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Fishy, Fishy, Fishy, Fish
Choosing fish these days creates all sorts of decision making stress. The dilemma surrounds what not to buy—some fish might have mercury or PCB contamination and others are over-fished. So what to buy? There are lists online to help. Here are two: one here and the other here.
The other day my husband bought swordfish, a fish I never buy myself; I tend to stay away from large fish because of mercury. Tuna we eat more often than swordfish but still not as much as we used to now that we have children. I like tunafish salad sandwiches and adore sushi, but don’t have either more than once monthly. (Canned tuna has higher levels of mercury, so beware.) We probably eat swordfish once or twice a year. We figure since it’s so seldom that we might as well enjoy it when we do- and will only buy it when it looks so very good.
We grilled the swordfish and we served it with a choice of sauces: puttanesca and a lemon caper sauce; Forbidden Black rice; CSA rainbow chard; micro bok choy (really small bok choy); and CSA garlic scapes.
Start rice first. Forbidden Black Rice name comes from long ago when it was forbidden for anyone but the Emperor to eat. It becomes a deep dark purple when cooked and is a whole grain rice that is supposedly high in iron. We love the taste, and the boys love the color too.
Steam chard and bok choy and shock to stop cooking. Leave to side to finish later. Steam or blanch garlic scapes and finish on the grill. 
My two eldest kids love capers and will pick them out of sauces to eat first. For the lemon caper sauce just a squeeze half a lemon over 3 Tbsp of capers and two pats of butter. I put it in the microwave for 40 seconds, stirred and served! So easy and quick. You can also do it on the stove. Just want to melt butter and warm capers.
Puttanesca sauce is really quick to make too. Just a little more chopping.
- 1 shallot or 1/4 white onion finely diced
- 1 large garlic clove chopped
- 1 plum tomato, seeded
- 3 anchovies or 1 Tbsp anchovy paste
- Handful of green or black olives, pitted and chopped.
- 2-3 Tbsp capers
- Black pepper to tasteHeat over stove until tomatoes have disintegrated.
Not every child will like puttanesca, but seeing that most kids like salty foods, some might surprise you! We serve the sauces on the side so our kids can control how much they would like of them and where they want it placed!
To prepare the swordfish put olive oil, salt and pepper on a plate, place one side in oil then turn until both sides are nicely coated. Place on hot grill and cook about 3 minutes on each side. (The cooking times vary depending on your grill and the thickness of the swordfish.)
Reheat the chard with touch of butter, salt and pepper. Reheat the bok choy with butter or canola oil, sesame oil and soy sauce as I’ve noted before. 
© 2010 mykidsreallyeatthis.com
I love your blog and I was prompted to comment because of all the great questions I see people asking. I love to see so much interest in healthy eating, I too have a passion for whole foods and pure ingredients. I don’t yet have kids, but I’m actually using this time in my life to learn as much as I can and create great habits for myself, so when the day comes to feed my own, It’s not such a daunting task.
Thank you so much! I think it’s great that you’re interested before you have kids so that you can learn how to start them off right. It’s also important to know for yourself now— one to stay healthy and two so that you can be healthy if you get pregnant. Then your kids will definitely have a good start!
Great blog…Your husband told me about your blog, last night at work. My son is only 13 months and eats what every we put in front of him, whether it is for comsumption or not. I sure this will change… However your methods and choices are intriguing. I am especially interested in your organic veggie choices as I recently read an article regarding a link between pesticides and ADD. With my wife preganant again, my challenge is her appetite, not our child’s. I am sure to use some of your ideas and recipes at home and possibly school, thanks for the help. Ted
Thank you Ted. Hopefully he’s not eating non-food items because he’s craving them, just putting things in his mouth. Hopefully he stays this easy with foods, he might change.
I found the challenging part is making sure I fed the children what they needed first while also juggling everything else. When they are young, their bodies tell them what they need before we mess it all up.
