My kids are so weird.

Picky is one thing, but sometimes they just take the cake. They really will, too. They will take it and run away with it and eat it all. But I digress.
On the menu tonight was steak tacos, black beans and fruit salad. Toppings for the tacos included a lovely mix of yellow and red tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, sour cream and salsa.
Guess what the kids ate. Go on, guess. If you guessed a tortilla with cheese and sour cream on it, you'd be right! Sam ate his with lettuce and cheese.
No steak. Not one bite. Not even on the side. And I know that Emma likes steak, and I was pretty sure that Sam did. Ellie's iffy on it. Steak has to be tender and not too hard to chew before she will eat it. Which I get. I really do. I don't like to eat shoe leather either. Just chase the cow through the kitchen and I'm good to start nomming on Bessie.
But THEY TURNED THEIR NOSES UP AT STEAK!! What's wrong with my children?

High praise from a 5 yr old?

Em has been asking for a while if I would make chicken nuggets and french fries for dinner. I know what she wants: nuggets from a bag in the freezer section with lots of honey mustard on them. Well, I finally got around to making nuggets and fries and she did not get unrecognizable chicken from the freezer section. I cut up chicken boobs, dipped in egg, flour, egg, cracker crumbs then baked them. And served with the evil sweet potato fries, salad and fruit.

Sam informed me that they were delicious and tasted just like McDonald's. Har. Har. Har.

Everyone snarfed them up, though. I'll add that to the menu rotation, as they certainly aren't hard, just slightly messier than I usually want to deal with on a Tuesday night.

Sneaky, sneaky mama.

Last night we had turkey burgers, fries and fruit salad for dinner. What's not to love, right? Well, sneaky mama decided to see if I could slip some sweet potato fries over on them. It's still a french fry. It's still not good for them. But it at least has more nutrition than regular french fries. And its a new taste.
So, I pull them out of the oven and immediately Em asked "What is that?"
"French fries, what does it look like?" I scoffed, totally ignoring the fact that they were, you know, bright orange.

I had the conversation two more times with the other kids. Fortunately for his health and well being, Bill had sense enough not to ask.

Seeing as how they all completely doubted the fact that they were, in fact, french fries, I was really thinking that no one would like them and I would be subjected to wailing and gnashing of teeth for torturing them with false french fry hope. Imagine my amazement when they all happily noshed away on bright orange sweet potato fries.

Even El, who didn't really eat much because she wasn't in the mood for a hamburger, ate some of them and like them. Really I think the carton of strawberries that she put away by herself for a snack might have had something to do with her lack of mood, but at least strawberries are good for her.

So, newest strategy, disguising new foods as something familiar and yummy.

Oh the cheesy goodness of it all.

Sorry for the lack of blog postage lately. Between Girl Scout cookie season (did you buy your cookies yet? huh? Didja? Huh?), the cold I had last week and the ulcer that I've developed this week, I haven't done a hell of a lot of cooking. The few times I have this week I've been holding my stomach and crying while I cooked. Tonight was the first time in a while I've looked at food and thought it looked yummy. But then, as the title says, there was cheesy goodness and I think I'd have to be dead to not be happy about cheese.

I made chicken noodle casserole tonight. It's basically what it sounds like, chicken noodle soup turned into a cheesy, yummy casserole. It was so damned good it made me want to smack my mama. Fortunately for her, she's 125 miles away.

Bill of course didn't touch it because it was full of the dreaded cheese. I need to make it again and figure out where to leave the cheese out of some of it for him.

Ellie and Emma both thought it was good and happily ate it.

Sam refused to even bring his plate to the table and acted like we were trying to poison him.

I think it was a partial win. Actually, it was a total win because I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow! Yay me!

Here's the recipe I used (mostly):
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/chicken-noodle-casserole/Detail.aspx

I added some crumbled up saltine crackers to the top and a sprinkle of cheese, with crackers smashed up in it, because we're a little odd and like our chicken noodle soup. So, I thought it would be good on top of the casserole but otherwise followed the recipe. Oh, and I've commit the sin of running out of garlic, so I didn't put any garlic in it, but I can only imagine it would be even better with some. If you love cheese and you love chicken noodle soup, this dish is for you!

