Evening star., 1941-08-04
Make Food
Appetizing
ToChild
Convalescent Likes
Surprises on His
Supper Tray
By Lehice Lee Street,

The mother of two husky, 5-year-
old twin boys has written to ask
me if I have any suggestions for
dressing up" dishes for youngsters
so that their food will seem more ap-
petizing. The twins are just recov-
ering from measles, and their ap-
petites are listless.
I am a great believer in prepar-
ing a childs tray. or his place at
the table, in such way that 1t
will be dainty and attractive to
him. If you use these fine labor
savers known as paper napkins, Sc
lect gaily colored ones printed with
animals or Mother Goose figures.
AS small cost you may buy a plate,
bowl, mug, soup CUP and so on,
decorated with motifs amusing to
children. This is really an econ
omy. because clumsy little fingers
are apt to break your better dishes.
Here, now. are some ideas for
making the children's food appetiz-
ing to look at and to taste. A
young childs food should not be
cooked with pepper, soda. spices or
any high seaSonings. Salt definitely
should be used. as it is needed by
the child, particularly in hot
weather.
Santa Claus apple" Cthe apple
has to be eaten before the marsh
mallows are or Santa Claus will
not like iD-Take a medium sized
red apple, core and scoop out a hole
in the center. Fill the hole with
chopped apple and raisins. Cover
hole with a marshmallow held in
place with a pick. Use cloves for
eyes and mouth in the marshmallow
face and put the stem end of the
apple on top for cap. Spear two
more marshmallows with picks and
stick them into either side of the
apple for arms and put a row of
Glove buttons down Santa's big, fat
tunmy. Needless to say, the cloves
are not to be eaten
Clown dessert"-Buy an ice
cream cone from the drug store.
Put neat, round lump of ice cream
into a saucer. Place the cone on top
of the ice cream tilted a little one
side. Make pom -poms of ice cream
on the cone. With chocolate chips
make eyes and nose in the ice
cream and use a silver of cherry
for the mouth.
"Candlestick dessert" a slice
of canned pineapple on a plate. one
half of a banana standing upright
in the hole with a red cherry on
top.
Birds nest salad"-Arrange a
small nest of shredded lettuce on a
plate. Place in it four or five tiny
eggs made of cream cheese that
has been colored with blue vegetable
tint. If you have a toy bird, let
him perch on the side of the nest.
Children should not eat rich may
onnaise or French dressing; the only
salad dressing that a young child
should have is one made of olive
oil or pure salad oil, seasoned with
lemon juice and salt.
Here is one more idea: Try to
think of animals, the circus, Mother
Goose rhymes and so on when you
are searching for names for dishes.
Sometimes a child will be interested
in his food if you give it a name,
such as funny face sandwiches
or watermelon balloons made with
picks stuck into tiny balls cut with
the little gadget you use to scoop
out potato balls and he will gaily
cooperate in pretending that he is
eating a lion or an elephant or the
plums out of Little Jack Horners
pie. Children love make-believe, and
a sympathetic mother who under
stands this can add color and zest
to the simple foods that her child
should have.