A few days ago, I mentioned that I have been downloading a week’s worth of recipes from AllRecipes.com, buying the necessary ingredients, and making the meals from scratch. I am now well into my second week with each meal being completely different from the last. Well…get this…my kids now expect a really good AND tasty meal. What? When did that happen? What have I done? I’ve created a bunch of meal monsters.
I used to complain that it didn’t matter what I made because the kids wouldn’t eat it, but this is no longer the case. My girls are eating the food I put in front of them with gusto, and asking for more. They are at the dinner table asking what’s for dinner before I ever have a chance to call them. I thought I wanted this, but truthfully, it’s like when the kids crawl and you wish they would hurry up and walk. And then they do and you wish they didn’t because it’s so much more work! This is the same thing — I used to throw packaged spaghetti into a pot of boiling water, open a jar of Ragu, toss it into a small pan, put it on a plate, and call it a meal. Those days are over for me. I tried to pull that trick the other night when I was too tired to go gourmet and the girls looked at me and asked where the real meal was. When told, “This is it,” they were deeply disappointed and made me swear I’d try again tomorrow.
So I did.
After working all day, I drove to Vons and bought the items needed for “Fabulous Wet Burritos.” I was so tired that I had to keep reading the ingredient’s list over and over and walking back to aisles I had already left because I forgot one more thing. Finally, after loading up the car with the fresh ingredients and driving home, I started lining up the items I needed, and began the arduous task of chopping. I hate chopping vegetables. I would rather lick the tub clean after a sweaty soccer team had bathed than chop vegetables (After that last sentence, maybe I’ve been playing “Would you Rather” a few too many times). I was able to pawn off walking the dog, however, in exchange for putting a decent meal together so maybe this cooking thing really is worth it!
The recipe really was pretty easy to follow, and I quickly assembled my first Fabulous Wet Burrito according to the instructions and placed it before my first daughter. She looked at it, and I thought, “Uh-oh,” because she is my fussiest eater but she said, “It looks so good you have to go take a picture and put it on Twitter!” (that’s my girl!). You will have to trust me when I say that the burritos turned out better than the picture.
The plan that started as an experiment I thought was doomed for failure has worked, and I plan to continue making healthier and rave-worthy dinners. As I improve, I will add better side dishes. For now, I am focusing on the main event, hoping it is enough.
Tonight’s plan is “all things green” in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, so there will not be any pinching at the dinner table except maybe for a pinch of salt.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
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