My wonderful sister-in-law, Janine, just sent me the link to this article about children and their eating habits. It reminded me of one part of Tyra's party that we didn't mention: dinner. Tyra got to choose the dinner and she chose chicken nuggets and plain angel hair pasta. I asked her to choose something green, and she said OK to Caesar salad. Well, when her friends were all eating this (surprisingly they all agreed to the salad, not surprisingly few of them finished the small amount of it I put on their plates) they said many times "This is a great dinner!" and "This is delicious!" just like I'd expect a friend of mine to do after I'd made some new fancy recipe out of our Gourmet cookbook.
I have to admit, our kids aren't NEARly as bad as the kids in the article, but this part is just soo true: "In some families, communal meals become brutal battlegrounds, if they haven’t been altogether abandoned. Cooks break under the weight of devising a thousand variations on macaroni and cheese. Strolls through the farmers’ markets are replaced with trudges through the frozen food aisle."
And as for Jessica Seinfeld's method of hiding the veggies, it seems silly that they say it's a bad idea, while in the next paragraph they basically say to just wait it out. At least the hiding it helps the nutritional content during the tough stages! I'd forgotten how often I've done the same thing until one time when Thomas asked why the spaghetti sauce looked so weird and I explained that it had spinach in it, but that you REALLY couldn't taste it. He then said "I remember when you put spinach in the brownies!" I must say, the reason he noticed, both times, is because I put in whole baby leaves, not chopped at all....
4 years ago
6 comments:
Sounds like you missed the key step to hiding veggies in food-- Puree them! :) Reading the article reminded me of the many years I spent eating plain spaghetti, or a "hamburger, pickles only!" I was even willing to wait an extra 10 minutes for a special order at McDonalds which equates to watching everyone else finish their meal while I held out for my burger that was made to my specs.
I am constantly trying to get Ellie to eat more veggies! One mom of 5 out here shreds veggies in her food processor and puts them in anything she can--speghetti sauce, meatloaf...
NO!! You DIDN'T put spinach in brownies. Say you didn't. Sorry, guys, but my kids (especially David) prefer the greens. I have to tell him, "No more broccoli (or brussel sprouts or green beans or zucchini) until you finish your meat! My kids also won't eat much of what I bake. It all goes straight to mom's hips.
There's just one more reason I wish my kids could be around your kids!
As for their food preferences, I'd say that is definite proof to the genetics, they got their Polish genes kicking in there (liking bitter--brussel sprouts-- and sour foods) Cuz they SURE didn't get it from you! You, as I recall, were the pickiest of all the Lee kids :)
Maybe they'd like your baked goods better if you put in some greens (yes, I really did, of course. You would NEVER have guessed, either, if it weren't for the stringy stems!)
Well...that was intereting to read. I freely admit that I am a bit of a finicky eater...but each of kids is a totally different eater. Emily is a little picky but not to bad(she doesn't like chocolate...crazy...THAT is not genetic), Rachel will eat everything in sight, and Steven will eat almost nothing. !!!
As for Lisa...STOP BRAGGING!!! Just kidding! You are a lucky girl...I am going to send my kids to you in Poland!
Universal and eternal! :) Do you guys remember the slim spikes of carrots and celery I speared through the olives and you had to eat the whole thing before you got another olive with....? Or that you had to finish your salad and corn before you could have another slice of pizza?
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