Conference turris::cooks

  When my sister and I decided that we essentially hated *all* vegetables,
our family doctor told my Mom not to worry - that we could eat fruits 
instead.  So, don't fret -- my sister and I turned out just fine!  
And, my anti-vegetable behavior didn't change until I was about 18!!

  My mother serves veggies like lima beans, peas, and cooked carrots.  None
of which I'm fond of even today.  My veggie turn-around came when I discovered
fresh vegetables - my husband and I *never* buy canned or frozen vegetables.
Perhaps you child might like fresh veggies?

--Sharon

Just watch out for the sugar.  While fruit sugars are better than refined
sugars, they still pack the calories, and cause dental problems.  And 
learning to substitute sweet food for veggies might cause problems later on.

    Up until a month or two ago, she liked basically everything.  But, all
    of a sudden that little nose wrinkles up.  I am anti-vegetable, but I
    try not to let her know that.  I was just interested in knowing what
    fruit compares to what vegetables i.e. in place of carrots give her
    peaches, some thing like that would be really helpful at this point.

I would suggest you try the library or any good cookbook/encyclopedia for a food
value chart.  However, I would also attempt to include veggies IN food
dishes she likes with the "rule" that she HAS to eat whatever SHE takes
onto her plate...offer 1 reasonable serving of macaroni and cheese (with peas
added) for instance, and if she wants more, she has to eat the peas on
her plate as well.  Let her decide if it is worth it.  You are anti-vegetable
because you were not taught to eat vegetables as part of your diet when
your palate was developing.  It is much easier to teach an appreciation
of veggies now, rather than wait until she has children and needs to set
a good example....8^}

good combinations are:  macaroni and cheese with peas or peas and carrots, or
with chopped broccoli; spaghetti with sauce to which you add chopped zuchini;
mashed potatoes with peas or chopped carrots or chopped broccoli...play around
a little and name the food with funny names.  The simple fact is that fruits
do not, in general, have equivalent mineral and/or vitamin content and do
not serve as good substitutes.

p.s.  it is also important to develop some good cooking tecniques for veggies;
I hated MANY VEGETABLES until I learned how to cook them rather than murder
them...a cookbook that focuses on these issues might be in order.

    Raw veggies are just as good as, and sometimes better than, cooked
    veggies, as far as nutrition.  I remember HATING most canned veggies
    but liking them if they had been frozen or fresh, and LOVING them
    if they were raw.  I loved to shell fresh peas and eat them raw, and
    a raw carrot was a favorite snack.  You might try making the food
    more interesting, too - carrots cut with a crinkle cutter into
    carrot sticks and served raw with a dip just might do the trick.
    Ditto for buying potato puffs or crinkle cut fries.  (Children can
    eat a lot more fat than adults so don't worry too much about serving
    puffs/fries occasionally.)
    
    The previous idea about sticking veggies into macaroni and cheese is
    good - also don't forget about soup (if you can stand it in the summer)
    and breads made with veggies.  Try muffins or cookies with carrots
    or zucchini in them.
    
    Remember that tomato sauce counts as a veggie (just put her in
    something washable first ;-)).
    
    --Louise, who remembers sitting from dinnertime until bedtime at
    the table with one brussels sprout on her plate.  Some veggies are
    adult-acquired tastes.

>    --Louise, who remembers sitting from dinnertime until bedtime at
>    the table with one brussels sprout on her plate.  Some veggies are
>    adult-acquired tastes.

	Reminds me of the time my parents made me TRY beets as a kid.
	I didn't want to try them but my parents insisted - just
	one bite.  Well, I had that just one bite, then I showed them!
	I promptly ran to the bathroom and upchucked everything!  You
	know, they never insisted that I try anything again... of
	course, I always liked the basic vegetables so they didn't	
	have to worry about me nutritionally.  To this day, I hate
	beets, cooked carrots, brussel sprouts, squash with sugar
	added, and yams.  If you notice, most of those vegetables
	have either a sweet taste, or a funny texture.... maybe your
	kid has some objection of a similar nature.

