My kids love any meal that starts with "Make your own". Make your own pizza, sushi, tacos, salad and of course sundaes. It gives my young children the opportunity to choose exactly what they want in their meal and get creative. They love it as an activity, it gives them a sense of control and I love it because they eat it.
On pizza night, I make dough or buy a prepared dough, they each get a ball to roll out on their own, if I am in a rush I do this part ahead. I then cut up all our favorite toppings, broccoli, mushrooms, spinach and olives. I put out a bowl of tomato sauce and some shredded cheese. They take it from there piling on the vegetables on their pizza, sometime even eating a piece of broccoli in the process. For our Mexican meals, I usually make beans, half I leave whole and half I mash and saute with onions as re fried beans, I make veggie meat and sauteed onions with peppers. I put out cheese, guacamole and salsa and everyone makes their own. Some prefer the whole bean some prefer it mashed, this way everyone gets what they want. Sushi night is fun too, they choose from the fake crab stick, avocado, cucumber and honey roasted peanuts, put it in the middle and roll. They just eat whole without even cutting it. Finally, salad is a great make your own food too. Growing up we had salad in my house every night, but between all the different tastes of my brother and sister the only way to do it was make your own. We had a big bowl of lettuce and then an assortment of chopped vegetables and toppings for everyone to choose their own.
Allowing kids to get involved in the kitchen is an important opportunity to teach good nutrition and get young children to try new foods. When my kids make it, they eat it.
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