Cooking for Kids Can Be a Crapshoot – Brian’s Blog

I've always looked to cook, and really enjoy putting together a meal for my family. Sometimes I find that how my kids react to what I put in front of them truly amazes me.

I got to thinking about this after I made an Olive garden-style Zuppa Toscana for dinner last night. My 18-year-old passed on it, but I know that she has a somewhat adventurous palate so no worries there. My soon to be 16-year-old who lives in her room nowadays and rarely ventures out for anything family related came out, took a look, didn't see mac and cheese, did a quick 180 and went back to her room. Go figure. My 12-year-old liked it, as did her 8-year-old brother for the most part. He does like a lot of different things, but seems to be on a P,B,&J bender right now.

What amazed me was how my three-year-old son reacted to it. He could not get enough of it! This is a recipe that contains Italian sausage so it has some complex flavors like fennel and sage and red chili. It also has onions, garlic and kale. Kale is that leafy, dark green stuff in the produce section that we usually pass by on our way to the iceberg lettuce. He loved it and kept asking for more, especially the kale. Most kids would turn their noses up at it, just because it wasn't corn or green beans, but he kept asking for more. Finally, I thought, one of my kids will learn to like something besides steamed white rice and soy sauce! (That's a go to at my house.)

I wouldn't classify my kids as being finicky eaters, but I did enjoy seeing my little guy appreciate his dad's mad kitchen skills!