It’s not that I think juice drinking is a bad thing. It’s simply one of those dietary behaviors that easily becomes habit when introduced to young kids. Plus, it’s so easy to overdrink the darn stuff. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that young children drink no more than 4-6 oz of juice per day. Given that most juice boxes contain more than that, it’s hard to stick to this guideline if kids drink juice every day.

The other benefit of not stocking up on juice or other sweet drinks each week is that when juice does make an appearance, it can cause genuine excitement.

Our latest special occasion drink is limeade. It all came about when I had half a bottle of lime juice that I needed to use. Searching the internet for what to do with lime juice, I came across an easy recipe for limeade and, voila, instant kid friendly drink. And I think the fact that we whip it up instead of simply opening a carton of it makes everyone enjoy that much more.

So I wasn’t surprised at the shear excitement my 6- and 3-year-old sons displayed when they saw the stash of frozen meals for kids from Amy’s. I had high hopes because our go-to dinner when we need a quick meal that pleases everyone is Amy’s Frozen Pizza.

The kids were really intent on trying the Mac N’ Cheese. It was well-received and they both asked for more (I had them share the meal). I can’t say they were as excited about the side dishes - broccoli, focaccia bread, and little baked apple treats. I found the broccoli to be pretty well done considering what it has to go through as part of a frozen meal, but my kids weren’t impressed with the subtleties of well-prepared veggies. The focaccia was pretty dry, and my picky eaters just weren’t into the apple treats.

The other kids’ meals we tried were baked ziti with broccoli, focaccia bread, and an apple dessert, and also Mexican quesadilla with rice and beans and a chocolate cake. The meals came with a tattoo or a coloring page on the inside of the carton.

Like all of Amy’s products, the ingredients in the kids meals are vegetarian, organic (90% or more) and natural. Plus, the packaging states that there are 0g trans fat, no added msg, no preservatives, no GMOs — all big concerns about the processed foods available today. The baked ziti is also dairy free and gluten free!

The bottom line on these kid-friendly frozen meals is that on nights when you need a quick meal, you won’t have to give up quality and healthy ingredients.

In our home, kitchen gadgets have kept the kids interested longer than they would have been otherwise. The boys use the tools for their intended purpose or they make up new uses all together. In any event, the tools add a new dimension that appeals to their curiosity or sense of accomplishment. Other tools help me create results that are more appealing to the kids.

In this list, I’ve included a few kitchen tools we’ve had fun with — many of which you probably already own — and a few ideas for food activities. Also in the list are tools I use to add appeal. And then there are a few just-for-fun items as well! Enjoy!

1. Egg Slicer

The basic egg slicer is wonderful for the pre-knife skills of the youngest kitchen helpers. Slicing hard-cooked eggs is easy enough, and kids can use this gadget for so much more. The great part is that the work results in usable product! Let kids slice mushrooms for stir-fry, slice apples or other fruit for muffins, and slice bananas for cereal.

2. Garlic Press

My three-year-old recently used the garlic press to make orange juice from Satsuma/clementine/mandarin orange segments. What fun he had! He was able to peel the oranges, segment them, and press them all on his own. Why not hand over a press and a few grapes or pineapple chunks for a juice-making activity?

3. Mini Muffin Pan

It sure is nice to say okay to seconds, thirds and fourths with no worries. I make most of my muffins in the mini pans now. The kids love them, it is just the thing when you’re baking for a classroom or sports team, and it makes for easy portion control!

4. Kids’ Kitchen Stand

In our kitchen, we have a counter where you can sit and eat. This is perfect for when the kids help with cooking. If you don’t have this and you want your kids at the counter with you, this stand raises little ones higher than a stool would, and it’s safer than a high chair.

5. Kids’ Aprons

I came across these while Christmas shopping and I thought they were too cute. Although my boys don’t have these, they come in a variety of patterns and colors for boys and girls. A fun way to make cooking time official.

I had read Brian Wansink’s article earlier that day about how to change the perception of food by simply using words that sound appetizing. His research examples included a session feeding preschoolers who “devoured broccoli trees because they were pretending to be dinosaurs eating a dinosaur tree.” This wasn’t a new idea, plenty of parenting tips about feeding picky kids recommend making funny faces or naming food after characters or animals. But he’s a researcher and he had data. Something I could relate to.

