If you have a child at home, I am sure you have dealt with picky eating battles – even if they were just for short periods of time. The truth is, our children are not too different from our own selves. They get bored eating the same foods day after day. They have certain flavors and textures they prefer and others they dislike. And just like you or I may not wish to eat a food outside our own comfort-zone (hello oysters!), they don’t want to eat an unfamiliar or unappealing food either.
It can be so hard to bite your tongue when trying to get your child to accept a new food. But fighting, bribing, or just adding stress to meal time backfire. If you can’t get your child to touch a vegetable, try thinking outside the box. Make vegetables fun by presenting them as art instead of food. Trying cutting raw vegetables into various shapes and letting your child play with them to create a plate filled with ‘art.’ Just seeing new foods and touching them is part of the acceptance process. You never know- they may even try a bite as they play!
One food art project you can try out is creating these adorable Tomato Ladybugs resting on fresh spinach leaves. They are so pretty you almost don’t want to eat them, but so cute no little hands can resist them.
This adorable food art will have your picky eaters loving their vegetables
- 12 cherry tomatoes
- 6 black olives, sliced
- 12 leaves fresh spinach
- 1 Tbs balsamic glaze
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Slice your tomato to create the wings.
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Add a sliced black olive for the head of the ladybug then place it on top of a spinach leaf.
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Create black dots by using a small drop of balsamic glaze on the tomato. Serve chilled and enjoy!