Beets Right Off The Bush - Or How My CSA Has Helped Owen Love Vegetables

It seems to be a common agreement among most people in America that kids don't like vegetables.  Unless you are the PR people for Hidden Valley Ranch, then the tenet is that kids don't like vegetables unless they are covered in sugar,cream,salt sauce, um I mean Ranch salad dressing. People are wrong. (This applies to both the general public and the folks at Hidden Valley.)  Kids just don't like gross vegetables.  I think this fear of vegetables originated in the days almost all vegetables came in cans.  Or when vegetables came on a truck, hidden in a dark box, picked before their prime, tasting like cardboard painted with minerals and dirt.  And while apparently that's a good description of what some would consider a good wine, it's not a winner with kids.  When kids grew up on farms and access to good, fresh food, I'm pretty sure they didn't snub their noses at tomatoes.  I read every single Little House on The Prairie books and don't remember anywhere where Laura, aka Half-Pint said, "Aw Ma and Pa, no more lettuce please!"  


And now, having a fresh picked vegetable is not just the luxury of those who garden. It's becoming easier and easier for people to have access to good local food.  (Yes, we have a long way to go to making this accessible to people of all incomes but more on that another time and place.) And I do love vegetables, aside from Okra. Okra, I'm sorry, I will never love you, even deep fried, even hidden in a stew, it's just not going to happen.  But loving vegetables and not having having time or money to buy them is kind of like loving to snow ski and living in Morocco.  Shopping for groceries with a toddler kind of feels like you are on an episode of Super Market Sweep.  (Am I dating myself here?)  Especially in NYC when pushing a stroller down the aisles of most supermarkets is kind of like trying to drive a Hummer down the cobblestone streets of Santorini, except without a view and with lots of people giving you dirty looks as if you're, okay, well driving a Hummer down the streets of Santorini.  But with the CSA, you pay once in the beginning of the summer, and if you play your cards right you can actually trick yourself into thinking the vegetables come for free the rest of the time.  Yes, I'm that good.  So every week I get a huge box of vegetables and then race to use them all by the time the next delivery comes around.  But aside from the stress of worrying if Owen will be napping during the too small window of time, I have to pick it up; I have nothing to do but go get what's there.  And as I have another mom friend at the same CSA if one of our kids is sleeping, we pick up the other one's share .  (It takes a village.) 

And so, we have all been eating tons of vegetables, Owen included. Now, to be fair using Owen as an example for food is unfair.  It's kind of like throwing Michael Phelps in a lake and saying, "hey, tall people can swim." Owen is an Olympic level eater in general; he has sucked down pork belly, Soba noodles, lasagna, meatloaf of every different variety, clapped with glee at his first taste of truffle oil and also chicken parmigiana.  He has never met a fruit he has not liked and would probably run away with a loaf of bread if he could. He learned to say "more" and "please"  for the sole purpose of asking for more food. (see pork story and pumpkin pie stories from earlier posts.)  But vegetables have been pretty hit or miss and if he does eat them, it's often because I have disguised them well.  Yes, Virginia there is a spinach cake! But ever since we have been getting our CSA vegetables have become a thrill.  He sucked down a salad made with sugar snap peas, yellow peppers and mint tossed with olive oil and feta.  He eats plain sliced cucumbers like they were Cheerios.  I made pasta with beets, and beet greens, lots of garlic, and a little ricotta and he actually pushed the pasta away to get to the beets.  (Note to anyone feeding their kids beets for the first time.  Please tell your spouse, partner, babysitter etc.  before they change your kid's diaper the next day. You will save yourself and them a little stress. If you do not understand this, you will.)  With our CSA Owen has even taken to eating salad!  Yes, salad, and sorry Hidden Valley, he eats in naked or with a splash of lemon and oil. 

Last night I made a summer squash and tofu casserole that Owen applauded for. Granted for him I pureed it with a little tomato sauce and parmesan cheese so it pretty much tasted like a pizza but still, it was squash and tofu.  And I'm not going to lie; it's nice to be applauded for.  And I held on to that appreciation because later that evening as I began to happily sing him to sleep, he not very nicely told me to stop, by signing, "finish, finish," repeatedly.  To be honest, I usually get through a few rounds before he cuts me off.  But I guess it's important for everyone to acknowledge what you are good at and what needs improvement.  I did also try to explain to him that sometimes expressing yourself artistically is more important than the quality of what comes out and at least I was in tune.  He was uninterested and just asked for milk.  

Can't win them all.