tasty buddies

We are trying really hard to get more meat into Logan's diet to increase his iron levels to improve his sleep quality.  The iron supplements alone don't seem to be increasing his ferritin enough (although maybe when he gets retested again at the end of Feb we'll be pleasantly surprised), so we've been pushing meat, spinach, dry cereal, and other iron-rich foods on him like crazy.  Sounds easy but you don't know my son.   He would be perfectly content eating nothing but breakfast cereal (with  milk which counteracts iron absorption) for the rest of his life.  Maybe with a side of Sour Patch Kids.

I came across a recipe called Cowboy Casserole on Pinterest (which I am totally head over heels in love with and don't know how I ever lived without it!).   Ground beef, tater tots, cheese, corn (I used mixed veggies).   Sounded easy, hearty and something the boys would at least try.  We've really stopped cooking seperate meals for the kids, they have to eat what we're eating or else there's no dessert and nothing else to eat until breakfast other than water if they get thirsty. We're very strict about it... we've gone years and years of making them 'kid food' and us 'adult food' and honestly I'm just done.   Utterly ridiculous to spend the time and energy, not to mention money, on a whole seperate menu just for them.  The only exception to this rule is if Andrew and I are having something totally wacky, as we will sometimes. But we tell the kids they have to at least eat part of what we're eating, and if they full on try new, adventurous foods they can earn jewels for that too.

Anyhow, Dylan LOVED the Cowboy Casserole and had two helpings.  Logan, shocker, did not love it.  So we bartered our way thru the meal, with the usual bribes of dessert, etc. until he got a good 12 or 15 bites in him (just eat the meat at least!). 

"Logan, you have five more bites to go, keep eating."

"But Mom, I'm not going to eat the peas!"

"You can't even taste them Logan, they're just mixed in with all the other stuff."

"I can too taste them Mom!  I have different tasty buddies than you!"

Tasty buddies!  I about died.  He has this thing where he'll turn words into other words, or add different endings.  I can't think of any others right now off the top of my head, other than "toppings".   He'll refer to the lid of a soda bottle as the "topping".  Kills me.  But "tasty buddies"... that one takes the cake!