Can’t Please Everyone

I am a big proponent of eating home cooked food for dinner, rather than eating prepared or restaurant dinners all the time. Not only is is cheaper, it is practically the only way I can control the calories in my food. Don’t get me wrong, I like to go out to dinner or even better go to someone else’s house for dinner, I just can’t afford to do it that often.
If it were up to Russ and me we would be perfectly happy making one thing and eating it for a couple of days in a row. I have a little sickness that makes it hard for me to make small amounts of food. My attitude is that leftovers taste better than the original meal and it is much faster to just make a little more than make two whole different dishes. I don’t know if Russ came to our marriage this way, but he certainly is a good egg about eating something that is already cooked in the fridge, rather than asking me to make something new.
Sadly our child is completely the opposite of us. She would prefer to eat dinner out every night or if she does eat at home she wants something new and different every night. How did this happen? I am hardly the mother who serves the same seven meals every week; meatloaf on Monday, turkey on Tuesday, spaghetti on Wednesday, baked chicken on Thursday, fish on Friday, burgers on Saturday and lasagna on Sunday. I did not make that menu up, I had a friend growing up named Gail and that is what they had every week. Talk about boring… Of course that was what her mother was able to make.
As creative a cook as I am I am slightly hindered by what Carter likes to eat that is also healthy. If we were a family who did not have to watch our choices it would be easy. I could come up with a different pasta meal for each day of the year, but sadly we need to limit pasta to special occasions. That goes for rice based meals too. Russ used to survive on “rice bowls” in college, long before that was a thing.  
All this is being said because most nights I am disappointing my child when she asks,”What’s for dinner?” Not that I try and do it on purpose, but I know that if I had to gain agreement on what to have we would not have very creative meals. I also know that ultimately she is going to like what I make more than she thinks.
Tonight to my great delight when Carter came upstairs for dinner she happily asked in, “Are we having red wine vinegar chicken?” Without consultation I had made something healthy that she loves and happens to be in the mood for it at the same time. Now I did disappoint her on the puréed cauliflower side, but she ate the broccoli. I know we don’t have much more time of having her eating dinner at home, but I hope when she goes to college she realizes how good she has it at home.