Banana straws

Recently I invested in a food dehydrator. Just the sound of that makes me feel that I'm definitely not cool anymore but, anyway, I not only bought one but I like it and I use it regularly. So far, my favorite things to dry are mangoes, bananas, and strawberries. Although I ultimately want the kids to enjoy them as snacks, I find myself eating way too many of them as I peel them off the trays. I justify it that I'm testing to see how dry they actually are. "Hmm....that one was dry. That one was dry. That one was dry. Let's try one more. . . ."



When I first did this, all three boys swarmed me as I handed out the dried goods. Now, the twins are the only ones swarming and my oldest emphatically denies even trying one. Well, until I had a moment of mommy brilliance! He'd seen the plate full of dried bananas (which up until now I called "banana chips" to pretend they were unhealthy enough for his appetite) so I knew I needed a new disguise. Recently, my husband had bought some veggie chips that were in the shape of straws. The boys found them fun to whistle before they ate them. "Ah-hah!" So, with a little extra effort, I rolled the slices which are very nice and pliable when dried into little straws. Not only did he enjoy whistling through them, he gobbled them up. The funniest thing to me was that he saw me rolling them - the same bananas that were yucky looking beforehand. Shows how a little change in perspective can increase a stubborn kiddos appetite.



Ending with a silly pun, I guess I need to roll with the punches when it comes to feeding these little rascals.