Hey peeps – what’s poppin? I’m having a pretty great day – the weather continues to be fall-like and beautiful in Memphis, and the best part of my week is always when I get an email from the airline with the subject – “It’s Time to Check In!” 
It can get easy to forget what day it is in this whirlwind travel life, and I love the little reminder that it’s just one day away ’til I’m on my way home.
Plus – got to sweat it out to Turbo while catching the first 1/2 of the Packer Game:
It is actually quite motivating to have professional athletes staring you down while Chalene yells, “YOU AREN’T TIRED!” bahaha.
Truth be told, I’m sort of a “fake” sports fan – I root for the Brewers, Packers and OF COURSE the Badgers, but I don’t usually watch every game and know next to nothing about the players and stats. My very first fantasy football team with coworkers this year is looking like kind of a joke… maybe I’ll pick up on it 
So back in May/June when I was really crackin’ on the blog, I wanted to do a blog series where I cooked something new/vegetarian/outside B and my usual range of foods and force him to eat it (ha), then reflect and tell me if he loved it, hated it, or would eat it again. I would still like to do this someday, but the travel lately hasn’t allowed a lot of meal planning. Nonetheless, as we have progressed to this place in our relationship, we have been eating more and more meals together, and he has picked up more and more of my healthier-than-his habits.
B pretty much hates vegetables. At least, he truly hated them about two years ago when our relationship got serious again. And I love vegetables. I kind of live for zucchini, green beans and broccoli, and couldn’t imagine a life with artichokes, asparagus and spinach. Besides selfishly wanting 8 kinds of veggies in the shopping cart every grocery trip, I was worried about my cute boyfriend who never ate ate any greens Through experimenting and lots of encouragement, I can proudly say that he now truthfully enjoys salads, gets excited when green beans are the veggie for dinner, and cheerfully participates in my weird recipe adventures and random health food purchases (cocoa nibs, anyone??). How did I do it, you ask?! Read on, friends! You too can transform a picky eater!
1) Make what they like. Healthy things that B likes to eat: green beans, broccoli, pre-cut celery with peanut butter, anything easy to make on his own (aka frozen veggies), romaine salad mixes, mixed nuts. These are staples on our grocery list, and eating healthy items we enjoy as a regular thing makes grocery shopping so much easier.
2) Sneak in the greens. I like to chop up peppers and onions for egg scrambles, and sometimes will even throw a little spinach in the pan if B is feeling really adventurous in the morning. He claims that he’ll “eat any vegetable if you cut it into small enough bites that it’s hard to taste.” Haha.
Smoothies are pure genius for sneaking in greens – put in your fruity/liquid ingredients in first (check out PBFingers for great smoothie ideas ) and then put enough spinach in to fill up the rest of blender, and blend away. You can’t even taste the spinach! I’ve done romaine before, too, but spinach is definitely the best veg-smoothie-ingredient.
3) Try something new. New recipes are exciting for everyone involved, and it’s a great way to try to find additions to the first category – foods you know the picky eater will like. Plus, I’ve read in many magazines and websites that switching up the foods/veggies you eat is a great way to make sure you are getting a variety of nutrients. New foods we’ve tried in the new apartment that have been a success:
Artichokes! We’ve only done them once, but they will definitely be making a reappearance in a dinner soon. Eating them is such a fun experience – pulling off the leaves and scraping them with your teeth, one at a time – I knew B would love them
Quinoa! Our quinoa adventure has been borderline amazing. I had zero expectation of B getting on board with this weird, texture-y little grain with tails, but he is actually semi-obsessed… even though he eats it plain with sriracha sauce rather than with avocado and tomato like me
4) Institute a salad-with-dinner rule. Our standard dinner equation = protein (sometimes his-and-hers proteins if B is doing steak, burgers, etc.), healthy carb (or not-so-healthy in the case of oven roasted home-made fries with tons-o-seasoning nom nom nom), veggie PLUS salad. Making salad at dinner a habit is a super simple way to sneak in an extra serving or two of vegetables.
Do you have any great recipes that picky eaters enjoy? Who is the pickiest eater in your life? (Mine is pretty cute)
Happy almost-Friday!!!
