Itty Bitty Foodies

What's the one food you could never live without?

Lamb chops! I'm from Australia but have lived in over 12 cities around the world. After spending some time exploring the local food, I always crave lamb chops. I guess you can take the girl out of Australia but you can't take Aussie out of the girl.

I'm delighted my two IttyBittyFoodies who are born in the USA have also acquired a taste for them. We simply grill them on the 'barbie' with rosemary, salt and pepper or sometimes add a herb crust. Pikelet & Lollo love them medium rare and with a little bit of mint sauce. The recipe takes about 20 minutes from start to finish and is what I call 'Gourmet Fast Food'. Lamb chops are on our monthly meal rotation.

What's a treat your kids love that's actually healthy?

My IttyBittyFoodies will eat sea urchin and lentils but they will not touch cheese until I found petits suisse cheese by Petit Montebourg. They are flown in fresh weekly from Normandy, France and come in a small pack of 6. It has a texture of a thick yogurt, almost like Greek yogurt and come in flavors like banana-strawberry, apricot-mango and peach-pear. Of course there are no preservatives! We always pack one for their lunches and it's so good, my IttyBittyFoodies ask for it at dessert time.

What's your best tip for feeding a picky eater?

Try and try again. Children's palates change often. My pediatrician once told me that a child needs to taste something at least 40 times to figure out whether they like something or not.

We use two methods - First is the No Thank You Bite where they need to at least have one bite of the food. If they do not like it, they can simply say "No Thank You." The second is by normalizing the food by presenting it on the dinner table on a regular basis. We've found success with lots of different food that the kids did not touch early on but now love. The key is persistence! I had the pleasure of meeting Tiger Mom Amy Chua and persistence is something I took away from her talk.

Our goals as parents are to provide our IttyBittyFoodies with a sense of what is good for their bodies to eat and also to be bold and worldly with their palates. So add a dash Tiger Mom magic to your picky eaters and keep trying!

What are your favorite Blog Posts?

• Mad About Macarons
• 8 Ball Squash
• Thanksgiving at Every Meal