Eating Habits Take Shape Early

I am 52 years old, which means somewhere along the line I have consumed about 60,000 meals. But it took a 5 year old to give me a new appreciation of how important the 'shape' of food is in developing good eating habits.

For example, the Junior General is not a fan of Quiche. I guess real kids don't eat quiche. The problem with that is that Quiche is a Sunday brunch favourite in our house, at least for 3 /4's of us. On the other hand pizza is my little guys favourite food.

After months of cajoling to no avail, success appeared like a bolt out of the blue! Pizza and quiche are both triangles! So it was as simple as serving Junior General 'Breakfast Pizza'! Now we can sit down in peace to our Sunday brunch.

How often are we frustrated trying to get our children to eat something that is good for them? Short of liver, which I have yet to find a purpose for in general, just about any food becomes more appealing to kids when it is a associated with a familiar and / or favourite shape.

My wife reminded me of this while we watched the J.G. happily squishing his peas on his plate before gobbling them down. To a five year old peas have an odd shape, not really associated with eating. Add to that that they are mighty hard to keep from rolling off your fork (even for me after 50 years of practice). Squishing the peas makes them easier to pick up and a more familiar shape.

And how about everybody's favourite – broccoli? After you have cut off the florettes you are left with what is essentially useless green logs that no child (or adult) finds terribly appealing. But cutting the stalks across into slices results in flower shapes, kind of like flattened Hydrangeas. These slices are excellent stir fried with beef and onion chunks and fun for kids to eat! I have been known to sneak them into spaghetti sauces from time to time. No more wasted broccoli stocks and the kids get all the healthy goodness of broccoli (a cousin of cabbage!) in a fun shape.

Got extra barbecued weiners or sausage left over? Here's a quick recipe for leftover weiners or sausage that makes for a quick and healthy Sunday lunch just by changing the 'shape' of the weiners..
 

Quick and Easy Pizza Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 – loaf of Bread (white, whole wheat, French, whatever you like that is handy)
• 1 – small can of Tomato Paste
• 1 – medium Onion
• 1 – 4 leftover Weiners or Sausage
• 1 – cup shredded Cheese
• Italian Spices

Preparation:

1. Turn the oven on to Broil.
2. While the oven is heating arrange as many slices of breads as you need on a cooke sheet.
3. Open the can of tomato paste and spread evenly on the bread (thick works but not so thick it makes the bread soggy).
4. Slice the onion into rings and distribute evenly over the 'pasted' bread.
5. Slice the weiners / sausage into medallions and spread these over the onions.
6. Sprinkle all with the Italian Spices.
7. Finally cover everything with a liberal layer of the shredded cheese.
8. Now into the oven until the edges of the bread are crispy and the cheese has melted.
9. Presto! Pizza Bread!

Variations:

• You could brush the bread first with a light coating of olive oil but that is going a bit far in my opinion.
• Any sort of topping works, this could also be a nifty vegetarian alternative at your next social gathering.
• By cutting each slice into 4 you can create quick TV snacks or hors d'ouevres…

Buon Appetito!