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I Trick My Kids Into Eating Healthy Foods By Turning Them Into Their Favorite Characters (24 New Pics)
My name is Laleh, I have a son Jacob and a daughter Charlie. Sometimes we like to turn our healthy meals into art pieces!
In May 2015, I turned my son's pancakes into a lion for a bit of fun and he loved it! Every few days he would ask if I could make him a character from a movie, book or toy that he had seen. Jacob and I would get creative in the kitchen and discuss the ingredients that we were using and the benefits. For example, when he was 3, we would talk about how kale was a superfood. He would ask why, and I would say 'because superheroes love eating it' - that was a winner for him!
I started posting our creations on my personal Facebook page and had such a positive response that I thought I would create an Instagram account to inspire other parents to get creative in the kitchen.
Within a month our page went viral and gained media attention from all over the world with media coverage from Time Magazine, Huffington Post, The Today Show USA, The Today Show Australia, Sunrise, ABC TV, Disney Channel Australia, and shoutouts from celebrities, such as Martha Stewart and Ashton Kutcher, to name a few. Ellen DeGeneres has even shared an artwork that I made of her on her show!
We would never in a million years have thought that our little kitchen creations would turn into a full-time business but we love every minute of it!
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Spongebob From "Spongebob Squarepants"
Ravioli with mushrooms and cream sauce.
All the meals are edible - some are made to be eaten, others commissioned and others as art pieces. They are made from scratch and dyed using only natural ingredients! We love to use fresh, healthy products and no refined sugar or preservatives.
Jessie From "Toy Story"
Mashed potato, red lentil pasta, flatbread, eggs.
This looks marvellous. But I would debate how healthy it is, because I don't see enough salad or vegetables!
Monkey
Braised lamb shank with mash potato, tomato and broccoli.
I started making these meals for a bit of fun, Jacob at the time was 2 years old and his excitement was priceless.
There isn’t really a difficult part to the process - the most enjoyable part is creating the piece as I zone out.
Genie (Will Smith) From "Aladdin"
Mashed potato dyed using blue spirulina, black bean noodles, egg, yellow capsicum and wild rice.
Gloria From "Madagascar 3"
Poke Bowl (rice dyed using activated charcoal and tamari sauce).
My kids love these meals - a lot of it is not content - they are so supportive of what I do. Charlie, my little girl, is my harshest critic - she will let me know if the character didn’t turn out right.
Each meal is different - if they are made for eating i.e. fruit/pasta they can take between 25-40 minutes to make. It’s all about time management - whilst the hot elements are cooking I make all the features and then plate everything.
The creations that are sculpted (mashed potatoes) aren’t made for eating. They can take anywhere between 1 hour to 6 hours!
Patrick From "Spongebob Squarepants"
Wild Australian Salmon with couscous, spinach, corn, red capsicum and salmon skin shells.
I don’t make these kinds of meals every day - just a few days a week.
During Covid, our creations brought so many smiles to people's faces during such a hard time. I would get so many messages so that our creations had made their or their children's day - and that’s what makes it all worth it!
Queen Grimhilde From "Snow White"
Mash potato, black Funghi, vermicelli noodles, apple, egg, peas, capsicum.
Krusty The Clown From "The Simpsons"
Noodles with honey and Tamari marinated chicken, eggs, tomato and broccoli.
Winnie The Pooh Dressed As The Easter Bunny
Whiting with sweet potato mash, tomatoes, parsley and capsicum.
Woody From "Toy Story"
Chicken with mashed potato and vegetables.
Forky From "Toy Story 4"
Turkey mince, egg and vegetable burrito bowl.
Tyrion Lannister From "Game Of Thrones"
Mashed potato, wild rice, jasmine rise, pasta, lettuce, kale.
Mickey Mouse
Melman From "Madagascar"
Organic Hokkien noodles with honey soy chicken, sautéed mushroom, radish and broccolini.
Jafar From "Aladdin"
Mash potato, lentils, black fungi, black beans, wild rice, red capsicum and tortilla wrap.
Cyborg From "Teen Titans Go!"
Cocoa spelt pancakes with chia seeds, cream cheese (dyed blue using blue spirulina) strawberry and plum.
Minnie Mouse
Gnocchi with Napoli sauce.
Dumbo
Mash potato (dyed using activated charcoal) flour, beetroot juice, black funghi, rocket, lemon, cucumber.
I believe this is just dumbo from the live action movie - he is just wearing makeup 5beddae048...50-562.jpg
Mei-Mei (Panda) From "Turning Red"
Vermicelli noodles, eggs, olive, apple
Mei-Mei From "Turning Red"
Mashed potato, eggplant, apples, flatbread, eggs, cucumber, watermelon
I can't stand those titles. Who on earth really believes it's a mom doing it for their kids so they eat their food? It's an artist, doing it for artistic reasons. Sure that artist can be a mom, and I bet kids would love it - but that's not the reason. It just sounds more quirky.
