When I was growing up I ate a lot of junky food. I know, everyone says that, but it’s really true. We subsisted mostly on Hamburger Helper, potato chips, and gigantic tubs of ice cream. Chicken was uncommon until I was older, which probably helped account for it being one of my favorite foods when I was five. I fully admit to being a picky eater, but salad was almost unheard of and most other vegetables - save instances of garden green beans and corn on the cob - were blasted to death in the microwave. To this day I avoid peas.
So now that we have a CSA membership, I need to teach myself how to eat again. We’re getting lots of things I would never otherwise cook (kale, cabbage) and hings that have been stretching my imagination and cookbook searching due to the sheer volume we’re getting (tomatoes, squash). That’s why I haven’t been posting Menu Plan Mondays lately. Half the time I don’t have a menu plan for the upcoming week anymore. This has actually been driving me crazy, and thankfully, we’re now on an every-other-week pickup for the CSA and it’s easier for me to plan.
I think I’ve always been sort of a slumming food snob, but now that it’s hip to eat healthfully (not to mention the influence of being a mom) I feel more comfortable in “forcing” my family to eat ratatouille and refusing to go to McDonald’s. I love that my toddler will gobble up just about anything, including quiche, eggplant, and hummus. That’s not to say we don’t have chicken nuggets in the freezer. We do. And I’ve read Michael Pollan, but I’m not quite ready to let go of my Doritos.
It’s a process.
I’m in the same boat! Growing up we ate crappy sugar cereals for breakfast and dinner was often something like bright orange Kraft mac&cheese with frozen fish sticks, or Steak Umms. Only if we were lucky would my mother make some Lebanese food based on long-standing family recipes. Then the food was actually “real” and not some highly processed food stuffs. And going out to eat was either fast food or something crappy like Lee Ann Chinn takeout. It wasn’t until I turned 18 that I moved out on my own and began expanding my palate. Thankfully I had a good eight years to revamp my diet and explore my options before I became a mother. My nearly ten year old son has been vegan since birth - his childhood couldn’t be more different than mine! The closest thing he’s had to fast food is Punch pizza (he always orders a Margherita with mushrooms and arugula). And our CSA just started delivering but so far his fave has been the cherry belle radishes. Hoping to get him to sample a lot more produce this year than he did last.
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My mother used to make some fantastic spaghetti sauce from scratch, and I loved her beef stew. Ultimate comfort food for me, even if I can’t seem to make it like hers.
Reese so far likes vegetables but of course, he’s only a toddler. I’m anticipating he’ll request a diet of things only in nugget form soon enough.
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