So this post is mainly going to be about food. We had a good food night last night. I came up with something Stella liked. Really liked.

Pickle Pita
3 hot pickled okras, chopped
3 pickles chopped
1.5 cups diced green cabbage
1/2 cup roasted chicken cubed
1 pocket pita bread, cut in half

Mix okra, pickles and cabbage in a bowl. Line bottom of one half of pita with chicken, and then fill with slaw. Repeat with second pita.

I thought at the time that it had zero nutritional value, but now that I look it up cabbage is pretty good. Much better than iceberg lettuce. Okra and cucumbers aren’t fantastic, but they’re certainly not a twinky. In case you’re saying to yourself that you don’t like cabbage, don’t worry, it just tastes like a pickle relish. the cabbage is completely overpowered by the pickled vegetables.

Stella’s big into sour. The other night when I was cutting limes to get some fresh lime juice she demanded a wedge and proceed to suck on it for 20 minutes or so. So I figured she’d like the pickles.

When I handed Stella the pita she just looked at it. Then she picked it up and was about to dump it all over herself. I showed her how to eat it starting at the end, and she began doing so. It was amazing. She learned to eat a pita last night. And she loved the slaw. She was eating the slaw that had fallen out of the pita, while she still had bread left. Which if you know Stella’s bread addiction is shocking.

Then last night Julie and I had SPICE-RUBBED CHICKEN AND VEGETABLE TACOS WITH CILANTRO SLAW AND CHIPOTLE CREAM for dinner. It was fantastic. I love smoked paprika, and it was loaded with vegetables. My cilantro slaw was just white cabbage mixed with cilantro and white wine vinegar. We used fat-free sour cream and only two teaspoons of olive oil.

Our side was black beans with garlic. Normally I sauté the garlic first, and then add the beans. Last night, I just poured the can into the pan, and added the garlic on top. Olive oil is a point per teaspoon in Weight Watchers (yes, teaspoon), so I’ve been learning to cook without it. And in this case the beans were far better for it. They tasted the same, but they weren’t greasy which was really nice.

So later Julie and I were talking about eating vegetables and how hard it is. That no matter what they try to do to teach kids to eat vegetables, they’re just not interested. I mean we crave fat. French cooking is so successful because everything is based upon fat. And it’s so good. When I started gaining weight from my cooking I started running to compensate. Julie being on weight watchers has really forced me to take a look at my eating. I’m cooking her meals that are significantly lower in fat and calories, and I’m really enjoying it. And where was I going to go? I’m running 5k a day now. That probably puts me at being able to consume about 3500 calories a day without gaining weight. But where does it stop? I love food, but am I going to start running 10ks so I can have ever more extravagant meals? And how is that going to impact Julie and Stella? Are they going to start running 10ks with me? My cooking really impacts how they eat. I can really decide whether weight is going to be a constant struggle in their lives. It’s a bit sobering.

So last night inspired me. I’m definitely going to keep trying to squeeze in French cooking. But I’m probably going to scale it back to once or twice a week. And I’m going to try to figure out how to make vegetables taste good. I’m sure this is possible. It’s going to be an adventure.

So I guess to kick it off, does anyone have any recipes with tons of vegetables I should try? Do you know of any vegetable combinations that make less-tasty super nutritional vegetables taste better?

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Comments

Ashley

2007-07-27T01:59:29.000Z

For salads I use Kale, it really packs a nutritional punch. Lettuce is a waste of my time. The HEB at William Cannon and Brodie has lovely kale usually. Don’t get the russian purple kale, it is quite peppery and can really turn off your eaters. I have a problem getting in the veggies too. It seems the only way I can do it is to have the meat and two veggie sides plate dinner. The problem with veggies is that cooking them too much takes away the vitamins. So I try to cook them just enough so that Henry can chew them. He LOVES baby limas. I just get a frozen bag of them and cook em up in plain water. He seems happy with that. As far as dishes that use tons of veggies all in one sitting. How about veggie lasagna? Maybe sub low fat cottage cheese for the cheese one usually uses that my pregnant name is hiding the name of. Oh and my sister told me that if you wash off your canned black beans prior to cooking you can get rid of half the sodium. Doesn’t WW offer recipes? And I LOVE French cooking. I think they get away with the fats because they don’t pair fats with mega carbs like we do.