The weather is turning and we are experiencing fall like temperatures here in the southern hemisphere. With the colder evenings, soup has been my food mood.Realizing it has been years since I made black bean soup that was my culinary choice. You can’t find canned black beans here so I purchased the dried ones, soaked them for 2 days, added all the ingredients and let is simmer for a good four hours. Ready for a tasty treat I scooped up the bowls when it hit me. My kids have not had black bean soup since America, over 3 years ago. Their taste buds are not used to this healthy meal not to mention it was BLACK!
Blake thought it was pretty cool eating black food….he imagined it was like something Darth Vader would eat. Skyler ate most of it but her facial expressions communicated her distaste. Tori ended up with a cute little black mustache and later a not so cute diaper.
The next night I thought it clever of me (since I had TONS of soup left over) to puree some of the beans, stick them in a tortilla, add cheese and walla- black bean burritos. Sounded yummy to me and with some brown rice and sautéed vegetables I suspected my children's lips would be filled with praise for this wondrous meal.
Their lips were full of something but it wasn't praise. In fact I soon found out last night’s compliance was tonight’s defiance. So I resorted to the time tested, more than one child, proven parenting technique- Bribery!
“If you eat half your burrito you can have a piece of chocolate for dessert.”
I know what you are thinking—“big deal”. Admittedly my starved children not only end up with black beans for dinner I also deprive them of chocolate. I am not a very nice mom am I? (Don’t answer that!)
Skyler driven by her sweet tooth inherited from her dear old mum choked down half the burrito in record time, stopping to gag only once. Blake attempted the trick of mashing up the burrito and spreading it to the perimeters of his plate so it looked half eaten. We really need to show him the spit it in your napkin and ask to go to the bathroom one. Tori just batted her big blue eyes and was awarded chocolate without devouring one bite. My only defense is that she is the third child and really cute.
Unfortunately the only thing my attempt at a "healthy dinner" left me with was hyper children and oodles of uneaten soup.
What was your recent dinner flop? And please don’t tell me you don’t have one because you like Karen create not only yummy gourmet dinners for your family but crème brulee cheesecake to boot!
19 comments:
I love the look on Skylar's face! I tried to make homemade vegetable soup one time and it called for tobasco sauce. I put too much in there and it burned our tongues so bad! The first year that Craig and I were married, I didn't really know how to cook so we lived on hamburger helper for the first year. Yum. The burritos sounded really good though!
hahaha--well my kids love black beans with rice and refried beans, but trust me... I have a few children that complain about every meal and ONLY want potato soup! (or pizza) (or chinese food).
Lately I've been inspired. The cheesecake was a hit! Yay! In fact, every recipe I've tried out of this new cookbook I picked up from Epcot/Disney has been ((WOW)) and the kids have been equally impressed. Otherwise... on a regular basis... not so great.
I would have enjoyed your black bean soup--esp NOT from the can. You go girl!!!
By the way both and the soup and the burritos were yummy! Good thing as I will be eating it for the next month.
Karen, what is the name of the cookbook? I'd love some new recipes that are actually good!
A picture is worth a thousand words!!! When will you be serving black beans again? he he All sounds delicious to me!!
Alicia came home from TM loving those black beans...yuck! She eats them all the time.
I don't do much cooking so I'll blame the worst home brew on her. She made the elixer of life. A home brew to cover all the bases. You brew it in your cupboard for a month. It's a fungus. After you scoop off the mushroom growing on the top you drink this stuff. It looks like it has snot floating in it. Ewwww.....!!!!! She loves it from the health store and they add a fruit to cover up the yuckiness. She only tried it once at home. Alfred's mom makes it all the time.
Trust me, I'm not drinkin' it even if it is good for me!
