Kids and Kabobs

I have 3 small children (born 2007, 2008, 2010), and I’m committed to making as much food from scratch as possible, and providing lots of vegetables and fruits with meals and snacks - both in variety and quantity. I do it for their health, and as a way to show my love.

I recently decided to introduce them to vegetable kabobs since food on skewers is so interesting to little children. I mean really, who doesn’t like food on a stick?

I don’t know if it’s because I’m independent, stubborn or cheap, but if I can figure out how to make something on my own, then I will do it, even if it ends up being more work. I was privately berating myself for this tendency when I decided to make my own marinades (instead of store bought), so that I could grill the vegetable kabobs.

Now I’m not the griller in the family. I actually had to call my husband at work to ask him how to turn the grill on. And then I realized we hadn’t cleaned the grill since last fall. Yuck.

I consider myself to be fairly organized but my timing could have been better. I was home alone, about an hour before supper needed to be served to my 4-and-under crowd, I needed to clean the grill then figure out how to turn the grill on, and the 3 kids were running around in the yard while I was attempting to skewer my marinated vegetables (green and red peppers, onions, portabella mushrooms and grape tomatoes) without injuring myself.

Of course the backyard is full of fun and interesting things like dirt and bugs and the kids were probably going to be so filthy that I wasn’t sure this was going to be worth it. BUT, I had made a lovely marinade, and I really wanted the kids to try these vegetables grilled to expand their repertoire of vegetables they like and ways they are cooked.

The bamboo skewers could have soaked longer but I think the crispy black ends added to the kabob appeal for the little ones. And I managed not to burn or skewer myself, or anyone else. I was exhausted, but our bellies were full of delicious vegetables grilled with love. These kids routinely turn down mushrooms as “disgusting” but this turned out to be their favorite grilled vegetable. And there would be enough left that I could get out of cooking the next day. Bonus! And, as it was nice enough to eat outside, dining al fresco also added to the appeal. Plus minimal clean up - double bonus!!

If you are trying to get your friends, family or children to try a new vegetable, or one they say they don’t like, give the grill (and maybe a new marinade) a try.

Most marinade recipes I see call for a bunch of oil. I’ve found you can make them low fat by simply cutting out the oil and using a little bit of water instead. Here are a couple of examples of no-oil marinades:

http://www.frugalvillage.com/2009/02/12/heat-up-winter-with-tasty-marinades/

http://food.yourway.net/make-your-own-marinades-orange-ginger-marinade/

What marinades do you like to make?
 

by PeggyKerans on 09/05/2011 | Share Story With a Friend

tags: Weight-Loss, Recipes, Diet Tools, motivation, in the box, mood, strategies, kids, mommy blog