Picky eaters

Picky eaters. We have all come across them and I hear this as a common complaint among my fellow cooks. I have come across several types of picky eaters. Two of my best friends are vegetarians and I myself was one for about 13 years. Of course as best friends do we often eat together so that needs to be taken into account weather dinning in or dinning out. I think because I was a vegetarian for so long this doesn’t faze me as much as other eating restrictions. Of course living in this area makes it a lot easier to find vegetarian fair. However I have found over my many years of not eating meat as well as eating and cooking with my best friends that there are always loads of option out there. I was able to find food in a steak house in Texas. I think most people with special diets like that, know how to find the foods they need in just about any situation. As far as feeding others I find that even those of us who eat meat can still appreciate a meatless meal. In our house we are enacting Meatless Mondays.

Fave veggie entre

Poblano peppers halved and cleaned

Roast in a hot oven until they start to look softish

Cook quinoa and mix with a can of black beans (or homemade black beans) you want a 2-1 rations of quinoa to beans

Mix in some salsa in or a can of chopped green chillies

Fill cooled poblano halves with quinoa mixture and top with a slice or so of cheese. Use Oaxaca or Monterey Jack.

Bake at 350 till done.

Serve with a big salad and a steamed veggie. Super healthy super quick and even meat-lovers will like this meal.

There are also people who have allergies which are very important. Many people have sever allergic reactions and so if you are cooking for other people you need to make sure you know about any allergies. This again is something that is fair and any good hostess / host will check with her/ his guest when inviting them for a meal.

The last group is the people that don’t like certain foods or worse yet are sure they won’t like it so they won’t try it. This is what we typically call a picky eater. I have several thoughts on this.

My first is that parents should stop being short order cooks. Teach your kids to appreciate the food they have on their plate. My mother is a great cook. She made dinner for us every night and served it to us as a family. (tangent here) family dinner takes 1 hour tops and is very important family bonding time. Check in, find out how days were and who the people around the table are. Yes we have busy lives and yes we have tones of schedule but we have an hour and if you don’t take that time your going to wake up one day and not know who your kids friends are what they do or what is going on with your spouse or if you’re a kid your going to think mom and dad don’t think spending time with you is important! How awful is that! Ok stop rant.

So my mother cooked for all of us and there was as the saying goes two choices for dinner. Eat it or don’t. Even the things we didn’t like (and I hate Brussels sprouts) we had to eat at least one of. I think this helped my brother and I learn to try new things not just in food but in life too.

I once talked to a friend of mine who was newly married to a past housemate of mine and she said “he is so picky! How did you get him to eat?” Easy I cooked it he ate it. Back to the two options eat it or don’t. If you have a complainer at the dinner table the best cure is to teach them to cook. They get one night a week to make a meal for the family and they can make the foods they like. Supervised by someone who can cook of course. For that matter it is great for every person to make a meal once a week. It teaches you so much!