Mmmmmm..... Food.

I like to pretend that I'm a pretty good cook. I'm not Worst Cooks In America worthy, but there's lots of my attempts that result in a necessary snack later in the evening.

My dear Aunt is a bit of a foodie with a much more adventurous palate than I have. For Christmas she gave me The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper. I have to rave!! Not only does it have great recipes (albeit some of them are a little too fancy pants for my family of 4 with two small children) but the BEST part are the snippets of info! Currently I am IN LOVE with pearl barley. They tell you to treat it like pasta - and boil the heck out of it with some water and chicken stock for 25 minutes. Of course their recipe for cheater chicken stock is more highbrow than my two scoops of instant bullion method, but I'm totally okay with that when it's 5:30 and I'm just firing up dinner. And who knew barley was so yummy and nutty and HEALTHY. And that my kids would eat it!

I've referenced the book How To Get Your Kids To Eat, But Not Too Much, before..but I have to admit last night the approach (which included yummy barley from above) actually worked. I'd say about once a month it works well. The overall idea is to provide your kids with healthy choices on the table, including one thing they WILL eat, like a slice of whole wheat bread or something. What they eat, is what they eat. You don't haggle, negotiate or force certain number of bites. You model good eating (oh and I guess I should take my elbows off the table too..) and call it a day. Last night my kids ate barley, broccoli, green beans, fish and grapes! No really, I'm pretty sure they were my kids... I'm sure those fabulous Mothers out there will scoff and say that's a regular evening at their house. Well good on you. At my house it's not, so I was loving it. Thank you Splendid Table! You think they'll go for Edamame and Smoked Tofu Succotash? Kidding!