The Next Generation

I always wince when my son announces that he wants a "big lunch". That usually means I have an hour of work ahead of me, trying to fill him up. But today, after camp, he came home saying, "mom, today I want carrots, broccoli and cauliflower with ranch." I said, "raw?" to which he replied, "what's that?" I said, "not cooked." He said, "yes, with ranch." This from the boy who typically declines on the raw broccoli, but snarfs it if cooked. I love that my hard work is paying off in the dividends of their healthful choices. Proud mama. I realized later that I didn't have cauliflower on hand, I'd forgotten it was tinged a little brown at the store, so I'd passed on it and besides, we still had a bunch of it that was steamed and in the fridge. So I made cute little happy faces out piles of the broccoli for eyes, carrots for spiky hair, a few grape tomatoes for noses and low fat ranch for big white smiles. I wanted to take a picture to post, but the kids came and snatched the plates too fast. If you're curious what else they had to round out the meal.... I wrapped baby dills in a slice of ham and gave each of them a few, called it pickle burritos which they loved, and then they split a 1/4 of a watermelon. There's nothing like having your child ask you to serve healthy foods. It's awesome.