But back to me. Actually, truth be told, I was a chef in a former life. Not a graduate of any fancy school, but one of those chefs that worked her way up in the restaurant biz, and worked under a trained chef. It was 10 good years of my life, starting way back in high school and putting myself through college, and eventually, just became my way of life. Chopping, planning, shopping, all have been daily fare.
Introduce Jasmine. Not necessarily interested in mama's passions. Or her cuisine.
I've never served so many meals/snacks out of a box in my life. In fact, she eats things that I honestly wouldn't dream of putting in my mouth. But what's a mom to do? She does not like green food (my favorite color), so the likes of broccoli, asparagus, salads and spinach are rejected outright. She does like edamame, but that's not much of a culinary challenge for me (open bag, boil water, serve). At least it's green. She'll eat tofu when she's in the mood and thankfully she loves fruit. Otherwise I'd be worrying about child endangerment.
Don't get me wrong. She LOVES to eat. She just doesn't appreciate a home-cooked meal. And I'm just not used to rejection. Our days go much better when I don't try to prepare anything special for her. Simple foods like turkeydogs, spaghetti, beans and rice go down easily but try something new? I'm usually treading on thin ice--sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
So my love of cooking has taken a little nosedive lately. I'm not planning meals in my head mid-afternoon like I used to. I don't get excited about making a spicy curry, or even baking in the morning. THANKFULLY, Jasmine loves to cook. And bake. So we at least share in the process and I know her palate will grow over time. She loves to see all the beautiful, fresh produce at the Farmer's market and eventually, I believe, she will come around and love to eat what we cook as much as she likes to help prepare it (or we're in for a bumpy ride).
4 comments:
Oh Monica, I feel your pain!!!! In my pre-kid life, I catered and cooked meals for clients and I really enjoyed it. Enter kids - 5 kids and my former claim of, "I will never serve up a meal from a box," went down the drain! Kraft Mac and Cheese is a fav around here. Sigh! I have tried!! Oh how I have tried, but they finally just wore me down. Hehe!! Just for some hope though, as a kid, I used to be just as bad and now, I don't like food from a box and I did grow up to enjoy food and cooking. Hang in there! I am still very picky but I do love to cook (just not for my kids right now - LOL)! She will come around - eventually!!
I can totally understand your frustration as well. While I do like to cook on occasion, more so I am rather neurotically obsessive about trying to get nutritious foods into my girls' bodies. I know I am spoiled by having my mom living with us, so she cooks most of the weeknight dinners. She cooks a number of vegetables Hungarian style, (you know, starting with a roux), and that flavoring seems to give veggies that extra something which make them gobble up dishes like zucchini, cauliflower, green beans and spinach. Maybe you've tried already, but I figured worth a shot suggesting it. Hope you are having a wonderful Mother's Day!!
Morning Monica - happy mothers day!! Jas and I would get along great - convenience food works for me - and the only things I can cook are made from eggs and generally some kind of meat that is bad for you - Goetta being the all time fav - but at least that's whole grain! ;)
hugs - it'll pass!
aus and co.
I feel your pain too. Emilia loves to cook too, but not eat. Like J she at least likes fruit (likes edamame and tofu too). Every once in a while she will get up the courage to try something and will actually like it, so there is hope. I think I read you sometimes have to introduce something 20 times before a kid will try it, so keep it up!
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