This past week breakfast was largely successful-minus a disgusting pumpkin bread that failed miserably!! Even Derek said it was gross-like a brick!!! I used too much flour (it would help if I slowed down to read the recipe correctly) and it was dry. But my failure turned into a great teaching moment for our family!! The kids were sitting at the table looking at the bread (even the flexible peeps that have been open to trying new things) like it was poison. I had Daddio try it and he immediately put the plate down. When he put the plate down, I knew something was wrong because he respectfully eats EVERYTHING I cook without complaint!! I know the kids were trying to figure out how they were going to refuse the bread without getting in trouble, so I used the moment to open the door for a conversation. I wanted them to know that if something they are trying doesn't taste right then we need to talk about it. Telling me that something is soggy, dry, runny, etc. is a good thing. Telling me that something looks "nasty" before trying it is not. I figure if we can dialogue about the texture, density, etc.(and I explained to the kids what those words meant) then we can begin to learn why we like or dislike certain things. I certainly don't like dry bread and I don't like runny eggs. If one of my little people feel like a blueberry in a muffin is too runny then I want to know. To me this is a far cry from looking at the plate and declaring grossdom without even putting said gross food (pretty much anything for Warrior girl outside of yogurt and grapes) into your mouth. I want our kids to understand the difference between trying a new food and being able to explain what they like or dislike about it rather than judging a food by the appearance. None of us like everything (hello brussel spouts make me want to puke!!!!!!!) but I want the kids to learn from this and expand their ideas about new things. We also talked about trying a food more than once. Would I make them eat the dry pumpkin bread? No!! Will I set asparagus out again? You bet. We are trying to find this new balance and I want to be able to talk about what we are doing. As I've said all along, I want the kids to want to eat better. Part of this comes from being able to talk about food. I'm glad the bread turned out this way-it provided an awesome discussion that takes the pressure off of us all when something doesn't turn out. It was also sweet to hear my son say, "Mom, bakers make lots of mistakes when they are trying to make something good." I love that boy!!
As I gear up to head to the store with our meal plan for the upcoming week, I do want to note that I am making more trips to the store for fresh produce. It isn't bad, but I do feel like it's worth noting. I am still way ahead of where my food budget usually is at this time of the month so that is good, but I do feel like we are running out of the good stuff pretty quickly. Sams is my best friend as is Aldi-I forgot how awesome the produce is there!!!!
One other cool thing-I am learning about using our food up-i.e. finding ways to use every last bit of fruit or a vegetable. Not that we are wasteful, but I will admit that I have thrown away soft strawberries before without blinking an eye. Now I know that those mushy berries will be just fine in a smoothie or muffin. It is cool to learn how to use our resources better. I like that I am more aware of what I am doing with our food as a whole.
I'm putting the finishing touches on my breakfast plan for the week. I will be sharing that tomorrow.
Loving the sunshine and warmth!!! Everything is better in the summer!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment