January 21st, 2011

So they say if your kids cook with you, they won’t be as picky.  If you have the kids help with a garden and growing food, they will be more willing to try things.  If you have them try foods 10-15 times they will eventually get used to the taste of that food.  If you sneak in pureed veggies, they won’t notice and will eat the food.  If the kids go grocery shopping with you, they will more likely eat their dinner.  If you just put out what’s for dinner without alternating anything, the kids will eventually eat what’s in front of them without dirty sock faces and extensive inspection of said food.  I’ve tried it all.  Many times.  I do have to say growing the garden probably worked the most.  Lauren discovered her love for raw tomatoes, she pops grape tomatoes like they’re grapes.  Sydney discovered her love for sage.  The pureed veggies in things does work too, zucchini and carrots in pasta sauces or chili is my main trick. But I’ve also sabotaged what would have been a well liked meal by going overboard with the puree thing.  The whole thing seems like an exhausting and winless battle.

So one of my goals is to spend more quality time with Lauren in the afternoons when Sydney naps.  I’ve gotten into a bad habit of doing projects, computer stuff (like I’m doing right now), or house stuff once the weather got cold and shunned us indoors.  When the weather is nice, Lauren and I spend much of our afternoons outside doing various things and it’s great.  So I had a couple of cooking magazines I wanted to page through and was under a blanket on the couch and Lauren asked if she could lay with me under the blanket.  We paged through a Everyday Rachel Ray and a Cooking Light.  Lauren loved looking at all the food and picked out all kinds of recipes she thought looked good and asked if I would make them.  Done and Done.  First on Lauren’s list:

 

Walnut and Breadcrumb Pasta with a Soft Egg.  I would never have picked out this recipe, but it was absolutely fantastic!  I’m not a soft egg person, but the yolk make a delicious sauce for the pasta.  It felt like a simple, yet elegant dish for some reason.  For the girls, I made hard boiled eggs and put them separate from their pasta.  They both ate dinner happily and Lauren was even mad at me for eating the leftovers for lunch the next day….oops.