Ketchup and Pepperoni

Early on I discovered that my kids will eat a lot of different things if there is a bottle of ketchup on the table. Ketchup does a few things for food. It masks unpleasant tastes, it hides strange-looking foods, and it offers a familiar comfort to unfamiliar foods. The older they get, the less likely they are to use ketchup before they try something new, but when they were little - toddler and preschool age, especially - a douse of ketchup got them to try all kinds of new vegetables and new recipes.

When we decided to create a family, I already had nieces and nephews and lots of friends with little kids. I noticed that all these kids were different at the table. When presented with food, some were adventurous and ate everything. I have an image of my 18 month old niece biting happily into a lemon wedge. As I recall, she ate the whole slice and reached for more, juice dripping from her cute little chin. Other kids would simply ignore new or different food and reach for familiar food, which seemed like a pretty good strategy. They didn't whine or make rude comments about the food. Their parents were satisfied that they were eating and left them to their own choices. Finally, of course, there were kids who would whine and make rude comments about the food. Often these children were dragged away from buffets or shushed by embarrassed parents. Lucky for me, my kids have turned out to be pretty easy going about food as they grow up. (They are 9 and 11 now.) Maybe my efforts to make food interesting and adventurous paid off. My husband and I tried to serve food with the philosophy that the kids would be encouraged to always try what was served - to accept food as food.

They definitely like kid-friendly food the best. Anything deep-fried or containing pepperoni and cheese is a sure fire favorite. The last huge pepperoni hit I made them was a recipe from Everyday with Rachael Ray - "Pepperoni Pizza Puffs". They are cute little savory pastries made with pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, and basil. I used wheat flour - a sneaky mom trick - to make them more nutritious and served them with a basic green salad. The kids have requested them several times since then. This is the kind of meal I make between meals that aren't their favorites!