June 26: Thursday Thirteen #2

It’s Thursday and time to participate in Thursday Thirteen! Get the details here.

The foods regularly purchased and consumed in our house are different than those before we had children. Some of these “kid” foods that have come back into our lives are still strictly for the kids. Froot Loops? Ack—so sweet! Apples, sliced and peeled? Why bother—they’re just as good without all that work. Other foods, though, have been welcomed into our diets again. These are 13 of those tasty treats.

13 kid foods I still enjoy

1. Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. I’ll be honest; I never stopped eating this stuff.
   
2. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I always had peanut butter around for baking and occasionally to spread on toast or waffles, but I had forgotten how wholesome a good PB&J tastes.
   
3. Kool-Aid. Truthfully, I put a little less sugar than I’m supposed to, but I still love this sweet nectar.
   
4. Smarties. I open up the wrapper, sort them by color, and eat them from the largest number to the smallest; exactly the way I ate them as a child.
   
5. Strawberry milk. As a kid I’d put three or four times as many spoonfuls of that sugary powder as I should have. Now I add the correct amount but it tastes as good as I remember.
   
6. Spaghettios. I don’t eat these often because I really don’t like them very much, but just the smell brings back memories of lunchtime in those olden days.
   
7. Graham crackers. Yeah, they’re better with chocolate and toasted marshmallows. But even by themselves, I had forgotten how much I loved these.
   
8. Tater tots. The cafeteria in college served these deep-fried a few times a week, and I swore I’d never eat them oven-baked again. But I refuse to own a deep fryer, so we’re back to oven baking. And they’re still pretty tasty.
   
9. Popsicles. Nothing refreshes on a hot day like these.
   
10. Canned peaches. Yes, nowadays I prefer a fresh peach, but sometimes these will do the job.
    
11. Top Ramen. I ate this through college too, but stopped the minute I could afford real food. Now I usually eat it not as soup, but noodles. Sometimes sautéed a little, maybe with soy sauce.
    
12. Toast with cinnamon sugar. And when the sugar melts a little into the hot butter? Oh my.
    
13. Fruit Stripe gum. I don’t remember it being so sticky. But oh, those sweet, artificial fruit flavors. Yum.