Kids, What’s the Matter With Kids Today? / Choco-challenge / Turning off Allergies

Kids, What’s the Matter With Kids Today? / Choco-challenge / Turning off Allergies

Do you remember when we were kids?  Endless days of playing, nothing to worry about other than math homework – those were the days.  Do you, also, remember when our parents asked us what they should make for dinner?  No? That is because we never really got to make the decision. That was left up to the adults.   You know - the ones that have more than 12 years of life-experience and knew that doughnuts were not the wisest choice for dinner.  That is because they were the ones who were in charge.  I guess the more that things change the more they stay the same. Perhaps it is more accurate to state that, things never, actually, changed since in a lot of families like mine, (unfortunately) the bosses are still in charge.  It is just that now the children are the bosses.   Now children have greater resources of information and communication than most adults did when they were minors. Kids today have a more structured and organized set of activities than most of us did at their age.  Long gone are the days of pick-up games of kick-the-can and baseball in which the bases were the players’ coats or a crushed Jolly-Good soda can.  I still can recall, like an eerie, vivid dream, the sound of my parents’ voices calling me in for some nasty dinner-time dish like stuffed peppers or liver and onions.  In case you haven’t guessed, I now like stuffed peppers.  In fact I make them for my children. They tell me that they want them. Well most of the children tell me they do (more on the perils of cooking to the tastes of 6 children, a wife and me in a latter blog post.)  Now do you see what I am talking about?  They even sneak in the dinner choice by making me think it is my decision by choosing nutrition-rich dishes.  The little darlings don’t always choose something that I have made in the past or some heirloom recipe carried by our ancestors on the Mayflower. Nope, they get some “great” ideas from T.V. or the internet. A perfect example is the one that sparked the inspiration for this blog posting – spaghetti tacos (as seen on Nickelodeon’s “iCarly”). Wow, these are just not right.  Have I lost you on the concept of the spaghetti taco? It is exceptionally intricate so try to keep up with all of the technical jargon. 

·         Step one: make spaghetti with your favorite sauce

·         Step two: put the spaghetti in a taco shell

·         Step three: choke it down

They are not necessarily bad for you or nutrient-deficient in fact if you choose the right ingredients they could be a complete, well balanced meal (whole wheat pasta, meatballs, a sauce that is loaded with veggies, add some cheese) but the combination of the classic Italian spices and flavors that go with even the simplest pasta dish does not meld even remotely well with the (get ready for the geek speak) pyridine flavor note that is a signature of tortillas, especially those used in hard taco shells. 

There have been other ideas that have not been nearly as versatile when it comes to trying to “nutrify” them up.  Take the time we made, based on Duff Goldman’s attempt and my 18 year-old son’s fondness for the NBC comedy, “30 Rock”, Cheesy Blasters.  How do you make Cheesy Blasters?  I am glad you asked:

·         First, you take a hot dog

·         Fill it with some jack cheese

·         Wrap it in a pizza…

·         …you’ve got Cheesy blasters

Now, how can that be an unhealthy addition to the dinner rotation?  Let me tell you, we made these gastronomical marauders once thinking that the kids would like the once-in-a-lifetime treat.  We thought that they would think they are neat but too rich or just plain too much.  When we first made them and surprised the children their eyes nearly popped out of their heads then their faces drooped into weird twisted masks of disbelief.  So, at this point, we figure that we have got them.  They will eat at least part their meal and realize that it was too much.  No way!  Within a few minutes we heard, “Can I have another one?”  We had to let them in on the secret that it was a very limited run because each one of the ‘Blasters was approximately 750 to 800Kcal (calories).   So, problem solved right? Nope.  Child number four is having his tenth birthday at the end of the week and changed his birthday dinner request (a time that a child should actually get a say in the dinner choice) from burgers on the grill to what else?  …Cheesy Blasters.

I by no means feel that children should be excommunicated from the church of the kitchen.  It is a great place to teach math skills, accurate measurements, following directions and a very valuable life skill.   I just call all of you parents to arms.  Pick up those spatulas, embrace those cookbooks, and invite the ankle-bitters into the kitchen and let them have a say. Yes let them have a say as to which of the siblings gets to do the dishes and who gets to dry them!  Ok it is not the worst thing in the world to let our children have a say.  Let’s just teach our children balance and self control when it comes to our meal choices.  Let’s take that meal time, no matter who chose it, to spend the time together and find out how each other’s day went.  Let’s remember that we are blessed because what is most important is that our children, here in America, have enough food to actually have the opportunity make that choice instead of wondering if they will ever get another meal.

The Great Chocolate Challenge – Progress

The lasagna was horrible!  Before you naysayers tell me that you told me so let me explain why I (and my family) thought it was no good. It was not because of the addition of sweet, life-giving chocolate. It was because of the kind of chocolate I used.  100% cocoa chocolate was the weapon of choice and it really should have been something much sweeter like a 60%.  Another issue I ran into was the fact I made a crock-pot-lasagna and my slow-cooker essentially cooked the dish into a big mushy mess. In the end it was my neglect of one of the most basic rules of scientific experimentation: only change one variable at a time.

The family and I have adopted a scoring method for all of my cooking experiments.  Based on a scale of 1 (trash can bound) to 10 (a homerun).  The consensus was that this dish was a 4 or five (somewhere between “put it in the fridge until it molds” and “mom, the dog ate my dinner…can I have dessert”).

The next challenge will be salmon and chocolate. I did not give up on the lasagna but I need time for my loved ones to forgive and, especially, forget.

Food Safety Update

 Do you or anyone you know have food allergies?  If so, there may be some hope for you in the near future. How near and at what cost no one is sure.  Scientists at Johns Hopkins University have been able to turn off the body’s response to allergen proteins in mice.  Going back to my earlier statement; How long? No one can really say because mice are not humans and these types of studies take what seems like eons to become a legitimate medical solution.  That brings me to my other concern; at what cost? I am not talking about money but, rather, repercussions on a much grander scale.  I love the idea of people not dying from the very matter that helps sustain life but are we sure that turning off something that the body uses to defend itself from harm won’t bring on a much worse situation? 

If you are interested in reading the article I am referring to here is the link;

http://www.physorg.com/news205235886.html

As always please chime in let me know what your thoughts are on any of the topics I mentioned or any other topics / challenges that you would like me take on.

Until then…Stay hungry, stay safe, and keep weaving that tapestry with the threads of your favorite foods,

Eric (the FoodSciGuy)