Birthday Wishes

Today I turned 42! I was thinking about how much more comfortable I am as a 42 year old than I was as a 22 year old. I really do like getting older. Maybe I will feel different when I'm fifty, but right now I like getting older. Each age sounds wiser to me. Every year, I wake up on my birthday and wait to see if I'm wiser. Hmmm. Tonight I don't feel much different - a little full. I ate 3 chocolate, chocolate chip cookies before lunch, a sandwhich and a mandarin orange for lunch, a cupcake after lunch, a cupcake before the kids' swimming lesson, a greek salad, and then another cupcake after that, followed by several yummy butter cookies dipped in dark chocolate.

Neither Robby nor Katie go crazy for cake. Don't get me wrong, they will always take a piece. Today when I offered them each a cupcake for my birthday, they both took a chocolate one. Katie has more of a sweet tooth than Robby does. She sneaks candy and cookies when we have them in the house. Robby not so much. I usually end up throwing away his Halloween candy around Christmas.

I really am not particularly a cake person either, but my birthday buddy at work brought me some delicious little cupcakes from Suzie's Bakery. The first one I had was a deep chocolate with a whipped chocolate filling. Wow. So good. The next one I had was a fluffy white cake with the same whipped chocolate filling. Mmmhm. The last one was that fluffy white cake with a lovely lemony filling. Ahhhh. So, on my 42nd birthday, I am a cake person.

Chicken Chowder

The first time I made a thick and creamy chicken chowder for Robby and Katie they just picked at it. It was different from other soups I had made. It had cream in it. Robby complained that he couldn't see what was in it. He signed, "I just like to see what I'm eating." I told him to pick up chunks out of the soup with his spoon. "Nothing new or unusual in the soup," I said. Carrots, onions, celery, corn...nothing new. It even has shredded potatoes - which they both love. Just not in soup, at least back then. That first night, they both slowly and painfully chewed pieces of chicken and vegetables, using a fork to spear them out of the soup. Katie spent most of the meal eating bread. Robby shook the chunks so that most of the creamy broth fell off before eating it.

I didn't give up, though. It is such a quick and easy meal to make that I make it at least once a month. The tried and true meal-in-one-bowl dinner that makes the night easy and healthy.

We had it again tonight, probably two years after my first attempt. I have found that if I just keep making a dish, the kids come around. Tonight as I was preparing it, Katie called out from the living room, "Ooooh, Mom, that smells so good!" They both ate a full bowl without complaint. Excellent meal.

Spanakopita - Experiencing Food

Recently I made Spanakopita for dinner. It was Lent. Although Fridays are supposed to be an effort in sacrifice during Lent, I find myself trying to be creative on those meatless days. Fish, vegetarian pastas, cheese enchiladas...and Spanakopita. Which in reality would be a sacrifice for my children, who cringe at new vegetarian dishes, especially one made with so much spinach. I decided that they can sacrifice for Jesus and for education, so I made spinach pie. It was fun to make. A lot of work, but fun. Lots of butter and filo dough, creamy cheese and onion. And, one of my favorite healthy greens, spinach.

One might have thought that I said, "Earthworms and dirt for dinner!" Those two kids frowned at their plates, toying with their slice of pie for a few minutes, pusing it about their plates. Katie finally stuck her fork through the crispy filo and at least smiled at the great crunch it made. She tore tiny bits of flaky spinach and cheese, trying not to make a face as she bravely brought the food to her mouth. Robby watched with an arched eyebrow. Having an adventurous little sister pays off in these situations. Her flair for drama has given her the bravado needed to try all of Mom's goofy dishes. She will either rave or revolt. Chewing the Spanakopita, Katie crinkled her nose. "Hmmm," was all we got. She mostly concentrated on getting the crust away from the spinach, although she did eat most of her piece of pie. She did drink two glasses of milk, likely to wash down the green stuff.

Robby became increasingly talkative during the Spanakopita dinner. At one point, he even laid down his fork as though we might not notice, so that he could gesture with his hands. I let him ramble for a few sentences before reminding him that he had to eat his dinner. Mostly he pushed the food around and spread it out. He did indeed try it, though. Maybe they aren't ready for Greek spinach pie, but at least they know what it is now. The best part of the dinner was that Arnie, my loving husband, actually ate a full serving of spinach and enjoyed it. My hotdog loving children can continue to love those dogs as long as they humor my attempts to educate their pallets.

