Welcome picky eaters (or those who cook for them)

Welcome to picky eater caterers anonymous! Just kidding :) kind of!

My husband and kids are all very picky. the list of what they won't try is significantly longer than what they will. Like many families out there, the chances that the entire family will sit down and eat the same thing is getting slimmer and slimmer every day and I am simply not willing to exist on nuggets and fries!

I am not unaware of my problem. Or that I am making it worse by acting as a short order cook or allowing my children to exist on nutrigrain bars. I don't often have the energy or patience to sit at the table until bedtime trying to make sure they eat something that hasn't been processed more than any food should be nor ensure that I can pronounce every ingredient on the box.

Yet I can't ignore the fact that both my husband and I could certainly stand to lose some weight and our family isn't all that active. I am lucky so far in that despite my children's picky eating they are still a healthy weight. But I wonder as my oldest nears the age to start school in September.. am I feeding him good quality food that with nourish his body and mind and get him through the day? I have a niece who is very ill due to her diet, I know the risks involved. So why am I doing nothing?

Well I'm not really doing nothing, but probably not doing as much as I should. I am sure all the mommies and daddies out there understand my plight! and there are so many schools of thought. Clear the plate always, let you children choose what to put on their plates, have them help make dinner in the hopes they will taste their own creations or keep cooking the foods they like in the hopes that they will one day not consider the dinner table a battle ground and will reach out on their own for that carrot stick. yeah right. I won't hold my breath!

But what I will do, and my reason for starting this blog, is that I will aim to make 4 healthy dinners a week. I am going to focus at least one of those meals on something that could also make a quick and easy healthy lunch as we are only 5 months away until the start of elementary school and there is no way I am sending my son with a cereal bar, cheese stick and yogurt every day for lunch.

You are not alone out there, watching the Biggest Loser and Jamie Olivers Food Revolution and wondering how badly you may be screwing this up. I will let you know which recipes I am trying and where you can find them and the nutritional information. I'll even aim to use web recipes (such as from kraftscanada.com) so you don't have to run out and buy a book. And I will give you all four ratings from myself (not picky at all) to my Husband Kevin (picky but willing to put on a brave face to taste it) and both boys Kai (5 and not currently eating anything "different") and Perrin (3 but randomly willing to put a new food in his mouth).

Who knows, maybe we'll find discover together a set of recipies that picky eaters really will eat that are actually healthy for the whole family. Maybe we will lose a few pounds together or see our kids come out of their fast food state. Maybe we will have a sense of accomplishment that we really are trying to do right by ourselves and our children and we can finally let go of some of that parent guilt.