Me: "What's your favorite thing for breakfast?"
Leif: "You know, it's round and has fruit inside."
Me: (Perplexed) "Sweedies?"
Leif: "No."
Me: "Blueberry pancakes?"
Leif: "No."
Me: "Muffins?"
Leif: (Increasingly more annoyed.) "NO!"
Me: "Round and has fruit inside, like pie?"
Leif: "NO!"
Me: "Ok, help me out, do I cook it?"
Leif: "Well umm, yeah, you make it."
Me: (Totally perplexed.) "Can you tell me more about it?"
Leif: "It is round, has fruit inside, it has salt on top and seeds inside."
Me: (Totally totally perplexed.) "Round, has fruit inside, salt on top and seeds inside... a bagel?"
Leif: "NO! You know this mom."
Me: "I am sorry honey, I don't. What kind of fruit?"
Leif: "Triangle fruit. The fruit is in triangles."
Me: "Leif I have no idea whatsoever. We eat this thing for breakfast?"
Leif: "Yes, all the time!"
(Thankfully the phone rang about this time... it is AB.)
Me: "What do we eat for breakfast that is round, has triangle shaped fruit inside, salt on top and seeds inside."
AB: "What? Round and triangle fruit for breakfast?"
Me: "Yes, round, triangle fruit, salt on top, seeds inside."
AB: "I have absolutely no idea."
----
I know what it is now that Leif showed me, but can you figure it out?
Showing posts with label Leif food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leif food. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Beefing Up
I don’t think we had really paid attention to the fact that beef has been dwindling in our diets until last night. I cook a lot of fish and chicken during the weeknight. However, beef, aside from one or two standby dishes each month (mainly tacos), is mysteriously absent.
Part of it is the fact that I do most of the weeknight cooking and aside from browning up ground beef on occasion I don’t tend to buy or cook beef often. It isn’t that I don’t like beef – I actually love beef, far more than chicken, which given complete power over my family would probably also become a rarity on our plates. But AB likes chicken breasts and the kids will eat chicken. So I cook chicken.
My husband tends to be a touch obsessive about how meat is cooked. By meat, I mean beef in general, large cuts of pork, chicken breasts (only ever grilled) and fish (though I can get away with searing tuna and halibut inside on my grill pan lately). Not only should most meat be cooked over hot charcoal according to AB, but it should also be of a certain quality and have a yet indescribable appearance to it - an appearance that I will likely never understand. I have only a touch more success picking out beef at the grocery store then I do fish.
Anyways, getting a meal on the table that came from a charcoal BBQ takes time – and my kids don’t like to wait for dinner on weeknights. I don’t like them to wait for dinner either because then I find myself being forced to say “No” repeatedly. “No you may not have fruit snacks”, “No you may not have cookies”, “No you may not fix soup or eggs”. Etc.
Last night I was making a quick jambalaya (Zatarains) for AB and I. My kids are wusses and cry when they eat anything hot. So tonight was a night when they got to pick their dinner. I asked Leif what he wanted.
“I want rice, corn, two crackers and a steak,” he declared.
I nearly stopped in my tracks. So just to confirm, I asked him:
“You want steak?” I asked.
See Leif is not a protein kid at all. He has never cared for meat and in the past couple years we have resorted to holding his dessert (i.e., his before bed snack intended to get food in his tummy so he doesn’t wake up at 2am hungry) hostage until he has eaten his meat. It is a battle every single night.
“Yes, I need steak,” he declared.
I picked up the cell phone knowing AB was on his way to Albertsons to get Andouille sausage.
“Hey, would you also pick up a small steak we can panfry for Leif, he says he wants steak,” I relay to AB.
“NOT a SMALL steak,” a voice came from the back seat of the car, “a BIG steak, I need a BIG steak.”
“Ok,” I tell AB, “you heard him, he wants a big steak.”
My kid was asking for a food he normally won’t eat well, I was going to indulge him.
