Thursday, December 2, 2010

The Merits of a Multi-Course Meal

We all know that we're supposed to eat like a trillion servings of leafy greens a day, right? Well, honestly, sometimes I go a whole day without feeding my kids some form of fresh greens. I know, it's horrible, right?

Well, I finally figured out how to get them to eat a salad at meal time without a huge fight. I've decided that from now on, I will serve our meals in courses, just like they do at restaurants. The first course will be the salad. The children must dish themselves up a bowl of leafy greens before they can eat anything else or even serve themselves anything else. And the salad doesn't have to be anything fancy. I usually just tear up some red and/or green leaf lettuce, sprinkle some croutons on top...

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...then set it on the counter along with some ranch dressing and parmesan cheese. Look how well the youngsters are consuming their greens...

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After they finish their bowl of salad, then they can proceed with the main dish, which, for today's menu, was baked macaroni and cheese....

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The third course, dessert, is always something to look forward to, but this meal was made in a rush, so no sweet endings for today. Hopefully tomorrow, though!

So tell me. Have you tried this? If so, how does it work for you? I would really like to know. Thanks for listening!



P.S. My sister and I are finally getting skinnier!
See how we're doing it HERE! :)

8 comments:

Aubrey said...

we've done this with our boys. They are usually starving before dinner and I give them broccoli or spinach. Keeps them busy while I am finishing up the main course!

alessandra said...

Unfortunately my small boy would starve instead of eating salad, at least he eats some vegetables only at kindergarten, so what to do.

BarbaraJo said...

Way to go. We are eating hotel food this week. YUCK! Time for some homecooking. Maybe next week. Way to go on the weight loss. Keep it up! I don't think I've lost an ounce since giving birth. Time to get busy.

BarbaraJo said...

Way to go. We are eating hotel food this week. YUCK! Time for some homecooking. Maybe next week. Way to go on the weight loss. Keep it up! I don't think I've lost an ounce since giving birth. Time to get busy.

Unknown said...

I haven't tried the salad thing, but both my boys were/are really, really picky eaters. When they were about 2 1/2 to 3 yrs old, I started their lunch by giving them one little veggie (carrot stick, celery, whatever) and when they ate that, they could have the rest of their lunch. It was the only way I could get them to eat a vegetable.
My oldest is 5 now and is pretty good about eating his veggies. My youngest is nearly 3 and we're still on the "one veggie then you get lunch thing."

russian women said...

Good idea. I wish success.

Karen UK said...

I make a side salad but I put it on the table first and say to my boys 'Don't eat it because it hasn't been blessed yet' Guaranteed half of it has gone before I put the main dish on the table! They think it's them being sneaky -Don't tell them I'm the sneaky one!

y8 said...

Way to go. We are eating hotel food this week. YUCK! Time for some homecooking. Maybe next week. Way to go on the weight loss. Keep it up! I don't think I've lost an ounce since giving birth. Time to get busy.