"I don't eat tomatoes. Or beans.
Or cabbage." Lian tells any guest at the dinner table that. Lian is
my 10 year Recipe for Success diva who loves to be adventurous with
every other foodie, but me. She stands her ground at home regarding
foods that she will and will not eat unless she prepares it herself.
Her pickiness when I'm in a rush to
feed them real food after a full day of work un-nerves me. "Really,
Lian? REALLY?! You don't eat tomatoes, but you love to make salsa
at school." She looks at me with a secret smile. "I love it when
I make it." AHA! So, the secret is to put my ego aside for a moment
and realize that this kid's got IT. She's got the foodie bug AND
she wants to do the work! How can I say no?
Raising 3 kids in a junk food free
household
ain't easy. They are bombarded with faster, cheaper and worse for
you alternatives in foods, apparel, technology and social relationships.
My goal as a mom who values quality over quantity is to encourage their
appeal for long-term satisfaction; and for them to enjoy the process
of an emotional, financial, and socially responsible connection with
everything they do.
Lian's personal connection with her
food makes my job easy. Because of her hands-on knowledge with food
from "seed to plate", she's quite apt at making fantastic decisions
about her food choices. She appreciates foods with a variety of colors
and textures. She's also hip to what's in a processed food, and
while I do find an occasional sugary treat (I call it "kiddie crack")
wrapper in the back pack, she often chooses something fresh that she
can prepare the way she wants. Her healthy and happy demeanor and
outlook
on life prove that she's satisfied with being in control of her own
foodie world. In our home, an apple a day keeps your momma off your
back, so Lian eats that and some oranges.
The standard has always been that we
have a green salad and seasonal fruit salad every night with dinner.
Protein and another vegetable are usually on the menu, and vary
depending
on budget, prep time, and availability. Lian and her sister, Tiye,
prepare
the two salads nightly. When we find items in the grocery or farmer's
market that Lian knows how to prepare, she gets to make those recipes
as well.
My favorite is the quinoa salad that she makes. Of course, I made her recipe once, and she wouldn't touch it. Oh well. I'll have the rest of my life to make it for myself once she's off to college, I guess. Thankfully, so will she!
