In that archetypal parenting irony, my daughter is a spectacularly fussy eater. I can number the fruits and vegetables she will eat on one hand. Seriously. She absolutely refuses to try anything new, even new kinds of cake! She is ten. And I am beginning to give up hope that this is just a passing phase.
Over the years, I have tried out the ideas in a number of books to tempt her to eat her 5+ a day. "Mange Tout" has some fun ideas, but they didn't get us anywhere. I ditched "The Art of Hiding Vegetables" in disgust when I read that potatoes don't count as a vegetable. If I couldn't count potatoes, I was going backwards, not forwards, and what was the point of that?! Every recipe in "25 Foods Kids Hate and How to Get Them Eating 24" was declared to be "bleugh" on sight. I even brought home "I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato" just for fun!But did I give up? No! I'm a librarian in training, there must be an answer in a book somewhere!
The other day, I brought home "Easy Food for Kids" and casually left it lying around . I'm not entirely sure why this book was different, but of her own accord, Miss Missy flicked through it and marked a few recipes she was willing to try. Now, they may not contain vegetables, but as a child who will not ever never try something new, I'm feeling quite positive about this. Last week, I made a cream cheese and pesto dip (actually, this was my own creation, but I was inspired by the recipes in the book). I served it up with bagel chips, and what do you know? She loved it! This week we are going to try the brownies recipe as a treat, then next week, I think we'll try the cheese straws.Who knows, I might make a foodie of her yet!
But I have to say that even I think the recipe for creamy pea soup looks "bleugh" and I can't imagine what the author was thinking including a recipe for something that looks suspiciously like congealed snot in a cup!
