What's for Dinner

This month's issue of Family Fun magazine has an article called "Your Dinner Challenges Solved". I just laughed when I saw it, as if they can solve my dinner challenges!

When all of this started, I was cooking dinners that were free of all of Oliver's allergens because I was still nursing him and had to eat what he could eat. When I weaned him, I continued this mainly because I felt guilty that I woke up one morning and could suddenly eat without restriction. I didn't want him to feel singled out. Which was kind of silly at the time because he was just barely a year old and really didn't notice I'm sure.

I do have a few tricks up my sleeve. I would (and still do) boil regular pasta for us and rice pasta for him, and keep sauces with offending ingredients separate as opposed to mixing it in, and cheese became something that was strictly added to the top of your serving after the meal was plated. We eat enchiladas, he has just Ollie safe cheese on a corn tortilla. We eat pizza, and I pull out a frozen Ollie-safe tortilla and top it with Ollie-safe cheese. Same with pancakes or waffles, every now and then I make a bunch of allergy-free stuff for Oliver for the freezer and just pull some out as needed. Sometimes, I'll put aside some food for him before adding any offending ingredients. It's still very hard to come up with things that are easy for all of us to eat.

I've eased up a bit because I realize that Oliver doesn't care if he's eating something different so long as he has something he likes. Now I just worry about the older two. Unless I can absolutely guarantee that my older sons love what we are having for dinner, I make sure we all eat the same thing because I do not want them saying that Oliver gets something different so they want something different. I've worked too long to convince my kids that you eat what I make for dinner or you don't eat to have it go by the wayside now. 

So, even though I could just give Oliver a "dayia-dilla" (dayia cheese on a corn tortilla) every night while we indulge in whatever and Oliver would be happy, I fear that the other two would complain that they don't want what I cooked, but rather what Oliver has. Solve that, Family Fun!