A Recipe for Success for the Neophobic
Neophobic = roughly translates to someone who eats less the 10 foods
It is our family tradition to have 13 vegetables at Christmas. For some strange reason this has slipped into Thanksgiving too.
Menu
1. Roast potatoes – crispy please. Mashed potatoes for the faint hearted.
2. Brussel sprouts with roasted chestnuts [throw out the burnt ones]
3. Carrots discs in sweet potato puree [don't for forget the Thyme]
4. Whole garlic mushrooms with white wine [the alcohol burns off]
5. Courgettes and yellow crook neck squash, circles in Herbs de Provence
6. Cauliflower and broccoli florets in bechamel [grated nutmeg for that lightly browned effect]
7. Leeks and pearl onions in Parmesan cheese sauce
8. Parsnips, roasted whole on a bed of Rosemary
9. Creamed spinach with toasted almonds [use double cream to ensure compulsory coronary]
10. Quarter white corn on the cobs, whole
11. Swede pureed with caramelized onions
12. Green beans with fresh pesto glaze
13. Dahl with okra – gotta have something spicy
One cup full of frozen mixed veg to show willing
The cranberry sauce, crispy bacon, stuffing and turkey don’t count as vegetables of course.
Require all children to attend to the general vicinity of the table and the feast for 3 minutes. Ensure visual timer and quiet beeping timer are prominently displayed.
Permit children to believe that they have escaped following the passage of three minutes. Enjoy as much as the feast as possible during the next unsupervised five minutes without inducing indigestion.
Solemnly puree all food in the magimix [cuisinart] and pour into all the ice cube trays you possess. Freeze and then transfer into rigid freezer boxes. Consider the possibility of sieving the 3 gallons first.
Present each child with a subsequently thawed and warmed cube at every meal for the next six months.
Repeat following Christmas to enjoy a full year of exposure to vegetation.
Well…..it is better to travel hopefully……Happy Thanksgiving
P.s. in case anyone takes issue with the word ‘success’ in the title, and there are always a few quibblers, I should like to point out that ‘success’ is all about defining your terms. In this instance ‘exposure to food,’ on a daily basis, is success, and this makes it all the more easier. Eating may take a little longer.
p.p.s. why does the phrase ‘exposure to food’ sound vaguely rude?
November 23rd, 2007 at 1:26 am
All those vegetables sound delicious. I still have ice cube trays of vegies in the freezer. I slip them into everything. Unlike normal households, the small one doesn’t object to vegies through everything, but the spouse does.
November 23rd, 2007 at 2:51 am
13 vegetables!!
November 23rd, 2007 at 4:08 am
Thirteen vegetables is very impressive, and you have to get them into kids any way you can; stealth is my favoured approach too! I love the photo.
Happy thanksgiving from an alien.
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:30 am
I have to agree with the kids…. I’m not a huge veggie fan and prefer mine in salad form.
My kids eat mashed potatoes. They aren’t veggie fans. And the one eats apple sauce, the other fruit cups.
Carbs and protein is just fine.
S.
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:38 am
We’ve had a huge eating explosion lately but I know exactly what you mean by “exposure” to foods. I think I might have been more excited when he left a veggie on his plate (instead of dumping it unceremoniously onto mine) than I was when he actually ate it.
I love your list of veggies. I love leeks. Can you send me the recipe for how you prepare them with the onions and parmesan sauce??
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:44 am
wow that sounds good. the veggies sound super tasty.
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:52 am
I feel really tired thinking about cooking all of that food! We used to make veggies for Maizie and freeze in cubes too. It works great.
November 23rd, 2007 at 7:12 am
13 Vegetables..sounds like the Last Supper, oh wait- that was 13 people.
Great photo of you and the kids (and the pumpkins of course)
Great post as always.
Love
Suzy
November 23rd, 2007 at 7:22 am
Exposure to food is great success! Mine wont allow it near him if it isn’t perferred. (or cheese bread)
November 23rd, 2007 at 7:26 am
You’re making me feel really hungry. I’ll put you up here if you’ll come and make dinner for us!
Crystal xx
November 23rd, 2007 at 8:29 am
I’m sorry, I’m outing myself as, well, an outsider. That veggie ice cube is not a joke?
November 23rd, 2007 at 10:46 am
I am utterly impressed. Your cooking skills are far superior to mine.
November 23rd, 2007 at 10:47 am
Wow – I don’t even know what all those vegetables ARE.
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:55 am
I try desperately to get enough veggies in our diet. I don’t really love them – but your list made them sound so good.
November 23rd, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Wow look at those pumpkins!
November 23rd, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Funny! I’ll coincidentally be posting about swedes later today! Thanks for coming by.
November 23rd, 2007 at 3:01 pm
My neurotypical youngens didn’t like many vegetables, but “paste” (mashed potatoes cooked with other unloved vegetables, then pureed) were usually acceptable.
