I am in love with Epicurious. “For people who love to eat.” That is me. That is my family. I am constantly looking for new recipes. I love to cook with new ingredients. I love to introduce the girls to new tastes, new textures, before they become ‘settled’ on just one specific dish.

Pea is in a new culinary phase, after making us all suffer through a short-lived (thank God!) phase of wanting nothing but the orange mac & cheese. She wants to taste everything. For lunch, since my husband is home for the week, I wanted the entire family to eat together. So I threw some whole grain pasta in a pot and whipped up a turkey red sauce. From scratch. Not the first time I’ve done that, but it’s the first time I’ve done that and really thrown caution to the wind. In addition to the turkey meat and the obvious crushed and diced tomatoes, sauteed onions and garlic, I threw in cannellini beans, for an extra-added health punch. And Pea? Although she adores white beans? Was not all that thrilled to see them in her red sauce. But she tasted it. And her eyes, no kidding, grew wide with surprise. And then, delight. She loved it.

And as she was finishing her meal, she explained, or rather lectured, on the importance of trying new things, because otherwise, “how do you know if you like something if you don’t try it first? And anyway, you need to eat good food to be strong and play at the park with the big kids.”

Pea is also into the ‘manners’ phase. We’ve been working on chewing with our mouths closed, putting a napkin on our lap, and asking to be excused from the table, politely, when we are finished eating. The words, “may I please be excused?” are music to this mother’s ears. And I will not apologize for loving it when kids have good manners. I don’t care how young or how old a kid is. It’s never too early (or too late) to introduce the simple basics: please, thank you, may I? (And let’s add adults to the mix, as well. Really, does anyone write thank you notes any more? Or send a hand-written invitation through the mail, rather than an evite via email? Or am I just that old-fashioned and behind-the-times?) My husband and I are diligently modeling this good behavior with one other, and Pea, a natural observer, is mimicking it, and it’s working. She’s not being forced into doing something she’s not ready for, my husband and I are re-schooling one another in proper manners, and we’re all setting a lovely example for little Coco. So, everyone wins.

Bottom line: trying new things is cool (so check out Epicurious for recipes like roasted winter squash with parsnips and almonds (healthy) and Porcupine Meatballs (the name alone should entice most children to the dinner table!). Good manners? Even cooler. But on top of that is the proverbial icing on the cake, as you can even add being ‘green’ to the mix. One Goodie, my favorite site for practical and stylish products (with those promo codes we all ‘google’ before placing an order on-line already built into the price) that help make parenting (and cooking!) a little more chic, is selling child-sized cloth napkins, called Fabkins. Pea is particularly fond of the Prima Ballerina set, and Coco, currently obsessed with butterflies, is loving the Garden Friends set. Child-sized cloth napkins with gorgeous little designs on them. Washable and reusable.