Teaching kids to eat healthy is hard enough, especially with all of the enticing sweet treats around these days.  Annabel Karmel, baby and toddler nutrition expert and author of the newly released book The Complete Party Planner, discusses her latest book, favorite recipes, and tips for making healthy and delicious meals for kids.

 

Q: How did you first get into cooking for children?

It was, and still is, my goal to be sure to provide parents, like myself, with nutritious feeding options for babies and young children to keep them as healthy as can be.

My first daughter, who was born healthy, died at 13 weeks from a viral infection. Consequently, when my son was born a year later I felt quite vulnerable when he didn’t eat properly. I wanted to give him a good start in life and the only books I found focusing on how to feed your child were boring and bland. So, I started making up recipes that were both delicious and healthy to get more “mums” to give their babies fresh food.   

A jar of baby food has a shelf life of two years past the date of purchase! Would you want to be eating something that’s two years old every day of your life?  I wouldn’t, and I knew this was not an option for my children. In order for a jar of baby food to last so long it has to be sterilised, heated on a very high temperature, which destroys a lot of the nutrients and most of the taste.  I puree fresh food for my children instead.  As an added bonus, children are less likely to become fussy eaters if given a selection of fresh foods from the beginning.

Q: Do your kids cook and how did you encourage them to get into it?

A: Yes, my children can all cook -- they started cooking at 7 or 8. Their birthday parties were the only ones where everyone would turn up and there would be nothing to eat just a table full of ingredients. We spent the next hour making fairy cakes, cheesy feet and pizza faces and everyone loved it!

Q: What inspired your newest book, “The Complete Party Planner?”

A:  Everyone loves a good party, especially children, but all of the planning and preparations can dampen the fun for even the most enthusiastic host.  So, I created my latest book to help parents everywhere create easy, delicious, nutritious and visually appealing treats for parties.  Whether it is a family gathering around the dinner table, or a party of 50 of your child’s closest friends, these recipes are sure to be a hit. Children appreciate the effort and preparation more than the overall enjoyment of the party itself!

Q: What recipe is your favorite to make?

A: Party foods not only look great, but they taste great! I absolutely love making the “Bagel Snake” (see recipe below) and my children do as well. My toddler, like many, won’t eat any sandwich without a face on it.  When making fun creations like the “Bagel Snake,” I only use fresh vegetables, not mushy vegetables.  And, I use Eggland’s Best eggs for the egg salad, as you will see in my book, because they taste great and are very nutritious. Eggland’s Best eggs also contain more Omega 3 Fatty Acids and Vitamin E than ordinary eggs -- both are very good nutrients for children and strongly important in brain development. An infants brain triples in size during the first year and essential fatty acids can help with the development.

Q: What tips do you have for us to create healthy and fun food for kids?

A: The first thing you want to do is pick simple recipes, so parents can work together with their children and it becomes fun rather than a daunting task. I think that parental involvement means far more than any lavish party. Next, make sure that the ingredients you use are nutritious.  A good way to get kids to eat nutritious food is to make the food into something visually pleasing to the eye.  And, make sure to choose foods that combine great taste along with nutritional value.  For instance, it’s easy to pre-make healthy snacks disguised as enticing food!  The “Cucumber Crocodile” (See recipe below) is simply a cucumber cut into an appealing shape and topped with pineapple and cheese.  Kids are so excited to eat it and they don’t even think about how nutritious it is! 

MORE RECIPES from Annabel Karmel

BAGEL SNAKE

Egg salad topping

• 2 to 3 Large hard boiled Eggland's Best eggs

• 3 tbsp mayonnaise

• 1 tbsp snipped fresh chives

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Tuna Salad Topping

1 x 6 oz can tuna (drained)

2 tablespoons ketchup

2 tablespoons plain yogurt or crème fraiche 

2 scallions, finely sliced

Decoration

• Cherry tomatoes, halved

• Chives

• 1 stuffed olive, sliced

• Strip of sweet pepper

Slice the bagels in half and then cut each half down the center to form a semi circle.  Cut out the head of the snake from one of the pieces of bagel and the tail from another.  Mix the ingredients for the tuna salad topping and mix the ingredients for the egg salad topping. Spread half the bagels with tuna and half with egg.

Decorate the tuna topping with halved cherry tomatoes and the egg topping with strips of chives arranged in a criss-cross pattern. Arrange the bagels to form the body of a snake.  Then, attach the head to the snake's body and arrange two slices of stuffed olive to form the eyes and cut out a forked tongue from the strip of sweet pepper. 

CUCUMBER CROCODILE

Ingredients

• 1 carrot

• 1 ¼ cucumbers

• Toothpicks

• Variety of cheeses

• Fresh pineapple, cut into chunks, or 1 small can pineapple chunks

• 2 cherry tomatoes

Cut a long strip from the carrot, if using, with a vegetable peeler. Cut this into a strip about ½ inch wide and cut along one side to form a serrated edge. These are the crocodile’s teeth. Cut a wedge from one end of the whole cucumber to make the crocodiles mouth. Insert carrot teeth, if using.

Cut the quarter cucumber into two 1-inch-wide slices, cut these in half, and then shape into feet with a triangle cut out of them. Attach these to the whole cucumber using toothpicks cut in half. Thread cheese and pineapple cubes onto several toothpicks and spear the ends into the cucumber. Cut a toothpick in half and use the two halves to attach the cherry tomatoes to for the crocodile’s eyes.

For more recipes or information about the Complete Party Planner by Annabel Karmel, you can visit my website at www.annabelkarmel.com.