Once upon a time, I liked to cook. Back then, I had no kid, an easy dog, one job, no school and basically no responsibilities. Now? I hate to cook. I don't have time, and I cook maybe once a month. Sometimes once every two months.
Last week, Guinevere was sick again and it was immediately clear that I would have to stay home with her. She requested blueberries for breakfast and I thought, I can do better than that, so I started rifling through our pantry for a boxed blueberry muffin mix. At which point Tyler offered the suggestion that I should just make them from scratch. He found this recipe and it looked manageable enough, so I halved it, and made them. And they were amazing. Not very pretty, but tasted amazing. AMAZING.
Even the kid thought so. And we all know her opinion is the most important one!
Then, for lunch, I decided to make an Avocado Chicken Salad that I'd seen on Pinterest. This is my new favorite food. And now that I've posted this picture, I'm craving it again. I could eat this every day.
Dinners are tricky since Tyler is dieting. And me, well, any diet that doesn't let me eat at Taco Bell is a waste of my time. But this looked yummy, and fit in with his plan, and seemed easy enough. I loved it, Tyler was "meh", and so I gobbled up all the leftovers over the weekend.
I'm not sure I can keep this sort of effort up, but maybe dinner once a week is possible?
Any others who don't cook?
These look incredible. I bet the kitchen smelled glorious!
ReplyDeleteOh, it did! Mmmm. And how are you a no-reply commenter?? Girlll!
DeleteSometimes I wish I didn't love to cook! It seems that I just keep setting precedent, so now it's expected,... and damn it all, sometimes I just don't wanna! haha That chicken salad looks amazing! I may make that for the kiddos and I tonight!
ReplyDeleteDo your kids eat stuff like that? JEALOUS! Guinevere survives on Mac 'n Cheese, Chicken Nuggets, and Waffles. Somehow daycare gets her to eat other things, but I can't figure out how to :(
DeleteOh yeah. I "technically" have picky eaters. It's not that they don't like a particular food... our issue is that more often than not, they don't want to eat a particular food when I make it, but want it a few days later when I don't have whatever it is. Haha. My kids are great about veggies and fruits, and "different" foods. (They get that from me, not their dad.) =) Creedyn is more vocal about dislikes, but I have a rule: Try one bite. If you don't like it, I won't make you eat the rest of it. However, if you don't eat what the rest of us are eating, you only get ONE alternative. You can pick that alternative (within reason, obviously... needs to be meal-appropriate/filling, preferably healthy, etc.), but if you don't eat that (after you asked for it), you're out of luck. It works pretty well. Kids won't starve themselves, I promise. My kids have a hard time a dinner. Lately, I've just been giving them a bigger lunch, a small snack before dinner, and then a smaller dinner, and we seem to have less whining and difficulties.
DeleteDoes Guinevere have that: "I want what you're having just because you have it and I don't" issue? If she does, use that to your advantage to get her to try new things! That's what I (inadvertently) did with both of mine, when they were smaller.
G is definitely interested in what I have, and wants to inspect/touch it, but when I offer a bite, "No, no!" with frantic head shaking. Oi. You said "kids won't starve themselves" but that is actually my biggest concern. G is pretty skinny and I've always thought it was better to just get some calories in her, so I gave in until when I thought she might be old enough to get the idea of "this is dinner - eat it, or don't eat anything". You think at 19mo that concept will click?
DeleteHave you tried letting her do it herself? Mila hates being fed about 95% of the time, but if I let her do it herself w/ her spoon or fork, or even her fingers, she's down to try.
DeleteI can only tell you what works for me... you'd know best if you want/feel comfortable enough to try... or if it would work for Guinevere....
As of maybe about two months ago, when she started getting finicky about eating every so often, I did as I said in my above comment. Mila's communication is way better than Creedyn's was at this age, which makes it easier. Guinevere and Mila have that in common, I think, from everything you've said about G. So I didn't get too wordy with her, but got it down to "her level" so that I knew she'd understand. "Can you eat? No more after this, if you don't eat now. It's almost time for ___." 9 times out of 10, she'll eat. See,... I did a lot of giving in w/ Creedyn when he was the girls' age,... which ended up being more of a struggle in the long run because I didn't stick to parimeters, which then made him think he could do as he pleased when it came to eating whenever he wanted, not when he really needed/needs to.