I loathed Brussels sprouts until Bill C. gave me this recipe.
From my house to yours, Maddy dear:
Bill C’s Brussels Sprouts
Use only fresh Brussels Sprouts
This recipe is expandable
For each adult, as a side dish with other vegetable dishes, use 4 per adult. As a main side dish, use 6-8 sprouts.
For each pound of Brussel Sprouts,
1/2 white onion
3 cups of apple juice
1/2 sweet-tart, crispy apple (I like Gala)
1 tablespoon of lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
1 tablespoon of butter and/or olive oil
Acidulated water (3/4 Tablespoon lemon juice per cup of water)
This part may be done up to 24 hours in advance:
Wash the Brussels sprouts, cut off the stem end, and cut in half.
Steam the Brussels sprouts for about 5 minutes, until half-done (green and still crunchy). Plunge the steamed sprouts into cold water to stop cooking. Let drain and refrigerate, covered. If you are making more than a pound at a time, work in batches so that the Brussels sprouts are cooked evenly.
Sauce: This part may be done up to 24 hours in advance.
Place 3 cups of apple juice in a wide, flat-bottomed pan, and cook over high heat. The eventual goal is to reduce the apple sauce by 1/2.
While the apple sauce is reducing, peel the onion and chop coarsely. Add to the reducing apple sauce and continue to cook. When the onions are thoroughly soft, remove from heat and puree (blender or Cuisinart). The resultant mixture will be a bit granular. Return apple juice/onion puree to the pan, and continue to reduce for 5-10 minutes.
Remove from heat, transfer to storage dish, cool and refrigerate.
Quarter and core the apple. Slice very thin, stack slices, cut into matchsticks, and then cut the matchsticks crosswise into very fine dice. Drop into acidulated water to cover. Refrigerate.
Assembly, Just Before Serving:
Melt butter or heat olive oil in a skillet big enough to hold all the brussels sprouts and the sauce.
Note: you may pre-heat sauce in microwave to cut preparation time.
Saute the brussels sprouts until just warm, and pour sauce over brussels sprouts and continue to heat until just beginning to bubble.
As sauce is heating, drain diced apples.
Put hot brussels sprouts in serving dish, sprinke drained diced apples over, add lemon juice, and stir to distribute.
Serve.
November 23rd, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Darn! Where did all the spaces go?
Anyway, translations from Euro to Merken:
Courgettes = zucchini
Swede = rutabaga or yellow turnip
okra = slimy vegetable.
Just kidding, okra is a vegetable originating in West Africa. I’ve tried it even deep fried, and it is not on my list, sorry.
November 23rd, 2007 at 4:21 pm
It sounds delicious – I’m a big veggie fan (I do however, like meat also) – but I could certainly eat all that!! Take care. Kellan
November 23rd, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Exposure to food *does* sound odd!
November 23rd, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Woah – that’s more veggie side dishes then the local all you can eat buffet.
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Seems like success and progress to me.
And the pureed, frozen, heated extended leftovers? Fantastic. It’s like canning without the hermetic fuss.
Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Please send directions. I’ll be coming to your house for Thanksgiving next year.
November 23rd, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Now that is a Thankgiving feast! ine sounds so ordinary next to that. Ho, hum. Andy didn’t eat a bite of it anyway. Joey only touched the mashed potatoes.
November 23rd, 2007 at 7:46 pm
You do what works, but you’d never get me to eat brussel sprout. LOL
November 23rd, 2007 at 10:56 pm
I like some veggies but not others. My mother cannot believe that a lifetime’s worth of exposure to veggies did nothing for me.
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:17 pm
You forgot the fennel! Roasted a huge pan and also did brussel sprouts.
November 24th, 2007 at 9:19 am
*all about defining your terms* Love that!
November 24th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
It all sounds wonderful as I love nearly all vegetables, but what, pray tell, is Swede with caramelized onions?
It suggests some amazing but doubtless unintentional images.
November 24th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Mmmm. I would be an vegetarian if I didn’t like meat so much…
We’ve started dehydrating veggies and Rrrr-ing them (magic bullet) into a powder and sprinkling it in pizza/spaghetti sauce, mac n cheese, Mashed potatoes, soup, smoothies, bread/muffins and the other things they actually will eat. It’s been easier since adopting the GFCF diet since we have to make everything from scratch pretty much. A pinch of salt, a teaspoon of cauliflower, and a dash of carrots, added to Vegan Gourmet It Melts Cheese and Brown Rice Pasta makes some yummy (and healthy) mac n cheese!
The NT Younger actually eats cole slaw???? But won’t eat green beans…
November 25th, 2007 at 1:01 am
they sound delish! my little fella likes frozen peas while still frozen – sort of pea ice lollies. i’ve given up stressing about food – he’s growing like a weed in spite of his odd eating habits.