	Good luck,

	Karen

	P.S.  When my brother was a kid, all he would eat was brocolli
	with lemon juice and oregano.  No other vegetables!

    Yep, this sounds familiar - I didn't get dessert till I ate my veggies,
    so as a consequence, I buried them in my ice cream!  They still razz me
    about this.  Now, I just bury them in frozen yogurt ;-)
    
    Terry
    

    
    
    The kid who only ate brocolli with lemon juice and oregano will 
    probably outlive us all!!
    
    Mike--whose 3 year old won't eat anything _but_ raw fruit and
    vegetables.

    This topic reminds me of my childhood, the vegtables I would eat and of
    course the one's I'd hide in my napkin.  To this day I will not eat
    lima beans, or any other dry mealy beans (unless it's in hot chili!).
    
    Most canned vegtables didn't offend me, until I saw someone serve
    canned spinach!  No wonder so many kids hated it!  
    
    I've always liked broccoli, but as a child the only part I would eat
    was the stalk, I gave the best part away!
    
    I am a firm believer in getting children to learn to eat things they
    don't like - because very often they only think they don't like
    something.  Of course there will be a few foods that will never be
    liked, but I think a child will adapt to unpleasant things later in
    life if they learn that they are expected to try things they object to
    in early childhood.
    
    

>    I am a firm believer in getting children to learn to eat things they
>    don't like - because very often they only think they don't like
>    something.  Of course there will be a few foods that will never be
>    liked, but I think a child will adapt to unpleasant things later in
>    life if they learn that they are expected to try things they object to
>    in early childhood.
    
my mother established the "eat two spoonfuls" rule very early in life.
Even if I hated it, I had to eat two spoonfuls when it was served.  I
learned to love lima beans, brussel sprouts, and many other veggies
because of the "two spoonfuls" rule...I tried them prepared different ways
until I discovered I like them.    

    Try pureeing well-cooked veggies of all sorts and add them
    to spaghetti sauce.  Use the puree to thicken (slightly)
    soup stock - no floury taste here.  Put some in the gravy,
    if you use gravy.  put some in the macaroni and cheese!
    
    It's a bit of work, but veggies CAN be disguised, which doesn't
    solve the problem, but will help. (although beets reallt can't
    be disguised, I guess. The color gives them away!)
    
    Val

    Ditto on the raw veggies, my daughter (27 yrs old) still won't eat
    cooked carrots, but I can't keep enough raw carrots in the fridg.  Even
    when she was in braces and raw carrots were a no no, she would shread
    them and eat them raw. 
    
    On thing that works well with young children is to let them in on the
    meal planning process. Take them to the supermarket and let them help
    select the fresh veggies. Also at meal time let them use there fingers
    a lot. My kids ate cooked broccoli with there fingers until they were
    teenagers, and to this day broccoli is there favorite cooked vegetable.
    
    Another suggestion is to make a mini salad bar and let the child make 
    selections buy themselves, also give them a choice of dressings.  Many
    kids will eat things that they themselves select.

	I also believe that the kids should at least TRY a few bites of various
vegetables, because they just may surprise themselves (and their parents) and
end up liking something new.

	When my sister was a kid, she loved cauliflower but she just "knew" she
would hate broccoli.  It wasn't until she was much older, and visiting at a
mutual friend's house for supper, at which broccoli was served, that she ended
up trying it rather than risk being rude.  Surprise!  She exclaimed to the
assemblage, "Why didn't somebody TELL me that broccoli is just green
cauliflower?!"

	Y'know, it's too bad that vegetables get such a bad rap.  But it really
is important to cook them carefully, if at all -- steaming to the crisp-tender
stage is (IMHO) best.  You really can ruin a good meal by cooking the daylights
out of the vegetables.

