Today I check in on my one week goal of eating together as a family at the dinner table. If you've been following my side bar updates (which you probably haven't), we've done quite well.
The best thought out and executed meal was probably Monday's. The worst was the tilapia. We ran out of our Costco tilapia (and they didn't have any for sale the last time we went!) and made the mistake of buying some from Wal-mart. It was not nearly as good of quality and the taste and texture were sub par.
The results:
I have really, really enjoyed having earlier family dinners this week. It's nice to eat as a family. It's also really nice to eat earlier. I'm always hungry by that time anyway, and it allows me to get a lot of clean up done right after dinner while the dishes are fresh. That also made me feel like I had more of an evening after Dean went down. I also liked not having to cook and think of two meals. Matt wasn't that hungry a couple of the days, but he ate with us anyway and it wasn't that big of a deal. I think it's really going to help Dean, honestly. This is something I really hope I can continue for most days at least. Sure there might be days where it just doesn't happen like I want it, but that's life.
Monday: success! Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Braid, Cucumber and feta salad, fruit salad
Tuesday: On time! Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Wednesday: Timely. Tilapia, Baked Potatoes, Broccoli, Grapes
Thursday: success! Pasta-pizza and Zucchini
Friday: on time. Hard and double decker tacos
Saturday: on time but kinda cheated since Matt wasn't home. Dean and I ate together. Frozen chicken patties and fries with carrot sticks
Sunday: Failure to eat as a family. By the time we got home from church Matt hadn't eaten anything in 22 hours, so he needed something pronto. Dean went down for his nap and I had to feed Walt and we ended up napping. So Matt made himself lunch and wasn't hungry by the 5 pm dinner time. I gave Dean some left over bean and bacon soup (which he ate very well) and made vegetable stir-fry, spring rolls, and sticky rice for us after he went down for bed.
As a side note, I have to say I've finally figured out how to make good stirfry with minimal dishes! I used to create soooo many dishes with the prep and cooking of veggies, meat and sauce. Tonight I really only used my wok, 1 cutting board, and the rice maker!
3 comments:
Good for you! I'm still impressed you're up for cooking that much after Dean goes down! Spring rolls sound delicious too!
Eating as a family is a hard thing for us, too, what with Blake not getting home from work until sometime between 7 and 8, and Garrett's bedtime at as close to 8:00 as I can get it. But somehow we've done it, and I love that we have. It makes such a difference, even though making it happen is often chaotic.
I've been looking at your side bar every day. You really are amazing.
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