Oh, a rainbow!!! So pretty! I guess it gave me some kind of hope that the day was going to improve (the first day back at school after being out all week was kinda rough on the resident Kindergartener). And then, in the afternoon, after much negotiating (I swear, the UN really needs to start hiring moms of small children), I saw this sign of hope... that all could change for the better...Which brings me to dinner... lately I've been so tired and stretched thin for energy and time, that we've reverted to eating a lot more processed food (either by eating out, or by eating frozen/packaged stuff at home). I am feeling some guilt about this... we have a great CSA box with local organic produce, and all I can think is "how do I get food on the table quick?". So tonight, I plan, I spend an hour cooking barley, chop the veggies and add them to the barley, I season, I add protein (beans) and we get this fabulous soup!
And what is the response of the ungrateful wretches that are my children (I guess that gives it away...)? Yes, they say "EEEWWW" as if I'm trying to feed them dirt with live worms in it. They ate two bites of dinner (which is my estimate of how full their tummies are from the artichokes that I also steamed to entice them into eating decent food).It really makes me hate serving dinner. I WANT to feed my kids healthy foods, and I WANT them to think of cooking as fun, and I WANT them to learn healthy habits, but honestly, if I weren't so dedicated to the idea, and if I didn't actually LIKE to cook for Mike and myself, then we'd just live on chicken strips, spaghetti, and hot dogs.
Now, just as a disclaimer... I am not judging others about what they feed their kids, and I'm not even suggesting that the foods I've mentioned should not be ingested... especially given that lunch was hot dogs wrapped in the crescent roll dough as requested by Nora. I just can't fight more than once a day about food. And right now I'm ready to throw up my hands and run down to the corner store to buy potato chips for dinner... all hail Lay's!
My kids seem to have an aversion to soup as well. It is what takes them the longest to eat....all while I help them as they complain. What makes me feel justified in serving them chicken nuggets is that I make a spinich/carrot/blueberry/banana smoothie that they devour before dinner. After that, whatever they eat is just extra. As much as I wish my kids would LOVE all veggies, for now, smoothies are worth the quiet dinner :)
ReplyDelete