There is not one person who knows me who would say, “Oh Liz? Yeah, she’s a great cook!” Cooking is just not my thing. And, trust me, I have tried. Years ago when my husband and I started dating I made him brownies that never gelled properly in the oven. I realized I had forgotten to include the eggs. Simple mistake. But, the worse part? I was too embarrassed to tell him, so I cracked a few eggs, stirred ‘em right into the mixture in the pan, threw them back in the oven and hoped for the best. They say you win a person over through their stomach. You can imagine the gooey chocolate mixture covered with what became scrambled eggs in the oven didn’t exactly do the trick.
After my babies were born, I vowed to become a better cook. And I tried, I really did. But here we are over three years later and, unfortunately, not much has changed (I still stay away from brownie mixes). Sure I can whip up a generic lasagna or mac and cheese, but anything more advanced than that is just out of my scope.
But, alas!, for all you reading out there who are just like me there is hope for us after all! In the last three years I have realized that it is not fancy food that my kids respond to, rather the creativity I put into whatever I’ve prepared for mealtime. For instance, push a turkey hotdog through a chopstick and suddenly a toddler has a hotdog sword. Cookie cutters suddenly make any boring sandwich more fun. Letting your child pick what shade food coloring you’ll add to the pancake mix makes breakfast a blast. You see where I’m going here. Simple tricks can make any meal fun even if mom’s food is only so-so.
I’ve stopped beating myself up about my lack of skills in the kitchen. If you’re like me and far from the world’s greatest chef, don’t be so hard on yourself. Turns out it’s more about the thought you put into a meal rather than the caliber of the meal itself. Mediocre food made with creativity and love is precisely just that – love on a plate!
Sincerely,
From the Stork’s Nest~
Liz
What creative meals have you come up with to get your kids to eat?
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