Toddler and Me: Culinary Adventures

Little B is a very picky eater.  She, in general, is not a fan of meat. She is not a fan of vegetables, either.  Her favourite foods are starches - rice, potatoes, or bread.  Her likes and dislikes can be challenging during mealtimes, but we make do, as her parents.  With a lot of coaxing and encouragement, she will usually eat most of the meat that's on her plate.

To further encourage her to eat more, and eat variety, Little B is now my very occasional kitchen "helper".  Yesterday, I decided to try a culinary adventure of my own - homemade California Rolls.  Why not?  All you need is seaweed, sushi rice, rice vinegar, imitation crab, avocado, cucumber, and a little bit of mayo.  With all the ingredients laid out, and the sushi mat ready to go, Little B "helped" by spilling some nori seasoning onto the floor, and then refused to get her hands dirty when I asked her to "mush" the sushi rice onto the sheet of seaweed.  Instead, she watched me for a little while, then went downstairs to watch her library video.  After the California roll was formed and sliced into pieces, Little B came upstairs, took a look at my messily formed rolls and said "I don't want it".  I couldn't blame her.  They were the messiest looking California rolls, ever.  The taste-test also told me (and Hubby S) that there was too much mayonnaise, and too much avocado, and not enough imitation crab meat.  I blamed the taste on the recipe, and the shape and form of the sushi was all on me.  I will try again, soon, but after I watch a few Youtube videos on how to form a sushi roll.

Our experimentation at snack time was a bit better (and simpler).  We attempted to make apple "pizzas".  A slice of apple, with peanut butter spread onto it, sprinkled with granola cereal, or other toppings such as raisins or dried cranberries.  Unfortunately Little B did not like the sprinkles of anything, and only ate the apple spread with peanut butter.  That's not too bad though, because there would have been a time when Little B would want nothing on her apple - ever - no matter what!  I may try this again with her, after coming up with a few other "sprinkle" ideas.

Our next culinary adventure will be tomorrow, when we make cookies together.  Hopefully she won't mind getting her fingers dirty this time, since we will be making thumbprint jam cookies.

As we progress from mere "observer" status to "active helper" status, I'm hoping that Little B will learn to love all sorts of food, and will be more daring in her tastes!