Pinterest: Delusions vs Reality
At some point the Idealistic Mom portion of my brain felt like it would be a sound choice to turn to the internet for assistance in helping our girls broaden their eating horizons. Pinterest had come through in a number of Halloween costume pinches, why not for toddler approved recipes?
The helpful thoughts and suggestions found on Pinterest under the search "Picky Eaters, Kids" is a veritable heyday of the most outlandish and optimistic ideas for meals I've ever seen. Hint, if your kid will eat pizza made with a zucchini instead of crust, they aren't that picky. But, if you stick to it there are some really decent ideas.
The other night, after picking up the girls, we were headed home to start dinner. I was hungry and had found a Pinterest recipe that looked amazing, Cilantro Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa. (Just in case you need it: http://www.joyfulhealthyeats.com/cilantro-lime-chicken-with-avocado-salsa). I knew this would be good, but I wasn't sure how it would go over with the kids. We tried avocado for L & M's first food, neither of them were impressed.
These kids have minds like steel traps. They remember everything (no pressure) so I figured the avocado part was an absolute no-go. L and M sat down to eat their meals: cilantro lime chicken, avocado salsa, quinoa, apple slices and milk. They both just stared at it then at us. They began with the apple then L tried the quinoa and declared the "rice" to be good. She sounded shocked. Then, against all odds, she asked if we had any chips because she "needs chips to eat my avocados, did you know I love those?" She had the "its so obvious, why wouldn't you know that" tone so we just handed over tortilla chips and she ate every last bite. We watched in muted awe so we wouldn't cause the universe to unravel. Luckily M really wanted chips so she agreed to eat a piece of chicken in exchange for a chip, she made it though an entire chicken breast that way. L wasn't a fan of the chicken though she excitedly told us she would prefer to take it for lunch tomorrow, um...okay? She will eat avocados and leftovers, this is fantastic.