Ginger, admittedly I get into a lot of the "health' stuff and can palate quite a bit but what you described sounds DISGUSTING! How can that be good for you?
hey off topic slightly but as an encouragement to ginger and all of us who struggle to be 'healthier'...recent study shows that drinking up to 24 ounces of coffee a day is good for you. YES! good for you. it has been linked to reduced risk of alhezheimers and other forms of dementsia...
i read that on the back of a coffee can, think it's reliable? just kidding, i really did read that study.
michelle, want to ship some of that to SD? i'll spring for postage.
I'll be over for the leftovers! I love black beens!!! Any way YOU fix them!
A flopped meal... that means you have to cook!
It is hard to mess up salads! grill some protein, chop some veggies, and you have a meal!
Seriously, I do cook, and have had some nasty stuff, but none are coming to mind at this time.
I don't think my kids would eat black beans.
I'm trying to think of my dinner flop.
I've burned macaroni and ramen noodles. I hope that makes you feel better.
My recent baking flop was forgetting to add (1 tsp of baking soda) to banana bread.
After baking the bread I realized I had only put in one.
The phone rang and I couldn't remember if I had put in one tsp or none. So thinking I had already put in one I just added one more.
Oops. I guess I hadn't put in any. So my banana bread was a little soft. HEHE! OH Well. We still ate it.
Sorry, Michelle, but I just don't eat beans! So consequently, my boys aren't exactly exposed to them either! My kids would probably give the same look as your daughter in that picture! :)
Of course, I've had my fair share of dinner flops! I always like to try something new and fantastic for the first time when we're having guests over! And something always goes wrong. :) The joys of cooking!
well, the other night we had Reggie Goodin over for dinner since he was in town and I made my tried and true lasagna, and it was horrible... no one else complained and they even had seconds, but to me it was the worst lasagna ever... I used a different sauce and Kevin picked up the noodles which were different, but all in all, a cooking disaster... and lately, since I have been not feeling the cooking thing much, I have cheated and done frozen meals and even Hamburger Helper.... oh, my poor family...
Skyler's face is truly priceless... Emily used to hate black beans, but now she actually likes them... but not sure she would go for bb soup....
Don't think black bean soup would be my soup of choice either (and I don't consider myself picky). Since Dad went on a missions trip to Guatemala he hates black beans.
My flop - just this past Sunday when we had your brother and family over and Fran and Ralph Dad reiterated the story of when we were first married and I made hamburger strognoff and he said it was awful. It's actually good but I put frozen chives in it and don't think they were any good. Made it since then but guess he never got over it! I guess I won't go into what you didn't like growing up hey.
Mom
The cookbook is called Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs. Recipes from Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort, and Disney Cruise Line. I don't particularly like how this cookbook is set up, but the recipes are phenomenal!!! Yea baby!
Okay, here's a dinner flop for you. Yesterday I was working on breadsticks to go with dinner. I was so proud of them that I even posted the recipe on my blog. Then a friend stopped by and I forgot that I was letting them rise.....and they rose, and rose, and rose....and then fell. Sooooo, my lovely breadsticks that I was "bragging" about came out less than pretty--and my husband (who RAVED about them last time I made them) wouldn't even eat them! :)
Kudos to you for at least trying. I love that photo of Skyler, by the way.
I LOVE BLACK BEAN SOUP. THAT LOOKS DELICIOUS.
Awesome picture. I tried to make quiche not too long ago. Didn't fully (or maybe at all) thaw the crust. Cooked it FOREVER and the eggs just wouldn't set. We ate around the edges and then went out for pizza. : )
Oh, everything I make is an absolute culinary delight. My children and husband sing my praises at each meal. Really. No lie.
Okay- cooking stresses me out. I am NOT a great cook and I do NOT enjoy doing it. If I had even attempted black bean soup my husband would have thought he came home to the wrong house! :-)
"Skyler driven by her sweet tooth inherited from her dear old mum choked down half the burrito in record time, stopping to gag only once."
That would SO be my daughter!!! She suffers through eating almost anything, if a treat is waiting.
I was cracking up reading your post. And I would have eaten your soup with pleasure. Yum!
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