Update on meals etc.

Just a quick update on our meals.  I am on a new diet and not eating with the rest of the family so I'm not as invested in dinner as I used to be.  Mostly I'm feeding the family stuff from the freezer that I've had prepared for a long time, but didn't want to eat.  Tonight they had homemade pizzas though to use up the pepperoni in my meat drawer and the mozzarella cheese from the freezer.  They loved them.  Sarah can't eat pizza.  It's one of the foods on her long list of foods that make her stomach hurt.  She is warming up some grilled chicken breasts that I keep for her in the fridge.  Last night I prepared spaghetti and meatballs which is something they usually love, but they didn't eat it.  As I reflected on the meal, I realized that Sarah ate chicken breasts at 3 or 4 pm and wasn't hungry.  Leo ate 2 hotdogs at 3 pm and wasn't hungry.  Abby said she wasn't hungry but came home from an activity at church where she had a brownie and proceeded to make 2 grilled cheese sandwiches and then eat a cupcake as well.  This was all after 9 pm.  Tripp said he wasn't hungry at supper time but then cried at 9 pm that he was starving.  I hate it when I make a meal only to be wasted as everyone else eats their own meals!  Suddenly I'm seeing an easy way to cut our grocery bill in 1/2.  I am going to be trying (again) to watch what and when the kids are eating.  No more meals on their own!  

This is Leo deciding to drink the dog's water with a straw.  I stopped him before he actually did it.  Gross!  We keep it on the table when Max is on the floor as he likes to take impromptu baths in it.

Update on Meals They Will Eat

Well, they ate all of the meals with some tweaks here and there.  Abby didn't want to eat tacos, but said she loves walking tacos so I made that minor change and all went well.  The missionaries had supper with us on bacon, eggs, and rice night so we made it a bit fancier by adding a nice fruit salad and donuts for a "breakfast for supper feast.  Everyone seemed to love it.  We did have a night that we didn't feel like cooking and we ate 50 cent frozen burritos which made everyone but Abby happy.  She had ramen and was thrilled.  It was so successful that I think I will always keep frozen burritos and ramen on hand for what I will call "junky convenience food night".  We also had a night where we were out at appointments and running errands until 7pm so we bought a large bag of pizza rolls and all stood around the table snarfing it down as we had gotten too hungry to be civilized.  It's amazing how long we can spend on a couple of errands and how quickly we can become ravenous.  Maybe I should keep a bag of those around as well for similar occasions.  I have appointments 30 miles away 4 days next week.  Odds are it will happen again.

Here are my attempts for kid friendly meals next week:

1.  Corn flake breaded baked chicken legs

2.  Spaghetti and meatballs with an emphasis on the meatballs

3.  Costco sausages and roasted potatoes 

4.  Pesto ranch chicken over noodles

???  Guess I'll have to check Pinterest for more ideas.

This is not something that the kids are this week.  It is charred broccoli and red onions on quinoa and it was so good that I ate 3x this week.  One of my former students is studying to be a nutritionist and likes vegan cooking.  Apparently her honey got her a cookbook called Thug Kitchen for Christmas and she has been posting the most healthy and delicious meals from it on Facebook.  I have been copying them to the best of my ability but if anyone wants to buy me a present, I would love to get my hands on that cookbook. 

Fred also enjoyed this but would like to see the following changes for next time:

1.  Trade brown rice for the quinoa.  He doesn't like quinoa.

2.  Add shrimp or chicken and bell peppers.

Meals They Will Eat

I am often working hard in the kitchen to make something delicious and new, but am disappointed each night when the kids won't eat what I've made and we end up throwing a lot of food away.  It breaks my back, my heart, and my wallet.  Plus, at least 3 of our kids are very sensitive to hunger.  They don't really recognize and verbalize that they are hungry, but they really act out if they haven't eaten properly.  Also, with the kids being on ADHD medication that makes them not have an appetite, I have to get them to eat whenever I can so they don't lose too much weight.  Otherwise they will have to take a "pill holiday" until they gain weight and a "pill holiday" for them would be a nightmare for the rest of the house.  This week I am trying to keep it simple with my meals and I'm going for having 7 days of successful eating.

Day 1:  Hamburgers and Fries (all homemade) - total success!  All kids ate it and it was easy, and it was inexpensive.

Even Achilles wanted some.  

                                                   Ahhh....He found someone to share with!

Day 2:  Chicken Strips (homemade), carrots, oranges, and mashed potatoes.  All loved it.  All ate it!  Even better - I found out you can freeze mashed potatoes so they were made in advance and all I had to do was thaw them, heat them, and add a bit of instant to them to thicken them up.  I skipped eating  the potatoes and just had strips on a salad

Max was "helping" me cook

I have plans for the next 4 days so far.  The only problem I forsee is Abby not liking taco night, but everyone else loves the next four meals.

Day 3:  Tacos

Day 4:  Polynesian Pork in the crockpot

Day 5:  Homemade Pizzas (pepperoni and Canadian bacon)

Day 6:  Bacon, Eggs, and Rice  (Abby will tell me that she prefers there to be no eggs, but leaving out the eggs would make it be more expensive because I would have to add more bacon and she will eat it either way sooooooo - too bad, Abby.)

If I could get to 10 meals and eventually 30 meals that the whole family likes, I feel like I would be set.  It does seem that they really like me making traditional fast food items.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  I'll let you know how it goes!