Repurposed Nectarines

I kick myself in the butt, just a bit, for getting as excited as I do about the role fruit plays in the lives of my kids, especially for Ollie. He has had times when he has been particularly fond of one kind of fruit...but this is fleeting at best.

What happens, invariably, is that Ollie discovers the "BAD" parts of the fruit and this will trump anything that he ever liked about it previously...possibly forever.

Apples have to be peeled. Moms learn this quickly. Ollie has occasionally ASKED (???!!!?) for a GREEN apple to be peeled, sliced and spread with Peanut Butter. This is about as healthy as we get with this child although he only really wants this once in a blue moon.

Ollie was on earth for strawberries at one point...until he discovered that there is a white fleshy part where the leaves are pulled or cut off. This made him scrutinize this fruit and he was horrified to see that the entire inside of the strawberries look like this. He can no longer have strawberries.

Bananas are almost in the "safe zone" although the peel must be perfectly yellow with not one black-ish spot or mar of any sort. If we are lucky enough to happen upon a VIRGIN banana, Ollie needs to remove what he calls "the seed", which is the the slightly narrower, possibly dark nib at the very bottom tip of the banana flesh. If this "seed" is not visible, we still need to remove approximately 1/2 inch of the banana tip, just in case.

Ollie has an obsession with spots and will literally go into panic mode if he is within eyeshot of any lone item that may have "strayed" from the group of other "spots". The way this translates as one of the more DRAMATICALLY CHARGED food aversions in his repertoire is that he cannot SEE a single blueberry, small grape (although certain oversized grapes have been approved), or - worst-of all - a kernel of corn, let alone try to eat one. At this point, Ollie is actually allowed to eat alone in another room on the nights that we serve corn to the other children, in the event that one kernel become stray and accost his very spirit. Fine...more blueberries for me. More corn for the other kids.

I was extremely excited to see nectarines back in season and filled the fruit drawer with them a few weeks ago, remembering that these were Ollie's very favorite last year. I surprised him that night at dinner with a little dish of nectarines, cut up the way he likes them. And here is a picture of what they looked like, wrapped up and refrigerated a 1/2 hour later, after his complete rejection of them. With no explanation other than that he cannot eat them anymore, Ollie shook his head and pushed the dish away. Here is also a picture of those nectarines, repurposed as my delicious breakfast with yogurt and walnuts the next morning.

YUM! Thank you very much, Ollie!