In our house, we usually get stuck in a rut during the summertime. Sandwiches, chips, string cheese, yogurt, repeat. And, by this time, we’re all quite sick of peanut butter and Cheetos. This week, though, I did something a little different that you can do, too, with basically anything you serve.
It started with fruit. I keep a wide variety of fruits in the fridge, especially during the summer months, because I am a fruit fanatic. And, I’m trying to get my kids to be the same way, especially with the massive amounts of vitamins and “good stuff” in each piece. But, my kids are not content to eat “just” an apple or a handful of grapes. In the end, it was the presentation that brought them around.
I usually take a serving bowl and add whatever fruit I have on hand in it in bite-sized pieces. Some of our favorites are bananas, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, watermelon. canteloupe, and pears. Apples are okay, but they tend to be a bit tough to stab onto a skewer. Then, I hand out the skewers and let the kids go to town we have bamboo and meta skewers; both work well).
Sometimes, my older son has nothing but grapes on his skewer. Other times, he’s got four or five different fruits on his kebab (alternate spellings: kabob, kibob), and he patterns them onto his skewer. The great thing is my younger son mimics his brother, so fruit patterns are quite popular with him, too.
But don’t stop with fruit! We like ham and cheese kebabs, pizza kebabs (pepperoni, string cheese, and breadsticks, then dip in spaghetti or pizza sauce), fajita kebabs (veggies with chicken or beef fajitas and bite-sized tortilla chunks), and even macaroni and cheese with hot dog kebabs! Kebabs are great for dessert, too - angel food cake chunks interspersed with fruit and drizzled with a little chocolate or brownies with fruit…whatever sounds great and fits on a skewer!
So, when your kids get into that eating rut, no matter what time of year it is, bring out the skewers and serve up some fun. And, leave us a comment with your favorite combination!
