Blog Posts by Foodlets

I head up a blog about cooking for kids called Foodlets.com. My aim is to make healthy, delicious food, both with and for kids so they'll grow up to cook themselves, and better yet, enjoy sitting around a table full of family and friends for years to come. I've got tips (let the kids help cook) and tricks (grate vegetables and add them to everything-everything!) but mostly I rely on simply delicious flavors for success. Sometimes it's a win, sometimes it's not. So goes life, especially life with kids.

But recently I was overwhelmed with responses to a post I wrote here about picky eaters. One issue came up over and over: why don't parents just make their kids eat what's in front of them the way most of ours did? Not everyone felt this way but when they did, the sentiment was almost always followed by some version of "Be the parent, not the friend!" plus a bit of grumbling that kids today are too spoiled…

As a parent who makes tremendous effort to prepare a nutritious, tasty meal

A friend of mine relayed a familiar scene with her four-year-old on Facebook.

Lucy: "I don't like these meatballs." Me, noticing that they are still in big pieces: "Hmm, do you want me to cut them up a little more?" Lucy: "That won't make them yummy."

So goes the battle that in our house, we like to call dinner. But for some parents, it's hardly cause for a new status update. It's more of a tear-your-hair out exercise in frustration. Every day. I have two very young girls of my own and heaven help me, a baby boy on the way this summer. Further flirting with disaster on a nightly basis, I make it a point to cook a fresh meal every night and know the feeling that comes when my ta-da! moment is met with one of our two-year-old's negative reviews, "Nooo. I want something else." In those worst case moments, she even pushes the plate away and folds her arms. And, sigh.

(Note: While she may ask for "something else" she has exactly one fall-back option: yogurt. This is not a kid

Cupcakes with healthier ingredients: carrots, wheat germ and white beans.Here's a news flash reported recently by USA Today: kids are eating too much sugar. Your kids, my kids and there are pretty serious consequences. (And let's not even talk about my own sweet tooth. Except we should; more on that in a minute.) This isn't a discussion about blame, though. I have two little ones myself and we all know it's an uphill battle from the start. These little rascals actually DO come out of the womb craving sugar and fat. Of course, this is thanks to our ancestors who actually needed enough reserves to get by during lean times. The problem is that processed food--yes I'm talking to you Goldfish crackers, Coke and every flavor of the Skittles rainbow--isn't what Mother Nature had in mind. And she retaliates with force these days, as noted in the article.

"A diet high in added sugars is linked to many poor health conditions, including obesity, high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease and stroke. The findings come at a time when a third of

La Dolce VitaSay what you will about French parenting but when it comes to food and family around a table, no one does it better, or enjoys it more, than Italians.

We've lived in Rome for three years, where our baby and toddler both were born, and while our Dolce Vita has had its ups and downs, one of our absolute favorite activities is spending a long afternoon together…at a restaurant.

There are cloth napkins and waiters in black jackets, usually one high chair for the whole place, never a children's menu and don't even think about a changing table in the bathroom. Yet, the experience is completely welcoming, comfortable and believe it or not, fun. Even for kids. Even for other diners. Italians expect children to be involved in mealtime experiences, whether they're long, fancy or both, and I love them for it.

"Italian children are reared at the table," writes Helen Ruchti in "La Bella Vita". "They grow up sitting on the laps of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. They are held and