He Won't Eat What??

Ethan is clearly not starving, but meal times are a constant
battle... more often than not, we see this face...

Does anyone else have issues getting their child(ren) to eat? Ethan is clearly not starving, but meal times are a constant battle. He eats his yogurt well enough, and occasionlly some applesauce. He loves breakfast sausage (at any time of the day), and sometimes will eat a few bites of pancakes. But normal kid things like peanut butter and jelly, or chicken fingers? Forget it. He doesn't even want to look at that stuff! Heaven forbid if we give him something we're having for dinner. He gags on mashed potatoes, won't touch a strawberry to save his life, and if we dare put a cucumber or slice of bread on his plate, he promptly picks it up (with a look of disgust on his face) and drops it on the floor.

I struggle to remember that the average two-year-old needs half the amount of food as the average one-year-old. He continues to gain weight and our peditrician says, don't let it become a battle, he'll eat when he's hungry. However, said peditriaican is not at our house at 9pm when Ethan wakes up and decides he's hungry. What then?

I think the true frustration comes from knowing that he used to eat most of these things. When he began pureed foods, he loved strained peas (something I couldn't understand). I made pumpkin puree and homemade pearsauce for him, which he gobbled up. And as we moved onto more solid foods, Ethan would devour fistfuls of whole blueberries. Even as little as two months ago he was eating hot dogs, fish sticks and pizza, all things he doesn't want now.

I'll admit that the freezer to microwave cooking is conveinent, but I want better nutrition for my son. I'd be only too happy to chop veggies and fruits instead tossing frozen french fries in the toaster oven and hoping that the mass amount of ketchup he is licking off the plate with his fingers counts as a vegetable!

So let's have it, any suggestions for my picky eater?

Scratch-Baked Success: Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

Last night I was feeling a bit creative and decided to be brave! While Ethan scooped his strawberry yogurt (with a big spoon while sitting in a big chair!), I pulled out one of my cookbooks with the thought to make cupcakes for Ethan's class. I adore cookbooks. I have a shelf of them that I love thumbing through. But for my love of cookbooks (and food, for that matter), I rarely scratch bake anymore. I found the perfect recipe, Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake... doesn't it just sound so yummy? In the midst of measuring, Matt came home. Intrigued by my unexpected weeknight domesticity, he hovered and watched.

Then Ethan declared he was all done his dinner. The sweet boy put his spoon in the sink then pushed his chair up to it to wash his hands. It was then he discovered that Mumma was cooking. Ethan loves to play in the sand, and therefore, stirring, which seems a bit like scooping dirt to his two-year-old mind, looked like fun. So Daddy and Ethan stirred the mixture with the "sho-bel" (shovel) while I whisked the eggs, heated the water and so on. In the end, there was cocoa powder all over, but then smiles, too.

As we got Ethan around for bed, the house filled with the aroma of delicious homemade chocolate cake - 21 cupcakes and a 9x9 cake to be exact. I pulled them from the oven feeling that I had satisfied my inner domestic goddess. The cupcakes got frosted with some store bought yellow frosting while my husband declared that I could "put away my cape now." This is his way of telling me that I don't have to be supermom - something he reminds me of often.

Reflecting on last night, I think what fun it was to have a little impromptu family baking session. The results were most delicious in every way, and I only wish that I'd thought to snap of photo of Ethan standing on the chair mixing while Daddy held the bowl.

Create a little of your own deliciousness with this recipe from Hershey's Kitchen:


Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

Photo by Hershey

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups flour
3/4 Hershey's cocoa
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease (2) 9-inch cake pans.

In a mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Then add in the milk, oil, vanilla, and eggs and stir to combine. (Don't panic! The batter is very thin and watery). Add in the boiling water. Beat for 2 minutes on high with a mixer (or have Daddy take over for a few minutes to beat vigorously).

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let rest and cool 10 minutes before removing from pans.

(Notes: I used muffin pans and lined them with muffin papers. The cupcakes were perfectly done in about 25 minutes. The 9x9 cake was done in 35 minutes.)