This week's "favorite food," is Apples! Apples are a staple at my house. Every Monday we stop at the "Healthy Food Store," and buy a bag of organic apples. The apples are always on the counter in a bowl, and they are my "go to," snack.
Generally, if my kids ask for a snack, I offer an apple... If they want something else, I usually encourage an apple first...
Sometimes they are excited about eating the apples and sometimes they aren't. But if I don't offer any other choices, they will usually take me up on my offer. They always end up eating them and are typically satisfied when they're done.
Apples are full of wonderful soluble and insoluble fiber. They help to keep cholesterol levels low, are great for balancing blood sugar, and help to cleanse the system by keeping things moving in the intestinal track.
There is a great deal of fiber content in the skin of apples and much of the vitamin C is located just under the apple's skin. Therefore it's a good idea to get your kids accustomed to eating the apple skin. If your kids don't like apple skin, start by leaving just a little bit of skin and then leave just a little bit more each time. Another option is to cut very skinny slices so that the skin in barely noticeable. Be aware that some apples have much thicker skin than others (such as Red Delicious.) Gala and Fugi apples have very thin skins and may be a good place to start.
To keep things interesting I serve apples in a variety of ways:
*Slices
*Chunks (Cutting a big slice from each side making 4 big "chunks"
*Whole Apples... (My kids love getting to eat a whole apple. However, sometimes if they are larger apples, I know that they may not eat the whole thing. In that case I cut a "big chunk" and one kid gets the chunk and one kid gets the rest of the apple...)
*Apples with Nutbutter (fiber AND protein!)
*Apples with Slices of cheese (again, fiber and protein- plus calcium!)
*Apple Donuts:
*Baked (Microwaved 1 minute) Apple Donuts with sugar and cinnamon. (I used Coconut Sugar)
What kinds of apples do you usually buy? How do your kids like to eat them? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments.
my "picky" eater just started eating apples this week. makes me so happy. he has to have the skin off at this point...good goal to work on more of it on there though. My 1 year old LOVES warm apples with cinnamon. I like the idea of different "shapes" for serving them up.
ReplyDeleteYeah!! Be sure to celebrate those accomplishments... keep it up- if he's picky but will eat apples, you always have at least one really good food that you can offer him and he will eat :)
ReplyDeleteI usually eat Granny Smith apples. I like them with salt. (I blame my father for this; he got me hooked on tart, salty fruit! But I guess better that than potato chips.) I also really like Honeycrisp and Empire apples, or gala for a change of pace. (I think Empire apples may be a regional thing--I don't remember seeing them before I moved here.)
ReplyDeleteI like my apples really crispy, unless I'm going to cook them, so I tend to limit myself to these varieties, but since apples are plentiful right now, I should branch out. I've also been contemplating the wide variety of pears and wondering what I can do with those.
I've seen Empire before, but I don't know if I've tried them. I love my apples crisp and crunchy too (but not necessarily tart.) I've never tried an apple with salt... what an interesting idea!
ReplyDeleteLOVE, LOVE, LOVE pears, probably more than apples. The problem is that they often take so long to ripen. When I buy pears, seeing them on the counter, my kids beg for them every day. And for reasons that only make sense to kids, they get mad at ME when I won't let them have them yet! It's silly, but this sometimes stops me from buying them- we've already got enough drama around here :)