Can a kid survive on beef jerkey and milk alone?

These are some of my recent attempts to get my kids to eat. I have to admit that NONE of them have worked a bit.

I ate ALL of the above food myself.

We had cooking club at my house based around an April Fools theme or foods your kids will eat. There were tons of great ideas and it was a lot of fun.
The ideas above were from a Strawberry shortcake cooking book my friend Katie brought. I thought they were very clever but my kids didn't touch them. Maybe in a few years they will think I'm really cool when I can make animals out of their food. The muffins on the right are from my friend Emily's blog. They have pineapple, zucchini, carrots and I substituted the oil with applesauce and they are delicious!! Except, even dressed like cats, my boys refused to eat even a bite. ARGGGHHH!! Thanks for the recipe anyway Emily. I loved them, and put the extras in the freezer for quick treats for myself.

This recipe is from familyfun.com. They had a whole article about fun April Fool's day food. I thought it was really clever and this "strawberry" pie -actually meatloaf and mashed potatoes colored with beats- was really tasty.


Leah brought this "meatloaf" which is chocolate rice crispie treats and "corn" and "mixed vegies" which are really laffy taffy shaped into vegies. Her kids really loved this.
On the right is apple slices with jello sprinkled on it. Tasty.

This "cheese sandwich is really toasted pound cake with orange frosting. Leah brought this too.
On the right is this delicious sandwich made with flat bread spread with peanut butter, jelly, strawberries and bananas. It was delicious.
Katie suggested serving food in metal tins and giving the boys shovels to eat with. I can't wait to try this on a picnic. I think they will love it.

So my boys are picky. That's fine. Most kids are quite discerning. They are obviously growing fine and gaining plenty of weight. I just have unrealistic expectations of their eating I guess. I mean, if they want to eat hot dogs and yoghurt everyday, every meal.. that's mostly ok right? I'm sure the problem lies with me. The only thing that gets them to eat a meal is to let them get really hungry by denying them the milk they are screaming for, get them at someone else's house where other kids are eating, or let them eat really really bad food. Joren does have a good excuse. He cut two more teeth in the past week or two. I think it really does hurt to chew on those half-way through molars.

This mom who wants them to eat all whole grains and vegetables is slowly lowering...lowering .... lowering her standards. At least I started giving them candy now and then. I know, I know, I have food issues. I'm an idealist and wish they liked curry and eggplant Parmesan so I wouldn't feel so guilty about all the preservatives and corn syrup and sugar they get in "kids" food.

Like I said.. Issues.