	Have fun introducing veggies to the kids.  (On the other hand, they
might do what my kids have done.  My kids ate all kinds of vegetables when they
were little; now that they're young adults, they have developed several
"non-preferences".) 

Joanna

    One of the funniest recollections I have of  childhood is centered
    on frozen squash:
    
    I was the oldest of four. Not one of us would eat squash when mom
    cooked it. My mother loved the vegetable, and was always trying
    to get us to "try it, you'll like it".
    
    No dice!!! Yuuuuuuckkkkkkkk!!!!
    
    One night, we saw a dessert pudding cooling on the shelf. Mom had
    found a new pudding she wanted to try, called "Sibilie Kahkey".
    If we ate our dinner, the rule was, we could have dessert.
    We ate our supper that night, and thoroughly enjoyed the new pudding
    Mom had discovered.
    It took my 10 year old mind about a week to discover what she had
    done.
    
    
    Needless to say, I love squash now as much as Mom!!!
                                                   
    
    
    
    No, I guess I love Mom a little bit more.......;-)
    
    
    =-=-=-=-=g-=-=-=-=

    Does your daughter like cheese?  If so, try shredding some mozzarella
    on top of zuchinni, potatoes, or yellow squash.  I also like grated
    Paremsan on my cauliflower and brussel sprouts.  How about eggs?  Maybe
    some chopped spinach in her scrambled eggs.  Try cooking some macaroni
    and mixing it with a little butter and some chopped vegetables
    (brocolli (sp?), cauliflower, or brussel sprouts) and sprinkling it
    with Parmesan cheese.
    
    My Mom used to serve some vegetables out of the can like lima beans and
    green beans which I found quite nasty 'til I got older and discovered
    the fresh and frozen variety.  I agree with the other noters that
    vegetables taste different in their different forms so you may just
    have to experiment.  I liked the note about someone "upchucking" their
    beets - my sister did the same thing with carrots.  You'd probably like
    my Mom's concoction - she used to make beet sandwiches.  Two slices of
    bread, a little Miracle Whip and cooked beets.  It goes without saying
    my Mom grew up during the Depression.
    
    Best of luck!  I don't have children myself but I guess it can be
    pretty frustrating when you want to make sure they're getting a
    well-balanced diet and they don't want to cooperate!
    
    
    

    Thanks for the suggestions keep them coming.  RE: .16, She does like 
    cheese so I do put that on a lot of things, but she's no dummy,
    sometimes she'll tell me "You know I don't like broccoli, don't try and
    trick me with cheese".  She makes me laugh but she came be frustating
    at times.  One day she likes green peppers, two days later she'll say I
    don't like green peppers, I'll say you like them on Monday, she'll say
    that was Monday, but I don't like them now. So what's a mother to do???
    

� So what's a mother to do?

My mother, and before her my nanny firmly believed in the approach of standing 
over me with a tawse in her hand and saying: "If the food is bad for you, you'll 
get a stomach ache, but if you don't eat it NOW you'll get a backside ache"

Never did me any harm, and I even like broccolli today... :-)

My wife tells me that when our children (hopefully) come along they'll have 
three choices:

1) eat the food.

2) leave the table and go to their room in silence.

3) do otherwise and be punished.

/. Ian .\

    re: .18
    
    What we currently do is:  I make up her plate and put a small amount of
    everything (she can ask for seconds, after her plate is clean).  If she
    cleans her plate she can have a treat after dinner i.e. piece of
    fruit, graham crackers, popsicle, or whatever else I decide.  If she
    leaves anything on the plate for the dog, the dog also gets her treat. 
    She does not know before hand what the treat is, so some nights we have
    a tantrum while the dog munches her brownie.  These nights are coming
    less frequently.
    
    /red

re .-1  from MCIS1::DUPUIS

>>...the dog munches her brownie...



	CHOCOLATE CAN KILL YOUR DOG !!!
		      ====



Depends on the size of your dog and the amount of chocolate, but a small dog
can die from as little as 1 oz of baker's chocolate.