User Post: The Food Tyrant Vs. White Bean Mac-n-cheese

I was very excited to try this recipe out, and tonight was the night. I am so bummed to say the flavor did not appeal to my kids or me. Maybe it was yucky cheese or too much chopped pepper or too many beans. Thankfully I had a box of Kraft on hand and mac and cheese night was saved.

Fortunately my kids are great eaters, but it's always nice to try to pump up the standards with more nutrition and fewer preservatives. I applaud your efforts to do the same.

The rule growing up was we had to taste everything. Taste means chew it and swallow it. There was no gagging, crying, spitting allowed. Although I hated her for it then, now I'm thankful as I like a wide variety of food and I'm willing to try just about anything once. I agree with what some of the other posts said about giving kids a choice. If they don't eat something good for them & healthy during a meal then don't give them "cookies" and other useless filler later.

We were never allowed to eat out of box or eat anything with chemicals in them.

Who is the parent here? Why do you buy that junk?

Hunger is a good kitchen!!!!

I agree with TravelAddict that homes should not be "restaurants" and moms should definitely not be short order cooks. That being said, I feel that giving children some choices in the meal is important. And in some cases it's simply a variation of the meal I'm cooking eg...if I make pasta, I leave some plain for my older son who does not care for tomato sauce too much. My older son is a picky eater, however he eats enough variety and enough healthy foods that I'm not worried. I continue to introduce new things, always with a tried and true element, and encourage him to taste, but never force him too.
My mother came from the "clean plate" club school of thought. Unfortunately coming from a family of overweight people, her portions were skewed-giving me adult sized portions and my parents having double that. It wasn't till I was much older that we learned what true portion sizes were, but I already had a weight problem. With my children we give them child-sized portions and if they want more, they ask.

if a child is hungry,he will eat,if he refuses,its ok,remember,no candy,cake,cookies,before.never saw a child starve himself to death,

The problem is parents giving their kids choices and treating meals like it's a restaurant. I'm 43, when we were kids, we ate what was put in front of us, if we didn't eat it, we either sat there until we did, got no dessert or we just didn't eat it. Over time, we learned if we're hungry enough, we'll eat or we go without a meal. My niece starting at 8 mos watched what her parents ate, which was healthy, varied foods, she would grab for it and eat it (what she could), she's had one of the most varied palates in a kid I know. My nephews, totally different story, their parents catered to them and it's only now as teenagers that they've become more "experimental" with eating, but only at the encouragement of their parents. Kids these days have DEPLORABLE eating habits...why?....it starts at home, and of course the schools are not much better. Actress Elizabeth Rohm (from Law & Order) has recently admitted she was too liberal and catered to her kid's palate and it backfired, now she's trying to fix it and it's difficult. There's no guarantee the kids will grow out of it either. I unfortunately grew up to be an emotional junk food eater, my Mom was the example and she didn't stop me from eating it either, I'm still battling that and weight issues as is my Mom. I know plenty of adults who don't eat fruits and/or vegetables. Food allergies are of course a different story.

My oldest was like that... I couldn't get him to eat recognizable meat to save his life. He would eat meatloaf, chicken nuggets, pepperoni, and peanut butter but not meat. At one point, I resorted to whey-protein smoothies to ensure sufficient nutrition. I would make crock-pots of homemade pasta sauce with every vegetable known to man in it and serve it to him as a dip. Thankfully, he grew out of the pickiness--he now eats everything from curry to gumbo to even (gasp!) vegetables! I'll have to try this mac 'n cheese recipe for my youngest--thank you! ^_^

Oh the children, they do love their mac and cheese.
Loved how the article is written.

So many judgemental parents on here, my son loves mac and cheese too. Would eat it EVERYDAY if he could so i had to also figure out a healthier version for him. I only buy Kraft for "emergencies" however I keep a large box of the elbow mac noodles on hand. Boil some of that and drain, add a little bit of butter, a little bit of milk and either american cheese or cheddar cheese and keep it on a low flame til it melts. I have managed to sneak carrots into it and also yellow squash cut up into tiny squares. The carrots have never been a fight but idk if he would eat the sqaush on the side so to avoid any craziness, mixing it in worked and he didn't even notice :-)

Well, the whole reason I wrote this post was to share a healthy version of the "chemical" filled box of mac-n-cheese. Sometimes us parents resort to whatever tactic necessary to get kids to eat - I'm not tossing chocolate chip cookies at her for dinner or anything....

So, with that said, what are some of the healthy options you all feed your kids? What's their favorite thing to munch on?

I just made a second round of the happy, cheesy stuff today, and the wee tot is still enjoying!
:)

Great idea! My kids are all a bit older now, but I used to puree carrots and zuchinne into our spaghetti sauce just for that extra veggie kick. As they got a little older we used to make it a big deal to go to the store...pick out a "surprise" food...like a secret spy. It was our 'mission' to buy something they were unfamiliar with...then go home and clean/prep/cook it together. Of course they didn't always like everything (brussel sprouts) but they were much more willing, and learned to enjoy trying new foods.