They say they hate it? Keep trying! And The Story of "the Meat Truck"

Texture Woes and German Sausage

This is another creative week in our home. We skipped grocery shopping in favor of adding new items to our CSA basket (first delivery Friday!) Our pantry, freezer and fridge contain food, but sometimes putting them together to make a nourishing meal takes some thought. Tonight, what sounded good to me only partly sounded good to the kids: 

German sausage sliced onto parsley and garlic couscous and mixed frozen berries

A Substantial Word on Good Meat

This Saturday, we hit the Helena Farmer's Market on the way back from our last soccer game of the season. We picked up our lunch there and ate it on the lawn until a wobbly old hippie lady and her tye died toadie started sauntering around with a tape deck, asking little children to dance for them (seriously.) Before we left, we were able to score some amazing sausages from "the MEAT TRUCK." 

Montana City Meats has a truck parked at the market every Saturday that sells lovely local meat; lamb, beef, bison, pork and other assorted items. My favorite items of theirs are their sausages. OH THEIR SAUSAGES! Depending on the week they sell Germans, Polish, Bach-wurst, tomato basil, cheddar-wurst, jalapeno cheddar-wurst, etc. They are all amazing!

Dinner was fairly easy after I figured it out. I took my lovely sausages and cooked them in my cast iron skillet on medium heat, turning them occasionally and pouring water into the pan, covering them with a lid to steam them to keep them moist, and then turning them over and over again. I cooked my couscous when the sausages were ready, boiling 2 cups of chicken stock in a pan, adding 1 cup of couscous and a paste of 1 minced garlic clove and half a bunch of fresh parsley. I let the couscous sit for five to ten minutes until the liquid was fully absorbed. I sliced the sausages on top of the couscous, served berries alongside, and called it dinner.

As soon as the plate hit the table, my six and four year old sneered and replied, 

"Ew! Couscous! I hate couscous!"

Its a texture thing. Its all in their heads, but you know, I can't control what goes in or comes out, just what I offer. They tried the couscous, as I ask, but wouldn't eat much more. I won't stress too much about it though. Someday, they will surprise me, and until then, it makes delicious leftovers, cold or warm. When the boys won't eat part of their dinner, I don't whip up something else for them. Dinner in dinner, eat it or don't.