AB also apparently decided that HE was going to indulge Leif as well. He brought home a 0.8 lb Ribeye. A big steak. And not only that, but a good steak. I tell you, AB has standards.
We then spent the next 20 minutes debating on how to cook the steak for Leif – seasonings and method, because we weren’t starting charcoal for the BBQ’er.
In the end it was seasoned with Alder smoked salt and pepper and then pan fried in my grill pan (which AB balked big time when I bought it from IKEA, but we actually use pretty regularly) with a little olive oil for about 1 minute on each side and finished in the oven for a nice medium rare finish.
And it was tasty! I almost wished I was eating steak instead of jambalaya.
Ok, I did wish I was eating steak instead of jambalaya.
Leif chowed his slices eating probably about a third of the steak. Another third AB and I nibbled at and we tossed the last part into the fridge. We talked briefly last night wondering if Leif was craving steak because he needed it, was he maybe anemic? We have fought anemia with Skadi for the last year. Maybe we just need to eat more red meat?
This morning when we got up I asked Leif what he wanted for breakfast today.
“Steak, eggs and a banana,” he answered.
So he had steak, eggs and a banana.
Part of it is the fact that I do most of the weeknight cooking and aside from browning up ground beef on occasion I don’t tend to buy or cook beef often. It isn’t that I don’t like beef – I actually love beef, far more than chicken, which given complete power over my family would probably also become a rarity on our plates. But AB likes chicken breasts and the kids will eat chicken. So I cook chicken.
My husband tends to be a touch obsessive about how meat is cooked. By meat, I mean beef in general, large cuts of pork, chicken breasts (only ever grilled) and fish (though I can get away with searing tuna and halibut inside on my grill pan lately). Not only should most meat be cooked over hot charcoal according to AB, but it should also be of a certain quality and have a yet indescribable appearance to it - an appearance that I will likely never understand. I have only a touch more success picking out beef at the grocery store then I do fish.
Anyways, getting a meal on the table that came from a charcoal BBQ takes time – and my kids don’t like to wait for dinner on weeknights. I don’t like them to wait for dinner either because then I find myself being forced to say “No” repeatedly. “No you may not have fruit snacks”, “No you may not have cookies”, “No you may not fix soup or eggs”. Etc.
Last night I was making a quick jambalaya (Zatarains) for AB and I. My kids are wusses and cry when they eat anything hot. So tonight was a night when they got to pick their dinner. I asked Leif what he wanted.
“I want rice, corn, two crackers and a steak,” he declared.
I nearly stopped in my tracks. So just to confirm, I asked him:
“You want steak?” I asked.
See Leif is not a protein kid at all. He has never cared for meat and in the past couple years we have resorted to holding his dessert (i.e., his before bed snack intended to get food in his tummy so he doesn’t wake up at 2am hungry) hostage until he has eaten his meat. It is a battle every single night.
“Yes, I need steak,” he declared.
I picked up the cell phone knowing AB was on his way to Albertsons to get Andouille sausage.
“Hey, would you also pick up a small steak we can panfry for Leif, he says he wants steak,” I relay to AB.
“NOT a SMALL steak,” a voice came from the back seat of the car, “a BIG steak, I need a BIG steak.”
“Ok,” I tell AB, “you heard him, he wants a big steak.”
My kid was asking for a food he normally won’t eat well, I was going to indulge him.
AB also apparently decided that HE was going to indulge Leif as well. He brought home a 0.8 lb Ribeye. A big steak. And not only that, but a good steak. I tell you, AB has standards.
We then spent the next 20 minutes debating on how to cook the steak for Leif – seasonings and method, because we weren’t starting charcoal for the BBQ’er.
In the end it was seasoned with Alder smoked salt and pepper and then pan fried in my grill pan (which AB balked big time when I bought it from IKEA, but we actually use pretty regularly) with a little olive oil for about 1 minute on each side and finished in the oven for a nice medium rare finish.
And it was tasty! I almost wished I was eating steak instead of jambalaya.
Ok, I did wish I was eating steak instead of jambalaya.
