Dinner, alas

[pegkerr]

I was not in the mood to pander to my family's tender sensibilities about what foods they will or will not eat.

So: dinner. An experiment. A winter stew made with onions (yes, gasp! onions! although I cut the amount in half) brussel sprouts, fennel, butternut squash, tenderly simmered in a mixture of broth and hard cider. Add in kidney beans and apples, balsamic vinegar and honey near the end, and when they are heated through, serve. Did my family eat it? Ha! I laugh you to scorn. Of course they did not. It was fearfully healthy, and quite delicious so why on earth should they eat it? It will doubtless be my lunch for the rest of the week.

Edited to add: Recipe is here, for the people who asked.

Comments

[ckd]

Sigh. I don't particularly like brussels sprouts, but that still sounds good to me.

[tinymich.livejournal.com]

Brussels sprouts? Fennel? Butternut squash? Broth? Hard cider? Kidney beans? Apples? Bal vin? Honey? Are you perchance answering a quiz that says "For 10 points, list nine of Michelle's favourite foods"?

It sounds fanfrikcintabulous. And, as I have no lunch for tomorrow and am resigned to buying an overpriced unhealthy burger in the culinary wasteland that is where I work, I'm ridiculously jealous. Your fam wouldn't know tasty if it hit them on the side of the head. :-)

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Brussels sprouts? Fennel? Butternut squash? Broth? Hard cider? Kidney beans? Apples? Bal vin? Honey? Are you perchance answering a quiz that says "For 10 points, list nine of Michelle's favourite foods"?

This! :D

[oneminutemonkey.livejournal.com]

I'm honestly not one for brussel sprouts... and I'm not sure about squash, but otherwise, that sounds really tasty.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Well, I suppose it might be an interesting side dish to some suitable main course. Although the combination of vinegar and honey (plus cider and apples) might very well kill it for me.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Oh, not too much sweetness. 2 cups of broth, 1/3 cup of the hard cider, 1 TB balsamic vinegar, 1 TB honey.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

It does sound wonderful. I've been experimenting with dishes made from winter vegetables, and this is going on my list.

I'm sorry it wasn't appreciated.

You know my response to your family

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

as in 'bite me'. OR "you fix dinner from now on, I'll make my own, thank you."

But then I live with two adults who can fix their own food.... hey, wait, both your kids can cook. So no sympathy to them. Or Rob, if he turned his nose up to it;

It sounds yummy to me.

[sternel.livejournal.com]

As I wiped the drool off my chin it occurred to me that "Cooking for Ingrates" would make a great name for a band.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I think it'd make a great name for a book. It sounds like an essay collection.

[eal.livejournal.com]

Definitely a book!

[joyful-noise-82.livejournal.com]

It sounds delicious! Especially the hard cider part - I would never have thought of that, but I'll bet it was wonderful.

Is it something you developed on your own, or was it a specific recipe? I'd love to try making it myself.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Hmm, interesting! I might try making that myself, with substitutions for the brussels sprouts and fennel, which I don't like. Maybe turnips.

[ame-chan.livejournal.com]

Is there a recipe? It sounds tasty...

[pameladean]

Yum! That would really make the Brussels sprouts nice and sweet.

P.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Hm, that sounds like a pretty good stew.

I keep getting amused at my husband, when I make stew. I like to put turnip and parsnip in it, and he likes carrot and potato. But for my money, the turnips and parsnips taste better in the stew after, well, stewing, than the potatoes do. Potatoes don't have much taste.

[irielle.livejournal.com]

Wow, that sounds so yummy. Good for you about not pandering to them.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

My vegetarian daughter would have LOVED that!

My steak & potatoes, "everything is better with cheese melted on it" husband would have certainly thought he was being poisoned. I mix veggies in his rice at a ratio of 1 to 3, so he'll eat some. Anything more than that & he just refuses his rice. *sigh*

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

They aren't hungry enough. Your next move seems obvious to me.

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

That sounds great, and I have a butternut squash left from Thanksgiving. I may try this for tonight's dinner.

I wonder if you should write a cookbook. Cookbooks with lots of personal essays are very popular.

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

I promise that if you ever get a chance to cook for me, I will shower you with appreciation and compliments. That sounds heavenly.

Perhaps your family should apply for experimental Taste Bud implant surgery so that they could enjoy such yummy sounding food. I feel for them. Food Appreciation disabilities are a hidden tragedy in our society.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure no one here would have eaten it, either--I'm not even sure about me. I'm with dd_b in being a little dubious about the vinegar and honey, but otherwise it sounded great except for the beans. I generally don't like beans in things, with the exception of chili. I like beans to be beans, like baked beans. But having a dinner and leftovers for lunches that you find appealing is a win.

[mayhap]

That sounds amazingly delicious! Except for the onions, which, alas, I cannot abide. However, I don't see why that should stop me from attempting an onionless batch of my own!

[whiskeychick.livejournal.com]

i have been pandering more to my needs in nutrition and less to my family's desires for their favorites all the time, but that also means the complaints are up.

My question for you is when they don't eat it, do you have like rice cakes and water or whatever to actually feed them or is the rule "you don't eat this, you don't eat?"

Just curious.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Bread with peanut butter or cereal are the general fall-backs.

[swords-and-pens.livejournal.com]

I have to say, I have a pretty broad palate, but that doesn't sound appealing. Maybe as something to have with something else, but I would want other options (and they wouldn't even have to be "beef" or what have you).

Sorry to not be as supportive as some here, but I think that something less exotic offered along with this might get you a couple more miles along the road. Combining the less popular with a more neutral choice, and even the occasional hit, could broaden the collective family palate better than single-shot, hit or miss meals. I know this works with my crew (even with the autistic son, who is extremely sensitive about what he will try) and reduces some of the food-related stress at the table (again, mainly from number 2 son).

Alternately, let each girl cook what they want one night of the week for the family, with no one complaining. Evetyone eats it. Then, on the other nights, the same rules apply when you cook. Maybe everyone will be able to approach a better middle ground over time.

I know you don't always want advice on these posts, but I see you getting more and more frustrated, and I want to try to help you not be that way.

Good luck.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Oh, I cater to them plenty, offer them neutral choices, etc. On every meal, if they don't like it, they have the option of bread with peanut butter or cereal. But once every two or three months or so I just say the hell with it and make something that sounds good to me. If they like it, great, but I don't expect it.

Don't know if you've seen the list of what my family won't eat. Sometimes, I just HAVE to rebel.