Secret to Getting Kids to Eat Stir-Fry

So instead of going grocery shopping, I decided to start this blog....which means the only Alkaline-type food I had available for dinner tonight was Stir-fry!  This would be an easy meal for most of my kids and even requested as a birthday meal by Jade.  But it wasn't always a meal that my kids liked, we had to use our secret to make it an acceptable meal. But first things first, here was our meal.

Contents: Stir Fry, Brown Rice, Honey Dew






We switched to brown rice quite some time ago, so my kids don't even expect white rice any more.  If your kids refuse to eat stir fry, you might try to start them with the white rice, then gradually switch over to brown rice.  I had a friend that would actually make two different pans of rice. One brown rice and one white rice (because you can't cook them together without catastrophic results) and then mix them together to serve them to her kids.  So here the ultimate goal is brown rice, but start with whatever you have to in order to get them to eat the vegetables.

So how did I get my picky kids to eat stir fry?
1.  I have a recipe that we like; it is sweet so the kids like it.  http://www.food.com/recipe/chinese-brown-sauce-chicken-58347 We just use a little chicken and then add the frozen stir-fry vegetables and particularly like the ones that have the little corn cobs and snow peas in them. 
2. They get the choice to have the stir fry mixture separate or on top of the rice.  I truly believe having a choice is a key to most meals.
3.  They get to eat the honey dew only if they eat their stir fry and rice..Mean, I know, but a few of my children need that motivation:)
All of that is good and helps, but the true secret.......drum roll please.......

CHOPSTICKS!!!  We have a nice set because my husband lived in Korea for a couple years, but any old chopsticks will do.  However, they can only use the chopsticks if they are eating their   food.  The motivation this provides is incredible.  Notice how everybody had to have their picture eating with the chopsticks?

      Having some Chopstick fun!