The Meal That Keeps On Giving

I went to a neat little store yesterday called Making Thyme Kitchen. It's located on Cherry Street in Grand Rapids. It a little store that prepares ready-to-cook meals that are available to pick up, take home and pop into the oven (or microwave, or stovetop). Last night I picked up Mexican lasagna, quinoa fruit salad and mashed sweet potatos for the kids' dinner. Quite an ecclectic mix, I know.

The Mexican lasagna and sweet potatos didn't go over well with either kid, but I think that's because Bodin knew he was going to get to drive his new car after dinner and just wanted the whole ordeal to be over with. They both ate the quinoa fruit salad and really loved it. It contained quinoa, pecans, dried cherries/apricots, orange juice, and other stuff that I can't remember.

So, because I've read that you need to present a food 10 times to a child to get them to like it, they got that meal in their lunches for Friday, along with a baggie of red grapes.

Pizza, pizza!

My husband came home last night from a two-night work trip and the kids were really excited to see him. Bodin wanted to play with his new sprinkler and then wanted to play with his Spiderman slip 'n slide. As they played, I made dinner and lunch for the kids.

Here's what they had in Thursday's lunch:

*Pizza wrap: Sun-dried tomato wrap (from Sister's Natural Foods in Byron Center), mozzarealla, organic tomato sauce and turkey pepperoni (Hormel. Yes, it has sodium nitrate). I heated the wrap in a saute pan with a little bit of coconut oil. Then I added the rest of the ingredients, let the cheese melt and then wrapped it up and slice it in half.

*Broccoli (again, from Sister's Natural Foods in Byron Center) satueed in coconut oil and celtic sea salt.

*YoKids yogurt tube, strawberry

*Cashew rice treat for Bodin and an organic breakfast bar for Reese.

*HonestKids juice box for Bodin. Reese gets organic milk (Stoneyfarm) at school.

Mmmm, now I'm hungry!

Day late, but worth the wait ...

This past weekend was a busy one!! On Thursday, our neighborhood association put on some decent fireworks, so we kept the kids up straight through their bedtimes to watch the fireworks. Bodin ended up being a wiggly worm throughout the whole show and Reese turned into a zombie. It was still fun, though, sitting out on our deck watching the fireworks. Holidays are so much more fun with kids.

On Friday, we took Bodin to see his first movie, Wall-E. He did really good, didn't talk out loud a whole lot. But he also asked if we could go home near the movie's end. I think it was just a tad too long for him.

Sunday was Bodin's birthday; my baby boy turned three! Can't believe it. Justin and I got him a power wheels car that ended up not working the morning we gave it to him. It's currently in the shop (i.e., at Toys R Us) for repairs. I'm sure there's a life lesson in there about owning your own vehicle, but I'm just ticked that he couldn't drive it on his birthday morning. We'll get it tomorrow.

So, thanks to my mom and the birthday party she had for Bodin at her house, we scored some leftovers. Here's what was in their lunches for Monday:

*Turkey hot dog

*Mandarin oranges

*RiceWorks chips

These are from Costco and are SO good, especially with hummus

*Bag of carrots

It's almost the weekend!

We bought Bodin and Reese a sandbox/picnic table combo the other weekend. It was one purchase I didn't think all the way through; along with their mac 'n cheese (organic), they also consumed sand and grit. Didn't seem to bother them, though.

For today's lunch:

*Brown basmati rice, chicken, pine nuts, pesto and parmesan

This is way easier to make than you think. I bought a rice cooker from Meijer that cooks rice/pasta in the microwave. I make a large batch and it lasts for a few days in the fridge. Chicken is from a rotisserie chicken from Costco, along with pre-made Pesto (Kirkland, from Costco), pine nuts and parmesan.

*YoKids yogurt

From Stonyfield, organic

*Baggie of grapes

*HonestKids juice

Thanks again Aunt Ellen!

Friday's feast!

I did not feel well all day Thursday, and after dragging myself through the workday, the thought of making a dinner for everyone just exhausted me. I hadn't been grocery shopping in a week and there was nothing in the house. I stopped by a place called AliKat Kitchen on my way home from picking up the kids. They have ready-made meals that you cook when you get home. I chose chicken fajitas, which came with marinated raw chicken and veggies, tortillas, cinnamon carrots and a frozen veggie medley. I tossed the chicken a veggies in a stir fry pan, and the carrots in the microwave, and 30 minutes later, dinner was ready. Both kids gobbled it right up.

So, of course, they each got a chicken fajita in their lunch the next day.

That, along with:

*Cashews and dried papaya

*Organic applesauce

*Carrots

I'm really glad it's the weekend!

Slacker!

I was wondering when this was going to happen ... I haven't posted all week about my kids' lunches. We dealt with some possible food poisoning this weekend, and I haven't felt right all week. I still managed to pack a lunch for school, though.

Here's a list of what they've eaten over the past few days. I can't remember it all, so I'll add to this as I think of it:

*Peanut butter (organic) and preserves (organic) sandwich

*Organic cashews with diced dried papaya

These two items are yummy together!

*Carrots

*Grapes

*Homemade lasagna (thanks Mom!)

