Cutest Review

My seven year old son had to write a review or critique of something in his first grade class.  He chose to write about the restaurant that’s just opened near us (and I’m actually bartending at a couple of times a week).  I had to share the review because in my thoroughly biased opinion, it is adorable.  

7 year old's opinion

7 year old’s opinion

My eldest son, who is now 12, said that it should’ve read “if you like high quality food” instead of “chicken fingers”, but everyone’s a critic.

Some people might see this and may think, “Vanessa allows her kids chicken fingers?” but that is often a misconception on my food views.  Yes, I do allow chicken fingers and fries and other stuff, just not all the time. Plus The Spinning Wheel’s chicken fingers are whole pieces of breast meat with their own breading.  It’s not made of mechanically separated parts mixed with who-knows-what.  

I have a couple of recipes for those who’d like to make their own at home. My original one is here and another one has a crunchy coating. They’re much, much healthier than the majority of prepared chicken fingers/nuggets/popcorn you’ll find in the stores or fast food places. 

One thing I find I often need to do if we eat out and they order from the children’s menu, is to order a side of vegetables or a salad, because too commonly, restaurants don’t serve vegetables with the kids’ meals.  

If you take your kids out to eat, do they share their opinions on the food?  Do they get a balanced meal? 

About the cupcakes & cake…

Thought I’d add these afterthoughts since it’s apropos to my message. 

I have never been good at cake or cupcake decorating before I tried my hand at creating the Angry Birds Cupcakes.  The most I’ve done is a nice sprinkle job but I really thought the kids would get a kick out of them, so I gave it a try.  The first 4 took me as long as the remaining 20.  But I figured out an assembly line kind of way and really cranked out the last dozen.  The kids recognized them and they were a hit.  They definitely weren’t perfect, but not bad for my first try. 

So…  if you think your kids won’t eat a new food or nervous about cooking something new, just try it.  You might be pleased with the outcome. 

And, most people know that I hate artificial colors.  Obviously the cupcakes were not colored with natural ingredients.  But I couldn’t find anything (within a day/two of the fair) in my area, so I went ahead and made them with the artificial stuff.  I believe a treat now and then isn’t going to harm them too much and it was for a special event.  I would have preferred natural, but made do.  And the aggravation and worry of being strict isn’t always worth it.   Just remember to make it a rare treat and not a daily occurrence. 

Balance the good stuff to be the majority of their diet.