It is Friday afternoon and I am feeling some relief. My Valentine's craziness is behind me. (Minus one child to a party this afternoon.) I can start to refocus on cleaning my house and getting ready for this baby. I really need to go downstairs and start on dinner, but sadly, I am out of energy, so pigs in blankets is about all I will be good for.
I do have some healthier meals planned this week, but they will just have to wait. Speaking of which, I am trying to be better about getting fruits and vegetables into our diet. This would be much easier if I liked vegetables. I certainly don't hate them the way I did when I was a child, but if there are carrot sticks and cookies at a party, there is no question which one I am going to eat. (Although I will usually take a carrot stick to make myself feel better about eating eight cookies.)
So I joined this food co-op thing called bountifulbaskets.org. For a reasonable price, they load you up with a random assortment of fruits and vegetables. My goal is to bring home all this good-for-you food and actually use it in a week. I am not doing too badly right now. I have another pick up tomorrow and we have used most of what we got last week. The asparagus is patiently waiting its turn because I am not fond of asparagus and I am too tired to make it tonight. But other foods have been used.
My kids, like me, don't love vegetables (wonder where they get that from?). I can usually get them to try a bite, but there is still much cajoling involved. If I put vegetables in something such as soup or a casserole, I can usually get even more down their gullets. However, this week, I am proud to say that I took cauliflower, pureed it, and put it in smoothies. I have never seen my kids down a vegetable so fast. (Granted, they had no idea it was there and it probably tasted more like berries.) I don't plan on doing this all the time because I want my children to get used to the normal taste of veggies as well, but for a small moment I can smile to myself as I see them slurp up the dregs of their cups.
And if you have any great ways to prepare vegetables, I would love to hear them. (Especially asparagus.)
5 comments:
Oh, hey, I'm glad you joined that because I'm thinking about it but I'm still not sure (and I missed the deadline to pay this week). Keep me updated on what you think of it and if it's really worth it. I'm kind of leaning toward giving it a try for all the reasons you listed.
Asparagus happens to be a fave in this house...although beware, copious amounts make your tinckle smell REALLY bad. Seriously.
OK, this is so easy. Wash it and cut it into about 1 inch pieces (I only use the top 3/4 or so, not all the way to the end.) Then drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with any kind of seasoning and stick in the oven at 425 until you can stick a fork into them, don't let them get mushy, they are so yummy when they are soft but still pretty firm.
Enjoy that asparagus!! and then report back to me how bad your pee will smell afterwards cause it will...it's kind of like how your pee will smell like coffee after eating a lot of Honey Smacks. Did I just say pee too much on your blog comments?
One word...butter. Put enough butter on anything and it will taste good...edible at the least.
I love cooking the asparagus like that too...with olive oil, sprinkled with some kosher salt, and baked in the oven for about 15 minutes. We started doing that when we got some Demarle cooking mats and the asparagus turns out great. The head of the stalks get nice and crispy.
My kids also tolerate zucchini and yellow squash. One dish we made was stuffed zucchini but we just called them "boats" and they went to town eating those. Of course there were some other non-healthy stuff in them though.
Good luck!
My 15 month old baby eats every vegetable I give her--from avocados to zucchini. I'm guessing it's because I've fed them to her since she could eat solids.
My pickiest eater eats leafy greens dipped in A-1 steak sauce. I buy salad dressings/condiments to everyone's liking.
We have a one-bite rule in our house. Everyone has to try it. How will they know they hate it if they don't try it?
Oh--and I make asparagus (and several other vegetables) by drizzling them with olive oil and sprinkling with sea salt and roasting in the oven. Tasty.
(wow. I'm wordy tonight.)
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