And this little pig cried "weeeeee weeeee weeeeee" every time she has to make dinner...
I grew up as a meat-and-potatoes kinda girl. While I don't make red meat (or any meat) the focal point of my menu planning, I do enjoy a good filet from time to time and will usually make chicken or fish a couple of times a month.
My hubby, on the other hand, decided he was going to try a vegetarian diet starting in January 2010 and he hasn't looked back since. I'll admit that menu planning got a little bit more complicated, but we still made it work. Then, my daughter went from eating every kind of baby-food I offered her to joining the ranks of picky toddlers everywhere and has basically survived off of Kraft Mac-n-Cheese, cheese, bread and whole grain waffles. I wanted to pull my hair out. I do understand (but unfortunately, don't always tolerate) my daughter's willfullness. I know that when she turns up her nose at the things I put on her plate, I can ultimately toss her a multi-vitamin and feel that we've still got some of our bases covered. However, in the last month, my hubby decided he was going to pull out all stops and go vegan. Now I've gone from pulling out my hair to having an annoying eye twitch. Patches of bald skin and compulsive winking. Awesome.
I still find myself thinking, no dairy? Really? Nothing with milk in it? No butter? No *gasp* cheese?? I suppose when desperate times call for desperate measures, one could always take a face-plant in their backyard and go to town. You're probably never out of options, in that sense. But in all seriousness, I totally understand the reasons he's doing it and I want to be supportive of it. For him, it's not about making a statement or belittling others who choose something different, nor is it a decision based on strong emotions after watching something like Food, Inc. (That being said, I have refused to watch that movie because I know full well that my weak stomach would never be able to look at meat the same way and as of right now, I still opt for the "ignorance is bliss" motto). He just feels that it's the healthiest way to eat. And I can't really argue with him about that (I say, as I research a bourbon demi-glaze for a filet I plan to grill tonight). There have been plenty of times in the last several months that I find myself thinking that I could probably do just fine (if not great) on a vegetarian diet, but I'm just not in any big hurry to get there and there is absolutely no pressure to join him "on the other side." So on the rare occasions I still crave a good steak or some barbecued chicken, I indulge myself and don't think twice about it. In time, I will probably show full-time love to the vegetables. I just don't think I could ever go all-out vegan. No judgment here. I just love me some cheese.
But that still leaves the train-wreck that is my weekly menu planning and cooking. I don't have time to make two different meals every night, especially with a screaming four month-old who inevitably needs to nurse when I have a pot of pasta boiling over on the stove and an overly helpful toddler who wants to have a hand in everything I do in the kitchen. I continue to put new food in front of Ella, sometimes with her usual staples (cheese, pasta), just so I know she will eat something that evening and yet a good portion of what I put on her plate still goes to waste. I know she's not unique in that way. I'm just looking for a simple, easy way to do dinners for 1 eats-anything-that's-put-in-front-of-her adult (that would be me), 1 eats-anything-that-doesn't-have-a-face-or-whose-mother-didn't-have-a-face adult (darling hubby) and 1 über picky 2 year-old who thinks food is much funnier on the floor than in her stomach. Thank God Milo is still breastfeeding. No guess-work there. (Just exhaustion).
I'll take any helpful advice, recipes, cookbook recommendations and/or words of consolation. ;-)
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