Are you a short order cook?

[PrincessFiona]

This is something that I've debated from time to time with some of my friends...I sometimes feel a bit like a short order cook. Here is an example.

Yesterday I made stuffed green peppers..(stuffed with hamburger, rice, sauted onions and mushrooms and chopped up tomatoes with garlic)...in other words...YUM! I knew that the reaction of my kids would be to turn up their noses....but I want to eat yummy grown up food...I'm so tired of mac and cheese and fish sticks

So...for hubby and I it was the stuffed peppers...for Amanda it was a stuffed pepper that only had rice, cheese, mushrooms and onions in it...and for both boys...spaghetting w/ meatballs (Chef Boyardee...thank you very much).

I have friends that feel that I should make one thing and that should be it...but I guess I'm a wimp. I hated being forced to sit at the table as a child to choke down liver (oh..the thought of it now still makes me queezy) or some other grown up adventure that I hated....My mom eventually gave up until my brother and I were teen-agers and served us spaghetti, mac and cheese, etc for years.


Does anyone else do the whole short-order cook thing??? It really is getting to be exhausting...maybe I'll just start choking down that mac and cheese again 8O

kris

[PrincessFiona]

madc and cheese

hmmmmmmmm....come to think of it, mac and cheese would be really, really good right now.....or.....even better...a Grilled cheese on sourdough bread :P


kris

[Meenah]

My oldest was vegetarian for about 3 years. We tried to accomodate her, but she had to help. If we planned something like marinated & grilled chicken, I would make sure that I had tofu or portobello mushrooms or fish and I would set aside marinade for her. We told her she HAD to eat fish so that I wouldn't worry about her diet and she was OK with that. My husband and I both cooked and the girls were taught to help when they were old enough. Your older two should be able to help a little bit in the kitchen, and if they don't like what you are preparing include them in preparing something a little different for themselves. Just an idea that worked for me (sometimes).!!!!!
Luanne

[SueC]

I know what you mean Kris. I for the most part make the girls eat what we are eathing, but at the same time, its not practical to think a 3 year old is going to wolf down salmon and spinach salad. We try to expose them to various foods, but I don't mind heating up a hot dog or leftover mac'n cheese to replace whatever entree we are eating. I think as long as they don't expect to always have their own separate menu, it is fine to accomodate their tastes. Hopefully, as they get older they will broaden their horizons a little. One thing we have done over the last few months is one night a week (if it works out) feed the girls something simple and put them to bed and make a "grown up meal" just for the two of us. It works out great because then we get to eat food we wouldn't otherwise fix for all of us, and it is like having a date without hiring a babysitter.

Yes I'm definitly a short order cook too. Only I usually have to warm up chicken nuggets or toaster waffles for every meal. It's all my 4 year old will eat!

[peggyfromwastate]

Kris- If the way your doing meals works for you, stick with it! I think it's awesome that you don't want to force exotic foods on your kids--- I was raised eating bizarre things. I wished I could have had mac&cheese for dinner just once... My deprived childhood. When my husband and I want something spicy, or even just different, we give the kids chicken nuggets or something else simple, then later we eat our meal. It almost feels like a date... Of course, if I could remember what an actual date feels like, I might not say that...

[houseelf]

Kris,

You know that I am the worst about being a short order cook. The little guy is really starting to develop some only child issues and this is just one aspect. 8O

Kelly

Sometimes we make different dinner for Bryn -- same sort of thing as posted above -- the mac and cheese, nuggets, tortilla w/ cheese, etc.

The thing is that sometimes we eat weird stuff (to a toddler anyway). Whether it is spicy, has a lot of seasoning, or whatever, I don't blame her for not being totally gung-ho about it. And sometimes if we give her something different to eat she ends up asking for some of what we are eating so it's a no-pressure way for her to try new things.
We have also lucked out a few times where she eats before we do, goes to bed, and we have a lovely almost restaurant like meal together!

[Rapunzel]

When I don't have Jon around (ie the last entire month for instance) I pretty much avoid any food fights with the kids by keeping our menus to the simple, tried and true dishes they already like. When Jon is home, however, he INSISTS that the kids eat what we are eating or they don't eat at all. This used to horrify me because I remember my mom and dad doing this to me as a child. I hated it!!! We still have some rough nights of psychological arm twisting and sometimes our kids don't get dessert or they go to bed a bit hungry by refusing to eat. However, my children have risen to the occasion more often than not and now enjoy Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Indian, etc. food because that is what Jon and I eat. It is weird in a way that my children will all eat curry, fried rice, pickled jalepenos, and other things that I would have never ever touched as a child. It's entirely due to my husband, though. I refuse to fight those battles - he does. And, oddly enough he's not doing too bad.

My oldest has too many food allergies, shellfish, nuts, etc that I have to be a short order cook if I want her to eat, which is not always successful. She is 5 1/2 and only 35 lbs.

I sure feel like a short order cook most of the time. There seems to be very few meals that I can get all my kids to eat the same thing .... Breakfast dinners are a big thing at our house because they will eat everything! We also do Hawaiian Haystacks a lot because the kids can pick and choose the toppings. Tyler won't eat chicken so he just gets rice with all the toppings. Dallin won't eat the rice or chicken so he just gets toppings! It works though. I usually try to make meals that most of the kids will eat and then I usually have either corndogs or Mac and Cheese to warm up if I know they won't eat something.

It isn't as big a deal to me anymore BUT ... I am sick of not having more variety of food. Whenever I spend a significant time making a new meal, invariably the kids will think it is awful and eat their token few bites. We have a rule that if they complain about the food, they lose any chance of a treat after dinner. That has helped a little. Have you found that the kids like the simple things better? I bought fishsticks (first time ever) and made macaroni and cheese and carrot sticks and my kids claimed it was the best meal I had ever made!!!!

When I really want something yummy that the kids won't eat ... i.e. Japanese food ... I will make the kids something else and Russ and I will eat later with the good stuff. 8)

Robin