Torture By Food

Two nights ago we had carrots with supper. Now, most of you know I am not a fan of vegetables. At least the vibrantly colored ones. But this carrot recipe is good. See:

Ginger Honey Glazed Carrots

2 T butter
1 T finely chopped ginger
2 T honey
4 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 c water
salt and pepper

In a small saucepan, melt butter and stir in ginger. Add honey and stir to dissolve. Stir in carrots and toss to coat. Pour in water and cover to steam. Stir occasionally and cook 8 minutes or until tender. Season to taste.

This dish is basically carrots in syrup. So, in an effort to get Alex (and me) to eat more veggies, I made this as a side dish. I used baby carrots, so when they were sliced they were approximately the size of sequins. Definitely smaller than a penny. We had them with steak and fries. Alex pronounced the steak okay, and the waffle fries excellent. The carrots, of course, were deadly poison. It may be the first time I've seen him refuse to eat anything involving honey. He was told that he had to taste one sequin-sized carrot bit. He bit that into four bites. (I don't even know how, and I was there.) The suffering was terrible. He managed to choke one carrot piece down before he pronounced them horrid.

Next night: shrimp enchiladas. For those of you who haven't seen him in action, Alex is a Mexican food eating boy. He loves burritos, quesadillas and chips - and he uses a spoon to eat the side of guacamole they bring out for him. So shrimp enchiladas I thought would work well.

Shrimp? We eat them in their breaded and fried form.
Cheese? We eat it grilled, in sticks, on sandwiches, in Mexican food.
Tortillas? We eat them grilled, toasted and steamed.

A combination of the three? Not so fast, Mom. That's disgusting. He cried and carried on so much that I was afraid he was going to make himself sick over dinner. Art finally made him take a taste, then gave him a peanut butter and honey (we don't do jelly voluntarily) sandwich. Sometime during this debacle, Alex mentioned that this wasn't a good new food - nothing like those carrots we had last night. Now, those were good. Art and I just looked at each other.

So, fast forward to tonight. On the menu: bruschetta chicken, cheesy polenta and leftover carrots. Art heated them up, put them on his plate and set it in front of him. Where he proceeded to eat them. Not all of them, but many, and without a word of protest. This is when I want to pull my hair out. Or his.

And, thank you, Uncle Robby, for letting me know where this comes from - not just me!!!