Picky Eater Hack

Back in the days when I contributed to our nation’s GDP, I went to culinary school and worked as both a chef and a caterer. Cooking is a passion of mine, which often comes in handy because the tiny army I created has a passion for eating.

Often. And in massive quantities. I have stockpots large enough to double as a bathtub for a German Shepherd. I really feel like three meals a day is excessive – I mean, didn’t I just feed you yesterday? – but somehow I get overruled. Rude.

The annoying part is that none of them like the same thing. Roo wants bacon on everything which touches his plate. Noodle won’t eat dairy products unless they’re melted. Bean swears she’s allergic to chicken, of all things. Pook can’t eat everything we eat due to her dietary restrictions, but Boogie will eat anything that isn’t nailed down. I love most anything fancy-dancy and I married a person who eats Chef Boyardee right outta the can.

Enter our familial common ground: NACHOS.

We eat nachos for dinner at least twice a month, mostly because I get tired of the raised eyebrow/”what’s the GREEN stuff in this?” combo in the evenings, but also because it’s crazy easy. We always did them in the microwave growing up, but that meant nobody ate at the same time and microwaved cheese has a tendency to get a little… funky. So I started making nachos my own way and IT. IS. FAB.

Take a sheet pan. Line it with foil and pile on the chips and cheese. If you’re using meat, add that on there too. (In our house, half the pan gets seasoned chicken and the other half is without because my kids are bizarros who won’t eat non-nuggeted poultry.) Put the whole thing under the broiler until it’s melty – maybe four minutes tops, but keep an eye on it to be safe. Then just use a spatula to scoop a pile of delicious, gooey goodness into individual plates. All the toppings are on the table and everyone can customize their own plate to their liking. It also means cleanup is super fast, since you just pull the foil off your pan with any uneaten chips (I’ve heard that such a thing exists in some houses, just never witnessed it personally) and toss it all the the trash. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

FYI: mine are the best. Chicken, tomatoes, olives, guacamole, sour cream and fresh cilantro. How can you say no to that? The kids were happy with plain chips and cheese and I’m happy to say that there were no Chef Boyardees harmed in the making of this meal.