The Unsuccessful Night in the Kitchen

I figure that if I'm going to write about feeding my kids, I'd better write about my failures at it as well. Fortunately for me, last night's failure was just mine. I roasted a chicken. Which I can do. Have done plenty of times. Last night, though, I rushed. The chicken was not thawed completely. After two hours, the chicken was beautiful on the outside and still 140 degrees in some places. I'm impatient and often in denial of food disasters. I pulled it out of the oven anyway, to let it rest. Of course when we started carving it, we hit raw places close to the bone. Back in the oven that chicken went. By the time it was done, the sauced slaw wasn't crisp anymore and the stuffing dish was dry, but the kids were so starving, they gobbled everything up without noticing. Only I was upset by the wilty sides! The chicken was truly moist and delicious.

My kids, Robby and Katie, will always eat chicken. When they were tiny, we introduced chicken nuggets, as most young and busy parents do. When Robby was four and Katie was two, we could bread just about anything, call it a nugget, and they would eat it. I even served a lot of chicken fried steak because Robby wouldn't eat meatballs anymore by four years old. Not sure what happened there! Sometimes when little ones make decisions about food, adults will be baffled. However, chicken fried steak looked like nuggets, so he ate it. Needless to say, chicken continues to be a favorite for R and K. Now they eat it in all kinds of forms, which is great for me! Chicken is fun and easy to cook - ok, except when I'm in a hurry like last night.

This really wonderful parent at our school brings us sample bags of dried cranberries from his work. I have quarts of them. The whole reason for roasting a chicken last night was to use up some of the cranberries in stuffing. Pecans, dried cranberries, bread cubes, chicken stock, sage, thyme, salt and pepper. Even if the edges of the dish were very crispy, the stuffing was delicious. I love the tartness of the cranberries with the savory sage and thyme. The pecans added that nutty crunch. Man, it was so good. Robby ate all of his. Katie and I went back for seconds. Arnie, my husband, is not too big into fruit. He did not eat his. This is to be expected when the fruit takes a big role in a dish. He likes fruit in savory dishes when it is more subtle.

Not matter. Since last nigh is over, I get to move on. I could use some more recipes to use up those dried cranberries.

Ketchup and Pepperoni

Early on I discovered that my kids will eat a lot of different things if there is a bottle of ketchup on the table. Ketchup does a few things for food. It masks unpleasant tastes, it hides strange-looking foods, and it offers a familiar comfort to unfamiliar foods. The older they get, the less likely they are to use ketchup before they try something new, but when they were little - toddler and preschool age, especially - a douse of ketchup got them to try all kinds of new vegetables and new recipes.

When we decided to create a family, I already had nieces and nephews and lots of friends with little kids. I noticed that all these kids were different at the table. When presented with food, some were adventurous and ate everything. I have an image of my 18 month old niece biting happily into a lemon wedge. As I recall, she ate the whole slice and reached for more, juice dripping from her cute little chin. Other kids would simply ignore new or different food and reach for familiar food, which seemed like a pretty good strategy. They didn't whine or make rude comments about the food. Their parents were satisfied that they were eating and left them to their own choices. Finally, of course, there were kids who would whine and make rude comments about the food. Often these children were dragged away from buffets or shushed by embarrassed parents. Lucky for me, my kids have turned out to be pretty easy going about food as they grow up. (They are 9 and 11 now.) Maybe my efforts to make food interesting and adventurous paid off. My husband and I tried to serve food with the philosophy that the kids would be encouraged to always try what was served - to accept food as food.

They definitely like kid-friendly food the best. Anything deep-fried or containing pepperoni and cheese is a sure fire favorite. The last huge pepperoni hit I made them was a recipe from Everyday with Rachael Ray - "Pepperoni Pizza Puffs". They are cute little savory pastries made with pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, and basil. I used wheat flour - a sneaky mom trick - to make them more nutritious and served them with a basic green salad. The kids have requested them several times since then. This is the kind of meal I make between meals that aren't their favorites!