Dinnertime Challenge

The dinnertime challenge: How to please all six of our palates. I've reverted to: You can't please everyone all of the time, only some people some of the time. The ones you don't please at the dinner table have not learned to keep their distaste to themselves and suffer through the meal politely. So far, that includes all of my children.

Despite the dinnertime challenge I haven't given up on our family meal. I try mightily to win these young taste buds over, but the fact remains there are few meals that create an air of excitement for all.

But there are those few that earn a four thumbs-up rating (as in they all eat them willingly and speak positively about what's on their plate). I am grateful to fall back on those few meals as often as I can, and I'm happy to share these recipes knowing full-well they may or may not bring you the same relief at the dinner table.

Chicken Pasta Salad (Deconstructed)

This recipe is derived from a deli recipe sold at a popular Twin Cities grocery store. I have perverted the recipe so badly, I don't think it's wise to give credit to the original. What's more, I have borrowed from a tactic used by Jenny Rosenstrach, author of the book and blog, Dinner: A Love Story (anyone suffering through the dinnertime challenge will appreciate her book), which is the "deconstructed" method of serving dinner to kids with picky palates. In this way, grown ups can have their meal all mixed up, and the kids can choose those ingredients they find less offensive and then have the satisfaction of keeping all food items on their plate from touching, or worse mixing together. But here's the real reason why I recently needed to deconstruct this meal: Because what children like one week doesn't mean they will like it the next. A few years ago I could always count on my kids to eat this pasta salad as is, all mixed up, but recently one child has denounced the celery, another the cherries, and yet another the nuts. Instead of dropping the meal entirely I salvaged it but letting them add what they DO want in their pasta salad.

One box of medium shell noodles (can use gluten-free if you can get away with it), cooked according to directions.
1 1/2-2 cups cooked shredded chicken
Dressing: 1 to 1 1/2 cup mixture of equal parts mayo and poppyseed dressing
Salt and pepper to taste.

Add ins:
2 stalks celery sliced
1 apple peeled, sliced and diced
1-1 1/2 cups dried cherries, cranberries, raisins or whatever dried fruit your kids like
1-1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, walnuts or almonds nuts or whatever nuts your kids like

Breakfast Pizza

The newest addition to my dinner-time dilemma is something I call breakfast pizza. Breakfast for dinner is always a hit. Kids know pizza is a safe meal for them. Why not combine? I got the idea when I saw ideas for dough-free crusts. One included a crust made from thinly sliced potatoes. I tried this with left-over roasted potatoes and think it will work just as well with a bag of frozen hashbrowns. 

One bag of frozen hashbrowns, cooked according to directions (or leftover cooked, sliced potatoes)

Shredded cheese

Cooked sausage (I typically buy the pre-cooked frozen sausage that's easy to microwave)

Eggs

Spread the cooked potatoes on top of a sheet of greased parchment paper. Make the crust thin like a pizza crust but thick enough that it will stay together. Bake at 400 degrees until crisp. Add cheese over top and continue baking until cheese melts. Meanwhile cook, crumble or slice the sausage and cook the eggs to your children's liking (my kids like them over easy and runny, go figure). Add the sausage and eggs, then cut into slices and serve.

Jalapeno Cheeseburger Quesadillas

This is the meal I might be remembered for at the end of life. This is thee meal my kids will come home from college asking for; the meal that gets a "Yeah!" when I tell them what's for dinner. Created out of a necessity to use ground beef before it turned green, my very own, West Texas influenced, jalapeno cheeseburger quesadillas (just drop the jalapeno if that scares you or the kiddos).

Cooked ground beef (I often use left over ground beef that didn't make it in the meat loaf, spaghetti, etc.)

Shredded cheese

Sliced red onion (three out of six in my family skip the onions)

Shredded lettuce

Pickles

Jalapenos

Mustard

Ketchup

We use a panini machine to cook the quesadillas. I cook the onions for those who want them.

 The Boy wants only ketchup with pickles on the side.

This is a traditional cheeseburger option with lettuce, pickles and ketchup.

 Here is the I-Miss-Sonic's-Jalapeno-Cheeseburger version, with lettuce, jalapeno, and mustard.

Normally I make them all then keep them warm in the oven until we're ready to eat. Normally I don't serve a side with this, but on this particular night I cooked half a bag of frozen corn until charred, then sauteed it with diced zuchini, a little garlic and salt and pepper. Not a fan favorite with the kids, but a easy southwestern side for those who need and/or want a serving of vegetables.

More recipes and stories about overcoming the dinnertime challenge are available in my eBook, Feeding the Fit Family.

Nourishment

There's something I like as much as a good workout or time spent writing. I like to cook. Not just anything. I don't particularly care to pull together dinner from a box and a few cans. That's no fun. The cooking I refer to is creative and inspired from yummy ingredients. The cooking I refer to also is best enjoyed while sipping a glass of wine (because this type of cooking often requires you to open a bottle as part of the ingredients).

