Remember the old "compare and contrast" essays from high school? You know, "Compare and contrast Shakespeare's early works with blah blah blah...."

I have been thinking about how certain aspects of Flipper's childhood "compares and contrasts" with mine. In some ways, it feels worse, meaning more stressful for me, the mom, and in other ways ... well, the kid's got it good. And one area where she has it really good is food.

My mother was a very, very good homemaker. We ate out less than 5 times a year. Can anyone imagine that these days? Now, granted, this area had very, very few decent restaurants 30 years ago. The incredible bounty of Whole Foods prepared case — as insanely expensive as it is — didn't exist. Nor did sushi, Thai, organic ... I can remember when Whole Foods was in the small building that now houses Magnolia Grill in Durham and the bulk food was in large wooden barrels.

Mexican? I had Ortega hard-shell tacos at a friend's house for the first time when I was 17!!! Flipper eats all of the above and more on a weekly basis. This feels like a huge shift to me. I actually cannot remember purchasing a can of cream of mushroom soup in my life, whereas my childhood dinner table featured MANY, MANY casseroles with cream of mushroom soup in a starring role. Over and over again. Lots of hamburger and tuna in Best Supporting Actor roles. I try, at least in my head, to BE that kind of organized mother, the one that sits down and figures out meal plans, makes grocery lists and then sticks to it. I know these people exist, but once again I seem to be a square peg attempting to wedge myself in a round hole.

I have tried, with various degrees of success to do this, but one major problem crops up repeatedly. Most of the time I make/buy what I feel like eating, REGARDLESS of whether or not it is on my little "plan" or not.

And if I feel like something specific, then I Must Have It. This happened while I was pregnant with Flipper. I would have certain cravings, then eat that one dish over and over again for a week or two in a row. Margaret's Cantina's huevos rancheros was one such dish. The hot portobello and balsamic pepper sub from Amante's Pizza was another. I think it goes without saying that I haven't had either one in 5 years.

And so Flipper, who eats out more in a month than I did in an entire YEAR of my childhood, has a decently adventuresome palate. Too snob to even eat any kind of macaroni-and-cheese out of a box, unless that box is Amy's Organics Macaroni and Cheese. Too picky to eat wheat bread, unless it is pita bread. And I confess that for the most part, I indulge her in this.

This would be a very, very marked contrast from my childhood, where if we didn't like what was for supper our refusal was followed by this immortal line: "It's a long time until breakfast." With Flipper I try to straddle the line between a healthy intake of good foods both known and unknown, but with enough that she likes and will happily devour.

And on that note, I will share with all of you my fail safe, Insta-dinner that rates about a 3 on a guilt-o-meter scale, meaning a "1" would be a perfectly balanced meal of tempeh, kale and brown rice, and "10" would be a Happy Meal. Actually, Flipper and a friend ate this for dinner last night while his mom and I had sauteed fish on top of huge yummy salads. So here goes, even for the vegetable-haters out there:

Open one box of Stouffer's Welsh Rarebit. Do not read ingredient list. Nuke it.

Cut up a wheat baguette into cubes. Put on big plate.

Open a bag of mixed "stir fry" veggies: broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. Put on same plate.

Put piping hot melted cheese in microwave dish beside big plate.

Give each kid a toothpick, and let them have at it. They will DEVOUR the veggies, and really, anything else they can dip into hot melted cheese. Wouldn't we all?

If you want to take more than 7 minutes to make this, boil some tiny new potatoes, or little Yukon Golds, or little creamer potatoes. Put on big plate.

WARNING: addictive.

Here's young Flipper with favorite green thing: Broccoli.

Leigh appears every Monday on TriangleMom2Mom. Read more about Leigh at Flipper and Me.