As to the not starving themselves... I actually got that straight from our Pedi, because of Creedyn. He did this often. It's not as bad now, but it still happens from time to time. He (our pedi) said that we just have to "make it count" when they do eat. So if you know nuggets, or mac n cheese, will guarantee a full belly, do it. Always encourage new foods, but don't force. It's that (oft-difficult) fine line between letting them "grow" and be independent, and learn to make their own choices but also exerting yourself as a parent and setting down how it needs to be.
Food has actually been one of my biggest parenting challenges. Hang in there mama. You'll find what works for you guys.
Those muffins look super delish! They don't have to be pretty to taste good! And I LOVE avocado too.. could eat it with every meal. Good job on the cooking!
ReplyDeleteOh god, me too. SO funny, I hated Avocado until two or three years ago. And now I just can't get enough of it!!
DeleteI've been getting much better about the cooking thing as we have begun dipping our toes in the paleo waters. And I am learning to love it! The recipes I have tried so far have been very simple and most all were quite good! (And, btw, I made some pretty awesome blueberry lemon muffins saturday morning!)
ReplyDeleteI know nothing about Paleo (any diet that doesn't let me eat at Taco Bell, well, its not happening) but I think by the standards the Avocado Chicken Salad might work for you? And I think you posted a muffin recipe a while ago (please tell me that was you or I'm losing my mind) that I've had saved to try, it was oat something? Maybe that will be my one day of cooking next week ;) But you should def post the recipe for the blueberry lemon ones!
DeleteI need to update my blog (it's been a few weeks)! I think the muffins I posted previously were oat bran or something out of one of my clean eating books. I did a couple of different muffins last week - in addition to the blueberry lemon, I also did an apple/egg streusel thing (I posted pictures of both on my IG account). Paleo I am still wrapping my brain around...but it's along the lines of cleaning eating, but perhaps taking it a step further. Some refer to it as the 'caveman' diet...and much of it seems to be gluten free, dairy free, etc. No pre-packaged foods and that sort of thing. I am definitley eating more veggies than every before! I have links to a few paleo blogs on mine.
DeleteOk, I want to try ALL three of those recipes! YUM! Thanks for making me hungry before lunch!
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blog and love hearing your views/learning experiences on parenting (I have a 16 month old son). Have you heard of the book "French kids will eat anything"? I haven't read it but have read a few detailed summaries....basically you don't make a special "kids" meal, you let your children eat the same thing the adults are eating at mealtime. Also you try to expose them to new flavors, vegetables, etc so they don't get stuck in a rut eating the same thing. I don't want to sound critical or judgmental, but please do your research on the foods you are giving your daughter! After my son was born I got really into reading ingredient labels and if I didn't know what something was, I would look it up. So many kids products contain artificial coloring (which has been linked to ADD, behavior problems, and many other issues), genetically modified ingredients (GMO's) which have not been tested for safety and are believed to cause obesity, cancer, asthma, allergies, and a whole array of other diseases. The list goes on and on....it is truly scary what our food contains and what the FDA will allow and let us believe it is safe. I highly encourage everyone-especially those with children-to do your research and know what you are eating. Some good resources are Robyn O'Brien (follow her on Twitter or Facebook or look at her site) the documentary Food, Inc., Organic Consumers Association....there really is a lot of info out there once you start looking. I understand you are busy, and don't have time to cook every night-but even small changes here and there add up!
ReplyDeleteSorry for the long comment.....I am NOT saying you are a bad parent, but so many people are unaware of all the nasty ingredients in our food!! I would be happy to answer any questions if anyone wants more info.
Allison - thank you for this comment! I haven't heard of that book but will check it out. I do agree with that philosophy. As a child, if I didn't like dinner then I could go to bed hungry (because I was a jerk that never tried anything. My parents certainly didn't demand I eat Liver every night, but they expected me to try things). I plan to behave similarly with Guinevere, but I worry if she is old enough yet to understand eating when she is hungry - at what age is it okay to tell her dinner is over if she won't eat something? She is also so tiny that I tend to give in just to cram calories in her. Her Christmas dress was a size 3-6 month - at 18 months. She only barely now is mostly 12mo clothes, but still quite a few 9mo! I'd love to hear your thoughts on balancing that process of new foods vs just getting something in her tummy.
