We’ve hit a bump in the road of “bonus” parenting.

My stepson, The Boy, does not like home cooked food.

Admittedly, neither does his father.  His father is one of the more picky eaters I’ve EVER met, and not even because he’s a food snob; no, it’s more that his upbringing was based around two food groups: FRIED and MEAT.  Well, maybe three groups.  There is fried meat, after all.

When we first started dating, we ate out a lot.  I think Bryan made chicken parmesan for me once, but that was a trial for him as well.  For the most part, we ate Thai food, Chinese take-out, and Italian.  Always out.  After all, I don’t cook.  Never have.  That’s WOMEN’S work.

And we’re partly to blame for his aversion to home-cooked meals; typically, when it’s a weekend with him, we tend to eat out a lot.  We’re usually on the go with sporting events or family outtings, so eating out is just more efficient.  BUT, times are not what they were.  So we’re having some growing pains.

Really and truly, I know it’s hard.  He grew up with his momma’s cookin’, and everyone thinks their momma’s cookin’ is the best EVAR.  So no matter what I serve up, it’s gonna be against that standard.  Strike one.  Also, we eat pretty healthy in our house: lots of veggies, everything from scratch, baked and not fried.  Strike two.  And we’ve also taking to eating at the dinner table, versus the tv.  Strike two and a half.

We had chicken parmesan alfredo over angel hair pasta with herbs and oil on Saturday night.  Nope, no thanks.  Had a few bites, but decided he just wasn’t hungry.  Sunday night, we had grilled italian sausage hoagies with sauteed zucchini and squash.  He had a bite of each but declared the meal “too italian”.  He didn’t like the fresh sausage we had with our pancakes one morning.  Even the PB&J I made for him on Friday night post-football game wasn’t up to standard; he said the white bread “tastes like wheat”.

Readers, help moi.  I need failsafe meal options to make at home that a picky eight year old (and thirty-something-year-old) will like.  Thoughts?

(Tonight, we’re having slow-cooked pulled pork bbq.  And I made a KICK-ASS pumpkin pie yesterday.)