Kid's Recipe: Fruit Skewers

I've never been a big fruit fan, even as a child. I'll never know why. Fruit is just one of those things that I have to force myself to fit into my diet. Veggies? No issues. In fact, even as a kid, I loved big salads. Loved 'em. My favorite place to eat was Bonanza (do you remember those?!) because I could pick all of the toppings that I wanted off the salad bar, eat my veggies, then go back for more. Yes: I. Was. Strange.

In any case, getting to the point of this post, I wanted to share how my mother got me to eat fruit (after much trial-and-error, begging, pleading, and prying-open-of-my-mouth-to-force-feed-me-grapes). My mom just decided to get creative and make my fruit into a fun dessert that I could help create.

Here's what she did: Mom made fruit skewers. And I'm not just talking fruit on a stick. She also dipped it in chocolate, drizzled with peanut butter chocolate or white chocolate, added a side of yogurt, or grilled it with honey. Yum! Finally, fruit was somewhat acceptable to my refined veggie palate!

If you have the same issues force-feeding your kids fruit, here are a few of my favorite fruit skewer dessert recipes:

Dipped Fruit

One of the first tricks up Mom's sleeve was chocolate-dipped fruit. She figured that if she disguised the entire fruit skewer in chocolate, I may partake in the dreaded health food – and she was right! The recipe is really simple, and it can be used with any fruit. Here, I'll give the example of one of my favorites: Chocolate Covered Bananas:

Semi-sweet baker's chocolate
Bananas

Melt the baker's chocolate in the microwave for a few minutes, stirring every 20 to 30 seconds. Cut bananas in half and thread onto a popsicle stick or skewer. Dip the banana halves in melted chocolate. Place on waxed paper. Freeze until chocolate is solid (at least a few hours or overnight).

Drizzled Fruit Skewers

As she worked her way up toward making my fruit consumption a little healthier (and a little less dependent on chocolate), my mother decided to skewer a variety of fruits and drizzle them with chocolate, PB chocolate or white chocolate. Each is really simple, but the PB chocolate has more ingredients. So, I'll lay out her recipe for PB Chocolate Fruit Skewers:

Variety of fruits
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup chocolate chips

Have kids create fruit skewers by picking the fruits they enjoy and skewering them. Mix peanut butter and chocolate chips together and microwave for a few minutes, stirring every 20 seconds. Lay skewers out on a plate and drizzle the PB chocolate mixture over each. Refrigerate for half an hour or until chocolate has become firm.

Skewer Variations

Once I was eating fruit with less chocolate, my mom graduated me to the fun factor of creating my own skewers and dipping them in yogurt. Since it was fun for me, I still ate my fruit – and didn't depend on chocolate!

Another way to make fruit appealing is to grill skewers and drizzle them with honey. Some fruits, like pineapple, apricots, nectarines and peaches taste better on the grill and hold up better than others. To make, simply create a skewer and stick it on a non-stick foil on the grill. Grill for five minutes on each side. Serve with honey.

So that's it! If you have a picky eater, sometimes making fruit more fun can help kids jump right in.

Any other tips for getting kids to eat right?

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