids healthy foods that they will eat, and that they will learn to trust their bodies and start choosing foods that are delicious and good for them.

Through trial and error, the authors have developed 100+ recipes that are a hit with kids and adults alike. And the numerous tips and tricks they offer for getting your picky eater to start enjoying mealtime are ones that have evolved over the years from their own experiences and those of their friends.

Whining & Dining is a breath of fresh air, a creative, realistic approach by parents for parents to teaching your child the pleasures of eating. “Pass the green beans, please” may be in your future.

Includes family-friendly
recipes such as:
-Beyond Boxed Macaroni & Cheese
-Multigrain Buttermilk Waffles
-Mushroom & Spinach Fritatta
-Carrot & Ginger Soup
-Soupy Asian Noodles
-Green Beans with Pecans & Brown Sugar
- Just a Wee Bit Healthier
-Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ritualize It

Kids are built for rituals – that’s why they so easily fall into habitual food patterns. But one ritual worth encouraging is the special weekly family meal. It can be tied to a religious meal or it can be a Tuesday night or a Sunday breakfast. Choose what works best for your family. But once a week, pull out the tablecloth, light the candles and start making up some family traditions. That’s what good eating, and good memory-making, are all about.

About the authors

Contributor Notes

Emma Waverman is part of a food dynasty that started in the culinary mecca of Glasgow, Scotland. She is a food and lifestyle writer whose work has appeared in Toronto Life and Food & Drink, among others. She feeds her two boys, baby girl and husband in Toronto.

Eshun Mott began cooking up her own rubbery omelettes at the age of eight. She trained as a chef and worked in upscale restaurants and at Toronto’s famed Cookbook Store before becoming a professional recipe developer, tester and food stylist. She is also the full-time mother of two young sons.

Excerpt: Whining and Dining: Mealtime Survival for Picky Eaters and the Families Who Love Them (by (author) Eshun Mott & Emma Waverman)

Garlic-Roasted Carrots

Simple, quick and delicious, these were a big hit with our testers. You just have to get the kids to try these once and it will be a side dish for life. And if not, more for you.

1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 lb carrots, peeled and cut on an angle into 1-inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Melt butter in a small pot over medium heat. Add carrots and garlic; cover pot and turn down heat to ­medium-­low. Cook, shaking pot occasionally, for 15 minutes or until carrots are tender and both carrots and garlic are slightly caramelized. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 4 servings.

Meat Loaf

Maybe you think of meat loaf as an unhealthy meal from the ’50s. We think of it as an opportunity to hide nutritious food in a ­kid-­friendly ­hamburger-­type substance. There are oatmeal, carrots, parsnips and spinach in there, or you can choose to leave all the veggies out, or put one or two more in. If your kids are hamburger fans but the words meat loaf scare them, then you know what to do.

1 lb lean ground beef
1⁄2 lb ground pork
1 cup chopped onion
1⁄2 cup grated carrot or parsnip
1⁄2 cup chopped spinach
1⁄2 cup large-flake oatmeal (not instant)
3 tbsp milk
1⁄2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 egg
1⁄4 cup ketchup
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1⁄4 tsp hot pepper sauce
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Combine beef, pork, onions, carrot or parsnip, spinach, oatmeal, milk, thyme and egg in a large bowl.

Mix together ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and hot pepper sauce in a small bowl. Reserve half the sauce. Pour the other half over the meat mixture and stir gently to combine ingredients. Season meat mixture with salt and pepper to taste.

Add brown sugar to reserved sauce. Pack meat into 5- x 9-inch loaf pan and smooth top.

Bake for 30 minutes then remove meat loaf from oven. Using a knife, make 3 slits in top. Pour remaining sauce over top so that it runs into slits.

Bake for another 30 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil for an additional 5 minutes. Pour off any fat, then carefully remove meat loaf from pan and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.