Thinking outside the box (of mac and cheese)

It's easy to fall into routine with dinner. Who doesn't just want a quiet meal where the kids devour eveything and you and your partner enjoy a delicious meal. I understand the appeal, and luckily myhusband and I rarely feel that way on the saem day so we fight the fight and we sit down for a family meal. I realize we are blessed with the option to do that because my husband gets home so early (by 4) which is not an option for everyone. But even if you don't eat as a family there is little reason that your kids can't eat the same thing you do, maybe a day later (they can have the leftovers).

We have been really trying to find healhty recipes that our not our standard rotation of favorites and that might get the kids to eat, particulary meat, without a fight. We love Every Day Food because most of the recipes are easy, fast and use standar, easy to find ingredients. They also have a great section called have you tried, that includes recipes and information on f something different, that you may not have tried, like ginger or artichokes.

Following that line of thought we decided to try a recipe that was a step put of everyone's comfort zone, and it proved yummy- at least for the adults! We tried something a little more Asian, a huge step away from our love of all things, Italian, Mexican and Polish/German. Mostly we avoid Asian because of allergies (sesame) and because of my distaste for soy sauce, but this was YUMMY!

We made Pan-Grilled Pork Kebabs . While we didn't have the grill, we did it on our griddle and it was so tasty I could have eaten the whole thing by myself! But I didn't since we are eating healthy and acceptable portions these days!

We totally struck out with the kids though. I thought for sure it would be a hit, peas are a favorite and white rice is so not offending. We even made one plain with no glaze so it was just tender lovely pork. August ate one piece and picked out his peas...oh well you win some you loose some, but we will keep trying. As Dr. Sears says, children will not starve they will eat when they are hungry. Which for mine, means breakfast, good thing Cheerios are fortified!