dinner rant | Imamother

shvigs

Thu, Apr 23 2009, 9:40 am

My problems is that I have incredibly picky eaters left at home. The only ones who appreciate good food are married dd, my son in law and myself. So if they come, I can get a great well balanced meal going. If not....well, lets just say it's tough. Little dd only likes mac n'chees or french fries or somesuch. Dh will smilingly eat whatever I cook eeeever soooo slooooowly and leave over half his plate with a sigh that he's so full Rolling Eyes

. Lest you think I'm not skilled in the culinary arts- I happen to be a great cook. I know it, and hear from tons of others. I guess I married s/one with plebian culinary tastes...oh, well- H-shem has a sense of humor Smile

Fox

Thu, Apr 23 2009, 9:58 am

I have the same problem. My MIL is a terrible cook -- I mean, really horrible. I've seen chicken on her table that I was afraid to touch lest it stand up and cluck!

So DH learned as a child to distrust any food that wasn't prepackaged, processed, and virtually ready to chew. For example, he'll eat fish sticks, but not poached or broiled fish. Getting him to taste meatloaf -- which he now loves -- took 15 years. Mashed potatoes are great if they're made from dried flakes, but not from real potatoes.

My kids are actually more adventurous, food-wise, but it makes for a difficult situation when Tatty is the one turning up his nose at "real" food!

louche

Thu, Apr 23 2009, 10:24 am

Tough love is the only thing that works. IOW, if you're not hungry for what's on the table, tough. Cook what you like, and the rest of the fam can take it or leave it. You have better things to do than try to cater to your family's picky tastes. No one else wants the zucchini parmesan and arugula salad with raspberry vinaigrette? Great--more left for you! They can have corn flakes.

DefyGravity

Thu, Apr 23 2009, 10:34 am

I know exactly where you're coming from!

Thank G-D DH has finally learned to eat broccoli and cauliflower, but oftentimes it's still hard because veggies and foods that I could use to make easy main dishes, such as fish, zucchini, spinach, and eggplant, will not be TOUCHED by him.

I make the foods that he will not eat for myself, for lunch, and for dinner I'll use ingredients that he'll eat.

It's even worse when I have his family over for meals because his father and brother are even worse. They hate nearly all veggies. It's like cooking for a picky 5 year old.

My MIL is the type that will give in to all her kid's pickiness. She'll make like 3 different meals so that everyone will be happy. That's why none of the kids are adventurous eaters. Thankfully, my DH tries his hardest to eat new things, so I got lucky with him.

shoy18

Thu, Apr 23 2009, 11:40 am

DefyGravity wrote:

My MIL is the type that will give in to all her kid's pickiness. She'll make like 3 different meals so that everyone will be happy. That's why none of the kids are adventurous eaters. Thankfully, my DH tries his hardest to eat new things, so I got lucky with him.

thats the kind of house I came from, and she still does make 5 different versions of everything.

My dh on the other hand grew up with a working mom who never had time to prepare anything fancy so he learned to just dump ketchup on everything and eat it. Unfortunately due to my own doing my dh is super picky about his food now, not really about the ingredients but about how its cooked and if it has enough seasoning.

I cook things all the time I dont eat.

shvigs

Thu, Apr 23 2009, 12:19 pm

"So DH learned as a child to distrust any food that wasn't prepackaged, processed, and virtually ready to chew. "
OMG, I see I'm not alone in my misery LOL

MIL's dinners consisted of any processed food that could be bought that was then dumped into the deep fryer. I on the other hand, come from a background with real hungarian style cooking- lots of love and effort went into each meal. I enjoy more sophisticated fare (as opposed to the hungarian stuff) which I rarely cook, b/c, hey, why bother just for me.
I make one and only one dinner each night, and if you don't like it .....there always cereal in the pantry- this applies to my little dd. As for dh, he tells me he can't eat salads and veggies b/c they're "alive" Rolling Eyes

So I make them for myself.

ValleyMom

Sun, May 03 2009, 12:48 am

Someone psotsed chicken with 40 cloves of garlic in a crockpot and OMIGOD it was a HUGE hit.

I put the FROZEN chicken, follwoed the recipe and put it up Frida morning... At 2:30 I put it in a nice dish to be sevred for Friday night dinner and got to work on the cholent for shabbos. EASIEST shabbos ever!!!
Aaaaaand... EVRYONE ate it. NO leftovers.