surely you have heard of muffin tin meals--but just in case, i thought i'd introduce you. especially b/c the girls didn't have school this week and in between playdates and errands we never did any fun lunches ;)
the idea of muffin tin meals is that you use a muffin tin instead of a "regular old plate" to serve your kids' meals--and you can add foods they've never eaten/would normally not eat and they'll gobble it up b/c it's in a muffin tin and not a "regular old plate".
yeah--my kids *might* eat something new if it's covered in chocolate, but even then there's no guarantee. BUT, they do enjoy the occasional meal when their food comes in a muffin tin, and they may even eat more than they usually do so i consider it a useful tool.
here's a muffin tin dinner i served the girls a couple weeks ago:
starting at the top left and going clockwise there's: a piece of (whole grain) bread, a chicken finger (we keep kosher so it's actually a meat-free chicken finger, but you get the idea), strawberries, noodles, drink, and then the last slot held some of the ingredients that made up a salad the daddy who lunches and i were having--including hearts of palm, pine nuts, goat cheese, and edamame. this was B's muffin tin--M's contained grapes in that slot b/c (despite the original goal of the muffin tin meal) she would shun the entire thing if those "weird" items were anywhere near her meal. but by all means, use the muffin tin as a vehicle to introduce your kids to new food items if you think it will work ;)
have you ever served your kids a muffin tin meal? did they eat new foods if you did? let me know!
and as always, happy lunching (or dinner-ing)!
