25 // Do you and your husband enjoy [insert meal idea], but your child refuses to eat anything from it?
Do you and your husband enjoy [insert meal idea], but your child refuses to eat anything from it?
Try this SIMPLE shift to make THIS into a crowd-pleaser all summer long.
In this Meals Made Easy episode on dinners, I talk about a meal that my husband and I love but my littles are still learning to like.
I know there are many families who struggle to make one meal be a crowd pleaser for all, especially with picky eaters at home or parents that have preferences very different from their kids. That's why this episode is going to tee you up for summer and walk you through the thought process I go through to make easy weeknight dinners for my family - even when what is on the menu is something I know my kids don't particularly want.
So listen in to why THIS is one of the go-to items in my kid-friendly snack drawer this spring (and summer). You will walk away knowing how to curb a common pitfall with picky eating AND how to boost nutrition with barely any extra effort.
Listen to this episode of The Veggies & Virtue Podcast now!
Full Episode Transcription
Please note this a raw transcription. If something doesn’t read correctly, toggle to that timestamp in the show so that you can listen in on what was actually being said!
[00:00:00] Mama, are you struggling with how to feed your kids? Right? Do you wish that there was a way to help your child try new foods? Do you look at a pantry cluttered with pirate, booty and a fridge full of the same food every week and wonder how you're going to get your family's meals off the hot mess express.
[00:00:16] I know what it feels like to scroll through all the feeding accounts on Instagram and to see a bunch of Fuji food that my family would never eat. And I too have pinned all the healthy recipes with good intention. But zero execution. I understand as a busy mom of three, that it can feel really unattainable, especially on the days when I'm exhausted.
[00:00:34] I have a short fuse. He really disliked an easy button and the date way. Well, that's where these meals made easy episode ideas come from with everyday ingredients that you already have on hand, I give you one meal or snack idea week that's dietician, mom approved, and is going to fit in your family's busy life.
[00:00:52] So get ready to press, add to cart and to make meals. Again, I don't know about where you are, but in the Houston area, it is hot. It is humid, and it is definitely grilling season here. And as I was thinking and talking about something with my kids the other day, I thought it would be a helpful thing to go ahead and share here.
[00:01:15] And that is because a meal that is pretty much on our weekly rotation. As a dinner that my husband and I love, but that my kids are predominantly, still learning to like is stir fry. I was born and raised in stir fry. My dad made it phenomenal, stir fry. I wish I would've had him fully trained me in it before he passed away because it is next to none.
[00:01:38] It is, it was so good. It was so good. And while I haven't mastered. And honestly, even if I had, I don't know, my kids still would love it yet, but my husband and I do love it. We live stir fries or teriyaki or curries, or really anything that's just like stir fried meats or fried veggies, maybe a little sauce of some sort, put some rice on it, such a good dinner, such an easy option for meals made easy dinner options.
[00:02:03] But with that, my kids don't always love it. And so, as you all know, Every meal here, there's one meal for the whole family. And the way that I make that work is using my love, it, like it learning it framework. And so I've shared about this on my social several times over the years, and I can do more episodes to come on it as it applies to dinner.
[00:02:25] And particularly with the meals made easy. But when it comes to an item like surfer, I was talking to my kids recently because they kind of come and go with different things. But again, this is something that we have on the menu pretty much weekly. It's always kind of my throw in whatever vegetables are left use, whatever protein we have on hand, add some rice or like the 92nd microwave rice, call it a day or, you know, use up whatever, like leftover jar of karaoke or marinade or whatever we have.
[00:02:53] So it's kind of just one that's on rotation here, but. I feel like the foods that my kids have been loving at it have been very variable lately. And so while at points, they would leave their love at a mommy. And I would offer that as a really easy option to just steam while I was making dinner, or it might be the protein choice or, you know, we got really into.
[00:03:16] Little igloos out of rice with little espresso cups and things. I've shared that on social before. There's been different things, but I feel like lately it's just one of those meals that my kids are not getting very excited about. And like any parent, if you're making a meal that you love, but you know, your kids don't yet, like it's just a little bit disappointing and it's a little bit like womp womp wall kids are disappointed going into the meal with a less than positive attitudes sometimes.
[00:03:42] Well, I think there's a lot of merit to teaching kids how to work through those feelings and how to meal plan accordingly and how to help our kids understand that not every meal will be their favorite. I also know, as a mom, particularly when my husband isn't even home to eat dinner yet, and it's just me feeding the kids and eating myself, I just don't enjoy this meal as much even though at the meal in and of itself is one that I do in.
