Ma’line no like ….

I have been hearing that quite a bit these days when it comes to meal time. The other morning I was getting some breakfast together for her. I washed some grapes (her current favorite) and cut her a slice of Zucchini Carrot Bread, topped with a schmear of cream cheese. ‘No mommy’, she says, handing it back to me, "Ma’line no like this bread". Wouldn't even try it and it was a brand new recipe too! Sigh.

Last night I made a new recipe – Ziti with Cherry Tomatoes, Spinach and Gorgonzola Sauce. This recipe came together pretty quickly and was quite tasty (got to love that) so I had all the ingredients out on the counter when I whipped up the sauce. I watched out of the corner of my eye as a little hand reached up onto the counter and grabbed the container that held the rest of the gorgonzola. I watched as she picked up a crumble and stuck it in her mouth, fully expecting to see it come back out. "Mmmmm”, she says, "Ma’line likes this", and then proceeds to the silverware drawer where she pulls out a spoon. She walked over the table, sat in her chair and proceeded to eat what little was left in the container.

Fast forward to supper time. I had grilled up some chicken breasts to mix in with the pasta so we had a little more protein. She was happily eating the pasta, chicken, tomatoes and sauce and then happened upon a piece of spinach. The look on her face was priceless and she promptly spit it out. She looked at it all mixed in with her pasta and then looked over my plate. "Ma’line no like the green stuff" she said and spent the next five minutes picking out every speck of green and giving it to me. Should I mention she has eaten spinach before?

It seems my 2 yr old has pretty diverse palate. Counted among her favorites are feta cheese, salami, kalamata olives, black olives, blue cheese dressing and now gorgonzola cheese. When it comes to veggies and dip, she chooses pepper slices (green and red) over anything else. She loves salmon and gobbled up a pasta casserole that was made with sliced eggplant.

But she won’t even try zucchini bread.