"Growing a Foodie"

A few weeks ago, I read an article in Parenting magazine titled, " Growing a Foodie."  First off, I love food.  I love good food.  Natural, real food.  Awwww.  I just finished eating some whole wheat spaghetti with herbed (fresh garlic, onion and thyme (from the garden)) sauteed zucchini ribbons, sprinkled with parm and drizzled with olive oil.  YuM!  Every morning I eat fresh oatmeal with ground flaxseed, freshly grated ginger and nutmeg, cinnamon, finely diced fruit of choice, with a drizzle of honey and splash of cream atop.  Good morning to me!  YUM! again!

Well, Jet, eats pretty bad.  His main diet has been yoplait light yogurt (BAD, artificial sweeteners), apples, and chicken or sandwich meat.  I would do PBJ on whole wheat bread (sometimes Dave's bread (the best)) and then some other fairly kid friendly stuff, like tortilla and cheese with grapes.  Sometimes real oatmeal.  Rarely a vegetable.  YIKES.  So, this article really hit home.  I'm a foodie....why can't my son be too?!  The main quote that struck me was, "Picky eaters aren't born, they are made."  If we keep giving them the same food, how will they know any different?   If we keep giving in, what should we expect?!  Then they elaborated on different ideas about how to get your child to eat more healthy foods etc, and how we should get them eating adult food.  I think most kids' menus are SO UNHEALTHY and processed.  Bleck.

Just the idea alone has changed our lives.  It has been so much fun.  I incorporate him into my cooking.  I try to get him involved as much as I can.  We love smelling spices and trying new flavors together.  Let's see....he loves smoked salmon (who wouldn't?!) on a whole wheat bagel and light cream cheese (I didn't try smoked salmon until I was 23).  He's been eating plenty of steamed carrots.  He loved the pasta I mentioned earlier.  He likes crab meat.  He loves nonfat plain greek yogurt with frozen grapes.  It's awesome....no more yoplait light.  He loved my oatmeal this morning.  He has tried so many things.  He even tried making his own concoction of thin apple slice, and carrot.  He has been REQUESTING healthy things....like lettuce!  Well, he'll still request chocolate milk, and candy.  But, hey, progress. 

My favorite memory about this whole foodie thing thus far, was the vinegar tasting we had about 2 hours ago.  Jet and I sampled vinegars....plain.  Together.  He wasn't scared to try any of them.  We tried, balsamic, red wine, rice, cider, and white balsamic vinegar, and we both whole-heartily agreed that white balsamic was the best.  Delish!  Thank you Kara for telling me about it!  Okay, it felt like we were taking shots or something...lol.  Every time we would try about a 1/4 tsp, we'd kick it back, and wait for our taste buds to react, and say,"woooo, that's strong.  Woooo, tangy!"  And then we'd start giggling.  lol.  Good times. 

So much fun ahead.

Oh yeah, got him to try buffalo wing sauce yesterday, even though he knew it was spicy.  No big deal...just a swig of milk after, and he was good.  Brave kid.  He's still really sensitive to spice, but we'll kick that out soon enough.  I'm not cooking non-spicy food for the next 15 years.  I love jalapenos too much.

I think our favorite smell is olive oil.

And, I think I'm going to get some mulling spices to simmer on the stove.  I've never done it before.  Fresh cloves, cardamom, allspice.....what a heavenly home.