Leif chowed his slices eating probably about a third of the steak. Another third AB and I nibbled at and we tossed the last part into the fridge. We talked briefly last night wondering if Leif was craving steak because he needed it, was he maybe anemic? We have fought anemia with Skadi for the last year. Maybe we just need to eat more red meat?
This morning when we got up I asked Leif what he wanted for breakfast today.
“Steak, eggs and a banana,” he answered.
So he had steak, eggs and a banana.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
*Click*
My mom used to always say my sister and I did it on purpose, we liked opposite things just to annoy her. If my sister liked pickles, I didn't (and still don't). If I like mushrooms, she did not. The list goes on... and on and on.
Evidence that this was not purposeful (beyond just saying it) can be seen with my kids. My kids aren't old enough to make decisions to be different from the other. And in fact, the are at that age where they more often strive to be the same. However, Leif (my once self declared vegetarian who now eats a little meat and chicken in addition to his beloved salami that he never surrendered) since he started on solids loved fruits, vegetables and carbs. Skadi, on the other hand, is a protein girl. The one thing they agree on though is rice. Rice, rice and more rice for my kids.
Leif still loves his fruit and vegetables. I am not bragging that he asks for fruit for every snack. Because he also asks for it at every meal. We plow through a lot of fruit and have had no problems getting rid of fruit from our fruit trees and raspberry canes this year.
Skadi makes awful faces and refuses fruit in all forms except for bananas and canned peaches. All summer I have worked to get a fresh raspberry into her mouth to no avail.
We went on a walk this afternoon and AB stuck a few plums in his pocket from the tree. He handed Leif and I each one on the walk and we immediately started into them. Skadi looked at us like she was completely left out.
AB handed her one and I waited for her to scream, "BALL!" and throw it. She didn't. She bit it.
And she kept biting it. She ate it!
And we rejoiced.
For dinner? We had salmon, fingerling potatoes and broccolini. We could count on Leif to eat the potatoes and broccolini while making up excuses not to eat the fish.
But we were really in awe of Skadi as she plowed through four stalks of broccolini and her potatoes as well as the one vegetable she normally eats (canned carrots).
It was like the produce button clicked in her head this evening and we are so very thrilled!
Now if the fruit snacks button will just click off. We are horribly tired of 20 minute tantrums when we decline her request for "more" while pointing at the fruit snacks.
Evidence that this was not purposeful (beyond just saying it) can be seen with my kids. My kids aren't old enough to make decisions to be different from the other. And in fact, the are at that age where they more often strive to be the same. However, Leif (my once self declared vegetarian who now eats a little meat and chicken in addition to his beloved salami that he never surrendered) since he started on solids loved fruits, vegetables and carbs. Skadi, on the other hand, is a protein girl. The one thing they agree on though is rice. Rice, rice and more rice for my kids.
Leif still loves his fruit and vegetables. I am not bragging that he asks for fruit for every snack. Because he also asks for it at every meal. We plow through a lot of fruit and have had no problems getting rid of fruit from our fruit trees and raspberry canes this year.
Skadi makes awful faces and refuses fruit in all forms except for bananas and canned peaches. All summer I have worked to get a fresh raspberry into her mouth to no avail.
We went on a walk this afternoon and AB stuck a few plums in his pocket from the tree. He handed Leif and I each one on the walk and we immediately started into them. Skadi looked at us like she was completely left out.
AB handed her one and I waited for her to scream, "BALL!" and throw it. She didn't. She bit it.
And she kept biting it. She ate it!
And we rejoiced.
For dinner? We had salmon, fingerling potatoes and broccolini. We could count on Leif to eat the potatoes and broccolini while making up excuses not to eat the fish.
But we were really in awe of Skadi as she plowed through four stalks of broccolini and her potatoes as well as the one vegetable she normally eats (canned carrots).
It was like the produce button clicked in her head this evening and we are so very thrilled!
Now if the fruit snacks button will just click off. We are horribly tired of 20 minute tantrums when we decline her request for "more" while pointing at the fruit snacks.
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