The older my kids get, the picker they get with their food choices. For instance, my son who started eating sushi when he was two, will now not touch tomatoes, beans or any meat that isn’t poultry or ground beef. He’d actually live on mac & cheese alone if we’d let him.
So, Tom and I have been trying to find ways to get them to eat different things. Whenever they turn their nose up and say, “What IS this?,” we just reply, “Food.” We don’t want to lie to them about what they are eating, but we don’t want to taint their opinion of what it is before it ever passes their lips.
The parsnip fries we’ve started making is one of those things that we just call “Food.” Made from nothing more than parsnips (found in the produce section near the carrots), olive oil and salt and pepper, they taste very similar to sweet potato fries. They are incredibly easy to make, and there are never any left overs when we are finished with dinner. We make them any time we think a meal calls for french fries – like when we are making burgers.
Here’s the ridiculously easy recipe (for people like me who hate to cook):
Ingredients (serves 4):
2 lb of parsnips
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450-degrees.
2. Peel the parsnips and cut into strips that are about 1/2 an inch long.
3. Put in a bowl and add olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss so that the parsnip strips are fully covered.
4. Spread on a foil lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Easy, right? And I promise, they are delicious. Try them the next time you want to give your family “food” at which that they won’t turn their nose up.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I totally need to start pulling the “Food” answer on my kids. I have never heard of parsnip fries and they are now on my list of things to do this weekend (lately food experimentation is a weekend hobby – gotta do something in the crazy cold)!