EAT THIS - What Now and Why

Before You Call the People, My Baby Does Eat

April 18, 2012 by Arnebya 20 Comments

Every day the boy brings home a communication sheet from daycare. The sheet explains meals provided that day, his overall disposition, and the main activity. It informs us if he is low on supplies. He eats breakfast at home so it’s rare to see anything written in the breakfast section other than what was served that day.

This week, on Tuesday, they served Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, and greens for lunch. “Refused to eat” is circled on his sheet. As a snack on Tuesday they offered a granola bar. “Ate everything” is circled. Also on Tuesday, he is described as happy and cooperative. He was actively involved when finger painting and recognizing colors. He slept for more than an hour.

Remarks: Zaid had a great day.

On Wednesday, chicken strips, mixed vegetables, applesauce, and milk was served for lunch. “He ate a little”, the sheet says. For snack, he was given goldfish. “Ate everything” is circled. He is described as happy, engaged again in finger painting. He needs wipes.

Remarks: Zaid had a great day.

On Thursday, meatballs, peas, fruit, and milk were served. He ate a little. Goldfish and milk were given for a snack, of which he ate and drank all. He is listed as cooperative and engaged in counting and naming colors, described as happy. He made a flower.

Remarks: Zaid doesn’t eat anything but snacks! Zaid does not want his lunch other than the fruit.

At the bottom of the page, it says “Please set aside a few minutes to meet and discuss:”. “Your child’s Appetite” has a faint line beside it. Is it a check mark? I don’t know. And honestly, with all the sincerity I can muster, I don’t care.

I am sighing. I am sighing heavily.

I do care whether the school thinks he doesn’t eat well, but I’ve written before about my experience with eating as a child. Just last week on Facebook I commented that for two nights he refused to eat the dinner I offered him. One night he only wanted dried cranberries or a granola bar, maybe an apple or banana. I’m pretty sure he requested and received each of those things instead of what I’d put before him. The other night he simply didn’t eat.

There are nights when he will eat three helpings of raw broccoli, but the potatoes and chicken go untouched. There are mornings when he will eat a bowl of oatmeal the size of which rivals that of his 11-year-old sister. On weekends I may lie that there is no more avocado just because I want more to myself after he’s eaten half the bowl. If I make berry muffins, he eats three. Every time, no matter what time of day.

He likes salad. He wants carrots, eggs, onion, tomato, cheese, and cranberries in his salad. Sometimes he doesn’t want dressing. He likes salmon cakes made with onions and green, red, and yellow peppers. He likes macaroni and cheese. He likes spinach and ricotta stuffed tortelloni. He eats.

Admittedly, I do worry, because maybe he is thinner than the other kids, not as tall. But overall I am unconcerned. Because he eats. He does. He’s just random with it. He’s not unhealthy. Neither my husband nor I is what anyone would (should) call larger than average. I could (am) likely described as below average weight-wise. He is not unhealthy, whether all they see is him eating the daily snack or not. If he were proclaiming he was hungry, then refusing to eat, I’d be concerned. If he were refusing to eat at home all the time, I’d be concerned. Maybe I should look more closely at their menu offerings; they clearly don’t make berry muffins.

Would I be more comfortable if he ate regularly? Sure. I’d like him to eat everything I present to him. Sometimes he does. But, if occasionally I offer fried chicken, potato salad, and spinach and all he eats is two helpings of spinach, then asks for an apple? I’m OK with that.

This past weekend we discovered his love of blackberries and strawberries. Between the five of us, both packages of each are gone. If he hated fruit or refused to eat vegetables, I’d be worried. But having your child cry because there are no more bananas, then dispatching your husband to the store to immediately re-up on bananas? I’m way more concerned with how much we’re spending on bananas than the fact that he didn’t eat all his pizza at lunch.

I keep thinking the joke’s on them. He’s just getting back at them for that bunny bullshit.

Filed Under: Feed Your Face

Wordful Wednesday: I’m Not Anorexic and Sometimes My Food Looks Great. Also, Random Pictures and SE Has a Rooster.

February 8, 2012 by Arnebya 5 Comments

I eat, I do. In fact, here are a few things I recently prepared at home. And actually ate. Because again, I do eat. I don’t have a picture of tonight’s meal, but we had salmon cakes (yes, again!), fried oysters (just daddy and me), greens, and baked potatoes (the boy had blow).

Chicken strips, red and green peppers, mushrooms, and jalapenos.

Ravioli with a side salad (tomato, cheese, cranberry, onion, and ranch dressing).

Salmon cake, potatoes and apples, and mixed vegetables.

I didn’t buy this, but, I should have.

We thought the huge turkey vultures were a sight. Then there was the sunbathing groundhog we called Chunky Beef. He visited our yard every day during the summer at the same time of afternoon. Then a few foxes, always the deer. Let’s not even discuss the tomato-tasting squirrels (really, squirrels? You have to taste each tomato? Newsflash: they’re all the same!) But now? Now we have a rooster. In Southeast (at which I may or may not have yelled cock-a-doodle-do and/or used my Foghorn Leghorn voice repeatedly one Sunday afternoon).

