I like to cook.
Well, at least I used to.
I have something to admit.
I haven't done much cooking lately.
I have felt uninspired, lazy, tired, and unmotivated in the cooking department.
It's just so much WORK!
The planning, the preperation, the clean-up, especially the clean-up.
I cooked dinner tonight, and it was pretty good. I made fajita chicken and cheese quesadillas. The thing is though, that the girls weren't here. When they are here, which is almost all the time, of course, I don't feel able to cook. I am consumed by them, and drained by them. I love them, but they don't make preparing a meal easy, or sometimes even possible. We've eaten more frozen pizza in the last few months than i care to admit. We've also spent WAY to much money at food establishments. At the beginning of this summer, I had every intention of preparing yummy, healthy meals for my family. I had lunch, snack, and dinner plans. I'm not sure where those plans are now, or what has happened to them, maybe the new puppy ate them.
At least he had food.
I'm feeling very convicted (by God and my hubby!) about our poor and expensive eating habits. So, I have decided to issue myself a challenge. Make dinner 7 nights in a row. Real food, not frozen, pre-made dinners. Shocking, I know, but necessary. I plan to begin my week of cooking on monday. Like I said at the beginning, I do like to cook. I'm a huge Rachael Ray fan. So, hopefully I can channel her and actually enjoy cooking for my family this week.
My other problem is lunch. I just don't enjoy lunch at home. But i'm not enjoying spending $15+ a day at fast food places either. Not to mention the fact that it is sooo not healthy! I do make my kids get the apple dippers most of the time, but I'm thinkin' thats not enough. So, I'm asking for help! What do you and your kids eat for lunch at home? When we do eat lunch at home it's usually peanut butter or turkey sandwiches, or mac-n-cheese, sometimes we have soup. I'm just bored! So, now I've sent out my SOS, and hopefully tomorrow I'll have some ideas and inspiration so I can make a grocery list!
6 comments:
good luck on the cooking! i'm no help for lunches, though. i usually do pbj or turkey and mustard, chips, sometimes cheese cubes, and some sort of dessert, like chocolate pudding or something. but good luck!!!
lauren
Shelley, I am so with you on this! In fact, I made out a meal plan on the road today for when we get home. How funny! I'm just hoping your puppy doesn't it eat.
Lunch ideas, I don't have any new ones for you, but I'm hoping someone out there does, because I need them too!!
touafrzylunch-- little pizzas made out of 25 cent biscuits, pizza sauce, shredded cheese, 10 minutes at 350 DONE!
Toasted or grilled PBJ YUMMY
Grilled cheese with pepperoni
Soup
Snackies lunch--grapes, cheese cubes, yogurt, and pretzels
Dinner--
THE casserole.
-favorite noodle
-spaghetti sauce
-browned hamburger
-grandpa's seasoning
-Top with Shredded Cheese
Bake 350 for 20-30 minutes
serve with biscuits and salad or corn
YUMMY we eat this once a week!
I think I am just now coming out of my cooking rut. Thank goodness. The beginning of the summer was yuck for food around here.
I love eating lunch at home, because it means...I'm home!
Our favorites:
-Biscuit pizzas (courtesy Jen)
-Grilled cheese
-Pigs in Blanket (smokies and cresent rolls)
-leftovers from the glorious meal the night before. :)
-chicken quesadillas
-yogurt crunch
It helps me when I make a weekly menu. I wrote down the days of the week and what I want for dinner those nights. Then I make a grocery list based on the needs for those meals.
I also have a list of the foods that we like and that I can make by memory. I have a list for , chicken, pasta and soups. I refer to this list when making my dinner menu. This takes the thought out of it. I just look at the list and decide what sounds good for that week.
If you are interested, I have several meals that are staples in our home that are quick and easy and most of them make enough for leftovers the next day. I try to make at least one meal that will feed us for two nights each week. That take a load off of me.
As for lunch-we are in a rut too.
My kids like Turkey roll ups-just a piece of turkey and cheese rolled together to make a log and held together with a toothpick. I think they like the toothpick more than the roll up.
We also eat cheese and crackers a lot for lunch.
At VBS, they served mini corn dogs and my kids loved them. I bought a bag at Sam's. Very unhealthy, but delicious.
I enjoyed getting some fresh lunch ideas for us also! It is hard to keep lunch at home exciting w/o serving a toy w/ the meal. :) Here are some ideas from our house. We also make mini pizzas but we use english muffins for the crust. I like to toast them first so they don't get soggy with the sauce. I have had Janelle's biscuit ones and I have to say they are yummy!
Annie's brand has canned pasta that is organic. It is like Spaghetti O's. They have a couple different kinds and they list their ingredients on their website. You can buy these at the grocery store or Target.
We also like:
*apples & dip (pb & honey or maple syrup stirred together)
*raw veggies and ranch dressing
*pasta w/ or w/o sauce
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