Veggies and Picky Eaters

When you have a two-year-old and a one-year-old at home, dinner time can be tricky. The kiddos tend to get stuck on a steady diet of ham and cheese, fruit snacks, and mac and cheese. While we do our best at home to buy organic and natural food, even fruit snacks, there comes a point where a little bit of variety and healthy options need to come in to play.

The other night, we decided to make some meatloaf and mashed potatoes, the old classic, but wanted to have something a bit more nutritious for the kids. Something that my wife and I have played around with in the past is steamed cauliflower, mashed to mimic mashed potatoes. The kids seem to like it, if they only tolerate it.

I've written about the meatloaf before. You can find the recipe here.

For the cauliflower:

Place a steamer basket in a pot with enough water to fill the pot without touching the bottom of the basket. Place the lid on and allow some steam to build up. Cut the bottom off the cauliflower and remove the stem. Place in the basket and cook until tender. It typically takes 10- to 15 minutes. Mix in a bowl with a few spoonfuls of cream cheese and a splash of milk, salt and pepper. You can add a tablespoon or two of butter as well. Mash it up with a potato masher, or puree it to get a smoother consistency.

We served this with meatloaf and some sauteed mushrooms and carrots. It goes great steaks and chicken too.