by Carey Polis
We had a lot of fun developing our new crop of back to school recipes. We had a lot conversations with the assorted parental units at Bon Appétit to make sure that the recipes were approachable, reasonable, and tasty (of course). But there was one thing missing from the equation--kids.
To revolve that problem, several BA parents were kind enough to test these recipes at home, and use their own children as guinea pigs. Would the kids be excited about these new recipes, or would they spit out the food? Turns out, there were some smiles... but also a few tears. Yup, one of our recipes made a child cry. Here's how it all went down:
Cream Cheese, Pear, and Honey Sandwich
Executive editor Christine Muhlke says that her 21-month-old son Max has never eaten a sandwich that wasn't held together by melted cheese, so this recipe presented new territory. How was he going to eat it? She wanted him to figure it out--she's looking for easy new ways to keep his daycare mealtime interesting and as healthy as possible.
Here's how it went:
"The pear I'd bought wasn't ripe yet, so I mashed up overripe strawberries and blueberries instead, pressing them into the cream cheese on (too-) thick slices of corn and molasses bread from Philadelphia's High Street on Market. Max immediately went Scando and ate it open-face, navigating the extra-chewy crust with surprising gusto. The cream cheese and berries (whoops! forgot the honey!) would have made 29-grain bread palatable as far as he was concerned: He liked it so much, he asked for seconds. I was in such a hurry that I kept the fruit whole. Mistake: He picked it off and fed it to the dog."
Her husband took a look at the recipe and said, "I hate to say it, but it kind of sounds like a sandwich that a mom wants to eat."
Senior developer Dan Berko also made the sandwich for his 5-year-old daughter. She "pronounced it weird and had a single bite." Perhaps proving Christine's point, however, Dan's wife loved the sandwich, and ate both hers and the daughter's.
Chicken Schnitzel
Scott Laine, our executive director of digital sales and marketing, and his 11-year-old daughter, Ruby, made a simple chicken schnitzel--they pounded out the cutlets, dusted them with flour, dipped the chicken in egg, and then used panko to give them a nice crust. Then they fried them in grapeseed oil until brown and let them rest in the oven while finishing off the other steps (toasting the bread, smearing it with mayo, and making the pickles).
Ruby said that "the simple flavors made it a great sandwich" and the whole family loved the toasted bun. Although Ruby usually never eats anything with mayo, she loved this sandwich--she even refused to believe that there was mayo on it. Four sandwiches were made in total and all were eaten, but three hours later when the foil-wrapped sandwich was tested, the bread was soggy and not quite as tasty.
The pickles were a huge hit; requests were made for them to be a side dish for all future sandwiches.
Brown Bread and Boiled Eggs
Digital director Stacey Rivera's three-year-old son eats eggs and loves bread, so she figured this recipe would not be a problem, even though he hadn't had a hard-boiled egg for awhile. Things did not go as planned, however.
Stacey: Here is lunch.
William: You don't give me this for lunch.
Stacey: It's eggs and cucumbers and bread--you like all this. Try it.
William: You don't give me this for lunch.
Stacey: Well, sometimes we try new things for lunch.
William: You don't give me this for lunch...
And on it went. He ate watermelon for lunch that day.
Vegetable Soup
Stacey describes William as "basically three parts soup because he eats so much of it," so she figured she would have more luck with this recipe than with the eggs. Alas, this was not the case.
Stacey: Lunchtime!
William: You don't give me this for lunch.
Stacey: It is soup.
William: You don't give me this for lunch.
Stacey: But there are your favorite alphabet pastas in it (I used alphabet pasta, don't judge).
William: But you don't give me this soup for lunch.
Eventually, he tried some pasta and broth. But really, he had a cheese sandwich. "In truth," says Stacey, "it isn't about the recipes, it is about the soon-to-be-four-year-old brain. And about lazy parenting. I need to get out of his food rut so he gets out of his. So I keep offering. In the meantime we eat his normal soup (chicken with veggies) and scrambled eggs, not hard boiled."
Waffle with Cream Cheese and Smashed Berries
Photo director Alex Pollack thought this recipe was going to be a pure winner--it's easy and versatile (use any fruit all year round). Her one-year-old son Izzy destroyed the waffle in under two minutes.
Four-year-old Arlo, however, had a little more trouble. Arlo "struggles with combining things," explains Pollack. He took a bite, spit it immediately onto his plate, and started crying. Once Alex re-plated a plain waffle on a plate with cream cheese, a little bowl of non-mashed blueberries, and a tiny pitcher of honey, Arlo took the bait.
Tuna Melt
Arlo was not thrilled with this, either. He took one look at the "leaves" (a.k.a. dill) and said no way. He wanted just the tuna from the can. Fine. Done.
Izzy loved this and ate five in one sitting.
Alex's husband, Dave, votes for slightly less mayo on this--still easy to spread but not quite so loose.
Banana-Oat Snack Cake
"I can't imagine how this will taste!" squealed Sasha, the five-year-old daughter of BonAppetit.com editor Matt Gross, as she whisked together the dry ingredients for what her father knew hoped not only would be a tasty and relatively healthy snack but would also function as a brief distraction from the drama that reliably surrounds the child's evening routine (TV, homework, toothbrushing, tears).
On the former count, this was pretty well assured. With bananas, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla as the main flavorings, what child would reject this? (To be safe: Don't use the word "oat" when describing it to a little one; Sasha initially frowned at the ingredient.) And on the latter, it did indeed work: Sasha proved an able sous-chef, measuring out ingredients with a minimum of help, dropping only one peeled banana on the floor (don't tell mom!), and cracking two large eggs into a bowl with surprising aplomb. What's more, not once did she ask to be excused to watch Sofia the First.
Tears, of course, were inevitable: While the snack cakes baked, Matt and Sasha played a card game--War--which Matt began winning, to Sasha's wailing dismay. Did the emergence of the treat from the 350-degree oven assuage her sadness? Not quite. It needed to cool off, during which time Sasha showered, brushed her teeth, and went to bed.
As of this writing, Sasha had not yet eaten the two chunks of banana-oat snack cake packed into the lunch she took to art camp. But her younger sister, nearly two-year-old Sandy, ate one for breakfast, and devoured it methodically at the living-room coffee table before returning to her usual routine of spilling Cheerios across the floor.