How to get kids to eat their vegetables

You know how I the kids love fun food! My daughter Faith and I enjoyed looking through recipes.  I let her choose the first one we would make–Bear Paws.

These are the papa bear paws.  Aren’t they cute?  They are simply baked sweet potatoes sliced in half, drizzled with Country Crock, a pinch of nutmeg, and cashews for the claws.

And here are the baby bear paws.  Now my kids love sweet potatoes, but the way I normally make them is with so much cinnamon sugar that they end up more like dessert.  I have to admit I was a little dubious about my crew eating the sweet potatoes without asking for sugar or honey.  We actually had this for a snack after quiet time.  After they had helped me make the bear paws, we all sat down to eat, and I waited for the request for sugar.

It never came!  I was amazed.  They all loved their sweet potato just with Country Crock!  “Mmm, nom,  nom, nom, nom,” was all I heard as they enjoyed their food.  Vegetables with no added sugar for a snack!  I’m loving it!

Since we were having Bear Paw snacks I decided to capitalize on the hype and learn about bears.  The two older girls and I researched bears online.  They learned about the Black Bear’s habitat, how dangerous they can be, what they like to eat, and what to do should they ever come across one.

For their writing assignments of the day they wrote a report on  black bears and then presented them for their daddy when he got home.  They also put together a skit and drew bears on napkins for the supper table.  Can you tell we love theme days?