Teaching A New Generation To Roll A Burrito

My children are picky eaters. And, of course, they're picky in different ways. This puts us in a position where we struggled coming up with meal options that make everyone happy when we go out to eat. The one constant when we're eating outside the home? Mexican food. We can go to just about any Mexican restaurant in town and everyone will find at least one thing on the menu they'll eat. The best part, is that I find my children will eat more variety as long as it's rolled up or grilled up in a tortilla.

So, what was my latest Breakfast Kitchen Adventure starring my mini chefs?

You guessed it! BREAKFAST BURRITOS.

Now, the cooked ingredients for breakfast burritos are not necessarily child-chef friendly. I'm not brave enough to let my kids scramble eggs or cook sausage. However, even after the cooked items, there was still plenty for them to help with.  My daughter cut tomatoes and poured some salsa while my son set up the different bowls of cheese. Of course, I'm certain he ate half of what he was serving. He'd eat shredded cheese in a bowl at every meal if I let him.

Once we got all of the items ready for serving, we set up a smorgasbord on our kitchen table. I put the bowls around the table and gave the kids their own small tortillas to fill. My daughter chose a meat-heavy option with mostly sausage and bacon with a little bit of cheese.  My son, as I'm sure you can predict, did just the opposite. He went vegetarian with his first creation and filled the tortilla and loaded it up with potatoes, salsa and cheese. We had a lesson for rolling a burrito: pinch the sides in, and then roll it up. And we went to town on our creations.

The kids ate EVERYTHING. They even both went back and made seconds AND offered to make me a second one as well. I think they had a lot of fun with this creation and even asked if they could make dinner burritos next time. The funny thing about this whole project is that both of my kids ate scrambled eggs in their burritos. That's one of those foods we've forced them to try before, and they've simply done the dramatic gag-reflex response we parents love so much.

But in a burrito? They didn't even FLINCH. I've vowed repeatedly that giving my kids control over their meal prep inspires them to try new things, but I didn't realize that adding tortillas to the mix would make them even enjoy things they previously hated.

I guess that's the power of the tortilla. I will not question it.