Kids Fit Menu

Thanks to Cheddar’s for inspiring a Mom and kids dinner date! 
Take the kids out to dinner and know that they are getting a full serving of fruits or vegetables in their kids meal at Cheddar’s!

Anticipation is rough. Several months ago I got to attend the Kids Fit Menu Cooking Challenge where local high school culinary students competed to create healthy, hand-crafted dishes through the Kids Fit Menu program. It was thrilling to watch a cooking competition in real life instead of on TV! Even if I didn’t get to taste any of the food at the competition. There were some strict guidelines that the meals had to meet (you can see them here) and there were a panel of judges on hand to taste the dishes and give feedback. The winners were announced and then we all waited for the winning dishes to make their way to a local Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen location.

But now the anticipation is over! Last week nine of the Cheddar’s locations in Dallas/Fort Worth unveiled the winning dishes, Pizza Dippers and a Honey Lime Chicken Wrap. I picked the location closest to us and took my kids out for a Mom and kids dinner date.

Sitting down to dinner Littlest intently reviewed the menu before we decided on our choices. We got several things for the table that of course included the Pizza Dippers and Honey Lime Chicken Wrap. The kids menu even shows the photos and names of the winners for the Kids Fit Menu dishes! The twins thought it was pretty cool that kids their age, fellow high school students, have dishes that are on a menu at a restaurant.

The Pizza Dippers come with a  side of glazed tropical fruit and the Honey Lime Chicken Wrap is served with strawberries and a key lime mousse for dipping.

Littlest was just a little excited to try out the winning dishes.

There isn’t anything much better than sitting around the table with my kids enjoying good food. And the conversation with my kids is always amusing. The back of the kids menu has some questions to ask each other so we went around the table answering the various questions. Number 12 is about inventing a new holiday and I think we settled on a video game related holiday during the summer.

The four winners of the student-led competition (two teams of two) received scholarships from Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen in addition to having their dishes available on kid’s menus beginning August 1st for a limited time. If you’re in the Dallas/Fort Worth area you can head to one of these nine locations to try the winning dishes yourself: Bedford, Garland, Allen, Dallas, Greenville Ave, The Colony, Little Road, MacArthur, or Mesquite.

If you’re in Dallas/Fort Worth make sure to head to one of the nine locations serving the winning menu items and let me know which one is your favorite!

About Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen 

Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen is built on three basic principles: simple, honest, and natural ingredients. And each of their scratch-made recipes are handcrafted with care and time. Cheddar’s founders believed when a meal is prepared and cooked fresh just for you, it not only tastes better, it makes you feel good.