Want to know the story behind LaLa Lunchbox or the thought behind some of the features available? Watch this! This interview was fun to do! Special thanks to Jamie Boggeln who put together this video series! I'm thrilled to be part of such an amazing group of folks dedicated to the health and future of our children.
LaLa Lunchbox is FREE for the Back-to-School season!
Great news, lunch-packers!
We've made LaLa Lunchbox completely free to download for the entire back-to-school season so that you and your little ones can get busy meal planning without even thinking about the cost to download.
Tell your friends! And your friends' friends!
And click here to download for free immediately.
Happy back to school!
p.s. huge thanks to our friends at Applegate whose support of LaLa Lunchbox has enabled us to make this app free until October 15, 2014!
LaLa Monster Coloring Pages
We're excited to have some of our LaLa Monsters available for you and your hungry little monsters to download and color!
Please feel free to download (for free!) as often as you'd like!
Union Square Farmer's Market
The Union Square farmer's market is one of my favorite places to visit in the City. The people watching is out of sight: some folks stroll through (especially tourists, families and caregivers with young children) and others race through at breakneck speed (like those who work in restaurants and have to quickly get specific ingredients back to the kitchen).
The people who come to Union Square to sell their foods are uniformly friendly and willing to answer any questions. For example, I spoke with a cheese monger about why his cheeses were not organic. His animals are not fed hormones ever but if an animal gets sick, it is given antibiotics to get well. During that time, the milk from that animal is never used in the production of cheese but because of the administration of antibiotics, his cheeses are not able to be labeled organic.
My kids love going to the farmer's market to see what's in season and to have little snacks along the way. On our most recent visit, the kids and I devoured over a pound of sugar snap peas and a pint of super sweet tiny strawberries.
Here's just a small sampling of our farmer's market bounty. I'm going to use the rosemary later this week to season a white bean salad with roasted garlic. We'll fly through those eggs in a day or two (most likely scrambled) and the rest of the produce will be eaten raw. It's really hot outside today so I'm particularly excited to have fresh, wonderful foods that don't require my oven.
Picky Eating and Foods on the Go
I hear parents talk about 'picky eating' all the time. Frankly, I think there is a big difference between avoiding certain foods (because of texture or taste preferences for example) and avoiding whole categories of foods but I've noticed that the concept of 'picky eating' is not at all set in stone. I have an uncle who won't eat anything green. Seriously. But he eats most everything else. Is he picky? Or just particular? If a child exhibited this same behavior, would the label change? Could part of the solution to picky eating lie in our approach to food preferences? How about semantics?
My 4 year old son, for example, genuinely does not like cheese. He never has. This is complicated because my older daughter (8 years old) loves cheese any way she can get it and my youngest daughter (21 months) can't seem to tolerate dairy. Along those same lines, my eldest won't eat chicken and my younger two love it. There are many examples that I could provide along these lines.
But I digress. I realized recently while we were guests in someone's home that my kids are considered to be 'picky eaters' by some and it was kind of a revelation. I don't think of them as picky eaters at all, and yet, they each have their aversions, preferences and favorites. Does that make them picky? I don't think so. I would not want to live in a world where I was expected to eat and enjoy everything that was served to me and not have my own preferences taken into account. Why should I expect that of my children?
While we were in Rio, we took my son to watch the World Cup Belgium vs Russia game on his 4th birthday. I knew beforehand that there was nothing he was going to eat at the stadium so I brought packets of sunbutter for him to enjoy with a banana. I love sunbutter because it's a wonderful nut alternative and all three of my kids enjoy the flavor. Score! When I spotted these packets before our trip, I scooped them up. They were perfect for the airplane (before the whole jam-licking incident) and as it turned out, perfect for watching the World Cup in Rio with my little guy. Does his penchant for sunbutter and his aversion to stadium pizza make him picky? Not in my opinion. I'm happy that he knows what he likes and doesn't like and that he has the ability to articulate those preferences.
How do you define 'picky eating'? Are your kids picky eaters?
