Dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's

Tonight we went to my parent's house for dinner. My dad made wiener schnitzel. We also had rice, gravy, green beans, and corn.

dad-ate a little of everything
daughter7-ate the meat, rice, tried the gravy, and corn
son5-had everything on his plate and he ate everything except maybe the gravy
son3-had everything, ate everything and then kept asking for more gravy. He ate a lot of gravy
mom-ate a little of everything

My dad makes good wiener schnitzel. He learned from a foreign exchange student we had from Austria. It is now one of his specialities.

Ravioli and Pasta-os

Last night after a long Saturday at home, we settled with canned ravioli and pasta-os. I also fixed a can of green beans, and Mandarin oranges.

daughter7-ravioli, raw baby carrots, and oranges
son5-took ravioli but didn't eat more than one of them, green beans, raw baby carrots, oranges x2, and a banana
son3-ravioli, raw baby carrots, oranges, and a banana
mom-pasta-os, green beans, and a banana

I like to give my children choices. Tonight was an excellent example of what happens when I give my kids choices. Daughter7 doesn't like the green beans I have been serving. So she asked to have baby carrots, she got them and so did everyone else. It is great that they understand that they need to eat their fruit and vegetable.

Roast

On Sunday, we had Roast. It was son3's birthday (he is now officially three). He said yes to whatever I asked him he wanted for dinner so I picked roast. My father-in-law raises beef cattle so we get our beef for free. This last cow we got came with very big roasts. It wouldn't fit in my crock pot. Dad had to cut it in half with the knife and a rubber mallet while it was frozen.

I put the roast with 3 or 4 bouillon cubes and some chopped onion in the crock pot before we left for church. After church, I made mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, corn, and pineapple. We had dad's parents, sister, and her husband over for dinner.

Everyone ate well. We made sure the kids at least ate their fruit and green beans. I think everyone ate their meat as well.

I hadn't made a big dinner like that for a while. It was good. And easy.

Pizza Surprise and Musings

Today we had Pizza Surprise. Daughter7 named it. She asked what we were having. I told her I didn't know, but she wanted a name so I called it Pinwheel Surprise. After seeing how it was made and what was in it, she called it Pizza Surprise.

I Pampered Chef-ized dinner. I took two packages of refrigerated crescent rolls and laid them out points to the center to make a circle. I mixed the leftover spaghetti sauce and cheesy hamburger together and spread it over the rolls not all the way to the edges. I then took the leftover chopped tomatoes, and spread them over the sauce. I took what was left of the shredded Colby cheese and shredded mozzarella cheese and spread them over the tomatoes. I then rolled the edges of the dough over everything leaving a little uncovered in the middle. I finished it by sprinkling a little more mozza cheese on the crust. I baked it at 375 for 20 minutes. Served it with cottage cheese, green beans, and Mandarin oranges.

dad-ate the surprise when came home
daughter7-ate everything
son5-ate cottage cheese, green beans, and oranges
son3-ate green beans, oranges, and couple chunks of pineapple
mom-ate surprise, green beans, cottage cheese, and pineapple (I don't like oranges)

Dinner was good. I was surprised that daughter7 ate the surprise. She is usually doesn't eat things like that. Dad said it was probably because she thought of it like pizza. I wasn't surprised that the boys didn't eat it. They got their vegetable and fruit. It was a great way to get rid of the leftovers in my refrigerator.

Now for my musings. I know it has only been 12 days of this, but I am feeling discouraged. I was having fun for a little while when I was making dinner tonight. That fun was from finding a creative way to use up leftovers. But it was short lived. I let other concerns drown out how I felt for the ten minutes it took to put dinner together.

I find it hard to cook when it is just me and the kids eating. I feel like I can't cook certain things, because I know I will be the only one to eat it. I get tired of eating what I know my kids will eat everyday. I like variety. I have found that when we all work together after dinner to clean up the kitchen, I enjoy the process more. When I'm the only one pushing the kids along to clean, I get frustrated and end up cleaning it myself, because it is easier. Defiantly not as much fun.

Does loving to do something mean you always have to love doing it? Does loving it more times than not count? Do I simple need to get over this hump and things will start to get easier just out of virtue of putting in the constant effort?

I do know one thing for sure. I still have a long way to go.

BBQ Wings

Got a little behind!

Two days ago (Thursday), we had BBQ Wings. Mixed (mostly) frozen chicken wings with bottled BBQ sauce. Placed in a single layer of 9x13 pan. Baked at 350 for 45 minutes. We had them with mashed potatoes (from buds), green beans, and pineapple (by vote).

daughter7-ate 2 wings, mashed pot., green beans, and pineapple
son5-ate 2 wings, green beans, and pineapple
son3-ate 1 wing and pineapple
mom-ate lots of wings, mashed pot, leftover freeze-dried green beans, and pineapple

Dinner was good. I used a new kinds of BBQ sauce and I really like it. It is the Save-a-lot store brand KC style.

Another easy to make dinner.

Pasta with Tomatoes and Parmesan

Today was Pasta with Tomatoes and Parmesan. I cooked rainbow rotini and cut up tomatoes. Green beans (both from a can and freeze-dried) was the vegetable; and apple sauce was the fruit.

dad-rotini, tomatoes, parmesan, freeze-dried green beans, and apple sauce
daughter7-rotini with parmesan and apple sauce, ate tomatoes for vegetable
son5-rotini with parmesan, canned green beans, and apple sauce (2x)
son3-rotini with parmesan (2x), canned green beans, apple sauce (2x)
mom-piled rotini, freeze-dried green beans, tomatoes, and parmesan on top of each other; apple sauce

Everyone ate well. I thought it wasn't as good as normal, but I was also eating it cold. I don't like cold food. Daughter7 used to eat green beans really well. I had green beans I canned from my garden for many years and have recently ran out. I am wondering if she got so used to that taste that she doesn't like any other kinds. She will eat them, but she fusses about it in the process. There certainly won't be any home canned green beans in the house for a while.

Chili Mac

Yesterday we had Chili Mac. I took 4 cups of the leftover chili, added 2 cups of water, 1 Tbsp of chili powder, and 3 cups of pasta (rotini). Put it in a pot; brought it to a boil; then turned down the heat to medium for about 25 minutes.

Veggie=green beans, fruit=apple slices

daughter7-said she wasn't hungry; ate everything; wanted seconds on mac.
son5-had cheese on side; ate green beans, apples, and cheese; ate one bite of mac
son3-had cheese on side; ate apples and cheese; told him he had to eat beans and then did
mom-ate everything (cheese on top of mac); had seconds of mac.

It was good, but needed more flavor. Dad wasn't home for dinner, but took a bite of the mac to help me figure out what was missing. He thinks I should use tomato juice/sauce instead of water. I will have to try that next time.