DeleteI appreciate the references for Robyn O'Brien and Food, Inc. Books are definitely easiest for me to manage, so if you have any others of those that you recommend I would love to read them!
Robyn O'Brien has a book that may be worth looking into-
Deletehttp://www.amazon.com/The-Unhealthy-Truth-Shocking-Investigation/dp/0767930746/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360088787&sr=8-1&keywords=robyn+obrien
I totally understand the weight issue....my son is in the 25% for weight (but has a HUGE head!!) and sometimes if he doesn't eat much at dinner I'm tempted to give in and give him bunny crackers or toast or something I know he'll eat. But we do try at first to get him to eat what we are eating-the French book goes into more details, and my friend wrote a great blog post about it-
http://acollectionofpassions.com/blog/french-kids-eat-everything
I do try to give my little guy lots of healthy fats....avocado on his toast (with butter), if I make muffins or baked goods for him I use coconut oil, hemp seeds, whatever healthy fats I can get in there. Good luck, and just remember even little changes can add up!
I have to cook most of my meals or I would starve! My favorite thing is finding crockpot recipes. It does all the work for you!
ReplyDeleteI do not cook. At all. I am pretty sure I would win a "worst wife of the year" award, if such thing existed. I can make cookies. And cupcakes. And banana bread. That's it. My husband does all of the cooking in our house. And lately, the cleaning and his laundry too. He sure got lucky with me :)
ReplyDeleteI go through phased where I cook a lot and then I don't cook for a couple weeks. Those all look yummy!
ReplyDeleteDamn, girl! Look at you! Totally gonna make the blueberry muffins. Was looking for a new recipe...Paul and Elena both love them. And I've been dying to make the avocado chix salad, if and when avocados seems appealing to me again. This pregnancy has me surviving on cereal and yeah, that's pretty much it.
ReplyDeleteI don't love to cook probably b/c I'm not a natural. I'm a recipe girl. And I like to try new ones. I try to cook when Paul is home and for Elena but lately I've just been zapped of energy and can hardly look in my fridge without wanting to hurl. Elena imitates me gagging. Awesome!
Thanks for giving me some new ideas!
Ohh the muffins look yummy. I'll have to try them out!
ReplyDeleteThe avocado salad makes my mouth water, anything with avocado is my weakness. on the other hand, I have to cook everyday and two different meals since hubby is on a diet.so I cook what I crave and cook his.
ReplyDeleteloooove muffins so much look delish
ReplyDeleteI'm with Tyler on the dieting boat and that avacado chicken salad looks amazing. Putting it on my to-do.
ReplyDeleteI am so impressed you managed all of that in one day! I'm pretty proud of myself if I can cook three times a week... one meal a day. And that's a challenge! And I hate it. So I'm with you on the not a fan of cooking part... it takes so much time!!
ReplyDeleteMmmm!! It all looks so yummy!! I need to make that avocado chicken salad! Our family LOVES avocados!!
ReplyDeletewoo hoo for cooking!! I can't...or let's just say I suck at cooking!! I'm clumsy and forget things (like ingredients or leave the water boiling for too long) and just generally don't like to spend 30 minutes standing and making food when I'll eat it and it's gone in like 5 minutes!! I do make some things and the avocado salad looks yummy!! I've made a couple of things from Pinterest that were quick and yummy!!
ReplyDeleteSame...it does feel like a waste of time when I can just make a bowl of cereal. But I am definitely not a "foodie" so, well, there's that :)
DeleteDo you have a crock pot? Check out recipes here: http://crockingirls.com/ and here: http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/. I don't know how diet-friendly these resipes are, but many of the ones I have tried are easy and yummy!
ReplyDeleteI do have a crockpot, and those are DEFINITELY the way to go...I have a few sites I follow but haven't heard of those. Thanks for the links!!
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