Showerthought: my kid said my cooking was 'all the same color' and it totally changed my plate

My 8 year old looked at dinner last week and just said, 'It's all brown, dad.' I was making chicken, rice, and green beans, but I'd cooked the beans way too long. I realized I was just focusing on the food being done, not how it looked. Now I try to add one bright thing, like red peppers or cherry tomatoes, to every meal. It actually makes eating more fun. Anyone else get a simple comment that flipped a switch on a daily habit?

3 comments

3 Comments

daniel14017d ago

My daughter once asked why our plates were so sad. I started keeping a bag of frozen peas and carrots just to toss into anything beige. It costs nothing and makes the whole meal feel more put together.

the_alice17d ago

Oh that's so smart. My friend's kid called their Tuesday night pasta "depressing beige slop" once, which honestly, fair. She started doing exactly what @daniel140 said, just scattering in some frozen corn or chopped spinach from the freezer. It's wild how a tiny bit of color totally changes the vibe of the whole plate. She said it stopped the dinner table complaints almost overnight. It really is the easiest fix.

phoenixw1117d ago

Honestly my cooking is so bad I need a color wheel just to make toast look exciting. My version of this trick is throwing a single sad cherry tomato on the side of my instant ramen. It stares back at me like a tiny, judgmental eye, but at least the plate isn't just sad beige anymore lol.