I have turned into my Rebbetzin / Mother

imaima

Wed, Jan 12 2011, 2:02 pm

aidelmaidel wrote:

So when I have always been considered a good cook and a "fancy" one at that.

When I first became frum I could not understand how my Rebbetzin basically served the same foods for shabbos every week and the same dinners every week. We even had a conversation about it and she said, "I don't have a lot of time, my kids are picky eaters, they don't want gourmet. I have me standard suppers: chicken soup and lokshen, spaghetti and meat sauce, chicken and potatoes, cheese toast, chicken and rice, and bean 'tacos'. Why should I make myself meshugena?"

I didn't get it then.

But now I do. My DH doesn't really care what I serve him (so long as its not hot tomatoes), in fact I am horrified every shabbos when I watch him put all the salads on his plate, mix it together, and put salad dressing on top. (I try not to look).

My kids are such poshut and picky eaters, the don't touch most things.

If I am making something fancy, its basically for me and the guests. So why put in all that extra effore when I'm exhausted and my family can't appreciate it?

To the horror of my younger self, I have turned into my Rebbetzin. My standard dinners are:
- meatloaf and mashed potatoes
- hot dogs and french fries
- shnitzel (for the teenage boy)
- hamburgers
- pizza
- grilled cheese
- "tacos"
- grilled chicken cutlets
- yogurt parfaits
- potato salad
- coleslaw
- the holy grail: homemade mac and cheese
- coldcuts
- clear chicken broth
- sweet lokshen kugel
- plain cut veggies (cruditee)

I finally understand what it means to be overworked, overtired, and unimaginative when it comes to menus.

I don't want to waste my precious time making something no one will eat. One of my children takes a med that has a side effect of appetite supressant - she hasn't gained weight in a year - I have to give her food she likes or she won't eat - period.

Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?

Yes I do!!! My husband will eat anything (as long as it's fresh, but that's another story), but my kids... And my list is much shorter than yours!

Aylat

Thu, Jan 13 2011, 6:26 am

Paddington Bear wrote:

Today we had pizza.

DD 41/2 ate 1/4 of a slice, dd 21/2 ate another 1/4 and I ate up the rest. The 4yr old mashed the cheese cake with her spoon, the 2yr old with her hands. Veggies were strewn all over the place and I just basically threw up my hands in despair (and horror). And this is their favorite dinner by far. So you can well imagine how long my list is.

Made pizza the other night - both kids requested the plain pitta I hadn't used with margarine. Me, DH and my sis ate the pizza. The kids did eat the salad though, b'H they love fruit and veggies. Wink

The other week my sister asked my kids, "if you could have anything you want for supper tonight, what would you like?" DS thought long and hard and finally replied, "pasta!"

Aidelmaidel and the rest of you, if my list of meals was anything near as long as yours I'd think I was an extremely fancy cook. LOL. Depends on what you're used to I guess.

bashinda

Thu, Jan 13 2011, 1:41 pm

Wow I'm getting a lot of chizuk today here on imamother!

I love the "cruditee" plate. I don't know why I've never done that for Shabbos. I do it weekdays. I'll have to start.

I find that of my four kids sometimes they overlap on their likes (B"H, they all love red pepper strips!) and diverge in other areas. For example. Pancakes. Who doesn't love pancakes? Unfortunately for me I love pancakes. Also unfortunately for me only one of my kids loves them. B"H, for freezers. Just keep me away from the freezer after I fill it with the pancakes. Very Happy

And I think aidelmaidel is the queen of the one-liners. Especially the recipes with two steps. LOL

chocolate moose

Thu, Jan 13 2011, 1:59 pm

If by "crudites" you all mean cut up vegetables and a dip, someone in my immediate family calls that an excruciatingly rude name. No way do we eat that in our house. Ever. It might look nice on a table, but it's really not a lot to eat. I also would not like to see that on a Shabbos table if I were a guest.

BasHinda, I never liked pancakes. NOt everyone does. I could never fry a carb in so much oil, anyway.

aidelmaidel

Thu, Jan 13 2011, 2:11 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

Hmmmm, judgmental much?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crudit%C3%A9s

I can't imagine what kind of rude name you would give to that, but if that's where your family is holding, well mazel tov. We prefer to use the proper french term in our house or just call it vegetables and dip.

No one said it's the ONLY thing they serve. We're all Jewish mothers over here - in case you didn't get the memo, we all over cook - it's an inherited gene. I'm sure everyone else is serving a variety of foods.

And if you don't think it's something you would want to see at someone else's home then I guess you'll either be sad to see it or you'll have to stay home won't you?

In regards to your pancakes comments, then I guess you never eat french fries, potato chips, latkes, french toast, waffles, donuts...

bashinda

Thu, Jan 13 2011, 2:37 pm

I fry mine in oil but I find with regular pancakes it just needs a little bit at the beginning.

And I just realized I guess we don't technically do cruditees in the week because nobody does the dip thing. They just eat them up plain and I'm happy. They're eating vegetables!

My point was not about pancakes btw, but about how it seems nobody seems to like the same thing in my family. Maybe two will like it sometimes only one will like it. Pancakes was just so funny because when I was growing up all my siblings loved it and it's just a simple basic food and only one out of four likes it.