eat your veggies!

Isabel has successfully made her way through all of the approved first try veggies. These would be peas, beans, squash, sweet potatoes and carrots. She has now made her way to fruit, starting with, of course, apples. She seems to be accepting the apples, but still loves her veggies, especially carrots. This, as a mother makes me happy for two reasons 1) That she's not a fussy eater making meal time a non-stressor and 2)That she will have healthy eating habits. I really started to think about this last one. Sure she eats her bowl clean now, but what about when she comes off the baby food and starts eating "real" food. I don't eat any of those above mentioned veggies (except carrots) and really I try to have a veggie at dinner time but it's the same three that keep getting rotated; frozen mixed veggies, corn and cauliflower. I have crappy eating habits. I know this. I love fruit, but they're high in sugar and I hardly eat any veggies at all. I'd say of my 7 seven servings of fruit and veggies, maybe 2 are veggies. This is not good. For me, or for role modeling for my child. I want to do better, to eat better, for her sake as well as mine. This lead me to my second problem. I don't cook. There is a big misconception about my cooking abilities that really, I am to blame. I have everyone believing that I am a horrible cook, that I can burn water. Not true. I am by no means a fabulous cook, but I can make yummy meals...when I want to. And that's just it. I ....hate....cooking. I hate the mess, the production that goes into it, trying to time everyting so it's all ready together. And I never know what goes with what when it comes to ingredients, which is why a lot of the stuff that I know how to make are pasta dishes because the one dish is the meal. Anyways, blah blah blah, the point I'm trying to make it cooking is not a fun task so to avoid it I make up lies about my deficiencies in this area. So then no one ever asks me to cook or if I do, everyone has lowered expecatations. Well today I've made a decision. No more. I want Isabel to grow up eating healthy meals so that her body can grow the way it's suppose to, have tonnes of energy (dear god) and be healthy and happy. I don't want her to become accustomed to boxed dinners as a staple. Having worked in the school system for the past three years, I see the correlation between food and a student's success. It's no surprise that every single one of my kids in my program eat sugar packed meals. They have those lunchables, or if they do have something healthy like a sandwhich or soup, they never eat it. Just the cookies and junk. It's no wonder they can't concentrate, have behavioural problems and are falling behind in their grade level. There was even a study that linked proccessed foods to behavioural problems in kids. I'm not surprised. So starting tomorrow, I am going to start making some of the dinnertime meals and I will be adding foods such as squash, green beans, asparagus and turnips to the menu. I have found some recipes that look promising, but if anyone has any others they would like to share, by all means let me know!