Keep it simple, stupid

I need to make this my mantra with regard to meal preparation. My children aren't much interested in the more exotic of my culinary capabilities. What are their favorites? Spaghetti with Tomato and Meat sauce, for one. Thankfully, it is the one thing that they will all eat without fail. It is also my fail safe "we only have one half hour before Dad gets home" meal. The kids like plain rice or plain pasta which to them means with butter and parmesan cheese. They also happily eat sandwiches. I'm not sure if you could call what A does to a sandwich "eating it", but I'm sure that she does ingest some of it. Most of it ends up on her face. I can't tell you right off hand how many photos I've taken of her with her face covered with peanut butter or nutella from just above her nose down to her chin. I do know that there are many such photos, and I doubt that I'll stop taking them any time soon.

Back to the problem of food preparation, the list of the things that my children hate is long, and growing. The baby is the best eater of all, no surprise. Next in line is Daddy. His main issue is that he doesn't generally "love" the things that the kids will eat. So, okay, I'm playing to two audiences whose tastes vary tremendously. I'm not especially good at the 'pleasing everyone' routine. Most of the time, I don't even try to make everyone happy. The one thing that I know without out doubt is that I will never be able to pass off Macaroni and Cheese as a meal to my husband, not that I've ever tried. With my gall bladder and D's health conciousness, we try to use only fat free sour cream and go light on the cheese. T's favorite meal is chicken breasts in the crockpot with potatoes, carrots and peas with sour cream over the top and cooked all day. He likes it because the chicken tastes like it is canned. He likes pasta salad, too - but D doesn't do salad as a dinner entree, at least not while smiling. Every one in this family has their own "no way" items but they will also tolerate most meals - as long as they can pick out said items. Sometimes, they are really only picking out and eating the one or two things that they like. Feels like a big waste, but they are their own people. As a young girl, I personally remember sitting at the dinner table for hours because I wouln't eat split pea soup. I still hate split pea soup. Can't do it. I will never make it for my family. I'm sure that at least one of my children will taste it later in life and wonder why I never made it for them. That's the way it goes. After all, I do have to please myself, too.

Tonight is a spaghetti night because D & E are heading to a wedding reception after dinner and prep time is short. The need for a good fast meal is apparent. I'm getting to that place where I realize that food serves to keep my family alive. Cooking for a family of seven isn't something I do for an ego boost. None of them are starving. I call that success.