January 12th

Where's the Beef?

Remember those commercials from the 80s?  "Where's the Beef?" I always have lots of dinner ideas involving chicken, but am constantly trying to think of ideas using other proteins, like beef.  This dinner uses ground beef which is easy to cook, inexpensive, and when seasoned properly, delicious.

Korean Beef and Rice

recipe from: SixSistersStuff.com

This dinner couldn't get any simpler.  Despite how quick and easy it is to make though, it's packed full of flavor.
You can adjust the amount of chili flakes you use depending on how spicy you like it.  We like it pretty spicy, so I use a lot.  However, I took out a portion for Noelle before I added the spice because I know she's not a fan of really spicy things.
Since this dinner was basically just beef and rice, I decided to add some vegetables.  I just added a bag of frozen stir fry vegetables in after the beef was browned.  It adds flavor, crunch, color, and makes it healthier with all those yummy veggies!
The only other thing I did differently from the recipe was to make a little extra sauce since it seemed a bit dry.  I still only used 1/4 cup of brown sugar, but added more soy sauce and ginger.

Grades:

Megan - A (I love that this recipe takes under a half an hour and tastes like it took much longer.  The sweet and spicy flavor combo works great.)

Doug - A-

Noelle -D+ (Noelle has never had any "Asian flavors" before such as ginger and soy sauce.  I could tell she didn't hate it, because she kept asking for more. But, every time she ate a bite she acted surprised by the flavor.  She needs to get used to these new flavors and maybe she'll like it better next time)

** A little tip rant...
When Noelle first tried this dinner I could tell she was surprised by the new flavors as any of us would be when we try something new.  One thing I try not to do is say, "Oh, I guess you don't like that" when she tries something new.  Instead I say something like, "That was a new flavor for you that you'll have to get used to.  I'm proud of you for trying it."  Also, even if she doesn't seem to like it or doesn't eat much of it, I don't give her something else instead.  If I started doing that, she would quickly learn that she can just refuse what's in front of her and get something better.  I know she won't starve herself.
Sometimes I can tell Noelle just doesn't really like the flavor of something and then I don't really push her too hard to eat more.  However, with this, I could tell she was on the fence about whether she liked it or not, so I did try to get her to eat a little more.  When she wasn't eating it, I started eating it (cause I was hungry!!).  As soon as she saw me eating it too, she asked for more and ate quite a bit more with me.  I think kids want to see that you like the food you serve them too.  Personally, I don't really like "kid food" because it tends to be lower quality food than what adults eat, less healthy, and pretty flavorless.  For example, once she ordered a cheeseburger off a kids menu in a restaurant (I hate kids menus BTW).  When it came, it was a dry, plain, greyish brown disgusting looking patty on a plain bun.  Noelle tried it and did not want it.  And I couldn't blame her!  It looked disgusting!!  I wouldn't have wanted to eat that either.  That was an extreme situation, but just an example of the question I always wonder...why do we expect our kids to eat plain, boring, flavorless food that we wouldn't eat?  I don't know many adults who eat plain noodles, chicken nuggets, and hot dogs every night for dinner, so why would our kids?
Just like Noelle's experience tonight...flavors take a while to get used to (I think they say you have to try something about 13 times before you can really tell if you like it or not), but when you get used to them, they are sooooo much better than bland food.