This type of cooking isn't so easy to do once you become a mom. Only in the last year have I made it back to the stove with any optimism to create or be inspired. Now the girls are old enough to entertain themselves while I make dinner, and because of this, I get to enjoy this process of meal-making with a lot more pride in nourishing my family than I do when it's "sandwich night."

Still, time is of the essence and I'm also partial to "whole" food, as in, as little processed foods as possible. Sometimes those criteria are mutually exclusive to cooking a mid-week family dinner. But I now have three secret weapons that help me combine whole, healthy food with easy meals. You want in?

My first find came about a year ago during a quick trip to the grocery story. This cookbook caught my eye as I was walking past the aisle. I picked it up, flipped through a few pages and chucked it in my basket. I knew I had to have it. The book is "Meals Made Easy: Quick and Delicious Recipes for Every Night of the Week," brought to you by the editors of Real Simple magazine.  Aside from aspiring to be that cool, calm, ultra-organized person I imagine Real Simple readers to be, I am drawn like a magnet to anything that promises "easy" or "quick"! The book isn't categorized by appetizers, entrees, desserts, etc. No, this is mama-friendly cooking. The sections include: One-pot Meals, No-shop Meals, 30-minute Meals, No-cook Meals, Freezer Meals, and Short-cut meals. It speaks to every snafu you might encounter when it's 5 pm and you realize either a: you can't fathom a major post-dinner clean-up, b: you don't have much left in your fridge and there's no way you're hauling three kids to the store, or c: the kids are perilously close to consuming yet another snack.

One of my favorite recipes (and there are a lot of recipes in this book) is in the short-cut section for Inside-out Spring Rolls, which take all of 15 minutes:

You'll need (and notice how few ingredients required):

1 16 oz. bag of frozen pot stickers

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 bag of packaged slaw mix (or 1 carrot and 1 small head Napa cabbage, thinly sliced)

t tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup salted peanuts.

Here's what you do:

Cook up the pot stickers according to directions. Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the slaw or cabbage/carrot mixture and toss to coat. Add soy sauce for another 2 minutes. To serve, transfer the vegetables to individual bowls, top with the pot stickers, and sprinkle with peanuts. 

Yum! Easy! Yes, my kids eat this!

My next great cooking guide came while the girls and I were at the library late this summer. I was skimming the books being promoted on a table and picked up "Feeding the Whole Family: Cooking with Whole Foods," by Cynthia Lair. I have never re-checked out a library book so many times. When I finally returned it, pages had to be pressed back flat after numerous dog-ears and a few got splattered with oil and jelly. I feel bad about this, but it was all out of love and admiration. You'll be happy to know I bought my own copy.

One feature I love about this book, but won't get the opportunity to use until next year is the note at the end of each recipe on how to adapt the recipe for babies. At what point in the recipe or what specific ingredients you can toss on a high chair tray and let the toothless wonder go to town. Genius! 

My two favorite recipes in the book are for curried lentils and cauliflower and for the Thai chicken soup. Both are easy to prepare and crazy good. Again, my kids eat. But what I'm going to share with you here is something for dessert, although I used leftovers to stir into my oatmeal the next morning. That is multitasking.

For your after-dinner or breakfast pleasure I bring you "Winter Fruit Compote with Vanilla Nut Cream." (And I might add, a laxative never tasted so good).

For the compote you need:

1/2 cup dried apricots

1/4 cup pitted prunes

1 apple, sliced

1 pear, sliced

1 cinnamon stick

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmed

1 cup apple juice

Combine all this in a pan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, covered for 20-30 minutes, until the fruit is soft. Remove cinnamon stick.

For the Vanilla Nut Cream you'll need:

1/2 cup raw, unsalted cashews

3 tablespoons maple syrup 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

water

Grund nuts to a fine meal in a small grinder or blender. Then add in maple syrup and vanilla and enough water to give it a creamy consistency.

Put the compote in a bowl and top with the cream. I added another layer by including a slice of pumpkin bread underneath the compote and cream. Heavenly. And heavenly in oatmeal. Oh yes, and for the baby? She recommends reserving some of the fruit to puree. Of course!

My latest cooking resource came last weekend when I discovered the website, Culinary Competitor. Can a triathlete who loves to cook want anything more? Any of you who have seen me in person in the last week have likely heard me gush about it. I rarely get that excited over websites anymore. I am excited. It's witty (what do you expect when you read a blog post about onion goggles?) and informative (beets for muscle cramps, who knew?) and the recipes are exactly what I like to make and consume. I can't possibly limit myself to just one recipe here, so you'll have to check out such hot dishes as: Pan-seared steelhead with Jerusalem artichoke smashed potatoes, pumpkin spice rice pudding (excellent pre-workout snack), and another dessert as breakfast item: Carmalized apple-cranberry baked oatmeal with a salted praline topping. Come on! Are you dying here with me?

More recipes and and tips for feeding the fit family are available in the Life as a Fit Mom eBook, Feeding the Fit Family.