Mothership Meals and Satellite Saucers: Satellite Salads

Friday, January 18, 2008

Satellite Salads

This dish doesn't really need a recipe. It's a Mediterranean-style grain salad with lots of room for improv: Take some big random thug of a grain -- like wheat berries (which I used here), black barley (hard to get, but apparently the most unprocessed grain and worth the long-arse cooking time), wild rice, bulgur, or even delicate little quinoa. (If wheat berries are the thugs of the grain world, quinoa is probably a wee ballet dancer with a black belt in karate -- it's delicate, but it can hold its own).

Then you surround the grain with whatever seems delicious to you. Imagine a tabouli with cucumbers, feta, parsley and tomatoes, and take it from there. Pumpkin seeds, black oil-cured olives and sun-dried tomatoes; dried cranberries and smoked turkey; shrimp and feta, chicken and asparagus, mint and lots of parsley... The list is endless. Before serving, toss the grain in olive oil and lemon juice. Then lay out the spread on the table, and let everyone take what they like.

The thing about this meal, and actually all the mothership meals, is that we're trying to sell the food to our kids. They can't deal with the whole she-bang, so we're offering the dish in installments. Today, they can nibble on the walnuts and the olives and the chicken. Next time maybe they'll be tired and only want carrots coins and cherry tomatoes. Eventually they will be so used to seeing their parents eat beets or feta or shrimp or pecans, never mind those thuggish awesome whole grains, and they will be hungry for something different, and it will all come together.

I really believe that when kids' bodies need some particular nutrient, and if that nutrient is available in the food on the table, that at some point the connection will be made. Both my kids have shocked me with sudden attacks of weird appetites for up-til-then off-limits food. There are nights they suddenly can't get enough of something like broccoli, kale, clams, cashews, brown rice, beans, or whatever. But the food has to be truly available to them, not be "grown up food", separate from the "kid food".

PS This salad is especially delicious with something sweet and tangy like dried cranberries or pomegranate seeds!

1 comment:

Julie Livermore said...: I love making myself grain salads, what a great way to get the kids to eat it too!; January 23, 2008 at 7:13 AM

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The Mothership Method

(Or, how to sit down for dinner with your family without completely losing your mind)

It would be great if kids AND parents wanted boiled chicken and baby carrots every night for dinner. But, too bad, we picky parents want spicy, exotic, fun foods, and our kids want, well, sorta lame foods.
Here's the solution: break it down. Serve the dish deconstructed, and let everyone put their own dish together at the table. Sort of like tapas, or smorgasbord, or tacos. Or how in some parts of China you get a bowl of rice, and everything else is in the middle of the table and you take what you want for your own little bowl of rice. That way everyone gets to eat what they want, parents don't have to nag their kids, and kids get to feels some ownership over their meals. Plus, kids get exposed to the look and taste of the foods you hope they will one day love. But it's not just tacos. You'll be amazed at what can be served with the Mothership Method.

Ten Tips to Get Through Dinner Without Having A Nervous Breakdown

1. Accept That Kids Are Picky. No need to freak out on your cooking ability, or look at your kids like there is something wrong with them. It's called "neo-phobia", and it's just how they are, especially from ages 3-6.

2. Serve Meals Broken Down. Even grown-up meals like coconut curry or linguine with clams can be served in their elements, making them more appealing to kids. Grown ups can assemble their own jumble of deliciousness at their own plate while kids take on the pared-down elements.

3. Push if it Works, But Don't Nag If It Doesn't. Some kids are okay with being expected to taste everything on their plate. Others aren't. I think it's okay to push kids -- but not if you're turning dinner into a battlefield.

4. Suggest a Smell. Smelling a new food is easier than tasting it, and can sometimes provide a kid with the information needed to take that scary first bite. But don't confine smelling to new foods. Smell favorites, too, and help them develop their sense of smell by making a game out of it.

5. Don't Ask "Do You Like It?" Instead, try, "What does this remind you of?" or, "Would your cousins like this?" or, "Does this taste salty or sweet?". Asking if they like it or not gives kids too much power and ends the conversation. Besides, we don't care if they like it! We just want them to keep tasting it until it is familiar.

6. Don't Get Frustrated. Imagine being in Taiwan, or Nairobi, or Rome for the first time. Would you eat everything on the local menu? New foods are scary and gross. Our kids need time to learn about the foods that we eat.

7. No SubstitutionsThis is family dinner, not a diner. You, in all your wisdom, have provided foods that are healthy and delicious and appropriate for your children. There is something on the table for them to eat. Period.

8. No Snacks Before Dinner. This can be the hardest with our hectic schedules and hungry kids. But children who come to the table hungry are more likely to eat than cause trouble.

9. Put Peer Pressure To Your Advantage. School children are more likely to accept new foods if the alpha girls in their group accept them. Swap healthy food ideas on playdates.

10. Involve Your Kids In Cooking, Shopping, and Gardening. The more experience kids have handling and preparing a variety of foods, the more likely they are to eventually accept the foods. (But don't get upset if they help you make a complicated wonderful meal, and then refuse to eat it.)