I got very motivated last week to cook something for my children that was a little different than the standard 2-3 things they’ve honed in on as their dinner ‘favorites’. I searched epicurious and came up with something that I thought was failsafe: turkey lasagna. My kids like turkey tacos; lasagne is pasta, meat sauce and cheese…what’s not to like? So I downloaded the recipe, printed out the shopping list, and took my lunch break to go to the supermarket. Back at work, I loaded all the stuff into our fridge, and felt very excited about the evening project of family cooking! I arrived home around 6pm, and my kids welcomed my idea with a big ‘Nooo. We don’t want to eat lasagna. Nooo. We don’t want to cook’. After several deep breaths, I gave them a lecture of how ungrateful they were being; about how much effort I had taken to do this with them, and so on. Rather crestfallen, they went in for their showers, but emerged 10 minutes later, apologized, and said they were very excited to make and eat lasagna. “Aha!” I thought. It’s really quite simple to convince kids. So we embarked on opening cans, and measuring spices, and beating eggs, and sorting out the cheeses. Stir frying the turkey was my job, with the kids looking on and emitting ‘Ooohs and Aaahs’ at the right moments. Layering the pasta with all the goodies was their job. Enthusiasm was building, and I was thrilled. Off into the oven for 30 mintues. And then…1/2 hour later…voila! A delicious looking lasagna, bubbling and fragrant! We waited for it to cool off, smacking our lips, and then bit into it. It was DELICIOUS. Delighted with my cooking, and parenting, skills, I turned to my kids, only to see them making faces. “I don’t like it”, one said. “It’s yucky”, piped in the other. And there went my cooking and parenting brownie points Right down the proverbial toilet. But I wasn’t giving up. Knowing how truly tasty it was, I took it to my office the next day, and watched, thoroughly redeemed, while it was gobbled up under my very eyes by 5 very appreciate colleauges. So all in all, a new recipe, and a success. But will I do this again in a hurry for my kids?? I doubt it!