When I was a kid, I never never never never ever ate my vegetables.

Nothing green and/or leafy ever entered my mouth. Ever. The only vegetables I would eat were corn (preferably cold and crunchy, straight out of the freezer); carrots (raw, never cooked); or potatoes (baked, roasted, or tots--never mashed).

I don't know how my poor parents put up with me.

I branched out a bit when I entered college--I began eating an occasional salad. That was still about it.

Then I got married, and my husband was not so long-suffering as my mother. He informed me that he didn't care what I ate, but there was no way HE was going to eat frozen corn every single day for the rest of his life. And since I was and still am our primary family cook, I started cooking some more vegetables. For him. Love will do strange things to you.

And while I had no problem turning up my nose at my mother's cooking every night of my childhood (sorry, Mom!), I felt differently once I was the one preparing the food. I knew that time and effort had gone into planning, shopping for, and preparing those meals. Plus, we were broke, and I couldn't exactly make two different dinners each night--vegetable-inclusive, for him; corn-and-baby-carrots-only, for me.

So I started eating more vegetables. And I didn't choke on them. And I tried new ones. And sometimes I liked them.

And now, we come to where we are today. This morning I was making a lunch for my husband, spooning up leftovers of last night's casserole to put in a tupperware container for him to take to work, and I couldn't resist scooping up a spoonful of the casserole just to eat myself because it was soooo good.

And what kind of casserole was it that I was salivating over, you may wonder?

It was a mixed-vegetable and lentil casserole. Lentils. I kid you not. Ten years ago I had no clue what a lentil even was, and here I am gobbling them up by the spoonful because they are so delicious. And it occurred to me how strange it is that I, the vegetable-hating child, was snitching bites of a vegetarian casserole as an adult. (Thanks, Rebekah, for the recipe!)




Brussels sprouts? Roasted, sauteed, or braised, I can't get enough of them. They have such a good, nutty flavor. Spinach! Eggplant! Zucchini! Squash! Yum, yum, yum. I eat vegetables every single day, new vegetables all the time (just tried a recipe with bok choy a few weeks ago, and it was great) and I love almost all of them. (Not parsnips. They are gross). If you would have told me as a child that I would be eating, and enjoying, all these foods, I would have told you that you were dead wrong. Little did I know.

And so I share my story with you, all you mothers of picky eaters out there (myself included. My kids only each the carrots out of the lentil casserole, and the cheese off the top) as a ray of hope in a dark and stormy world. Even the pickiest of picky eaters may one day grow up to eat a variety of healthy vegetables. And even enjoy it.