Can a fussy eater pack their own lunchbox?

The scene:

In the kitchen after school.

The Fussy Eater is unpacking her lunchbox and I'm standing at the sink washing up.

 

Fussy:

"Mum? Can I be in charge of making my own lunches from now on?"

 

Me: (Hallelujah!!!!!)

"What would you put in it?"

 

Fussy:

"Well, (long pause) you could make a list for me and I could choose what I make from that."

 

Me:

(Lordy, Lordy I'll sit right down and make that list now!!!!)

"Okay. How about we work on a list over the school holidays so that you can start making your own lunches next term?"

 

 

Can a fussy eater pack a healthy lunchbox?

 

Do I believe that The Fussy Eater is capable of independently making nutritious, healthy lunches similar to the one pictured above? No way.

On average, 40% of the contents of her lunchbox returns home every day bruised, battered or untouched.

 

But not being one to back away from the challenge, I'm going to pull out all the stops on this one and see what we can do because making lunchboxes is one job I'm happy not to do anymore.

Keys to a successful lunchbox

Be prepared. As with most things in life, being prepared takes some of the pain out of the task at hand. So over the coming weeks I am going compile as many "fussy friendly" lunchbox ideas as I can find.

Put fussy in charge. Allowing your fussy eater to feel like they are in control of what goes into their lunchbox is half the battle to getting them to eat what's in it. When I put a banana in the lunchbox it comes home bruised. When she puts it in it gets eaten. It's not rocket science.

Be flexible. Let them try different things in their lunch or let them eat the same thing day after day if that is what they want. Some people like their routine and as long as it's healthy, then why force them to eat different things in their lunchbox? I leave new foods to dinner time or weekend lunches when I can supervise.

 

Stay tuned as we road test some lunchbox ideas during our school holidays.

 

Do you let your kids pack their own lunchboxes?

Brown Rice Salad for Fussy

Everything But The Kitchen Sink Brown Rice Salad

I know, can you believe it? The Fussy Eater actually eating something even remotely salad-like is pretty amazing. But I'm here to tell you that I've seen it with my own eyes. The Fussy Eater will eat this brown rice salad.

I call it "Everything But The Kitchen Sink Brown Rice Salad" because I basically toss into it whatever I have on hand. This one has the last of the cherry tomatoes out of are garden, sunflower seeds, a small amount of bacon, snow peas, green beans, pepitas, dried blueberries, carrot, coriander and the secret ingredient, haloumi.

The key to getting my fussy eater to eat this salad is the grilled haloumi (a type of cheese) which we call "Squeaky Cheese!". It's very salty and this appeals to The Fussy Eater. Feta Cheese is another cheese I can use if I can't get haloumi.

But it's too much salt, you say? Yeah, so what. This is one of those instances where I say that the good out-weighs the bad. I keep our overall salt intake regulated, so I'm willing to overlook the amount contained in this cheese. If I had a problem with it, I could always add low-salt feta or even chunks of cheddar cheese. But she eats it as is, so I'm sticking with it.

Ingredients

• 2-3 cups of cooked brown rice, cooled at least a little bit.
• Whatever veggies you have chopped up nice and small so it's hard for a fussy eater to pick everything out. 
• Olive oil. I like to use lemon infused oil.
• A dash of white vinegar (or balsamic if your fussy eater will eat it).
• Seeds and nuts to add variety.
• Dried blueberries and cranberries are nice.
• Slices of nectarines and even sliced grapes go well in this too.
• Salty cheese, or whatever cheese appeals to your fussy eater.

Enjoy!

Chicken Curry with Zucchini Pancakes

A curry The Fussy Eater actually likes!

It's been a long while since I cooked anything worthy of posting here for other fussy eaters, but I thought that this one was a winner. I usually struggle to get The Fussy Eater to eat anything curry-like. It's either too spicey or has too many vegetables. So when she announced that this was "DE-lish-US!" I figured I better share it here.

The original recipe comes from Nicky Parsons on the Thermomix Recipe Community website*, but I've modified it to suit The Fussy Eater. You do not have to have a Thermomix to make this, but you will need to be able to blend/chop/whiz the curry base.

I have left out chilli flakes and garlic so that The Fussy Eater would eat it. It makes for a sweet base, which I am sure is what appealed to her. I simply tossed in chilli for Mr Fussy after the girls were served.

The zucchini pancakes were suppose to be scallion pancakes (which I love) but The Fussy Eater won't eat. So I made a simple, bland pancake instead.

(*You have to be a member to access the recipe and having a Thermomix helps. The title Nicky uses is "Chicken Cashew and Coconut Curry".)

Chicken Curry (non-TMX version)

Ingredients
130g raw cashew nuts (or almonds)
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1 stick of cinnamon broken in half
1 onion peeled and halved
30 g vegetable or peanut oil
750g chicken cut into 3cm cubes
200g lite coconut milk
100g water
1 lemon juice and rind
80g baby spinach
8-10 green beans

Directions

1. Roast the nuts, cumin, coriander, tumeric, and cinnamon in a skillet until they are lightly brown and fragrant.
2. Put the nut mixture into a blender and chop until they are like breadcrumbs. Set aside.

The curry base

3. Chop the onion as fine as possible (for your fussy eater) and cook in a skillet with the oil until clear, but not browned.
4. Add the chicken, nut mixture, coconut milk and water and put on simmer for about 20 minutes. Keep stiring it as it cooks and do not let it boil.
5. Take it off the heat and add the lemon juice, lemon rind, spinach and green beans. Stir and put a lid on and let it sit for 3-5 minutes.
6. Serve on top of the zucchini pancake (which is just grated zucchini, an egg and a dash of flour to bind it) and with steamed rice.

Simple pancakes/fritters are a great way to get veggies in!

Enjoy!