If the world were covered in McDonalds Sweet and Sour Sauce… my son would eat it.

I have recently discovered the power of dip. To be more specific, McDonald’s Sweet and Sour Sauce and Portillo’s House Salad Dressing is what really does the trick.

I am sure you have come across someone who is a picky eater at some point in time. If you are truly lucky, the picky eater is not your child. Unfortunately for me, my son is a very picky eater.

I am not talking about my four-month-old who is finally taking a bottle (Hooray!!!!). Nope, I am talking about my two-year-old.

Right now he is on a kick where he will tell me which fruit he wants to eat and if any other fruit happens to be on his plate he starts to freak out. Crying… Screaming… A full blown melt down over a misplaced blueberry. He will eat virtually any fruit you give him, he just wants to have a say. This is all fine and dandy if my fridge is full. It is when I am in need of a trip to the grocery store that we run into a snafu.

My son likes fruit, cheese, and bread. He is just like mom. When I was pregnant with him I could not eat enough fruit, cheese, and bread.

Although William is not too picky about his fruits, he is very picky about everything else. He does not like vegetables. If it is green, he avoids it or puts it on mommy or daddy’s plate. He is not a fan of pastas or meat in general. Let me tell you, meal time in our home can be a real treat (please note this last sentence was completely sarcastic). Enter the magical mystical world of dips.

William would not touch anything green until he tasted mommy’s Chopped Salad from Portillo’s. He sat there listening to mommy say “Yummy” and “MMmmm Good” and he decided he would try it for himself. He reached in and took a whole handful and shoved it into his mouth. Then he tried to say “MMmmm good”, just like mom. Needless to say it did not all stay in his mouth... After that he was hooked. No other salad dressing would do, he spit it right back out. So I called Portillo’s and asked if they sold their house salad dressing. They do and I bought some. Now if I want William to eat something green I put some dip (Portillo’s House Salad Dressing) on his plate and he will at least give it a taste.

William is not a fan of meat. We eat a lot of chicken, turkey, and fish in our house. We have recently cut back on red meat (by cut back, I mean we do not eat any… my husband’s decision to try and be healthier). If it is in sandwich form, William picks off the meat to eat the bread. If it is just meat on his plate, he pushes it to the side and avoids it. Out of pure laziness, I picked up a McNugget Happy Meal from McDonalds and let my kid go to town. I ordered Sweet and Sour sauce because that is what I enjoy. I opened it up and waited… William dipped a French fry in the sweet and sour sauce. I also like to dip my french fries in sweet and sour sauce. I waited some more… He tried the chicken nugget. He dipped the nugget in again. And again. And again. Hooray! He liked chicken nuggets with sweet and sour sauce!

I am considering stockpiling Portillo’s House Dressing and little packages of McDonald’s Sweet and Sour Sauce. Does that make me a hoarder? Apparently they are the only way that I am going to be able to get my toddler to eat his meat and veggies.

I know people who puree veggies into other foods and trick their kids into eating healthy. I am not a short order cook and I will NOT be making two separate meals every night for dinner just to appease my picky toddler. Everyone will be eating one meal.

Funny me, I like to eat food that tastes good. It is even better if the food is good for me, but I am not a fan of eating something that tastes like cardboard. It seems that every sneaky healthy recipe I try turns out tasting funny.

I am thinking that if I cook something he won’t eat I can just cover it in sweet and sour sauce.

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