I don't for one second believe you do this for your child. For the picture maybe.. Well stop it! We've seen it before, it has been done, nobody cares.
Nice though they look, I'm calling BS on this. Most of it is raw. None are 'healthy meals'. It's just art using food as a medium for instagramability.
The artistry is amazing, but stop with the titles. Many of these are not healthy. Lots of regular pasta, and lots of mashed potatoes that are so smooth that for sure there's lots of cream or whatever in them. No wonder there's an obesity epidemic if we can consider the mashed potatoes and ravioli healthy.
Why dont I do this? A) I dont have the skills needed for making this. B) I dont have the time for making this (I have a job). C) I want to serve hot food for my kids - not food thats been sitting on a plate for an hour becoming art. D) Its silly. E) I teach my kids to eat normal healthy food.
Another Instagram mom begging for attention while ignoring her children. This IS NOT parenting.
While these are undeniably beautiful, they don't even remotely represent anything close to a balanced diet for a growing child, or even sound like a meal that tastes good imho.
Kids should eat food provided to them. I don't get this fad of making food look like this.. so they could eat. How spoiled kids have became now a days? Our parents would be like... If you don't like it then don't eat it. Earn and eat what you want.
These are amazing, but not many really look like something you would eat. Plus mashed potatoes aren't exactly the healthiest thing your kid could be eating.
My kids wouldn't eat these meals... they would take a bite and then say it looks interesting but tastes gross.
Christ these are beautifull. I sure would hate it if YOU would be 1 of the other mothers in 1 of my children's class, you are setting the bar way to high! ;-)
Absolutely amazing! I wish you'd sort them by what you did for your kids and what you did as art pieces, it seems to confuse people. I'd really love to see HOW you do it, maybe you could make a YouTube channel? Cooking videos are popular.
Want to feed foods to your children try our masala with taste and health benefits
Weird. I didn't realize kids told the parents what to do and what they would and wouldn't eat. I guess mine got it backwards trying to enforce the clean plate rule and actually spanking me if I didn't.
No. Our rule is our kids eat what is put in front of them. If they don't, they can't eat until the next meal. I'm not jumping through hoops to "trick" my kids to do anything.
Brilliant! Why didn't I use this on my kids when they were still on the house?!
I can't stand those titles. Who on earth really believes it's a mom doing it for their kids so they eat their food? It's an artist, doing it for artistic reasons. Sure that artist can be a mom, and I bet kids would love it - but that's not the reason. It just sounds more quirky.
I don't for one second believe you do this for your child. For the picture maybe.. Well stop it! We've seen it before, it has been done, nobody cares.
Nice though they look, I'm calling BS on this. Most of it is raw. None are 'healthy meals'. It's just art using food as a medium for instagramability.
The artistry is amazing, but stop with the titles. Many of these are not healthy. Lots of regular pasta, and lots of mashed potatoes that are so smooth that for sure there's lots of cream or whatever in them. No wonder there's an obesity epidemic if we can consider the mashed potatoes and ravioli healthy.
Why dont I do this? A) I dont have the skills needed for making this. B) I dont have the time for making this (I have a job). C) I want to serve hot food for my kids - not food thats been sitting on a plate for an hour becoming art. D) Its silly. E) I teach my kids to eat normal healthy food.
Another Instagram mom begging for attention while ignoring her children. This IS NOT parenting.
While these are undeniably beautiful, they don't even remotely represent anything close to a balanced diet for a growing child, or even sound like a meal that tastes good imho.
Kids should eat food provided to them. I don't get this fad of making food look like this.. so they could eat. How spoiled kids have became now a days? Our parents would be like... If you don't like it then don't eat it. Earn and eat what you want.
These are amazing, but not many really look like something you would eat. Plus mashed potatoes aren't exactly the healthiest thing your kid could be eating.
My kids wouldn't eat these meals... they would take a bite and then say it looks interesting but tastes gross.
Christ these are beautifull. I sure would hate it if YOU would be 1 of the other mothers in 1 of my children's class, you are setting the bar way to high! ;-)
Absolutely amazing! I wish you'd sort them by what you did for your kids and what you did as art pieces, it seems to confuse people. I'd really love to see HOW you do it, maybe you could make a YouTube channel? Cooking videos are popular.
Want to feed foods to your children try our masala with taste and health benefits
Weird. I didn't realize kids told the parents what to do and what they would and wouldn't eat. I guess mine got it backwards trying to enforce the clean plate rule and actually spanking me if I didn't.
No. Our rule is our kids eat what is put in front of them. If they don't, they can't eat until the next meal. I'm not jumping through hoops to "trick" my kids to do anything.
Brilliant! Why didn't I use this on my kids when they were still on the house?!