I had never gone there before. It just isn’t my personality to make up silly names for peas or craft faces out of a veggie plate. Plus, I admit I had a bias against making food extra fun for kids. Is food supposed to fun? Sure, eating together should be fun, but does the food need to be silly or look like something other than food? I share that thinking about hiding veggies in brownies. Do we really have to do that extra work? Isn’t eating food something kids will do because, you know, it’s necessary for life?

So I found myself placing evil-looking eyes, nose and mouth made of carrots in a pile of couscous carefully molded to look like a head. The meal was basic but not too shabby. A nice Steelhead trout, couscous and the carrots. Here is what happened:

Me: “Time to eat!”

Them: Arrive at table. Look at plates. Say nothing.

After several seconds…

Six-year-old: Having eaten some fish and the nose and eye carrots… “Why did you do that?”

Me: Do what?

Six-year-old: “That!” Pointing to plate.

Me: “I thought it would be fun.”

Six-year-old: “Oh.”

That was it. No more discussion. Even my usually talkative and silly three-year-old never mentioned it. They ate the carrots, something they would have done anyway. But my picky eater six-year-old wouldn’t touch the couscous. We don’t eat it often and he asked what it was. I said, “It’s couscous - mini pasta.” Still not even a bite.

So, my experiment didn’t prove that fun food helps a picky eater eat more. But maybe it’s just my family and the serious DNA we share. Then again, maybe my faces just weren’t fun enough.

Then, there are the healthy snacks we try to love. Those may taste okay, but when the package goes past its due date before anyone feels like finishing off the last few, that’s a bad sign too. I can think of some wasted rice cakes, rice crackers, and even homemade snacks like oat bars and muffins. Of course, there are the fruits and veggies we’re all told to feed our kids, but sometimes they don’t do the trick when you want a filling snack.

So, the perfect snack for kids is one they will eat and enjoy when served, but they don’t beg incessantly for if they know it’s in the house.

One way to achieve this perfect snack is to start with a favorite snack and:

1) make sure it has some ‘useful’ ingredients (whole grains, fruits/veggies, nuts, etc.)
2) keep sugar and fat at levels that keep it from being too palatable.

Here are some snacks that fit the bill:

1. The everyday chocolate chip cookie – substitute all or half the all-purpose flour with whole grain flour, add oats, reduce sugar by 25 percent.

2. Muffins – take the basic muffin recipe, substitute all or half the all-purpose flour with whole grain flour, add fruit, reduce sugar by about 25 percent.

3. Fruit crisp – same idea, add healthy fruit and oats, use a little less sugar and butter/oil.

4. Packaged snacks — when it comes to buying packaged snacks, there are also some options that work. Instead of the basic cracker or chip, look for snacks made from whole grains and use just a few ingredients. Or, try some of the new snacks that use vegetables as the main ingredient. Just try to maintain fat at around 6 grams per ounce or less.

5. Oat crackers – I admit my kids haven’t fallen for these yet, but I love them as an alternative to processed wheat flour crackers.

I’m a nutritionist, so people often ask me about how I handle Halloween treats, expecting me to have some clever strategy for keeping my young children from overindulging in the days and weeks after Halloween. The truth is, we do very little.

In fact, on the day after Halloween, my son’s preschool teacher smirked and asked if anyone ate candy for breakfast. My son was the only one who raised his hand. He even explained in detail – he had oatmeal and then a “butter cup” (the Reese’s variety).

It seems like a contradiction that a nutritionist would let her three-year-old eat candy at breakfast. But, if asked, I’d have a stash of reasons why I didn’t think it was a big deal.

1. That single peanut butter cup had about half as much sugar as most kids’ breakfast cereals.

2. That single peanut butter cup had a lot less added sugar than a pack of fruit snacks (the fruit-less, fruit-flavored kind). And, no artificial colors!

3. Why aren’t chocolate and peanut butter okay for breakfast? Would it be better if they were in the form of chocolate milk, peanut butter toast, or a chocolate chip bagel?

Sure, I try very hard to limit processed foods and, no, my kids don’t eat candy at breakfast everyday. But sometimes I think we judge foods by where they are in the grocery store instead of considering how the actual ingredients fit into a healthy diet.

We worry a lot about a few weeks of Halloween candy. But shouldn’t we spend more time thinking about what our kids eat every day? Is a breakfast cereal that’s 40 percent table sugar really appropriate as a meal? Especially a meal your kids eat each day? Is serving fruit snacks with lunch every day any different than serving Starburst?

Photo courtesy of Hershey’s.