BLT Creamy Mac-N-Cheese

BLT Creamy Mac-n-Cheese via Rachael Ray

My daughter has declared at the dinner table on many occasions (while practically drinking ketchup or salsa through a straw) her pure and total hatred of tomatoes.  Those geniuses at PBS came up with a Daniel Tiger episode last year that contains the song lyrics, "You've gotta try new foods 'cause they might taste good."  This helped a little in other food categories, but never with her tomato hatred.

I continued to serve foods with tomatoes in/on them that my daughter could choose to eat or pass up.  I did not make a "thing" out of her having to try them again, nor did I leave them out of the recipe because I knew she wouldn't eat them.  

To be completely honest, *I* don't love tomatoes...by themselves.  But I like them in or with other foods.  I finally fessed up to this one day when my daughter saw me eating around the whole cherry tomatoes in my salad.  Instead of this bolstering her hatred of the food, I think it helped her view them as a "sometimes" food instead of a "never" food.  Our great compromise was BLT's.  The girl loves her bacon.  Sheepish delight spread over her face one day as she admitted, "I like tomatoes in BLT's."  (This has become a great reminder for other foods she continues to insist on hating.  But really, she's three and a half...so in reality, she asks what's for dinner every afternoon, and after hearing my answer immediately says, "I don't like ___."  Then she asks for seconds that evening.)

So this meal is for my daughter, myself, and all the sometimes-tomato-haters out there.  May we all find a dish with a dreaded food that will compel us to ask for seconds.

Hungry Monkey

This week, two of our meal recipes were adapted from Matthew Amster-Burton's book, "Hungry Monkey."  I love this book!  My husband and I found it when we were preparing for the adoption of our 1.5-yr old (at the time) daughter, and it heavily influenced our opinions about how we would introduce foods in our family.

Amster-Burton was a food critic for a local Seattle newspaper who became a stay-at-home dad.  He writes about introducing his favorite foods to his daughter, Iris.  "Hungry Monkey" is a very funny book, with good thoughts & good recipes.  I highly recommend this book for food-lovers with or without kids--it's an amusing & quick read.

This week, our menu includes his Simple Pad Thai as well as his Penne w/ Brussels Sprouts & Bacon.  I'm looking forward to enjoying these with my own little hungry kiddo!