I read those reports linking ADD/ADHD (and have a son with ADHD and Asperger’s) and have decided to forgo any conventionally grown berries. There are other vegetables and fruits that don’t seem to harbor as many chemicals when treated, so some fruits and veggies I buy organic and others I don’t mind buying conventionally grown. I also try to buy local because I can actually ask the farmer what they use as far as pesticides, fertilizers and hormones (meat/dairy). I do belong to a CSA near us and though they aren’t “certified organic” they use organic methods. There are lists of fruits and veggies online that tell you which ones to always buy organic. http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods
Your wife might have a strange appetite during the pregnancy. I had aversions to certain foods especially their smells, but mostly craved plain Romaine salads with one type of Italian dressing and hamburgers. As long as you and/or your wife eats with your son it instills a great pattern for the future and it will be much easier to introduce foods.
Good luck with your little one… and one on the way.
Since you’re on the subject of brands, do you know if there is any quality difference between the Land O’Lakes American Cheese and that by Boar’s Head (besides $3-4.00/lb difference). Are wither of these cheese’s fine, as cheese go?
I tend to buy Cheddar or Muenster mainly because they taste better and they aren’t as processed but also because they contain way less salt.
A 1 oz serving of Land O Lakes American cheese:
Total Fat 9 g-14% 
Saturated Fat 5g-25% Trans Fat 0 g Cholesterol 25 mg-8% Sodium 400 mg-17%
400 mg for 1 oz!! Seems quite high.
But then look at Boar’s Head American cheese (same 1 oz serving size):
Calories 100, Sodium 480 mg, Total Fat 9g, Saturated 6g, Sugars 1g, Trans 0g, Protein 5g, Cholesterol 25 mg
Most Cheddars and Muensters are around 180mg of sodium for same serving size. I buy Trader Joe’s and Cabot brands most often.
When you think of all the salty snacks and other processed foods kids eat (goldfish, pretzels, potato chips, chicken nuggets, etc) it adds up! Children get way too much salt these days. It can lead to problems later that aren’t discernable now.
That said, every once in a while I buy American cheese. I buy the Land O Lakes or Bordens (presliced).
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Summer Daze Ahead
It was the last day of school today, ahhh summer… couple of months without running to make the school bus. The past couple of weeks have included lots of picnics and parties to celebrate the year’s end. We’ve also just enjoyed our favorite summer pastime- Sunday Concerts on the Green. Packing a picnic or planning something to bring to a party can be tricky when trying to keep the food choices healthy, but it’s possible. Whether they’ll actually eat the healthier choices when confronted with ice cream truck offerings and ring pops, is another story!
I made a few types of salads to bring to different events. I got a nice surprise the other day with a box of 3 different Briannas salad dressings from the company sitting on my front porch. Who doesn’t love free stuff? They sent it to me because I had called them in order to respond to a reader’s question. 
I’d never tried the 3 flavors they sent me, so that day used the Champagne Caper Vinaigrette on a mixed greens and Romaine salad with orange bell peppers, celery, cucumbers, mint and parsley. The dressing was nice, a little sweet but complemented the choice of vegetables well. The boys ate the salad without any complaints.
We used the Santa Fe dressing for a pasta salad we packed in a picnic dinner for our Concert on the Green. 
- Cook Farfalle pasta according to directions, then chill.
- Blanch zucchini and summer squash whole in boiling water. Shock with ice water and then sliced first in half lengthwise then in 1/4-1/2 inch pieces.
- Red and yellow bell pepper sliced into thin strips (not too long).
- Chop scallion (green onion)
- Dress with Briannas Santa Fe Blend dressing and sea salt to taste
- Toss all together. Also great with chicken added.
My eldest two liked it but youngest found it a bit spicy for his three year old palate.
I also made a fruit salad (no dressing on this). Sliced bananas and squeezed lemon juice on them —they don’t turn brown and also gives them a nice tartness. Sliced and hulled strawberries. Picked the grapes off the bunch but left them whole (I only use organic grapes because the sulfur dioxide they usually spray on grapes makes me weeze. All my berries are also organic if not local). Tossed them all gently with the raspberries. I don’t find it necessary to add sugar because I find the sweetness of the grapes and bananas goes nicely with the tartness of the berries. My children usually devour fruit salad. We had also packed a separate container of cut up watermelon chunks.
