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chrisinhouston · 06-08-2013, 12:39 PM

My step son and daughter in law are running around like crazy trying to get everything ready for the movers to move them to their new house across town. So we watched the kids at the new house, I repainted a bathroom and my wife put down clean shelf paper in the kitchen cabinets.

The new house has a pool so after awhile everyone went in for a swim. I volunteered to cook dinner and even brought along pots and pans and other tools as theirs are all packed awaiting the move. I made spaghetti, one with a meat sauce which the kids prefer and one more vegetarian for my wife and me. Normally I make everything from scratch, even my tomato sauce but for this I just added a jarred sauce and served it over the noodles with Parmesan, a green salad and garlic bread. Pretty basic fare.

What surprised me was when my 12 year old grandson asked if I had made mashed potatoes. "No" I told him, to which he explained that his mother always served their spaghetti over mashed potatoes with bread and never salad. Wow, I thought, that's really carbo loading. Later when their parents arrived with car loads of fragile things to unload I mentioned it to her. Both her parents died of cancer by the time she was 17 so she had a kind of strange childhood and I don't think she ever was mentored by someone on cooking technique. She admitted that she always served the kids like my GS had said. She also told me she also used a kit to make spaghetti. "A kit?" I asked. "Yes" she said, "Everything you need comes in the box, the noodles, the sauce, everything. Then we just make up some instant mashed potatoes to go with them."

Luckily my grand kids are super active. Always playing outside and involved in sports like soccer and football so they aren't overweight. But I do worry a bit about later. The kids hardly ever eat fresh vegatables or fruit unless it's at our house, I have never seen anything like potatoes, onions or any other vegetable at their house. They do get apples but that is about it. And most of the pantry food is highly processed. Lots of Lunchables, cartons of salty chips and other snack foods and things like Hamburger Helper and other pre-made dinner items where you only add a thing or to or not at all.

I consider myself lucky to have grown up with a parents who both liked to cook as well as my grandmother who taught me a lot.

06-08-2013, 12:39 PM	#999
chrisinhouston Professor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Houston TX Posts: 1,857	My step son and daughter in law are running around like crazy trying to get everything ready for the movers to move them to their new house across town. So we watched the kids at the new house, I repainted a bathroom and my wife put down clean shelf paper in the kitchen cabinets. The new house has a pool so after awhile everyone went in for a swim. I volunteered to cook dinner and even brought along pots and pans and other tools as theirs are all packed awaiting the move. I made spaghetti, one with a meat sauce which the kids prefer and one more vegetarian for my wife and me. Normally I make everything from scratch, even my tomato sauce but for this I just added a jarred sauce and served it over the noodles with Parmesan, a green salad and garlic bread. Pretty basic fare. What surprised me was when my 12 year old grandson asked if I had made mashed potatoes. "No" I told him, to which he explained that his mother always served their spaghetti over mashed potatoes with bread and never salad. Wow, I thought, that's really carbo loading. Later when their parents arrived with car loads of fragile things to unload I mentioned it to her. Both her parents died of cancer by the time she was 17 so she had a kind of strange childhood and I don't think she ever was mentored by someone on cooking technique. She admitted that she always served the kids like my GS had said. She also told me she also used a kit to make spaghetti. "A kit?" I asked. "Yes" she said, "Everything you need comes in the box, the noodles, the sauce, everything. Then we just make up some instant mashed potatoes to go with them." Luckily my grand kids are super active. Always playing outside and involved in sports like soccer and football so they aren't overweight. But I do worry a bit about later. The kids hardly ever eat fresh vegatables or fruit unless it's at our house, I have never seen anything like potatoes, onions or any other vegetable at their house. They do get apples but that is about it. And most of the pantry food is highly processed. Lots of Lunchables, cartons of salty chips and other snack foods and things like Hamburger Helper and other pre-made dinner items where you only add a thing or to or not at all. I consider myself lucky to have grown up with a parents who both liked to cook as well as my grandmother who taught me a lot.