if your child is a picky eater and you won't just let them starve...

As an adult, I'll eat anything and everything like a savage who has not been fed for days. I know it's hard to feed kids and in retrospect, I am thankful that my mom's cooking went beyond hot dogs and peanut butter jelly time, even if I didn't appreciate it as a stubborn little devil child. I have very fond memories of my childhood. And then I have the memories of sitting at the dinner table for HOURS because I refused to eat whatever green was on my plate. That discipline strategy did not last long, but it could have been avoided all together if it was two decades later and my mother had picked up a copy of Katie Workman's The Mom 100 Cookbook. Yes, I would like a time machine, thank you.

I love everything in this cookbook. Which means nothing, because I (as I've mentioned) will eat anything. However, I am a SIMPLE eater, like a lot of kids, and I enjoy SIMPLE recipes, like a lot of parents with said kids, so Workman's recipes really appeal to me. The main theme of this cookbook is conflict/resolution. She includes dilemmas, for example: "enough with the chicken nuggets" and solutions (ideas of what to make instead), for example: BBQ chicken, homemade tenders, rubs and multiple ways to roast a chicken. The footnotes are a life saver,  including cooking tips, what you can make ahead for the recipe to save time, and if you're really brave, a "What the Kids Can Do" suggestion. Keep them busy during spring break, hm?

I personally love chapter seventeen's "Weekend Brunches" The paradox: A relaxing brunch that you have to cook....with six solutions that include oven cooked french toast and muffins that are really easy to make. Workman should really have a "What the Boyfriend Can Do" section also.