Lynda Loveland: Ewwww, that's gross!

I take great pride in making home cooked and healthy dinners for my family. (Although sometimes, not at the same time. I confess I do like butter.) I don’t make the same thing all the time. I like to try new things and expose the kids to more than spaghetti and tacos.

Some of the things they’ll eat, some they won’t. I’m not offended. But the thing that really ticks me off is when they look at something and say ewwww, gross!

My son made that mistake the other night. I made Brussels sprouts. The first time I made them, I admit they were terrible. But this time I blanched them first, than roasted them until they practically caramelized. They were surprisingly tasty. I put half of a sprout on each kid’s plate to try. My son, who is normally a good eater, took one look at it and said, “Ewwww, it looks like puke.

I snapped. I’d been in the kitchen for more than an hour making dinner and his comment went down about as easily as a cup full of glass shards. You see, I also made shrimp scampi over angel hair pasta and a Caesar salad accompanied by sour dough bread.

In one move, I rose from the table and snatched him out of his seat. His back-side resided on the stairs in a time out while the rest of us started dinner.

I don’t know if it was the time out or the look of death on my face, but he hasn’t made that mistake again.