Sloppy Joes!

Ever experienced day after day of beautiful sunshine to the point that you are lulled into thinking that every day will be sunny and beautiful … and then it happens.  WHAM!  A storm comes up and your day is filled with rain and dark clouds.  That is how I was feeling about the boy trying new foods.  Lately, he has been so agreeable and loving the things that I was putting in front of him.  Then, I tried a new recipe.  I had such high hopes for this recipe.  He even helped pick it out.  But when we sat down to dinner, I could tell that this was going to be a “rainy day.”  The air was filled with the impending doom of dislike. 

The thing I really liked about this recipe was the fact that you loaded it with vegetables.  It has carrots and zucchini all chopped up inside with onion and garlic and of course….tomatoes!  I did change the recipe some in that I used ground turkey instead of ground beef.  I chopped up the veggies as thoroughly as I could (when he can’t see them – it means that they aren’t there….right?)  The can of tomatoes and tomato sauce comes after the turkey and veggies have cooked.  Then, you let the whole thing simmer until cooked thoroughly. 

At the table – my very picky eater asked me why I didn’t pick out all the tomatoes for him.  It was downhill from there.  I asked him if I tried making it again and didn’t put in the tomatoes would he like it.  His answer?  He might like it if I left out the tomatoes, onions and carrots.  I served it in a whole wheat pita pocket. 

It looked yummy – but it got a full blown two thumbs down from my toughest critic.  He did eat his obligatory bites, but only after full inspection of removing all the offending bits of carrots and onions and tomato (I must have successfully chopped the zucchini to microscopic size).  

*sigh* 

 I guess it is back to the drawing board.  Note - visible tomatoes, onions and carrots (cooked) are a definite no-go.