[00:04:09] I don't enjoy it as much when I can tell I'm pretty much the only one eating it. So that's just the reality of it as a mom of three, being really honest with you and what kind of provoked the conversation that I had with my kids, because this was going to be a meal that I knew I would be eating with them on our own.
[00:04:25] And my husband would be eating after the fact. And I began asking them like, what's something that you love about this. Or what is something that would help you to love this meal, to kind of just get the conversation going and open up the dialogue. And one of the ideas that came up is this whole, we have chicken and veggies and rice every week.
[00:04:48] And I realized I hadn't really diversified the protein in awhile because my kids really like steak, but steak is expensive and I know how much my kids eat of it. So we don't do a lot of red meat let alone steak very often. And if we do. We often have steak as steak. I don't cube it up and do it like in a stir fry as often.
[00:05:06] But when we order from like a Chinese restaurant or when we're out at Thai or something like that, oftentimes my kids will get something like a broccoli beef, or, you know, when we go to hibachi, they often get steak. So it kind of made me think about that, but I didn't have steak on hand at the time that we were talking about this, but another protein, I know that my kids love is.
[00:05:27] And so what I decided to do was go ahead and cube the salmon filets. And then we, instead of stir frying it with the season of summer being upon us and my kids were already all playing outside, we decided to cut back. And serve the same elements of the same meal. It was the veggies that I would have stir fried.
[00:05:48] We used you know, seasonal veggies that are really popular right now that you could use or securing things like summer squash or mushrooms and onions, and you can make a kebab. And then at the end of grilling it, I just put that same teriyaki sauce that I would have poured over a stir fry. I just kind of like brushed it over the kebabs, but this way my kids were building the kebabs with me.
[00:06:09] They could build them how they wanted, you know, did they want an all salmon, one? Did they want, you know, a bell peppers alternating? Who wanted the bigger mushroom, which is learning at food for all of them, just so I don't sound all high and mighty Mike it's dude out of mushrooms yet, but it also took me into my thirties to learn to like mushrooms.
[00:06:27] So let that be said, but I share this because I think, you know, as we transition seasons, we need to think really creatively about how we can also transition our menus. We know what works for us. We know what our family's preferences are with meals, but we need to think about how can we use what works.
[00:06:45] And convert it into a meals, made easy mindset with how can we shift when it comes to seasonally, the foods that are available or the ways that we like to cook? I know for me right now, we are outside in the backyard a lot more than I want to be standing over the cooktop stir frying. And so as the season shifts grilling, kebabs just sounds more appealing.
[00:07:06] And for my kids, their attitude towards that meal is so much more. And again, kids need to learn manners and how to be grateful for the food that is offered. I'm a firm believer in that, but I also am a firm believer in that the family table should be an enjoyable place that kids know that there's always something offered that they enjoy.
[00:07:24] And that if it is a meal that we as adults love, let's talk to our kids about how can we make this a meal that you love a little bit more, because this is one that's on our menu pretty much every week. So let's talk about some new ideas to switch it up. If we find herself kind of interrupt. This was a protein veggies and rice just like every other week, but it wasn't just like every other week with something as simple as switching the protein from chicken to salmon and a process, as simple as, instead of stir-frying it on the cooktop to taking it out to the grill where seasonally, it just already made more sense.
[00:08:00] This meal was pleasant, enjoyable, inviting, and everyone ate from it and it didn't feel. That same dread of mom makes chicken, rice and veggies every week. And this isn't really a meal I enjoy. And so I just want to encourage you to kind of think through maybe which meals you might be able to do this with this week, or just take an idea out of my meal plan from the week in consider, if you could make teriyaki salmon.
[00:08:27] Ask your kids to help build these kebabs with you see where they're at in interacting with some of these different seasonal options, like the peppers or the summer squash, mushrooms, onions, foods like that, and invite them into the meal planning process so that your family can enjoy not just the food, but also the time around the table together.
[00:08:48] And that you can continue to find new ways to add variety while still making. Super easy. These meals made easy ideas are helping you in any way, or this show is encouraging you and the messes and the mealtimes of motherhood. I would love to hear about it. All you need to do is scroll down on all apple podcasts and tap, write a review.
[00:09:08] I check each and every one of these, and they truly blessed me to read and to know how the show is helping shape your family's relationship with food so that I can continue to create content that serves you best. Thank you. For taking the time to leave me a review. And I look forward to seeing you back here next time.
