Picky eaters!

How do you deal with a picky eater as an adult? I'm not talking about dealing with a child who refuses to try or eat broccoli, steamed spinach, or carrots but I'm talking about an adult who just refuses to eat anything new. New is a relative term though. I'm talking about foods that have been around for years and years.

As a child my mom never cooked asparagus and definitely not brussel sprouts for the family but as I got older I tried asparagus and loved it. A few years ago I decided I wanted to try brussel sprouts and again discovered they were very tasty.

Here's my questions, how do you deal with an adult who claims to not like certain things? My wife and I are what you would call foodies. She loves to find new restaurants to go to and try their menu but typically when we get there she either gets the steak or whatever shrimp, lobster, or crab dish they have. She never ventures out to try anything new. She was never big on Mexican dishes when we first met and anytime I'd suggest going to a place called On The Border she would just cringe. A few years ago a new place opened in our city called Mi Pueblo which is a very nice Mexican style restaurant. I took her there reluctantly and she loved it. I guess I changed her mind on Mexican foods somewhat. I love to cook and I'll try different recipes. Last week I was looking at a few videos online just killing time and one popped up where this guy was making a chicken burrito with crispy chicken tenders, french fries and the works. Me, I'm the type of guy who will see a commercial for a restaurant and instead of going there to get the dish I find my own recipe for the item. Shrimp or chicken carbonara, loaded fries, etc. Just whatever they restaurant commercial is promoting I will try it myself. So, I decided to try the burrito. I gathered all my ingredients and over the course of a few days I worked on it. A day or so to gather the ingredients to make sure I had everything. Then I wanted to make some items ahead of time to cut down on doing everything in one night. So the day before I made the fresh guacamole and fresh pico de gallo. The day of, I made the Mexican rice. Earlier in the day I got my spice mix together for the chicken which was nothing we didn't already have in the kitchen. Marinated my chicken with EVOO and the spice mix then seared it in the pan that night. Sliced the chicken in strips and laid everything out for the wife and I to eat. Again, marinated chicken breasts, fresh guac and pico. Monterey jack queso, fresh fried bacon, homemade Mexican style rice. A can of black beans (which I know she doesn't like but I do). Shredded fiesta style cheese and sour cream. My wife comes to the kitchen and starts picking apart the meal. "I don't eat black beans." "I don't eat Mexican style rice." "I'm not a big burrito eater." I told her to just make a burrito and try it. She threw everything she wanted on it and I rolled it up. I also pulled out my griddle and sprayed it with butter spray and got it screaming hot then seared the burritto on each side until it was golden brown.

Again, my wife loves homemade quac. She's always buying pico de gallo but this time I made it fresh. Chicken, bacon, cheese. Again, things she eats anyway. And the Mexican rice was nothing more than rice, tomato sauce, chicken broth, garlic, cumin, finished off with fresh cilantro.

She maybe took 2 bites of it and didn't touch it again. Next thing I know she walks her plate to the kitchen and comes back with a bowl of cereal. And this is an everyday thing. She follows every meal with a bowl of cereal. She'll eat anything fried as long as it's pork chops or drumsticks. Rice is okay too as long as it's white with some sort of gravy on it.

I'm wondering if this is retaliation for the other night. She made some sort of spicy cajun string bean recipe which had chopped potatoes in it. My wife hates to chop anything when she cooks so the potatoes were uneven meaning they were various sizes. The smaller pieces were cooked through whereas the larger pieces were raw in the middle. And she knows I tend to stay away from spicy foods ever since I had my gallbladder removed a number of years ago.

How do you deal with picky eaters . . . . adult picky eaters?