Stirred, not shaken, once again

Stir fry is one of my go-to quickie meals. Throw some rice in the rice cooker, chop some veggies, slice some meat, throw it in the pan and 20 minutes later you've got dinner. And I pretty much always have onions, carrots and broccoli for veggies. Soy sauce, ground ginger, garlic and a OJ for the sauce are pretty much staples, too. This time, I had some bok choy to throw in there, as well, and some green onions to sprinkle it with. I usually grab some chicken boobs for the meat, but this time I had some pork that needed using so we had pork stir fry.

As usual, the kids pretty much turned their noses up at it, except they liked the meat. All three of them ate the pork and the rice. Emma ate the carrots, too. The pork did come out incredibly tender, almost melt in your mouth yummy. Maybe I need to grab pork a little more often and leave the chicken boobs unmolested when making stir fry.

You'd think that since the kids don't really like it, I'd give up and stop making stir fry, but I love it. And I get to eat leftovers for lunch the next day.

The ultimate birthday dinner for the man of the house

Tonight's menu featured wonton soup, sweet and sour pork, and chocolate cake topped with chocolate ice cream. All of Bill's favorite foods all in one spot. I guess it's the least I could do to ease him into being 45 yrs old. 'Cause that is like, OLD, dude. And not that far away for me, either.

The thing that makes this menu suitable for a blog about picky eaters is that, despite the fact that Bill loves sweet and sour pork more than anything else in the whole world, food-wise anyway, he still finds things to pick out of it. He will not eat the peppers and onions at all. Picks them out every time. This is my mother-in-law's recipe and I'm told that at one time she tried making it without the peppers and onions and the picky butts in the family told her it didn't taste the same. So, it has to be made with them in, but they will get picked out. Sigh.

However, Bill gave me the ultimate accolade and said the wonton soup was much better than he'd ever had in a restaurant. Props to me!

And miracle of miracles, Ellie ate it and liked it. The world may be about to stop spinning on its axis now, so hold on tight!

Since it was a partial hit, I'll share this recipe tonight and the sweet and sour pork in a few days.

It's really easy to make, too. And it would be even easier if you had some leftover pork roast or something instead of having to cook ground pork for the filling. I found the amount of sesame oil called for to be a bit much, too. Next time I'll do 1/2 a tsp of it, but try it this way first and decide for yourself.

You need:
1/2 c of cooked pork
1 tsp of sesame oil
1 tsp of soy sauce
16 wonton wrappers
6 cups of chicken stock
A couple of stalks of bok choy, chopped
A green onion or two, sliced finely

If you are browning some ground pork for this, like I did, I added a bit of diced onion, minced garlic and salt and pepper to the pan to give it some flavor.

Put your stock in a large pot with the bok choy and bring to a simmer.

Meanwhile, put the cooked pork, sesame oil and soy sauce in a food processor and whirl it around a bit until minced fine.













Lay out the wonton wrappers on a flat surface and put a spoonful of the filling on each one.



Using your finger, wet the edges of the wrapper and pull them together to make a pouch.











Once they are all made, add to the gently simmering stock and cook about 5 minutes. Don't let it boil too hard or the wontons will fall apart.












Gently ladle into bowls and top with the slice green onion.













Can't forget a shot of the most important part: the cake and ice cream!

The guaranteed win.

Tonight was homemade pizza night. Even for the pickiest of the picky in my house, that's a win. And the kids get to help make it, which results in tasty snacks on the floor for the dogs, who are quite fond of cheese.
I don't know why we don't make pizza more often. I can make them for less than I can buy a frozen one. And pair it with a big salad and everyone is full after 3 pieces or so, unlike when we hit the local pizza buffet. Even the skinny mini can pack away 6 pieces and a brownie or two when we eat there. And homemade has got to be more healthy.

Not everything we've eaten this week has been such a big hit. Last night I made shepard's pie, which is one of Bill's favorites. What's not to love about meat and potatoes, especially if you are a man. And piling mashed potatoes on top of meat just makes it better. The carrots and peas tucked in there are just a bonus to make you feel like you've gotten your veggies in. But of course, the kids didn't like it.

Fortunately for my blood pressure, I was at a meeting and didn't have to listen to them saying "Yuck!" No, not that kind of meeting. They haven't pushed me that far, yet. It was for Girl Scouts.

So, I got to come home and eat my dinner in peace in front of my weekly dose of Gray's Anatomy, something we don't let the kids do. I'm sure they found something to eat as clearly they didn't starve overnight.