Veggie Daddy Parent Tip: Finicky, Picky Kids? Help Them Adapt.

Happy Mother's Day!

Big Fat Greek Scramble w/ Lemon-Pepper Roasted Potatoes

I can't say I'm a newbie cook, but let's just say I have a limited arsenal under my belt (which is rather skinny.) But since it's Mother's Day, I couldn't very well expect the mother in the house (who does most of the cooking) to cook for us on Mother's Day, could I? Hell, nooooooo. So I need to come up with something quick. Luckily, we have a well-stocked pantry, so with coffee in hand, I go to the cookbooks. (I usually treat myself to coffee on weekend mornings.) What in God's name am I going to make?

The mother (not to be confused with the other mother) in the house doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, unlike me, where I could eat sugar all day. (My daughter called me a sugar daddy once--once. It's not so much the case now that I'm mostly veganific, which I'll discuss later.) So, rather than making your typical fare with pancakes or waffles, I decide to go for something savory. Something like a Greek omelet with mushrooms, onions, olives, red peppers, you get the idea. Tofu replaces the eggs. So I grab Vegan Diner again and there it is: the big fat tofu scramble. It requires baby spinach which we don't have, but it will still work without it, I think, so I go ahead.

And potatoes! Gotta have potatoes. Let's try the lemon-pepper roasted ones, which can be found in the oh-so-awesome Vegan Brunch, highly recommended. Our oldest daughter loved them.

It all took about 30-35 minutes to do. You can see the result at the top of this post, of course. It was uber-delish, and both kids ate it, though it took some encouragement on our part for our oldest to try the scramble. She already likes tofu, so it wasn't that hard. Our youngest ate two helpings! You go, girl!

Veggie Daddy Parent Tip: The more often you put strange things on your kids' plates, the less strange they become to your kids.

Think of how you learned to like beer, wine, or coffee, which, if you were anything like me, you probably didn't like when you were a kid. (I was one freakin' picky kid, just ask my folks.) These things are acquired tastes. (My dad gently encouraged me to try the malted beer with the big elephant on the bottle, which is bitter as all get-out. Thanks, Dad, you're the reason I enjoy beers with rich, complex flavors, now. Did you know they have Tiger Beer at the Liquor Store because of the beer fest? Go get some, quick!) Which simply means we have to practice, to work our taste-buds out, and they inevitably adapt. Well, not only do our taste-buds need to adapt, but our eyes do as well, especially the eyes of our kids. What they first see as all these unusual, strange, run-the-hell-away-as-fast-as-you-can kind of foods, can later be seen as shy, weird, but not-too-imposing strangers: you don't want them to hang out with you, and where you'd normally shove them away, now you just ignore them. They're there, but you're not kicking them in the ass or running away in terror. This is progress for us parents, mos def.

Things I learned (from the mother) on this particular Veggie Daddy Mother's Day Adventure:

• Want crispy potatoes? Put the baking sheet in the oven first while it preheats; the potatoes get way crispier.
• Don't cut potatoes and leave them lying around all cut up--they'll oxidize faster, like apples or bananas or avocadoes, getting all brown and yucky. You can also put them in a bowl of water, but not a great idea if you're about to roast them.
• Timing is everything. How do you get the potatoes to come out of the oven just when your Greek scramble is done, too? Not easy, but it is easier to judge if you've got all your prep work done, like cutting up the peppers, onions, olives, garlic, etc. And have all your spices at the ready. This simplifies the process greatly.

Eat B(right),

Veggie Daddy

Oh yeah, vegans, vegetarians, we get a bad wrap for eating so much tofu. The jury is out on whether tofu is going to kill you. I've done lots of research on it, and my mind is at ease. As long as it's not GMO tofu, I think it's pretty safe. Certainly safer than eating salmonella-laced egg embryos, anyway. And watch the movie Earthlings. Those poor little chickens!