I'm fairly certain that half of the food I ate this week was bell peppers. They were an ingredient in nearly every dish. I like bell peppers; they are versatile and add fun colors to a meal. But why are we eating so many of them these days?
Answer - the kiddo.
Kiddo is still in that picky eating stage. All things considered, she's eating well but most vegetables are still suspect. When she decides she likes a specific vegetable, I ride that for as long as possible. Right now, she's on a big raw red pepper strips and cucumber kick. Fine by me! I will keep those around until she moves on to something else.
When it comes to meal planning, I try to balance what we adults like with what the kiddo might actually eat. I don't want to have to make two entirely separate dinners every night. Right now, I try to make dishes where she will eat least half of the ingredients. Alternatively, I'll make an adult dish that has a kid friendly tweak - i.e., omitting everything but the cheese from the filling when I make quesadillas.
It's working for now, but I can't wait until the kiddo's palette expands a bit more. She promises that she will eat "mommy-daddy dinner" when she turns five. I'm not holding my breathe, but you never know. Kids surprise you like that.
If you're feeding kids, what works for you?
I’m making decent progress in This American Ex-Wife. It’s a nice blend of memoir, stats, and rage. A lot of the content feels like “well, duh” but that’s probably because I’m a woman. I think any men reading this might be surprised - just as they have been with the man or a bear thing happening right now.
*Books shared here are affiliate links for Bookshop.org
We deserve more ravioli. [Jezebel]
Some delightfully playful pictures. [Colossal]
Universities should have expected no less. [The Atlantic - gift link]
The 30-minute recipe is a lie. [TASTE]
Shame and comfort around nudity is contextual. [Articles of Interest]
Modesty as a form of control and empowerment. [Articles of Interest]
A lot of American democracy is on the honor system. [The Daily]
A lovely conversation on deep reading. [Life Kit]
Green stickers and glowing cats. [99% Invisible]
I will now be referring to plants as "light eaters." [The Atlantic]
The pain and progress of pointe shoes. [Articles of Interest]
Righteous Thieves is story about a crew of thieves stealing back art stolen by the Nazis. It was not good. With a better script and a better cast it might have been decent but, as created, this was barely a C-level flick. It was way too slow in some places, and way too fast in others. Also, the plot had holes the size of Texas. [Tubi]
Treason, on the other had, was phenomenal. This was a limited series in the spy thriller genre. The cast was well-chosen and provide wonderful performances. I would expect no less from Ciaran Hinds and Alex Kingston. I didn't know the other actors, but they were all good. Plus, while intricate, the plot does not suffer from needless elements. This was tight which keeps things moving. [Netflix]
I can't believe that, in all my years of making shrimp, I've never made shrimp scampi. Somehow, that classic dish has been outside of my meal planning. I remedied that this week. It was a simple meal and we served the shrimp with elbow pasta... cause that's the shape the kiddo wanted. Angel hair would have been better. Also, I really felt that capers would have added just a touch of something extra. Might try that next time. [WaPo - gift link]
A few weeks ago, I subscribed to some newsletters from Eating Well. Since then, a slew of tasty looking dishes have made their way into my inbox. One of those recipes was pepperoni pizza portobello mushrooms. This one certainly satisfied my pizza craving by was a bit messy. I might try to cook the mushrooms on a rack so that the liquid drains off. We served this with salad. [Eating Well]
During finals week, I post a slew of “you can do it!” style posts for our students. I also include a few study break recommendations. That meant diving back into my photo archive to find some stuff. While doing that, I encountered this cheerful image of sunflowers. [My Personal Archives]
Sometimes we need a reminder that people aren’t mad at us.
Three glorious days of intersession this week where I will try to cram in far too much work I’ve been putting off while classes are happening.
Eating Well does have great newsletters. I make the dinner menu every week and those newsletters often play a role.