The Grits Taste Like Barf
Last night’s dinner was delicious. It was a lightened version of the classic, southern dish of shrimp and grits. I found the recipe in my Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast book which has become a favorite of mine, not because the recipes are light but because they live up to the promise of the title. Even with minimal ingredients, the recipe was filled with flavor. I sauteed shrimp in olive oil, removed them and sauteed two chopped peppers, added the sliced, smoked turkey sausage and garlic, put back the shrimp, and a happy meeting of the flavors came together. And then we come to the grits part of the evening. Both girls agreed that the grits tasted like barf and they refused to eat them. Their loss, my win. The dominant flavor in these grits was Parmesan cheese. Under any other guise they’ve never complained about the flavor. But dressed in southern clothing, the flavor didn’t work for them. As I said, their loss, my win.
So My Food Hasn’t Been Pretty Lately…
Last night’s dinner was greeted with the comment, “What’s this poo for dinner?” Guess who made that delicious remark? “Oh look at the little black things, and red things,” said Louisa, before I told her to stop. We quickly suggested that she taste the soup before commenting any further and spoiling the rest of our appetites and, not surprisingly, she enjoyed it and cleaned her bowl. It was a very simple black bean soup with a lot of onions, garlic, canned diced tomatoes, cumin, oregano, and I cheated by using crushed, dried chipotle pepper instead of canned in adobo sauce – same effect as far as I was concerned. It was good, healthy, and with just enough spice to make the bowl interesting. I didn’t bake the corn bread because I really love Whole Foods’ cornbread-by-the-pound. Unfortunately, I didn’t like this cranberry variation as much as the plain. I have a feeling Joe agreed since he switched to the banana muffins that I did bake in the afternoon.
Joe liked the soup enough to go for seconds and Louisa finished her bowl. But by the time we were almost done, I noticed Annie was chatting away about other things. When I catch on to this pattern, it usually signals that she’s avoiding her dinner. In fact, I had expected that she’d like this dinner. “I thought you liked beans!” “I like beans, but not bean soup,” she admitted. Which continues to prove my point that you’ll never win if you cook with the sole objective of pleasing the kids.
Quote of the Week – 10/27/10 – James Thurber
“The most dangerous food is wedding cake.”
- James Thurber, American Humorist