Friday, December 21, 2007

RFP

Further to the subject of food, can anybody think of anything I can cook for dinner that Barak is likely to eat? It seems like we are eating doodles cheese about four times a week, which, given that two other nights a week are, practically speaking, Shabbos, means an awful lot of doodles cheese. It's seeming a bit much.

There is nothing wrong with doodles cheese. I use whole-wheat noodles, I add a lot of spinach, and the only other ingredient in cheese. But... enough is enough. Sometimes I make carrot pancakes. Sometimes I make carrot muffins, which, ingredient-wise, are the same thing, with walnuts. Sometimes we have parve chicken nuggets and corn, and sometimes I make pizza, but since Barak won't touch it if it involves anything but dough and cheese, I might as well make him a grilled cheese sandwich. When I make doodles cheese I also make a big pot of vegetables, which he is required to leave in front of him but I do not force him to eat. Whatever I am cooking, he has a plate of sliced cucumbers/peppers/carrots to munch on while he waits, so it's not like he isn't getting anything. Still.

On Friday nights, Barak will happily eat chicken soup with knaidlach, and I tell myself that some of the nutrition from the vegetables must surely be in the broth. Saturday night, it being Shabbos and all, I usually let the kids have cereal and yogurt.

Suggestions, anyone?

In other news, Iyyar has an appointment with an allergist on Thursday. Twice after eating a certain brand of hummous, and then twice on subsequent Shabbosim, he's broken out all over with a bright red rash. He eats just about everything with no problem, so I'm thinking the problem must be legumes, which we tend not to eat much of during the week. He never had a problem with cholent before, but the last couple of weeks I switched from beans to lentils--maybe that's doing it. Anyway, we'll see. We've got major allergies on both sides of the family so I'm hoping we're not in for anything major here.

4 comments:

Alisha said...

If he'll eat raw cucumbers, peppers and carrots, and he gets spinach in the doodles cheese, then why bother even trying to give him cooked veggies that he won't eat? Try raw green beans, too, and maybe celery, and an assortment of fruit, and I'd say he's getting his vitamins. He might like corn on the cob, too, because it's fun to eat.

Then if he has cheese and yogurt and milk, and chicken (real and fake), and will eat whole grains in cereal and bread, well...what's he lacking?

uberimma said...

It's more a matter of the extreme monotony of dinnertime. I mean, doodles cheese with spinach and a plate of raw vegetables every single night?! Also, right now Iyyar will eat just about anything (except raw fruits and vegetables, oddly), and if he never gets anything but what Barak likes that won't last long.

shanna said...

Could it be sesame, not legumes? Even if he's getting little bits of sesame on challah or whatever (not sure if you use sesame as well as colored sprinkles at your place), that may not be enough to trigger an allergic reaction (yet) - but there's lots of sesame (tahina) in chumus...

Anonymous said...

This afternoon I was tempted to buy frozen zucchini pancakes. And then I remembered my stash. I had roasted the extra veggies from a couple of dishes I made on Friday morning (carrots zucchini, sweet potato, normal potato, red bell pepper and asparagus). So when I came home, I whisked up an egg with a bit of flour, chopped up my (already cooked) veggies with a little onion and garlic, and improvised some very wonderful, multi-colored vegetable latkes for lunch.

And then I thought of Barak. They are simple and straightforward enough for a kid to enjoy, and the orange, red and green bits could be sold as "sprinkles" or something. And you could use any veggies you have on hand/are preparing anyway. The makings of these can be a byproduct of the preparations from other meals. You're making kugels and soups anyway... So?