As many of my more regular readers will know, meal times have caused many stressful moments for me in my house . I have no idea why my two can be as picky about food as they have been, because I love cooking homemade meals for them and have been doing so ever since I weaned them both. They just like what they like and are not great at trying new foods which, as you can imagine, is very frustrating ! Thankfully, in the last few months Burton has got better at eating at meal times. Since he returned to school earlier this month, his appetite is enormous and this is helping him with eating all his food and due to the free meals at his school now, he is trying a few new foods (yay!).
Another huuuge thing which occuured recently in the on going battle fun of getting Burton to eat new foods, is that he will now eat carrots that have not been hidden! In order to get him (and Jenson) to eat lots of vegetables, the only way this has been possible was to discguise them in the meals i made like grating or chopping finely in meals like bolognaise, cottage pie, chili con carne etc… BUT back in June, Burton started eating carrots which were on his plate in full view! I almost fell off my chair I can tell you! (which is why I photographed it for proof!)
Some nights when we have got home later from school as we have visited friends or been to the park, and because I have not been in all day to plan tea properly, it is great when you can reach into the freezer and cook a fun and easy meal in under 20 minutes. I would say that once a week we have a meal like this with Birds Eye fish fingers being the boys favourite served alongside some homemade mash and Birds Eye peas or baked beans……oh and a dollop of ketchup and some bread and butter for Burton. However, it is always good to shake things up, and last time we went shopping Burton chose some Birds Eye Chicken Space Shapes. It makes me smile that Buton will eat these now because for years I made homemade chicken goujons and he would not go near them!!
Anyway, when i serve these meals from the freezer for Burton and Jenson, I like to make them look fun and appealing and I have found that if I make food art on a plate, not only does it make it more interesting and eye catching, but i have found that they are both more likely to eat the vegetables too!
This Space Scene was so easy to make and each of the boys had a side bowl filled with baked beans for Jenson and pasta hoops for Burton. To make this meal I used :
Chicken Space Shapes
Steamed carrot and yellow pepper batons
Birds Eye frozen peas
Babybel cheese (afterall, the moon is made from cheese!)
best of both bread and butter sandwich stars
ketchup (of course!)
Wearing space helmets is an optional extra of course!
This post is an entry for #Afterschoolchefs Linky Challenge, sponsored by Birds Eye. Learn more on the Birds Eye Facebook page.
Hahaha, I love your space helmets. I’m sure they make everything taste better – even carrots 😀
thanks Carolin – always fun in our house lol x
I enjoyed reading your post. Commenting for myself and on behalf of BritMums and thanking you for taking part