Tofu, Spinach, and Red Cabbage

Dinners are always a chore.  And a chore I don't care for.

I get bored easily with the preparation.  What to make.  And if my lack of enthusiasm wasn't enough, we most often hear, "Ewww, I don't like this."

Trying to keep everyone happy is an exercise in futility.  Today, however, may be my breakthrough.

After a rough day for Big Boy, he and I walked to our market.  He got to choose what we had for dinner.  We looked at the prepared foods.  We looked at the fish.  We looked at shrimp.  We looked at meat.  We looked at sushi.  We looked at sausage.

And then, he wanted salad.  Lettuce and tomatoes.  That's it.  No dressing.

So, we strolled back through the produce.  I grabbed some tofu for Tom and I because I thought I'd try this recipe from Shauna.  Then we saw dried cranberries.  Nope, not for his salad.  We chose fresh blueberries instead.  Then he saw red cabbage.  He wanted that.  Into the basket it went.  He wanted a Habanero pepper.  Hmm, not to squelch your creative pallet, but I'm sure you won't eat that.  He picked an orange bell pepper.  And a green one.  I grabbed some field greens, some spinach and a head of iceberg.  On our way back around, we were going to select a few apples.  Red, yellow and green.  Soy nuts (yum on the salad!), special Fuze drinks, some broccoli, a couple strips of bacon (what salad is complete without some real bacon crumble?) and we all sat down.

And this is what happened...

We ate.  They both ate.  Lots of apples. They each had salad.  Little Man loved the soy nuts, Big Boy, not so much.  Big Boy loved the steamed cabbage, Little Man, not so much.  Big Boy loved the spinach, eating it raw with no salad dressing.  Little Man laughed and copied his brother.  They thought it was funny that they were eating leaves.  They love their broccoli.  Carrots, peas, and tomatoes in the salad.  Some blueberries, apples, peppers and bacon. It was a great meal.  We were all happy and although Big Boy tried to pull the "EWWW, I don't like this," but my quick reply of "You picked it out", had him thinking a second and trying new foods.

I love that they will try.

And the tofu?  Little Man ate it with no problem.

Big Boy said he tried it, "I licked the tofu and I didn't like it."

Licked tofu doesn't sound like anything I'd like, either.