Growing up, our life had this wonderful world of books. My mother read a lot and the house was always overflowing with books. It was natural for us to pick up reading given that we had a mom whose hands never seemed to be without a book. With a hectic life between her job and three kids at home, no wonder she drowned herself in a sea of books on weekends. On weekends, I remember her skipping her meals and even her bath, to finish whatever she was reading at that time.

Anyway, fast forward to the present and now, thanks to the schools in US, my son does read a little. He quickly understood that his bed time can be pushed by another half an hour at least if he picks a book! I can see him howling with his latest Calvin and Hobbes book or reading his dinosaur books with a lot of interest.

Charlie and Lola were part of our lives earlier. Though he has outgrown the book and the series, it still holds a good place in our hearts. “I will never ever eat a tomato” is the first book, a TV series followed. Lola is a 5-year-old picky eater and her 7-year brother Charlie fixes her a dinner. She doesn’t like peas, carrots, mushroom, spaghetti, cauliflower, cabbage, bananas or oranges or apples or rice or cheese…but she would never ever eat a tomato!

Charlie comes up with imaginative names – carrots becomes orange twiglets from Jupiter, peas are now green drops from Greenland, mashed potatoes are cloud fluff from top most peak in Mt. Fuji and so on. The dinner here is something Lola would run away from, unless Charlie steps in between.

Food theme: Food from kids’ literature/TV shows

Serves : 1-2 kids

Orange Twiglets from Jupiter/ Glazed carrots 

• Match stick carrots, about 1/2 cup
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp maple syrup (I didn’t have any)
• 1 tbsp butter
• a dash of salt and pepper,optional.

Melt butter in a pan and add the washed and cleaned carrot sticks into it. Saute for 2-3 minutes and add the sugar, maple syrup (if using) and salt and pepper. Cook, stirring in between, for about 5-8 minutes or until the carrots are cooked through. The cooking time will depend on the quantity and the thickness of the carrot sticks.

Green drops from Green land/ sautéed peas 

• 1/4 cup frozen green peas, thawed
• 1 tsp butter
• salt

Melt butter in a pan and add the thawed peas and salt. Let it cook until done, about 3-5 minutes.

Cloud fluff from Mt. Fuji/ Mashed potatoes

• 2 big potatoes, diced
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp milk

Cook potatoes in salted water and drain once cooked. Warm butter and milk together. Add this to the drained, steaming potatoes along with salt and pepper. Mash well using a wooden spoon, adding a little more warmed milk, if required.

Ocean nibbles from the supermarket under the sea/ Toasted bread sticks

• No fish sticks, so I toasted a piece of bread and cut it into fingers.

Moonsquirters

• Cherry tomatoes!!

Pink milk:

• Ready made strawberry milk

Linking this entry to Valli’s Kid’s Delight, hosted by PJ this month. The theme is ‘Cooking from Storybooks/TV shows’.