I'm constantly getting sucked into the notion of improving ones self. I fall for it every time only to realize, oh yeah, I'm quite happy with my mediocrity! Duh!
Cooking. I don't do a lot of it, and when I do I'm not extremely good at it. Sometimes if I'm having trouble sleeping I'll watch the Food Network. Whatever they're making; the prepping, chopping, sauteing...all of it makes me tired just watching it.
For the most part I'm content with my failing culinary skills grade. Rhett likes to cook so it balances us in a nice yin and yang sort of way. (Likes to or has to or we'd all starve--it's a small distinction.) Every once in awhile I start to romanticize the idea of cooking dinner for my family ever night. I see the commercial people do it and they always seem so non stressed by it. I get suckered into improving myself only to realize that I've been conned by marketing and TV editing. Plus, the pat on my back I give myself only lasts as long as it takes for 3 of 4 my children to inform me that they have no intention on eating what I've just fixed. So now, not only have I made Chicken Cachetori, but also chicken nuggets, hot dogs, plain noodles and turkey sandwiches. Now, mind you I use the word made here very loosely when I say that I made lasagna last night. But someone had to take the 12 pound Costco lasagna out of the freezer, cut the two inch opening in the film cover, put it on a cookie sheet and set the timer. Premade food doesn't bake itself ya know. And while making frozen lasagna and steaming broccoli in the microwave probably doesn't amount to cooking in most people's books, I still took a fair amount of pride in announcing it was time for dinner.
Jackson:"What is it?
Me: "Lasagna."
Jackson: "Hmm, it looks like trash."
Me:"What?! It's all the things you like,look, there's cheese and sausage, and noodles..."
Jackson: "I don't like lasagna."
Me: "How do you know?"
Jackson: "Because I've never had it before."
Hannah: "Can I have tacos?"
The not eating what you prepare for them thing sets off a series of triggers with me because that is not how I was raised. I grew up in the "eat what's in front of you, all of it, and be happy about it because there are starving children all over the world" mentality. None of this 6 different meals for one meal thing we've got going on over here. Maybe I should have my parents come over at meal time and have them put the same fear of God that was placed in me at mealtime. In my day if you were given peas, you ate em. Broccoli, at it. Lima Beans, swallowed them whole while plugging my nose, but ate them too. And if all else failed and you were given some strange thing you didn't want to eat, we just drowned whatever it was in Ranch.
I don't know what the solution should be at mealtime, or if I will ever embrace cooking. But those are questions for someone seeking self improvement, and I'm not falling for that again.
9 comments:
I do a lot of premade food as well for dinner especially because Chris works at night so it's just me and the girls. One thing I have started making though is soups not from a recipe but just throwing things together. Sometimes it works and sometimes not.
I hear ya! Both of our boys are not adventurous in trying new foods...so we just have to stick to our guns, if they don't want to eat what's in front of them, they go hungry, and eventually their hungry enough to try it...of course ice cream after dinner isn't too shabby of a bribe, either! :)
Oh yes, dinner is always a bribe. breakfast and lunch are cake. lilly always eats..pretty much anything. lucas on the other hand is picky. there have been standoffs and lots of crying, i have learned to stick to my guns (to appease my husband really). pizza is a hit at our house.
For a time, whatever our kids didn't finish for dinner, we put in the fridge and that was breakfast the next morning. Of course, Kenny is the one that had to enforce that one because it just broke my heart every time. Now, if they don't at least try everything on the table and consume what's on their plate...no dessert or snacks for them for the rest of the night. And I'm proud to admit, I can do that one a little bettere!! (Okay, so sometimes I'll still sneak them a bite of my ice cream...they are just so cute when they're sad!) I'm trying to not be a sucker..really I am.
Oh, you have hit on a subject for which I have a ton of pet peeves. (Kristina has been pressuring me to post about some of my cooking issues.)
Anyway, the thing that drives me nuts is that when I make dinner I have to deconstruct every dish, or the kids won't touch it. That simple pasta dish I would cook in one pan now becomes a four burner marathon: meat in one pan, noodles boiling in another, sauce in another, vegetables in another, cheese on the side..etc.
And then I need another pan to combine them for the adults!...and now I have a sink full of dishes to clean!
You SHOULD post about it, I think we need all the help/commiserating that we can get! The visual of the four burner marathon is so accurate. Just also throw in the microwave and toaster!
I haven't figured the dinner thing out either. I love that picture of the kids!!!
I want to come over to your side. Or rather I should say I NEED to come over to your way of thinking. My old way isn't working - A good mom provides a cooked meal 5 nights a week. I fail every week. Therefore I am not a good mom. Yeah, that's not working for me. I likey your way.
So much of this post is my life! I, too, question whether Alan taking over cooking for dinner is a survival instinct. He genuinely seems to like it, but I wonder. When Alan's home, he cooks. When he's gone somewhere, I certainly don't want to make an elaborate meal that will be rejected by all those present except me, so I make cheesy bread or hot dogs or something easy and liked by all. My culinary skills may never recover. I don't think I care though. But hey - I still do breakfast and lunch every day, so don't judge me!
And I still don't understand why I have to convince my kids to eat. Food is good!! And I know they're hungry. Weirdest thing ever.
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