Filed Under: Feed Your Face, Random Life Experiences, Wordful Wednesday

McDonald’s Robs Toddlers

February 4, 2012 by Arnebya 10 Comments

We don’t eat fast food often. In fact, we eat out so infrequently that the kids consider it a treat. Tax refund already? While there is the occasional sit down fancy fare of IHOP, we typically like to show our kids how to really live it up with some good old McDonald’s. We just don’t do it often. Gone are the days of my youth when my sisters and I would spy the golden arches and simply know what was for lunch. Because we ate it every day. Every day. Really, Mother? Did peanut butter and jelly not exist for you?

My poor underprivileged kids who don’t know who Hamburglar is simply hold their breath and cross their fingers in the hopes that we will turn into the drive thru. Usually we don’t. McDonald’s clearly wants us to do it even less.

We recently decided to cave and let the girls spend their own money on lunch at McDonald’s. We never eat inside (you know, that fine line of eating the food but not dining inside so no one will see us eating the food), so when my husband got back to the car and began to dole out the gateway drug to obesity, we found there was no happiness in the happy meals. First, there was something strange about the fry boxes. They were tiny. Like less than toddler sized tiny.

Seriously? There are like 12 fries. My toddler is crying, McDonald's.

In addition to the abnormally small sized boxes of fries were apple slices. Because everyone wants apples with their fries. And the kicker? There was no toy. Motherfuckers.

OK. I get it. Pressure from health advocates have forced McDonald’s to feel like it’s their fault the world is fat. The world is fat because the world is greedy (much like rich rappers rapping about all the things they have that I want and don’t have. Shut up, rappers. You’re making the world greedy. And possibly fat because we overeat at the thought of your riches garnered solely from rapping. And lying about coke dealing). The community of plastic haters has also convinced McDonald’s that giving toys to children makes the children want the food more. Newsflash, toy haters: just tell your kids no. Because it’s you feeding crap to your kids every day, not McDonald’s. They learned it from watching you, OK!

My kids deserve those cheap plastic toys that I throw away a week later. They aren’t due for real toys again until December.

This isn’t the first time McDonald’s has pretended to care about the diets of the masses. It first happened in ’92 when they stopped frying the apple pies (I have Mrs. Smith for baked pies, assholes!). Since then, amid blame for the fatness of the world, they’ve tried to limit the salt use, offer salads, milk for the kids, smoothies, oatmeal. The world is making them think it’s all their fault. Right now the only thing McDonald’s is guilty of is robbing my toddler of his fries and robbing me by charging the same price but giving apple slices to compensate for the lack of fries. I have apples at home. What I don’t have at home and want you to supply IN THE ORIGINAL SIZE are the friggin’ salty fries.

Why do you hate my family, McDonald’s? We are not the people who have forced you into this corner. Our family eats healthily all the time. Except when we got to McDonald’s. Because then we’re not trying to be healthy. We’re trying to get our mmmm this is good and salty finger lickin’ on. My kid gets apples anytime he wants them. What you aren’t gonna do is deprive us of one of our Constitutional rights (#8. There is fine print for failing to provide an adequate amount of fries under cruel and unusual punishment. Look it up).

How I want to believe you are being noble, McDonald’s, taking the high road to better nutrition. I don’t. There must be an ulterior motive for this crime against humanity. Do you secretly want the unfat people to buy more (we have to, seeing how no self respecting secret McDonald’s fry eater can tolerate that baby sized box of fries). I’ve got it! World domination. You secretly want to make the world dependent on you. Well, I’ll tell you what. It’s not going to work. Not for my family. We are going to remain steadfast against your ignorant attempt to force feed us smaller amounts of fries for the same price as the original size. We don’t need you stinkin’ fries. We’re going to stop eating fast food altogether because all of the chain food factories are out to — wait, I can still buy a large fry? Oh. Um. Well.

Never mind. Is there ketchup?

Photo credit: http://www.imperfectparent.com/topics/2011/07/26/mcdonalds-2012-happy-meals-to-be-under-600-calories/

Filed Under: Awesome Mama, Feed Your Face, Random Life Experiences

Wordful Wednesday: Salmon Cakes, Potatoes, and Mixed Veggies

August 17, 2011 by Arnebya 1 Comment

One of our favorite meals is salmon cakes. I usually pair them with mashed potatoes and a veg but we haven’t had this potato mixture in a while. I’m not sure where I found this recipe, but I’m sure I’ve adapted it from its original state. It doesn’t even have a name. We just call it “that potato apple mix we like.” It’s diced sauteed potatoes and diced apples topped with bacon crumbles. Because we ask why not a lot.

Ingredients for potato/apple mix:

Olive oil

4-6 white potatoes

4-6 Granny Smith apples (red delicious work just as well)

4 strips of bacon to crumble on top

Ingredients for salmon cakes:

1 can of salmon (yields 6-7 small cakes)

Olive oil

Bread crumbs

1 egg

1 TBSP Miracle Whip

1 TBSP spicy mustard

1 TSP Lemon juice

Peppers: 1 small green, yellow

1 small onion

Fry the bacon and set it aside.

Dice the potatoes, but not too small.

Saute the potatoes for about 20 minutes. Add a bit of salt and pepper and put to the side.

Result with bacon.

Dice the yellow and green peppers, and the onion.

Mix the peppers and onions with a can of salmon (I take the bones out), one egg, a dollop of Miracle Whip, a tablespoon of spicy mustard, and a teaspoon of lemon juice. Stir in seasoned bread crumbs (I pretty much eyeball it until it gets to the consistency I want).