Dinner Hits

How hard is it to get a unanimous dinner-time hit with the whole whanau?

I can’t even win with hamburgers and pizza anymore as one of the kids has decided these items are no longer suited to their taste buds.

The menu features big on the day’s agenda for my three - 8am and the conversation goes like this:

“Mum, what’s for dinner?”

“Meatballs.”

“Ew!” “Yum!” “Ew!” (said simultaneously.) 

That’s one hit.

Then the following morning:

“Mum, what’s for dinner?”

“Chicken stirfry.”

“Yum!” “Ew!” “Yum!”

Two hits but one’s not happy.

This causes the “victim” to fret all day about what’s going to be on their plate that evening which seems like a waste of energy but, if I’m honest, I can kind of relate. I remember, as a child, if I found out sausages and/or peas were on the menu I’d work myself up to the point of almost crying as the dinnertime deadline loomed.

So come tea-time, every night I either have one or two sets of disgusted eyes glaring at me across the table, like I’ve cooked it as a personal vendetta, whilst they painstakingly slide the offending contents around their plate.

Oh I’ve tried the starving-kids-in-Africa tales, to which some bright spark replies: “Well, why don’t we just send them this dinner?”

Perhaps I’m cooking the wrong meals. Yet, I am convinced my children have got the strangest taste buds: they don’t even like macaroni cheese and isn’t that supposed to be a sure-fire winner?

Last week we had a houseful of family come to stay and one lot brought up that week’s ingredients from their My Food Bag delivery. After they left we had a vege bin full of items the kids have never been exposed to such as brussels sprouts, leeks and cabbage.

Determined to utilize these ingredients, I Googled the best ways to cook brussels sprouts and decided to sauté with garlic and butter.

That evening they eyed their plates suspiciously and looked impressed with the interesting round green things and Miss Four liked the look of the bright purple cabbage.

“Yum!” they declared before trying it and I actually felt guilty about what was to come.

But, instead, they surprised me. They wolfed it down while I painstakingly slid the contents around on my plate unimpressed with my own culinary results.

But like I said, they’re strange.

So who would’ve thought brussels sprouts would be a unanimous hit (excluding me)? Maybe I should harden up and try them on sausages and peas.