*HonestKids juice

Leave the dish towels alone!

My sweet daughter does this thing that drives my absolutely batty. Whenever she gets bored, pissy or mad that I won't/can't pick her up, she'll take the dish towels that I conveniently hang over the handle of the oven and toss them methodically onto the floor, one by one. It's so frustrating!! It's gotten to the point where I won't hang them up anyone, and resort to using paper towels. Then guilt over the wasted paper towels takes over and I'll hang a couple more towels up. It's one of the insignificant and endearing things I will remember about Reese when she grows up.

I forgot to make the kids' lunch one night after my husband and I finished our dinner. In the morning, it was a mad scramble to pull something together. I can't remember what day it was. I was thankful that I had some pre-bagged and pre-packaged things around the house to throw in their lunch boxes. This is a hard gig, but I'm proud to have it.

Wednesday, the kids went to my mom's house, so no lunch that day. On Thursday they had:

*Chicken and turkey sandwich on whole grain bread

You can see the nuts in the bread, it's so yummy!

*Mandarin oranges

*Dill and cilantro roasted potatos

I finally used some herbs from my garden and sauteed some organic potatos in some olive oil and served it up to the kids for dinner Wednesday night. Add some ketchup and they gobbled them right up. Leftovers went into their lunches.

*Baggie full of grapes and blueberries

A 5k, Chinese Food, and Sunburn

For me, this past weekend started out with a 5k race, the Brian Diemer Classic in Cutlerville. It's my seventh 5k (I think) since I took up running in April 2007. I ran my first 25k in May of this year, and thought that 5ks would be cake after that. But, after my big race, my running tapered off. I'm working to correct that. Running makes me feel so great, especially mentally. I can't tell you how great of a mood I was in for the rest of the day on Saturday.

Sunday, Father's Day, the kids and I went over to my mom and stepdad's house while the guys played golf. We got Chinese food from THE best Chinese restaurant ever - Abacus - and ordered Mongolian chicken. Nothing comes close to the flavors of this dish. I'm sure it's terrible for me, but it's a once-in-a-while treat. We also took a pontoon boat trip. I got sunburned during the kids' nap. I laid down on a chair and drank wine and read US Weekly, In Touch ... I suppose it was bad karma.

In Monday's lunch they got:

*Chicken pesto pasta

Penne noodles, basil pesto, pine nuts, parmesan, black pepper.

*Baggie full of grapes

*Carrots

In Tuesday's lunch they got:

*Spinach/artichoke bites

*String cheese

*Carrots/dip thingy

*Baggie of grapes and blueberries

Top Chef I am not

I love the Bravo channel's Top Chef. I would love to hire any TC reject (except for Lisa) to cook for my family for a month. That's been my fantsay for a while. I would love to hire a personal chef to grocery shop, meal plan, and cook for my family. Forever. I have been entertaining the thought of going vegetarian for a while, and I think it would be tough doing it on my own. But I don't know if I have it in me. My dear husband would balk at the idea, and possibly laugh and display his signature sigh and eye roll. (I start out a lot of sentences with "So. Today I read on the Internet that [insert any new non-mainstream health discovery]."

I'm a grazer. I eat all day long - literally. I'll eat breakfast at 7 a.m. on the way to my kids' daycare; usually an all-natural bar of some sort. Snack at 10:30ish. Lunch at noon. Snack at 3 p.m. and dinner around 8 p.m. I'll sneak a few nibbles of my kids' dinners if I'm hungry. Lately, though, the quality of my snacks have been abysmal (and not in the Joey Tribbiani way). I'm still eating like a 25k trainer, which I no longer am. I used to run 12-14 miles on Saturday mornings, and run at least 10 miles during the week. Ever since my May 10 25k, I've ran four times. Bleech. I'm soft, flabby, bloated ... NOT fun. Time to get back on track.

Ok, for Thursday's lunches I packed:

*Thai noodles with chicken

This was leftovers from dinner with my mom and stepdad. Whenever my husband is out of town, I mooch over to their house to try and feed everyone. Thanks Mom! Love ya!

*Organic sugar snap peas

*Mandarin oranges

*Meijer organic yogurt

*String cheese

Finally the sun comes out!

Man, what a dreary and depressing past few days, weather-wise. I'm finally connecting cloudy days to my complete lack of motivation. This rain has been killing me, not to mention my newborn patio garden. My plants are soaked to the root; I hope they survive. I planted tomatos, cilantro, sage, dill, basil, lavender, and a few perennials. I'm planning on planting some peas tonight. The kids are fascinated with it. I can't wait to eat from our own garden! Reese currently eats from our garden (she shovels fistfulls of soil into her mouth when we're not looking), so I'm hoping to show her that real food will come out of these pots of dirt and leaves.

Today, the kids got:

*Bean/cheese burrito for Bodin

*Spinach artichoke bites for Reese

*Baggie full of grapes

*Carrots/ranch dip thingy for Bodin

*Brown rice krispies treats (Glenny's).

I tried one (ok, TWO!) of these myself and they're really good. All organic and made from brown rice. No funky hfcs or artificial preservatives.