Sniffle-icious

My three-year old Cowboy began preschool last Tuesday, which officially means he’s a Preschooler, rather than a toddler. It also means that he promptly brought home and delivered a nasty germ to the rest of the family. He attended four days of school last week and has missed three days so far this week.

Cowboy, Sergeant Princess, and I have all been stricken by a nagging fever, headaches, and our noses have been turned into extremely productive mucous factories. We are taking it one day at a time, but as the mother of a tiny eighteen month old, who always dangles on the cusp of that slippery “Failure to Thrive” ledge, a day without appetites is a day without weight gain. So, with nagging mommy worry, I set off to find creative dinner ideas to trick picky toddlers, who now have no appetites, into eating a fairly nutritious dinner —all with a whole foods goal and very little energy.

Yesterday, the Hubby stopped by the natural food store for our weekly produce shopping trip, so I had a fridge full of fresh fruits and veggies at my disposal. I was also in the process of making a homemade batch of crock pot yogurt, so he also picked up a starter quart of store bought organic yogurt. Planning this meal, I am aware of three important facts.

1.) A piping hot meal won’t do much to bring down fevers. So, the cooler the meal the better.

2.) With the snotty noses and no real sense of smell to aid them, the only flavor they respond well to is sweetness.

3.) My energy level is in the dumps.

With all of this in mind, I decided that a fruit salad would be just the thing to stimulate the kids’ appetite.

I started prep during naptime by cooking up some quinoa, using normal instructions, and making some spiced walnuts. I used the Betty Crocker recipe for the walnuts, except I drastically reduced the sugar. I used about a cup of walnuts, ¼ cup of cane sugar, ½ teaspoon each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. I tossed the walnuts first with a single egg white and then with the sugar mixture, then baked on a greased cookie sheet for about 20 minutes.

During nap, I also took my plain yogurt, added a tablespoon agave nectar, a few drops of vanilla, two tablespoons brown sugar, and a bit of cinnamon. Mixed together, it makes a really delicious yogurt sauce. I placed the quinoa and the yogurt dip in the fridge to cool, laid the walnuts on some wax paper to cool, and couched it until the kids woke up from their naps.

I did the next step during the kids’ snacktime, when I’m already in the kitchen without much to do. I just diced up a peach, nectarine, apple, a bunch of grapes, and about 10 strawberries. They are in the fridge chilling until dinnertime. When it comes time to serve dinner, all I’ll need to do is dice up some banana (which I didn’t add early to avoid browning), add the quinoa, and top with the yogurt sauce and walnuts.

The kids will think they’ve had dessert for dinner (I was accused of such by my 7-year-old with a different dinner this week), but we’re looking at a total of ¼ cup of cane sugar, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and less than a tablespoon of agave nectar spread across the entire family’s meal. We’re also looking at three or four different sources of protein in this meal – yogurt, walnut, quinoa, and (if you count it) the egg white, and all the nutritional benefits of having six different types of fruit in a single bowl. All of this is also gluten-free AND vegetarian! Total prep time was about 15 minutes; total cook time was about 20 minutes each for the quinoa and the walnuts.