Your kids may be picky eaters, or even if they are not, they certainly have some preferences regarding what they’d like to eat. So why don’t you take this occasion of preparing and celebrating Halloween to help them discover new ingredients like sweet pumpkin and other spices.
I’m often surprised when I read articles about how to make kids eat vegetables as if it was a big deal!
I truly think that if your kids see their parents cooking, enjoying meals together, if they go shopping with you, they help you prepare the dinner; they will get familiar with vegetables and be proud of what they accomplished. I always tell parents to start involving their kids from the beginning, when they are able to sit and hold things in their hands around 6 to 9 months.
My daughter is not old enough to help me cook but every time I’m preparing dinner, I give her a salad bowl and some vegetables and ask her to make a soup for me. By seeing raw vegetables, touching and smelling them, she gets used to them.
So Halloween is a great occasion to continue this! There are tons of varieties of pumpkins and squash. Different shapes, color, tastes – especially in China. Sweet pumpkin with the taste of chestnut, butternut, orange squash, green squash, etc.
Let me share with you 2 recipes that you or your Ayi can easily make with your kids. You will have fun and your kids will too.
Halloween Squash Faces
Slice a squash. Use a cookie cutter to make round shapes. Using a knife, carve a scary mouth shape.
Cut the rest of the squash and cook it slowly with some olive oil, a dash of curry, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Then smash it and add some milk to make a puree.
Steam each scary slice for a few minutes.
Heat olive oil in a pan. When the oil is hot enough quickly fry the squash faces.
Serve the puree with scary faces on top, add some parsley leaves to make a hairstyle!
Squary Sandwich
Ingredients: sandwich white bread, pitted black olives, garlic, olive oil, Philadelphia cheese, Italian ham
Using the bread cut rectangle and square shapes.
Make a tapenade by mixing pitted black olives, a little olive oil, and a garlic clove. Mix the tapenade with some Philadelphia cheese.
On the rectangle shape bread spread the tapenade cheese mixture.
In the ham, cut triangles to create a tongue. Place the ham on the tapenade and top with a square shape.
Cut a few olives into slices. Place two slices on the square to simulate the eyes, it’s ready! You can also use some tomato sauce, and smoked salmon.
Looking for more Halloween recipes? For a pumpkin soup, click here !
Olivia is from South of France and is a food lover with an eye for nutrition. When she arrived in China she felt the need to iron out everyday kitchen problems so decided to teach her wonderful Ayi about balanced meals by introducing her to Western food culture. “Cuisine mei wenti” Academy was born out of this need. Later in 2014, as she became a busy mum, she realized how cooking varied food for her little girl was important. Follow her on wechat: guinebaultolivia, email her at info@cuisinemeiwenti.com, or sign up for her newsletter on www.cuisinemeiwenti.com/blog, where this article originally appeared. Also take note, her online classes for ayis are now available.
Photos: Courtesy of Olivia Guinebault
