The Sunday Stew: How I Got My Kids To Eat Salad

Long ago, Kory and I decided we were not going to be “short order cooks” for picky little eaters. But even with this ground rule in place, we struggled with how to manage their behavior at the dinner table when they were displeased with the offerings on the menu.

After a series of dinner-time battles with our two oldest children, we’d finally had enough of it. (During the last showdown, someone might have thrown a banana across the room out of frustration, and the mini-blinds might have sliced the banana into pieces with the precision of a sous chef upon impact. But that could also be an urban legend. I’ll let you decide.)

So after a late-night strategy meeting and citing to the wisdom of Pinkalicious, we told our kids:

“You get what you get, and you won’t throw a fit!”

We also laid out a new set of ground rules for mealtime that were simple:

1. We will eat as a family with happy hearts.
2. We will offer you what we have prepared and nothing else.
3. You do not have to like it, and you do not have to eat it, but we will not offer you anything else.
4. We are not going to beg you to eat.
5. If you choose not to eat, there will be no food until the next mealtime.
6. If we find that you are consistently turning your nose up at what is being offered, we will begin saving your leftovers and offering them to you at each subsequent meal until you change your attitude.
7. If you would like to throw a fit about the menu or any of the rules cited above, you are welcome to do so. But you may do so in the privacy of your own room so the rest of us can enjoy our meal.

(With regard to Rule Number 6, there might have been a child who ate the same peanut butter and jelly sandwich for four meals in a row before he (or she) finally realized this was a hill we were willing to die on. But that, too, may be an urban legend.)

These rules may seem harsh to some of you. But for our family, they transformed mealtime from a battle ground to a place of gathering. It was a huge load off, especially at dinner time, when people were tired and tempers were short. And since that time, we have been blown away by how far they’ve come.

Do they still sometimes turn their nose up at what’s being offered?

Yes.

Do they still sometimes complain?

Of course.

But do they go without eating?

Rarely.

And are Kory and I playing the role of short order cooks?

Never.

Except on their birthdays, of course, when we roll out the red carpet and let them pick the menu!

We try to be thoughtful about the menu, though, creating plates that include things we know they like and things we feel it’s important they try. And our kitchen is a constant place of creativity and experimentation, as we consider how we might prepare a particular vegetable or meat in a way that will help get them over the hump.

A few years ago, I was on a campaign to get them over a hump in the arena of salad. I bought five different bottles of salad dressing and several different types of lettuce to see if I could put something together that didn’t make them gag. At the time, I thought my kids were the only kids in America who didn’t like Ranch, Thousand Island, or French dressing! I also couldn’t seem to find anything acceptable that was green and leafy.

And then I remembered a salad that my cousin served Kory and I at dinner years ago. It was called Strawberry Fields salad. And it was so simple and delicious. Baby spinach, sliced strawberries, and toasted pecans, served with a poppy seed dressing. The dressing was sweet, and my kids adore strawberries, so I thought this might be a new route to take.

It worked! (Except they picked out the pecans. Whatever.)

I began serving this salad multiple times each week, sneaking a variety of things into it to change it up. We put whatever kind of berry or fresh fruit we had on hand in it (it’s great with blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, apples, mandarin oranges, any type of nut or seed, shredded carrots, feta cheese….you get the picture), and my kids began to take a liking to it.

But then we did Whole 30. And given the fact that I was serving this several times each week, the sugar content in the dressing began to concern me. I tried the dressing without the sugar, but it completely changed the salad.

And then I was inspired by the Whole30 Cookbook to do some experimenting. I discovered that smashed berries worked as a wonderful substitute for the sugar…and my kids? They didn’t even notice the difference since I dressed and tossed the salad before serving.

So if your kids won’t touch salad, try this recipe. Start with very small portions — small enough that they can finish the serving with two “thank you” bites. Build momentum from there.

Here’s what you need (printable recipe card to follow):

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First,  pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the pecans on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 6-10 minutes, until golden brown.

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While the pecans are toasting, wash the spinach and berries, and drain them well. Slice the strawberries, and place the spinach and strawberries in a serving bowl.

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Then make your dressing. And a word on that before we dive in. Typically, when I follow someone else’s salad dressing recipe, I end up tweaking it to some extent to suit my preferences. I think that results from the fact that we all have different palates, some liking their dressing to be more oil than vinegar, others liking their dressing to be more vinegar than oil, and others preferring salt and spice over sweet and, then, the other way around.

I tend to like dressings that offer a little bite from the vinegar, so if you’re leery of vinegar, you might want to start with 1/4 cup instead of the suggested 1/3 and build from there.

Also, if you get to the end and find this needs more sweetness (this will depend in large part on the season and, thus, the quality of the berries), feel free to add honey, one teaspoon at a time, until you get the desired sweetness. Today, I added two teaspoons of honey, and it was perfect. This is an incredible improvement over the 1/4 cup of sugar in the original recipe, especially considering that this dressing will dress 4-5 salads, not just one. So make up a batch at the beginning of the week and use it throughout!

First, smash your berries using a fork or a mortar and pestle.

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Next, pour your vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, poppy seeds, onions (if you’re using them), and strawberries into a mason jar. (You could also puree your berries using a food processor or blender. Using this approach combine all ingredients except the onion in the machine you are using, and blend until desired consistency is reached. Then add your onion).

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Next, close the lid on the mason jar, and shake the jar until the ingredients are combined.

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Then, add your pecans to the top of your salad.

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Finally, drizzle the dressing and toss it just before serving. Enjoy!

The post The Sunday Stew: How I Got My Kids To Eat Salad appeared first on Confessions of a Pastor's Family.