Glop

I made chili for dinner last night. I use this chili mix that we all really like a lot. It is from Bear Creek soups and is called Darn Good Chili. All you have to do is add water and a can of tomatoes. I always add a pound of cooked ground beef, too. Anyway, as long as Peter can pick out the tomatoes, everyone is very happy. Sam usually has two bowls and is sad the next day if there are no leftovers.

WELL, yesterday I didn't have any ground beef to add and I could have picked some up at the store but I had a great idea! I've known lotsa people who substitute cooked wheat for ground beef in various recipes, including chili. I have LOTS of wheat stored up in my garage so I thought this would be a great idea. I could use up some of my delicious, nutritious whole wheat and not have to make an extra trip to the store!

So we sit down and start to dig in and the kids are excited because the love this stuff. Soon thereafter Sam made a comment...something like, "What is this stuff?"
"It's chili, of course!" I told him.
"It seems different. It doesn't taste the same," he said.
"Hmm, I dunno, it's the same chili I always make," I innocently say as I show him the empty package...just to prove that it's the SAME chili I always make.
After a few more minutes he finally exclaimed, "Where's the MEAT!?!"
"Huh, what?" I pretended I couldn't understand what he was talking about.
"There's no meat!"
"Oh, uh, yeah, I didn't have any so I put in wheat instead. It rhymes with meat, see, wheat--meat, get it? Wheat/meat?" I explained.
He groaned and it just went downhill from there. Peter and Caleb and I were able to eat it just fine but Sam was heartbroken. (I'll admit it DID taste very different but it wasn't gross or anything).

Finally he just refused to eat it and asked if he could have more crackers. I politely said sorry, the crackers are for people who are eating their chili. He groaned again and was completely exasperated by now. He yelled, "IT'S NOT CHILI!"
I tried to explain that yes, indeed, it was chili, it just didn't have beef in it.

Later I served some giant strawberries for dessert. Again, I said these are for those of us who have finished our chili. Poor kid, by now he had tears in his eyes. He yelled again, "It's not chili! If it was chili I would eat it!"
By now my patience had run out and I asked him in my Mr. Smarty-pants voice as my head bobbled side to side..."If it's not chili, then what exactly is it?"

"GLOP," he said.

I suppose it was my fault for asking. I should know better by now. You'll be happy to know that once he saw his brothers gobbling down the strawberries he was suddenly able to gag down every bite of his...glop.

Today is Thursday which is Eggo waffle night at our house so everyone should be happy about that...although I did buy a generic brand of Eggos this time...OOPS, could spell trouble.