With fall and the start of school, activities and new routines for many, comes a chance for a fresh start and reinvention in the kitchen. This is a great time to implement that new plan of “making dinner every night”, “trying out new recipes” and “expanding my family’s tastes and/or improving their eating habits”.

Commitment and persistence are the keys that are going to help you succeed with your goals.

When my children started first grade, they would get off that bus exhausted at 4 pm, and hungry enough to eat anything in front of them. I discovered this was an ideal opportunity to expand their tastes. I started by making sure I had fresh vegetables cut and on the table (or in the fridge) for grabbing… things they may not have eaten before, like zucchini and peppers. Maybe I’d add some dip or crackers.. anything to get them to try a “new” food. What I found is that they would truly eat anything if it was presented for them, ready to eat.

The other thing I did was to establish a 4:30 dinnertime for the first month of school. I served potpie, pot roast, chili, lots of fish… those things that as youngsters they were not willing to try in the past becuase “the food was touching”, it was “too ‘picy” or just looked “different”. They never looked back. Even though they are a little older now, they still come home hungry, and I still persist with expanding their palates.

What new foods or new routines do you hope to implement this fall?

Many moms struggle with the task of increasing their children’s tastes, menus, etc. Some kids are picky eaters, and may have a repertoire of just five foods that they’ll eat. A great way to expand dinner options is to play on your kids’ favorite foods and flavors. It takes persistence, but it pays off. My kids love chicken pot pie. Not out of the womb, mind you . . . we had several years where no two foods could touch on a plate. But persistence paid off, and for each of my older two, at around age 6, when they got home from a school-plus-activities filled day and sat down at the table facing a steaming, buttery-crusted piece of pot pie, their response changed from “yuck” to “yum”. Wow, a small victory. It’s been a few years since that time in my life, and I’d been wanting to introduce salmon to my kids’ diet. Rather than going cold turkey and placing a piece of poached salmon in front of them, I decided to play off their love of pie crusts, and make salmon pastries. I made a simple sour cream/mustard/dill sauce, added a bit of that to each pastry, served the rest on the side, and voila! A love of salmon was born in my family.

If your child is one of the picky ones, start with their favorites as a base. If they’ll eat pizza, try making your own with many different kinds of toppings. If they’ll eat salad, you can introduce a whole bunch of different flavors on a bed of lettuce. Same with pasta, soup, risotto, omelets or in a wrap. Start slow, but be persistent. I promise you it will pay off! BTW, let me know what works for you. I love hearing your success stories!

Salmon Pastries

Ingredients

4 Salmon patties

2 pie crusts (1 package)

1/4 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons dijon or spicy mustard

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 teaspoon dill

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine sour cream, mayo, mustard, lemon juice and dill to make sauce. Cut pie crusts in half. Place a small dallop of sauce on the center of each pie crust half, and then place salmon patty in center. Fold edges into a tent and pinch together, leaving seams for venting. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes. Serve with remaining sauce on the side.