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With Thanksgiving so swiftly approaching, I'm reminded of the lighter fare that the kids sometimes favor. And, for some reason, lighter fare tends to take me to the topic of salads.

I often find that kids often do fall along the gender lines of liking (or disliking) salad. Girls seem much more interested in them then boys... and I'm not exactly sure why that is. Since we're raising both a boy and girl, I even unwittingly realize that I'm putting Rocco and ChiChi to a gender test. One evening, I was wasting my time pushing a reticent Rocco to eat salad, as ChiChi patiently waited for her plate to be filled with greens.

Rocco's always good with vegetables, but the concept of salad just holds little allure for him. So, I took this as a challenge for more creativity at the table, and I'm happy to report there's been some success. For starters, I found a gem of a book -- 1977's "Betty Crocker's Salads" -- at the library. Now God bless Betty, but some of the salads -- "Banana Spinach  Toss" and "Grape-Pea Salad" just aren't going to happen around here. But the slim-but-packed volume was full of other groovy combinations and a call to realize that pretty much anything in the fridge can qualify as a salad-time possibility.

Here, we love the "bar" concept, where you serve up the plain palette of a baked potato, a pizza crust, a taco shell (you get the idea) and let the kids have their way with them, heaping on an assortment of their favorite meats and cheeses, for example. With a little inspiration from '70's era "Betty," we took that route for "Salad Night." We even gave it a name:  "Kitchen Sink Salad." So, with that idea as your foundation, consider ways that both boys and girls may get into salads. You may even be surprised -- with all the varieties of lettuce available now -- which greens they may enjoy as their starter plate. For instance, Rocco liked the peppery flavor of arugula. Who knew? You may also want to offer spinach leaves, watercress, or butter lettuce, in addition to iceberg or romaine staples.

Then, let the kids add on to the lettuce with foods they like. Don't be afraid of the interesting combinations that may loom. Consider the obvious:  chopped avocado, mandarin oranges, chopped tomatoes, green peas, sliced cucumbers, black and green olives, chopped turkey and ham, and boiled shrimp.

And then, to make the salad-making seem wild, crazy, fun and delicious, opt for some choices that are kid-friendly foods, but may not be so obvious, too:  chopped hard-boiled eggs, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, raisins, walnuts, turkey pepperoni slices, pickles, veggie bacon, and French-fried onions.

With your offerings, use your discretion in chopping up the salad bar choices, depending on your kids' ages.

And while you don't want every last salad remnant cloaked in heavy dressing, put two or three dressings out on the table and let them drizzle them over different parts of the salad they make.

If their age is appropriate, let the kids have a go at tossing their own salad. This practice gets them further involved with the meal, and more likely to eat what's being prepared and served.

What we've found out about serving salad as an entree for "Salad Night" is that chances are excellent that the kids will fill up on a variety of nutritious foods... even if the combination they heap on their plate seems strange, foreign (or unappetizing) to you.

Finally, do get creative with the salad "bar" choices you offer up:  a wide variety of foods will make it more likely that the kids will add a few new food likes to their (hopefully) ever-expanding culinary repertoire.

Plus, I must admit:  how excited am I to add arugula to a grocery list because my son wants it?!


Find more stories and tips for the holidays at Family.com's Yule Blog