And for non-salad items this week we roasted chicken drumsticks. In a large bowl, coat the drumsticks with olive oil, salt, pepper and Penzy’s Mural of Flavor (mixture of garlic powder, thyme, oregano and basil would do). Roast in oven for 45-65 minutes at 350F (you can start it at 425-450 for 10 minutes for crispier skin). After 45 minutes check temperature with instant-read thermometer, should be 160 to remove from oven. Will continue to cook while it rests. You can make this to eat immediately, but is delicious cold too. The kids love eating drumsticks because they’re allowed to pick them up and eat them without forks. 
We also brought along the bread almost every event we went to lately. I’ve been experimenting with combinations of different flours and really like the 1 cup spelt, 1/8 cup ground flax seed and 1 7/8 cups all purpose (unbleached, unbromated) flour. It only takes minutes to mix and just being around to bake it. There’s just something about fresh baked bread that’s still warm. My kids can hardly get enough of it.
With all these great foods to choose from, kids are bound to eat well. Of course an after dinner treat of an ice cream from the ice cream truck is bound to please.
© 2010 mykidsreallyeatthis.com
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Tailgating tonight… turned left overs into a delicious salad. I used pan roasted King Salmon, Brown Rice, Broccoli, Edamame, Capers, Kalamata and Nicoise Olives, chopped CSA mixed greens (lettuces, arugula, tatsoi, mustard greens), parsley, mint, sea salt, pepper and a champagne … Continue reading
Compromise Without Acquiescence
Sometimes dinners are a struggle. Keeping the kids in their seats until they’re finished; getting them to eat all their food, or at least a satisfactory amount; getting them to try the food they refuse, but you know is good for them and that they might actually like; making sure they use their manners; etc. Well it seems like when a grandparent visits it’s extra stressful because they’re much stricter about the kids staying seated during the whole dinner and eating all that they’ve been given.
Most nights I am alone with my kids while my husband’s at work. Yes, I cook the dinner but also eat with them, clean up, bath them, make sure teeth are brushed, get them into pajamas, have homework completed and read them stories in bed. So, sometimes, my table rules might be relaxed and now that can carry over into when others are here as well.
The other night we were going out and had their grandparent babysitting. We prepared the left over chicken that I’d marinated for the satay. It was sautéed with Napa cabbage, orange bell peppers, scallions, garlic scapes, cilantro and served over rice. The marinade made a nice sauce (just have to make sure it’s brought to temperature since it had raw chicken in it). I also sautéed a side dish of Crimini mushrooms for my youngest. The older two just had sushi before dinner, so I served small portions.
Well, my eldest, who’s normally the best eater of all three of them, flat out refused to eat the dinner; no amount of pleading would change his mind. We believed he’d like it, but he dug in his heels. It became such an ordeal, I couldn’t leave to go. I didn’t want the grandparent to have to deal with any unruly children. I offered him some of my three-year old’s mushrooms; no. Then my husband gave him a dish of beets and my son was so excited he dug into them with gusto and then actually started eating a little of the dinner I prepared. That just sent the grandparent into a tizzy. “You shouldn’t give them treats!” (the mushrooms and beets) For us it wasn’t a treat, but an appetite stimulant and something to calm the situation (to relieve the stress, get him to comply, and allow us to leave). They were getting dinner and — and it was healthful and homemade, but to the grandparent we were giving in to obstinate behavior.
Sometimes you have to choose your battles… sometimes you have to compromise on what/how much they eat. I didn’t think of it as acquiescing. My son still had to eat all the cabbage, most of the rice, two pieces of chicken, few pieces of peppers and all the beets. I wasn’t making different meals or letting him go to the fridge and eat snack food instead. He wouldn’t have been allowed to eat dessert or any other food once he was up from the table. Yes, my children need to modify their behavior and make sure their grandparents will enjoy eating with them.
But, sometimes, we need to relax some rules for peace’s sake. My eldest has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome and forcing him to eat the dinner that he’s got into his head that he won’t like is just not going to have positive consequences— for anyone. Parents don’t need to dig in their heels as well. No matter the personality of your children, I think having some flexibility will get beneficial long-term results. Yes, stick to your goals but understand that sometimes you’re not going to win the battle and realize it doesn’t have to be an all-out war.
© 2010 mykidsreallyeatthis.com
