I was so happy last night when I served the kids dinner and there were no complaints or whines.  Actually there were exclamations of delight from my youngest son, “Snow peas!” and “Mushrooms!” — music to my ears.  They all dug into their bowls of stir-fried vegetables with rice noodles with true pleasure and bit of hunger.  “No snacks, it’s nearly dinner time.” really worked.   Maybe the late afternoon hike helped.

The glee that my three year old exhibited reminded me of how I got my eldest son to try mushrooms when he first refused.  He was in preschool and loved Power Rangers;  even though he’d never seen an episode of the TV show, he knew how they moved, their names, etc.  It’s almost like osmosis how they learn about superheroes before they’re old enough to see them in action.  Anyway, I just told my son that mushrooms were Power Rangers’ favorite food.  Wide-eyed with joy and holding in his fork the food that his heroes liked, the previously distrusted fungus, he eagerly tried it.  And he liked it.  I know mushrooms can be tough for adults let alone kids, especially those who grow up with canned ones on pizzas, the texture can be a turnoff.  And, yes I lied to get him to try it.  But to me it was worth it.  There were no pleadings of “Just try it, I really think you’ll like it.” or “Please?  Just one tiny bite.”  He just thought if it’s the Power Rangers favorite food it must be good.  I mean, Popeye the Sailor loves spinach, so why not Power Rangers liking mushrooms?   Funny, I don’t want to hide the vegetables so the kids don’t learn to like them for their own flavors, textures and colors, but I have no qualms about spinning a yarn to get them to eat them.

Our dinner last night had some frozen vegetables and a side from Trader Joe’s.  I was down to just a couple of skinny pieces of kale, very little beet greens, a pepper, carrots and lots of tomatoes (which I was kind of sick of) from our CSA bin.  We did also have leeks, but I am saving those to make scalloped potatoes with leeks and shiitake mushrooms tonight.  So I pulled out a Trader Joe’s stir-fry package— mushrooms, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, carrots and soy beans.  I steamed the beet greens I’d stripped off the stems and cut across a few times, then repeated with the kale.  I didn’t want any bitterness from them to change the flavor of the stir-fry, that’s why I did them separately.  I then put the rice noodles in to cook while I chopped half an onion, 2 garlic cloves, fresh ginger, a greenish-reddish bell pepper and a couple of carrots.  So in my pan I heated the sunflower oil, sautéed the onions, then garlic, carrots and peppers. Added the ginger, stir-fry package, kale and beet greens.  To this I combined with 2 Tbsp tamari soy sauce, 1 tsp fish sauce and 2 tsp sesame oil.  I cooked stirring the whole time for a few minutes while the frozen vegetables softened and heated.  At this point I added the cooked and drained noodles and stirred it all up until it was well mixed.  It was ready to serve. I’ve served similar dishes lately, but each one is a bit different, depending what we have in stock.  The vital part was that it was healthful and delicious.  

While I was cooking this I had steamed in the microwave some Trader Joe’s frozen Gyoza dumplings.  I served them as an appetizer and alongside the stir-fry with a side of tamari and sesame oil (6 parts soy, 1 part sesame oil).  Easy and quick,  plus they all ate it eagerly.  No tales necessary.