Strange Kids

My kids (well at least 3 of them) must have gotten their eating habits from Mario's side of the family. I guess Nate takes after me because he is a picky eater. But tonight Erin asked for turkey burgers. I didn't want to eat a bun so I made some mushrooms and onions to put on top of my burger. Eric, Erin, and Zach all asked me to make extra for them. I was shocked. I didn't eat those things until I was an adult. The three of them love refried beans (and many other types of beans) which I hate. In fact one meal that I dreaded as a kid (and still do), ham and bean soup, is one of their favorites.

A couple years ago I bought a book about sneaking vegetables into meals. Come to find out, my kids actually don't mind many of the things I was sneaking into their foods. They would prefer me just to be honest with them and serve it the way it is intended to be served.

I have noticed that Erin will eat almost anything that she makes even if it has some ingredients that she hasn't eaten before. Eric isn't too picky when it comes to food. He just eats what is served. If he likes it, he will have seconds, if not, he is done. Zach is the most impressive of all. I have been ordering baskets of fruit and vegetables from a co-op. I order the basket on Tuesday and it is available to pick up on Saturday. All the baskets are the same, so there is no choice in what we get. It has been so much fun to get our basket and try new foods. Most of the food is familiar to us, but some is new. We have tried eggplant, avocado, kale, fennel and several other new things. Zach will try everything that comes into our basket. Eric and Erin will try some things, but Nathan will try almost nothing new (unless there is a really yummy dessert waiting). I have to sneak things into his homemade popsicles that I make with my new Vita-mix. He doesn't like the shakes I make, but he likes the popsicles (that are just frozen shakes) most of the time. So now I don't care if he eats a popsicle for breakfast. In fact, I encourage it.