Frankie and Slim

Frankie and Slim
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Wednesday, August 06, 2008

THE PHONE CALL

Yesterday evening I received the perfect phone call.

Step-by-step account: The phone rang; I glanced at the caller ID and joyfully answered my daughter Chelle; I said, "Hello"; She said (drumroll please)...."Mom, you're a genius!".

This from my daughter, age 36, who is the true genius. This from my super daughter who often makes me pause to recall her birth just to remind myself that I am truly her biological mom. I got up off the floor and said, "Huh? Do you have the right number?"

A few weeks back I passed a tip to her about getting her daughter Hope to eat healthy food. I told her that I had cut apples as shown on the Burger King commercial, to resemble french fries and served them as BK apple fries. Hope had gobbled them up. It seems if you call it "fries" kids will love it. My daughter did the same and again Hope gobbled them up. Thus, I rate genius. I am still basking in the glow and if this sounds sarcastic, I don't mean for it to. I am truly thrilled to have inspired something healthy. Usually my grandchildren tell their parents, "But Granny lets us have chocolate!"

17 comments:

  1. as a kid if I was reluctant to eat anything, I always got the , old "there are kids over in China starving to death with no food" routine. At my house was if you put it on your plate you ate it. I quickly became quite adept at just what I put on my plate.

    Gary (aka old dude)
    http://threescoreplusten.blogspot.com/

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  2. My mother in law let my daughter have pudding for breakfast once. She said it would be something fun my daughter would remember about her. She was right.

    At my house my son LOVES apples my daughter has to dip them in peanut butter to eat them. Whatever it takes though right?

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  3. That is pretty smart! I wonder if it would work with other foods. Could green beans become "fries?" What about pears?

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  4. I have been sneaking pureed veggies into baby Slade's mac and cheese...anything to get him to eat veggies!

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  5. I remember reading about those apple fries somewhere. Four of my grandkids will eat anything (inc. salad), so we don't have to resort to subterfuge. The other 2 eat practically nothing, inc. apples. Their mom eats little other than cheese, so it is a lost cause!

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  6. I have been lucky with my kids, they all loved fruits and veggies. My grandkids, on the other hand, are a harder bunch to please. They do like yogurt, so I make sure to keep plenty on hand...

    A friend of mine bought the book, "Deceptively delicious". by Jerry Sienfeld's wife. She has recipes, with good healthy foods in them, that are pureed in the recipe and mixed into the food. I have heard that they are wonderful.

    Apple fries sound good too....Sometimes we grandmas do know something.

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  7. We were eating lunch in a restaurant last Sunday with some fifty-fiveish year old friends. The wife said, "Oh, all I can think about is their banana cream pie!" So, I told her to order that first and then see how hungry she was for some real food. If you can't do something crazy after fifty, when can you? But, for the kids.... get the right stuff into them any way you can, Genius Granny!

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  8. My boys love fruits and vegetables but they are finicky about the meat items.....they love hotdogs and spaghetti and that's it.....they will starve rather than eat chicken or hamburgers...or fish. I think they may be vegetarians when they grow up:)

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  9. Yes Gary, we were expected to clean our plates also. You realize we're showing our age by admitting that?

    OGO, my husband says the children should eat strawberry ice cream for breakfast. It represents two food groups, milk and fruit.

    Sammy, you too are genius. I will begin serving all kinds of fries....pear fries would be so good. Maybe I'll call the green beans Green Bean Fry Fingers.

    Slade, you'll know Baby Slade caught on when you find the mac and cheese on the floor.

    Judy, I'm a bit of a cheese nut myself. Could live on a steady diet of chocolate and cheese. I think I have some kind of deficiency.

    Lucy, I have two grandchildren who only eat to get it over with. They have too many important things to accomplish and mealtime is an intrusion to their missions.

    Kacey, great idea. Next time I'm going for the dessert FIRST!

    Sprinkle, my dear, history tells me those boys will change as time goes by. I assume you are talking about the little ones. Doesn't your older boy eat meat? My oldest grandsons live on mass quantities of protein.

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  10. We knew that you were a genius all along!

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  11. These moments are treasured and I am so glad that you have this one. Good for you!

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  12. Dontcha just love it when we moms are right!!! I always told mine that some day they'd find out that mom wasn't as dumb as they thought -- probably about 10 minutes after they became parents. LOL

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  13. Actually, that's quite clever.

    The problem kids have with apples is the inconvenience of an apple. If you cut up an apple into slices, kids will naturally pick up the slices and enjoy them. But they're not willing to eat an apple because it's big and clumsy, not convenient at all. Or at least, that's what I've found with kids.

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  14. She's a slow learner. We already knew you were a genius. And we barely know you.

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  15. Nora and Cliff, you are both so kind to affirm my geniusness:-)

    Mr. Z., where you been? Good to hear from you.

    Yes Tabor, you know it WAS a precious moment.

    Kay, aren't we always right? LOL

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  16. Oh, you've been called a genius many times. You give great advice, too! :)

    BTW, I've been cutting apples that way for the kids and calling them fries since they were tots. They love them! I also make a spinach/basil topping for spaghetti that I call "hulk" pasta (because it's fluorescent green) and they love that, too...especially the little guy. :)

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  17. Now, that was brilliant!

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